We were excited about coming here as we are fans of DDD and husband loves gizzards and hasn't had them for years. Â WARNING, everything if fired and it is all covered in their beer batter that soaks up grease and get soft and mushy pretty fast. Â We were disappointed. Â The service was friendly and fast, servings are large, other than that not so great.
Review Source:I'm gizzard-agnostic at best, so I enjoyed this place not for the mountain of gizzards but for devotion to an unusual premise and for its embodiment of rural Americana. The decorations help, including the old-timey advertising signs that extend to the bathroom, but more important was the sense that the workers seemed truly appreciative of the visitors (many drawn here by Guy Fieri, Yelp reviews indicate.)
Gizzard purists might try "naked nuked" or "naked fried," while the gizzard-phobic may be the happier with the classic battered version, and mixing/matching is allowed.
uuummmmm.....YES!!!!
I went only patty deep fried, BIG mistake, my friends got it all the way.
I could not believe the extra flavor it added.
It was also really cool because the burger was contained and not spilling out the back.
Everyone was very nice. And my whole party had a great time.
As others have pointed out this is the dive that's been featured on the Food Network's Diners Drive-ins and Dives and yes, it's truly a dive - and that's not a bad thing at all! Â So - what about the food? Â
Well, on the positive side Joe's truly has the most tender gizzards I've ever had bar none - these things practically melt in your mouth! Â Tasty? Â Yeah. Â Greasy? Â Yeah, but that doesn't bother me. Â Could they be more tasty? Â Regretfully yeah. Â I mean, they're not tasteless as some other reviewers have suggested, but frankly I was hoping for better. Â
They come in garlic, cajun and some other flavor as well as original and I was expecting different spices in the breading but alas, they were just all identical "original" with some spices or garlic powder sprinkled over them. Â We decided we like the original best, and my youngest son noted correctly that the famed batter was basically funnel cake batter. Â As he put it, we were basically eating funnel cakes without the sugar with gizzard pieces inside. Â Not that they were bad at all - they're quite good and soooo tender! Â Just not as exceptional as I'd hoped.
We also had onion rings and burgers. Â Onion rings are good, but I've had them elsewhere just as good and the burgers were decent bar burgers but nothing outstanding. Â Now, once you look over the menu you'll notice that everything is fried, and I do mean everything, including desserts! Â We contemplated trying a fried dessert before we ordered but after eating the fried meal, we were pretty much fried out and decided to skip on the fried desserts.
All in all, it's a solid 3 stars from me and definitely worth a visit if you're passing through - and we know you're passing through 'cause if you're one of the dozen or so folks living in Potterville (ok, I'm exaggerating, the population is a bit larger than that!) you've already been to Joe's probably more than once! Â I'd go back if it was lunchtime if I'm passing through again.
Where are the Gizzards? Â So we were excited to try the place. Â Drove out of our way to get there. Â Not many places serve gizzards and we are gizzard lovers. Â Waitress recommended Traditional. Â My friend ordered a burger. Â We also got the gizzard sampler appetizer. Â So firstly the gizzards are tender so that is great. Â Thats the end of the good part. Â The traditional are way over battered and they seem to have cut the gizzards in little pieces, then battered them. Â It was basically a batter platter. Â Could not even taste the gizzards. Â Pulled the batter off and tasted. Â Very flavorless. Â Again, they were tender. Â Burger was okay at best. Â Gizzard sampler was fried gizzards topped with dry spices, i.e. Cajun gizzards had some powder sprinkled on them. Â Really disappointed. Â Dont waste your time.
Review Source:So I heard about this place from my stepmother (of whom I really like - no kidding!). Â She knows I like food that most people avoid. Â Pickled tongue, smoked clams, sauteed chicken livers, fish heads and necks, bull testicles, etc. are all some of my favorite and exciting foods for me to eat - I like the unusual, and enjoy creative presentations of these oddballs. Â So, she was very excited to tell me about this place that specializes in Gizzards. Â Â I was having a slow work day, and decided to road trip it on my motorcycle - what could be better than an afternoon stab on the road to git me some tasty gizzards!?! Â Â I couldn't disagree with myself, so I hit the road. Â I was pretty excited by the prospect of a place that touts gizzards as a major menu draw. Â Upon my arrival, mid afternoon, Â I was happy to see a Bell's Oberon special for $3 bottles, so I ordered an Oberon, and the Gizzard Sampler platter off the appetizer section of the menu. Â I imagine this platter is pretty popular for first timers at Joe's, for it offers four styles of gizzard preparation.
