Royals
701 Wealthy Street SEIt’s been a few years since I’ve worked full time in Grand Rapids so it’s always amazing to me just how much things have changed in the four years.
I was driving along Wealthy SE one day last week and barely recognized anything. The neighborhood has been kind of hip for a while but there are so many new restaurants and shops in the area. The vibe was buzzing on a random Wednesday night with patios full and people walking the streets.
I had a task to do in East Grand Rapids but would be driving back down Wealthy when I was done. I figured I may as well try out one of these new (to me anyway) restaurants on the way back.
The restaurant I picked was Royals. This little diner with a huge patio sits on the corner of Wealthy and Henry Avenue in Grand Rapids’ East Hills Neighborhood. I knew there was something on that corner before but I couldn’t remember what until I went back to Google Maps street view. It was Jonny B’z. Before that, it was an old service station.
I was kind of in a hurry and not really looking to do the dine in thing anyway. Lucky for me, they have online ordering. While I was walking back to my car after completing my assigned job in EGR, I put in an order for a Bacon and Bleu Burger and an order of Royals fries.
Parking in the area is pretty tough. It’s all street parking so even for a pickup, I had to drive around the block a few times until I found something. It worked in my favor though. As I was walking in to the lobby area, my meal was being brought up to the host stand.
I didn’t really go in much or look around. The main diner is actually in the old service station. The new building built for Jonny B’z is the waiting area. The best thing about this place though is the large outdoor patio. There are games to play while waiting and a wonderful spaced out dining area.
When I got back to the office, I immediately went to work on the Royals fries. The seasoned thin cut fries looked to be frozen, out of the bag fries. They did have a heavy salt and pepper seasoning on them and came with a delicious cheese sauce to dip them in. They were good but maybe a little overpriced if they weren’t fresh cut.
The Black and Bleu burger is a 4 oz smash patty topped with bacon, pickle, bleu cheese, coleslaw, and a sweet & sour chili sauce. The coleslaw seemed weird on this sandwich to me so I asked to leave it off. The burger was delicious, juicy, and had all those little crispy bits you get from a smash patty. The sweet and sour sauce was pretty tasty as well. I didn’t know what to expect from that but it kind of looked like a BBQ sauce but one that had little bit of spice to go with that whole sweet and sour thing.
My meal, before tip, was right around $14.
Royals is a pretty tasty burger joint but I feel like it’d be better as a quick service type place than sit down restaurant. I’d love a place like this to pick up a burger on the go. But, as I mentioned, I didn’t go in to the dining room to really get a feel for the place. I know they’re going for kind of an upscale diner feel. I could be totally wrong. My point is, I love a good burger and I walked away from Royals with a really tasty burger. Much better than you’d get from a typical diner.
SW Michigan Dining 