Cascade Sports Grill
6240 28th Street SEA few months ago, I unknowingly turned a co-worker on to Mancino’s Grinders. She’s not from around here and had never heard of Mancino’s. She and I were on our way home from Mt. Pleasant and desperately looking for some place to stop and eat. Somehow we found Mancino’s of Canadian Lakes outside of Stanwood. Ever since that day in late October, she has been craving Mancino’s.
Unfortunately, most of the Mancino’s locations in Grand Rapids have closed. She told me tonight that she will drive to Greenville every now and then just to get a sandwich.
We decided to go hunting tonight for a Grinder and I found an address on 28th Street, but no Mancino’s was to be found when we arrived at the address. We were close to W. G. Grinders which I thought would be close enough, but we got there five minutes after their closing time of 7:30.
While I was checking the door to see if they were open, Co-Worker did a Google search for “Grinder” and found Mama’s Pizza and Grinders which was right down the road. She called to see if they were still and business and found the business had a different name, but still had a similar menu including the apparently elusive grinder Co-Worker was looking for.
Cascade Sports Grill is in a strip mall on 28th Street in Cascade Township. It’s not the take out place we were looking for. It’s more of a sports bar with a large center bar, a spacious dining room and a patio out front.
We didn’t have a menu to place a phone order so we went in. There’s an area up front that sort of looks like a hostess station but sort of doesn’t. We waited a few minutes until a waitress saw us standing there. She came over and C.W. asked if we could put in an order for carry-out. She pulled out a pad to take our order, but didn’t hand us a menu. C.W. asked for one then asked where the grinders were.
She eventually ordered the Deluxe Pizza grinder which came with a lot of extras. The waitress didn’t know exactly what was on it and it wasn’t listed on the menu. If I was going to order a grinder, I would have wanted the pizza, but I didn’t want all that extra. C.W. said the sandwich was good, but it was no Mancino’s. She really likes the buttery, flaky bread from a Mancino’s sandwich. She called the Grinder from Cascade Sports Grill a toasted sub.
Instead, I found the burger section and ordered the Western Burger. The 1/2 lb fresh Angus beef patty came topped with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, BBQ sauce and Brew City Onion Rings. It’s served on a Brioche Roll with choice of chips or fries. The sandwich had a perfectly pink medium center with crispy bacon and soft, flaky bun. The fries were skin on fried golden brown. Up until we found this place, I was craving a grinder, but I’m really happy I ordered the burger.
Our bill was right around 20 and it took about twenty minutes for our order to come up. We took a seat in a booth for the wait then grabbed our food to go. I was happy with my burger but C.W. didn’t quite get the sandwich she was craving. It’s not that it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t Mancino’s which is what she really wanted. I, on the other hand, had a great burger I otherwise never would have found.
SW Michigan Dining 