My platter arrived, and my waitress pointed out each quadrant of near identical appearing, but differently flavored gizzards.  My expectations of greatness started to diminish when I realized the 'garlic' version amounted to someone sprinkling powdered garlic over the deep fried nuggets, not very promising.....Anyway, I unhesitatingly picked one up, dipped it into the red shrimp cocktail sauce (? why cocktail sauce?) and popped one in my maw.  The first thing that I thought is  "MUSHY".  Oh noooooo...........  I read that Joe's pressure cooks the gizzards to soften em up, but jeezuss, but there is absolutely no texture to these gizzards - they're mush.  And, after trying all four styles on my plate [it was impossible to tell if they were flavored differently, aside from the obvious use of old garlic powder], the breading used is identical.   These poor gizzards have WAY too much breading on them, and the breading somehow manages a real rare trick - to be both a sponge for the deep frier oil, and be flavorless at the same time, and yet hermetically contain a watery juice from the gizzards to be released upon the first bite - squirty!  Combine that with the mushy meatlets of the gizzards and you truly have a plateful of drech. Â
Joe's, I hope your fryer chef was hungover, or having a PMS attack, or even generally having a real bad day, and threw in yesterdays re-frozen pre-breaded gizzards for my dismal platter, for there's really no excuse for such awfulness.  I'm at a loss as to how something so simple, and so potentially delicious, could  turn out to be such an abject failure.  Thank Crom! for my Bell's Oberon to wash the graveyard taste from my mouth.  I really, really wanted to like these so much. Â
That said, I am a bit embarrassed for Joe's Gizzard City to place so much of it's notoriety on such a miserable offering. Â I'm shocked people actually like em.
Can you tell I'm vastly disappointed?
Wasn't too thrilled to be going here with some friends from work but I was quite happy looking at the menu. Â Deep fried hamburger you say? Â How can that go wrong?! Â Well at this place it did go wrong. Â They use bland tasteless beef, over cook it, then deep fry it over cooking it more. Â The end result is a some that should not be even possible, something deep fried that is horrid. Â The batter is also bland and tasteless. Â My friends had the gizzards and said they were great but that's not my thing.
High prices, poor quality and a dank and oppressive atmosphere inside. No thank you.
Joe's is a great place to get good ole' southern country style eats for a reasonable price... The gizzards are awesome, the service is great... Â I recommended this little spot for all people who have the apatite for greasy goodness!! And if you are starting a little early, the Cafe next door to the bar has the best breakfast I've had since living in Kentucky!!
Review Source:I'm from the south and I grew up eating gizzards. Â They are one of my favorite parts of the chicken. Â Imagine my excitement when I saw Diners, Drive-ins and Dives had a gizzard restaurant near my new home in Michigan!!! Â Alas, my joy was short-lived. Â
If you aren't familiar with gizzards, these are probably fine as a novelty to share with others and the novelty of having everything fried is probably fun, too. Â That's where the positives of this review ends. Â The gizzards were coated with this dense, flavorless batter. Â I could barely taste the gizzard itself which was similarly unflavored. Â Also, highly, highly greasy. Â Same could be said of everything that the batter touched - flavorless and greasy. Â Also, you should not need a dipping sauce with gizzards - seasoned breading or batter should do the trick. Â These came with cocktail sauce and I realized it was for flavor of any kind but the sauce was not particularly good. Â Hubby has a burger - it was OK but nothing to make us go back.
Ambiance, definitely a dive (which is not a bad thing, IMO) but clean and we had good service - so it gets two stars instead of one.
My wife and I don't even live in the state, but I've been there three times when we would go up to michigan for vacation. Â We saw the restuarant on Diners, Drivins, and Dives and had to go.
We ordered the gizzard platter which was very good.  It was the first time I had gizzards and I was suprised that I like them.  We then shared the triple D burger which was my favorite.  You would think that deep frying the entire burger would make it greasy or mushy, but it didn't  The batter was very good and the burger was excellent.  We ended our night with a sample of deep fried desserts.  All of them were very good from deep fried oreos, cheesecake, etc... Â
I plan on taking my friend up there when we go up to Michican for vacation. Â Its about an hour away from where we are going, but it is definitly worth the drive.
Joe's is a dive for sure, but he has the best Gizzards I've ever tasted. The Triple D is a great burger you've got to try as well. Grab the CD and play the "Going down to Joe's" song as you drive back to try more tempting treats. It's a must for me at least a couple times a year. It's about a 200 mile round trip!
