Mimi Sarducci’s

• 203 N. Front Street
• Dowagiac, MI 49047
• (269) 782-6464
• Website
• Menu

Another day.  Another solo road trip to a far away land.  

My co-worker and I were working on the same project again but we were doing so separately.  I needed to go to Cass County to do something and there was really no reason for him to go with me.  He could do what he needed to do in the office in Kalamazoo.  

My travels took me to a rural patch of land between Cassapolis and Dowagiac.  The GPS took me through Dowagiac so I decided that’s where I should look for lunch.  

I was looking for something quick and was having a hard time finding a sandwich shop or something similar.  As I was about to give up, I saw a Google listing for a place with no website or menu but it did have some tasty looking pictures attached to it.  That’s how I made my lunch decision on this day.  Random user photos on a Google listing.  

Mimi Sarducci’s is really hard to miss if you’re not looking forward.  The small restaurant is on Front Street north of Division and downtown Dowagiac.  Front Street is also M-51 so it’s the way in our out of town if you’re coming from the north.  I’m pretty sure I passed it on my way in to town and never noticed it.  

The building is really small and shows it’s age. There’s an order counter right as you walk in the door and a small dining room with just a couple of tables filling in the rest of the space that isn’t the kitchen. The dining area was roped off due to the dine-in ban on the day I stopped in so there was a space open with just enough room for two people to be inside while ordering.

I looked over the menu on the counter and settled on the Italian beef with cheese. This was a gutsy move for me because I’m a super snob when it comes to Italian beef. I decided to give it a shot because I was really in the mood for a burger.

I paid the tab of just over $15 then went to wait in the car. The woman who took my order said it’d be about 15 minutes and there really wasn’t enough space for me to wait. I figured I’d just hang out outside then come back in for my food.

Ten minutes after I ordered, a man appeared at my window with a box of food. I quickly put a mask on to take it from him. He said he saw me sitting out here and saved me a trip through the icy parking lot.

The Italian beef looked like an Italian beef when I opened it up. The gravy and the giardiniera were in separate containers so they didn’t make a mess. It was a little cold out but I decided just to eat on the hood of my car instead of waiting or trying to eat a beef on my way back to Kalamazoo.

I opened up both plastic cups and poured the contents on top of the sandwich. There wasn’t enough gravy to totally soak the beef but it had a strong flavor and did just enough to soften up the toasted bun. The beef itself appeared to be prepackaged beef that had been reheated in the gravy. It was still tender enough and there was a lot on the sandwich covered by a thick layer of mozzarella cheese. The giardiniera also likely came from a jar but it’s the kind I like with a lot of celery and jalapenos

The sandwich didn’t come with fries but I added them on as a side. The fries were simple frozen crinkle cuts. There was a pretty large bag of them that I ate after I started my trip back to the office in Kalamazoo.

Mimi Sarducci’s is really pretty much what I was expecting. It’s not fancy, it’s not home made, but it is tasty. It’s got the feel of a neighborhood beef shop in the city. It’s the kind of place that you always know exactly what you’re going to get and that’s what’s great about it.