Cleary’s Irish Pub
117 E. Grand River AvenueAnother road trip. I’ve been on the road a lot for work lately and my latest adventure took me to Howell. When J and I lived in Lansing, we actually spent a lot of time in Howell at the Tanger Outlets. Since moving to Kalamazoo, I think we’ve only been back once or maybe twice.
A co-worker and I finished up the main part of our task for the day then went looking for dinner. We asked around town and were pointed in the direction of either a steak house or an Irish Pub. We chose the pub.
Cleary’s Irish Pub is in downtown Howell on Grand River Avenue just to the east of Michigan Avenue. There’s a great old neon side hanging off the side of the row building above a small outdoor seating area.
C.W. and I headed inside and found a packed restaurant on a Thursday night around 7:00. There was a large party of people dressed in Halloween costumes taking up most of the space, but we noticed a two top along the wall.
We both looked longingly at the beer menu, but being still on the clock, we had to pass. I ordered a Pepsi while C.W. took an Iced Tea.
Our waitress brought our drinks, but didn’t take our order even though both of us were obviously ready. We waited another 5-10 minutes before she came back.
Even though the company was buying, I stuck to a burger. I ordered the Jack Daniels BBQ Bacon Burger. This was a pretty unique sandwich served on toasted Rye bread instead of a bun. The burger was topped with a Jack Daniels BBQ sauce, bacon, cheddar cheese and sauteed onions (which I left off). I was a little hesitant of the bread at first, but it worked really well. It was toasted so it held up well to the juicy burger and the tangy sauce. The bacon was also super crispy which added more crunch to the sandwich. The side was an order of battered fries which were also quite tasty.
C.W. went a little bit fancier and ordered the N.Y. Strip Steak. It came with redskin mashed potatoes, vegetables and a house salad. He seemed to enjoy it and from where I was sitting, it looked pretty delicious.
Our meal ran just a hair over $30 which is pretty good, but it took a little bit longer than we had hoped it would. In their defense, they were pretty packed. Once we got our order in, the food came up pretty fast, but all of the wait staff seemed to be a little overwhelmed. It was nothing horrible by any means. Had we not been on a lunch break, we probably wouldn’t even have noticed.
Jack Daniel’s BBQ Bacon Burger w/Fries
SW Michigan Dining 