Review Source:If your looking for a heart attack on a plate look no further. We got the Gizzard's and the first bite was good. Stop there! Don't be lured in by the greasy bits of chicken gizzards. Consider that you have experience the gizzard city, pay your tab and leave. My mother in law and sister in law shared the Triple D burger (a deep fried burger inspired by dinners drive inns and dives) Joe's is definitely a dive. My father-in law really liked it. Joe's gets a A-OK rating because it lives up to its dive bar status.
Review Source:My father inlaw wanted to take me to this place, so I looked it up and noticed that it had been on DDD, I watched the episode and oh so wanted to visit.... but as in many cases I checked yelp and a TV hot spot looked... mediocre @ best. So we got the gizzard sampler, which was nice, the breading is well done, i would imagine I could have been eating cardboard dipped and friend and I would have enjoyed it, Cocktail sauce seemed like an odd dipping sauce... it kind of worked. I got the DDD burger, novel idea, but poor execution, way too much breading on something that has a bun already. It tasted ok, but did not wow me @ all. Fun place to check out... if you are in the area. We didn't partake in Dessert but they had an interesting menu.
Review Source:I believe my wife and I were sitting in the booth adjacent to the previous reviewer (Patrick G) as that couple was from Indiana and we heard Joe tell them almost nothing on the menu was homemade. Â This was Sunday afternoon, July 26.
I had the gizzard sampler and can't recommend it - as the previous reviewer mentioned the gizzards were mushy, tasteless and the batter was too heavy - think tempura-battered sort-of-meat-flavored jello.
Although the sampler supposedly had four different kinds of gizzards I couldn't tell any difference between any of them except that some of them had this strange orangish powder dusted on them. Â The cocktail sauce they served with the gizzards seemed to have sit in the fridge for about a week too long as it was too thick for dipping, you had to use the gizzard as a scoop to get anything at all on them.
We split an order of chili cheese fries - the fries were frozen and the chili was canned.  I think the cheese was real, though  ;-)
My wife had a cheeseburger which she said was fairly good but I won't be going there again.
I've never seen a menu with so much fried goodness. Â I was ecstatic! Â I couldn't decide what to get, so I ended up with a basic cheeseburger. Boy was that messy! Â We went with our family, so we all got a bunch of apps to share. Â The fried sweet corn was phenomenal, and the fried green olives were also amazing. Â The only drawback on those are that you get SO MANY. Â So good, So salty, TOO many. Â The fried meatballs and gizzards were also at the table, but I wasn't a huge fan. Â The ranch sauce that comes with the fried food was pretty good too.. nice and thick, and zesty! Â It really compliments the fried food. Â The onion rings were perfect. Â They were fresh and light and crispy. My boyfriend had the Triple D burger... worth getting at least once if you are coming here! Â
We got the dessert sampler too. I tried to avoid it, but we were there, so we HAD to taste it. Â The deep fried cheesecake was okay, but the real stars were the deep fried donuts (yeah, I know right?) and the deep fried cookie dough. I'm drooling right now just thinking about it.
Our waitress was apathetic at most, but the food came out fast for our big order. Â The atmosphere is a dive bar, but that's okay because their menu reflects that too. Â I'm glad I don't live in potterville, because I would prob have a coronary in the next 6 months!
I went to Joe's based on all the publicity they got from Guy Fieri's show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Â All of guy's cooing over the Triple D burger and some of the other stuff they make had me craving a burger. Â I happened to be passing by the place and decided to give it a try.
Joe's is located in "downtown" Potterville (and I use the word downtown loosely). Â It's off the main drags that pass throught the outskirts of Potterville. Â It's not hard to find but you have to be looking for it as it is a bit off the beaten path. Â Outside of the place gives you the impression that it is an old smokey honky tonk reeking of stale grease, stale tobacco and stale beer. Â But once inside, you realize that they've cleaned up their act and sanitized the place for any tourists who may have seen the show and decided to come here for a bite. Â Inside is a bit dark, but clean with a nice bar area, and outdoor beer garden and a dining area. Â Several TV screens in the place, Â one devoted to the Food Network, two to sports and the rest to the ongoing Michigan Keno games that go on. Â Place has hung on to it's charming past and gives a nice visual impression for biker wannabe's.
