Grand Coney (Michigan Street)

• 809 Michigan Street NE
• Grand Rapids, MI 49503
• (616) 776-5580
• Website
• Menu

It’s been a while since I worked a Saturday night shift and let me tell you, I don’t miss it.  Long, hard hours with minimal breaks because staffing is bare bones on weekends.

I put in a 12 hour day without a lunch break and when I got off work at 12:30, I was hungry.  I really didn’t want fast food or pizza nor did I want to go to a bar.  Luckily, Grand Rapids actually has a 24 hour diner.

Grand Coney now has three locations in Kent County but only the original on Michigan Street and Eastern Avenue is open all the time.

I pulled in to the parking lot just before 12:45 AM.  There were a few other cars in the small parking space in front of the long, multi-tenant building but it wasn’t packed as the bars wouldn’t let out for another hour or so.

I walked in the same time as another woman who asked for a table of two and the hostess assumed I was with her.  Once she seated that woman she kind of looked at me and I said we weren’t together then just asked if I could sit at the lunch counter.  She told me that was fine then followed me to the big U-Shaped counter with a menu and took my drink order.

Grand Coney is a pretty classic diner.  They use a lot of red leather in the seating both on the stools at the lunch counter and the chairs on the tables.

The menu is standard diner fare and they serve breakfast all day.  I really should have gone the breakfast route because I ended up craving breakfast food the next morning realizing I missed out on a prime opportunity to gorge myself on hash browns, but I did a burger instead.

I picked the Breakfast Burger.  This sandwich is a combination of American and Swiss cheeses, bacon, a fried egg, lettuce, tomato, and mayo.  The burger is, again, a pretty standard diner burger.  Frozen patty on a white bun but it was tasty and hit the spot after a long day at work.  The bacon was super crispy, the egg with just a hint of runny egg yolk and the cheese enveloped the burger as it melted together.  The sandwich came with fries that needed some mustard but I was too tired to flag down my waitress to see if they had any so I just added a little more salt and went from there.

The bill for my very late dinner was a little under $13 before tip.  There’s a cash register at the entrance but my waitress grabbed the check and cashed me out while I was finishing up.

Grand Coney is the great and classic 24 hour diner every community needs.  The food isn’t going to blow your socks off but it is solid greasy diner food that everyone craves every so often.