Harvey’s Grill & Bar – Bay City
4000 Wilder RoadDay two of our tour of Michigan had us heading towards Birch Run. Sure, it was out-of-the-way since our next stop was Grand Rapids, but we had the time and J really wanted to check out The North Face outlet. There’s also an UnderArmour outlet that I wanted to go to plus the usual stores we hit up outlet malls for.
We figured we’d just eat on the way. If we waited until Birch Run, I would be too tempted to go to Tony’s and no one needs that much bacon. Instead, I started looking in the Bay City area and found a place that would suit us both.
Harvey’s Bar & Grill is right across from the Bay City Mall on Wilder Road and State Street. The building looks like a chain because, according to their website, they are trying to franchise the business under the name Hayden’s Grill & Bar. Add that to the fact it was a Fazoli’s in it’s former life. The building was remodeled into what the owner hopes to have a Applebee’s like feel. As it stands, there are two Harvey’s locations. This one in Bay City and another in Saginaw.
We got to Bay City right at 11:00 so we were the first ones in for the day. They have a pretty nice dining room centered around a bar, but there’s also an all seasons patio which is where we chose to sit. The patio has garage style door windows that open in the summer and heaters on the ceiling for the winter months. It was still a little chilly when we were there so the heaters were turned on.
We both started with Cokes while we looked over the menu. Again, I flipped right through to the burger section. I ordered the Bacon Cheddar Burger, but I don’t think that’s what I got. The burger is supposed to be bacon, cheddar cheese, and onions on a Kaiser roll. The burger I got had cheddar cheese and a beer battered onion ring. No bacon. I wasn’t going to eat the onion ring, so I took it off and J ate part of it. The burger as it was served to me ended up being pretty good, but I could have used the bacon. When I put the order in, the waitress said they serve their burgers well-done and asked if that would be alright. I asked her if I could get it medium and she said ok. Why you would serve a burger well-done is a mystery to me, but I’m glad she asked before just doing it.
The sandwich came with seasoned fries and boy were these fries seasoned. There was a large pile of skin on french fries that were cooked perfectly. They were covered in a seasoning that was mostly salt…and these things were salty. It was one of those Catch-22 situations where they were really good and you wanted to keep eating, but after taking a bite, you remembered how salty they were…yet, for some reason, it didn’t stop either of us from continuing to eat them. It just took a little more Coke to wash them down.
J went with a sandwich and got the Turkey Panini. Her sandwich was sliced turkey breast, bacon, provolone, roasted red peppers, spring mix, and chipotle mayo on sourdough bread. At first, she didn’t notice the roasted red peppers, but found them after a few bites. All she really said was that she liked the sandwich. The bread was nice and crispy and pressed pretty well. Her sandwich also came with fries and she was in the same situation I was. Wanted to keep eating, but man, were they salty.
We both hit up the bathroom while waiting for the check and the only reason I mention this is because we both noticed the bathrooms at this place had nicer TV’s than in the 4-Diamond hotel we stayed at the night before. We got a little bit of a chuckle out of that one.
Our bill was right around $20 bucks again. We passed on dessert because we were both stuffed from french fries. I have to say, we couldn’t complain about portion size.
Harvey’s Grill & Bar is a pretty typical pub. The food is above average and our service was fantastic. I don’t think the stop set us back a half hour and before we knew it, we were pulling into the Premium Outlets. It’s definitely a place I can see franchised out. It already has the look and feel of a chain and a menu that will transfer well to the concept.
Mystery Burger w/Seasoned Fries
Turkey Panini w/Seasoned Fries
SW Michigan Dining 