Menu itself is pretty extensive with almost everything in the 8 to 12 dollar range. Â Deep fried foods are the stars of the menu, I think there's a salad or two on the menu, but I really didn't pay it much attention. Â I ordered the jalapeno poppers, the triple D burger and fries. Â
Waitresses were very nice and attentive, I was tended to promptly and kept stoked with cold beers. Â First to arrive were the poppers. Â The poppers themselves were pretty standard but I loved the ranch dipping sauce. Â It was thick and hinted of tartar sauce. Â Very nice combination. Â The Triple D Burger and this concoction was a 1/3 pound hamburger patty with tomato, cheese and pickles that had been dipped in beer batter and deep fried. Â It was interesting and I was OK with it. Â Only thing that bothered me was after the waitress warned me how "hot" it might be, I bit into it and found the meat in the burger somewhat cool. Â If the deep fat frying process is intended to cook the meat, it didn't happen here. Â Could explain why people were getting sick in other reviews.
Menu offers other things like fried dill pickles and gizzards but I didn't partake. Â I found the place a fun place to visit, crowd is definitely a mix and fun for people watching, couldn't ask for nicer wait staff. Â To be honest, food itself was basic bar food with a few bucks added to the price for the "privilage". Â I would stop again but wouldn't become a reg.
I've heard a lot about this place and since it was on Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives" ~ Â I've wanted to go for awhile now.
  They have a very good menu, the prices are well worth what you get & the atmosphere suits the restaurant / bar.
  They are well known for their "Gizzard's" and we started with then and battered Chicken Liver as our appetizer. I think I would have liked the "Naked" gizzards better than the battered ones ~ just too much batter for my liking but, they ARE very tender. The battered liver was tender as well but, I prefer that with a little "Bite" to it as well.
  I had the Prime Rib Sandwich served with fries. OMG!! It was so good and I could only eat half of it! The meat was tender, plenty of onions and three kinds of cheese. The only thing it might need, is a side of Au' Ju'.
  One of my friends had the Olive burger and Onion Rings. The Onions rings are battered and ginormous! His 1/3# olive burger was also quite big and he couldn't finish it.
  My other friend had the battered shrimp with fries. Once again - the portion size was big enough to bring half of it home.
  They have an extensive "Deep Fried Dessert" menu ~ Twinkies, Oreo's, Nutterbutter Cookies, Cookie Dough, Cheesecake and more, which we didn't delve into.
  All-in-all, it's not a bad place but, it's nothing spectacular either.
Not the best place I've ever eaten. Two out of four people in my party became violently ill on the trip home, necessitating a panicked run for a Wendy's restroom. I have to say I agree with the reviewer below - the servers, while very friendly, may be sadists.
I've eaten at my share of greasy spoons, but this is the first time I've had hard time opening the bathroom door because the knob was so covered with grease.
Can't say I recommend it and can't say I'll be back.
Fried food heaven? These critics must be high! In my opinion gut busting shithole! What was Guy Fieri thinking! The triple "D" burger, held me hostage on the toilet for 20 min. If you are a glutton for punishment this is the place for you. Service was extremely friendly (I think their sadists).
Review Source:Drove over 2000 miles roundtrip from Seattle to Pottersville.  Saw this place on  Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  (Other reasons for the trip; but, this was  one.)  Terribly mushy onion rings and gizzards.  They are tender is true; but, flavorless.  Big disappointment.  I am from the South so I do know gizzards.
In all fairness, my navigator enjoyed the Deep Fried Burger and french fries. Â Place is friendly and service is excellent. Â My reason for going there was for the gizzards. Â Sadly this place did not even come close.
Yet another stop we had to make due to Diners, Drive-in's and Dives.
First we were so bummed because they were closed.
The second time we went, oh man!
Even if the thought of Chicken Gizzards freaks you out, go go go!
Of course I went for the Gizzards, dusted with a garlic herb seasoning.
Outstanding! Â I have tried and tried to cook the tough out of Gizzards, but the use of a pressure cooker makes them like butta!
And it's sheer genius to use cocktail sauce as a dip for them.
My bud got the fried Chicken and even gave me a piece. So juicy yet the batter had a nice crunch to it.
While we were there we decided to get a co worker friend the new Triple D burger.
We brought it back to him in Ann Arbor. When he saw it, you could see the fear in his eyes. A battered cooked hamburger  in a bun with all the fixings then battered and deep fried again?
He took a bite and said, "That's the best burger I have ever had!"
This is deep-fried food at its finest! Â
Joe's Gizzard City is a small-town restaurant filled with locals and a few visitors like us who drove an hour to try it. Â Potterville is small and unless you have GPS or a good map, you could easily miss it.
My mother loves gizzards and heard Joe's put a good spin on them. Â You can get the gizzards fried in different seasonings and she gobbled them down.
I was immediately taken aback by the Triple-D, a deep fried hamburger. Â I expected to find it OK but instead found it surprsingly wonderful. Â The combination of fresh meat, cheese, tomato worked well with the batter.
The dessert menu is also filled with deep fried concoctions, some more appetizing than others. Â We tried the deep fried nutter-butters which were OK. Â Next time, I will try the deep fried ice cream sandwich.
While waiting for our order, the owner came by our table to see how we were doing. Â He's an extremely friendly, young guy who genuinely cares about his patrons.
Our visit to Joe's Gizzard City was definitely the highlight of our recent trip to mid Michigan to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my in-law's - other than the non-stop daily homemade goodies, of course.
Gizzard is one of my all-time favourite snacks and I like them crunchy with lots of different texture. Â Joe's gizzards on the menu are served batter fried, naked fried, naked nuked, with herb or garlic. Â I order a full size order with half batter fried and half naked fried. Â Although I was a little disappointed that the gizzards were very tender instead of crunchy, the crispiness of the surface from the deep frying as well as the flavour totally make up for the tender texture of the giblets. Â
The dessert section of the menu tenders deep fried cheese cakes, deep fried Oreo cookies, deep fried nutter butter, deep fried ice cream sandwiches, deep fried chocolate chip cookie dough and deep fried Twinkies. Â I was very tempted by the cheese cakes but my dining party settled on sharing the deep fried nutter butter since we had been feasting on homemade NY cheesecakes for the holiday at home.
If it weren't for airfare costing over $600 per round trip from where I live, this place could easily be my weekly guilty pleasure!
The Triple D Sandwich (i.e. Monte Cristo) will be my order on my next visit.
P.S. Â Don't expect anything more than a dive but Joe, the owner, is extremely friendly. Â He welcomes his guests if he happens to be hanging out in the outdoor courtyard by the front door. Â He went up to every table to say HI to the patrons during our dining. Â He told us his experience of being featured on Diners, Drive-In's and Dives and was extremely grateful of the publicity that Guy Fieri brought him even though he had to shut down for 2 days.
All of the previous reviews are spot on. The food is good and the building is nothing special. It is what it it is a small town bar. My friend had the DD deep fried burger and he said it was good but you have to get your head around the corn dog crunchy batter on the outside. I had the deep fried batter dipped hotdogs with the Chile cheese over the top with fries. If you like chili cheese fries then you will love this dinner! None of us had room for the desserts, but the menu looked good. Now that I have tried this place I wouldn't hurry back, but I would eat here again if in the area, however I live 90 miles away so it won't be anytime soon. I had expected to find chicken livers on the menu since they have gizzards, but livers were not to be found. Â The non smoking area was one row of booths right next to the smoking area so we found a table away form the regular bar patrons and this was ok for a quick meal.
Review Source:My wife and I went to this place after it was featured on Diner's Drive Ins and Dives and had the Triple D burger...SO FREAKING GOOD! It's a standard cooked hamburger sandwich, dipped in batter then deep fried. My father-in-law had the naked gizzards and enjoyed them tremendously. Â The only negative thing about the place is that it's a very smoker friendly bar/restaurant. Other than that, my wife and I highly recommend the place for it's unusual eats.
Review Source:This place will change your life, son... Â
It was featured by Guy Fieri on "Diners and Dives", but it is most definitely not for the faint of heart or casual passers-by looking for traditional bar fare. Â This place is filled with regulars and you better bring your bib and your a-game if you plan it eat here (leave your pretense and food snobbery at the door)
FOOD (4 out of 5):
Despite its fame, the deep fried burger is not the best thing on the menu. Â Believe it or not, it is the gizzards that come is various different seasonings like lemon, garlic, or cajun! Â Also, a special treat is the deep-fried dessert platter that includes Oreos, cheesecake, and Nutter Butters...
Again, don't come here if you want to eat a salad or plan to eat a tuna sandwich-- I'm sure there are plenty of better places for that!
DECOR (1 out of 5):
As dive bar as they come.
SERVICE (3 out of 5):
Nothing special, but the folks are friendly and they kept the cheap drinks coming.
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,608 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,970 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,309 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,906 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,985 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
