Player’s Grill
506 E. Michigan AvenueMy daughter got the quintessential American summer experience last week. Sleepaway camp.
A friend of hers from school went to Sherman Lake YMCA camp last year and had a blast. Her dad asked us if L would be interested in going this year. We decided it’d probably be good for her and we knew she’d have fun being away from us for a week.
Drop off was Sunday afternoon on Father’s Day. That’s really not a big deal to me. I love that my family thinks they have to do something for me but I really don’t like anyone making a big deal over me.
We dropped L off right when the camp opened at 2:00. She wanted to get there early to get a top bunk. J went in to help her get set up and less than 15 minutes later, L kicked her out of the cabin and told her she’d see us in a week.
J wanted to go out for lunch and since we were near Augusta, I picked restaurant in Augusta. It’s kind of crazy to me just how many fantastic dining options there are in Augusta and I’ve almost made my way through all of them.
I picked Player’s Grill on the east side of Galesburg. The long time bar and grill is on East Michigan Avenue just before you get to the Kalamazoo river as you’re leaving town. The bar is a standalone building with a large parking lot surrounding it and a patio on the east side of the building.
We walked in to the sports bar around 2:30 on Sunday afternoon. The dining room was pretty full as was the bar which is right in front of you when you walk in. A bartender saw us standing there and told us to grab any open table and a waitress would be right over.
We initially went outside to the patio but there was no shade and it was pretty warm. We ended up heading back inside just as our waitress was coming outside with menus.
The dining room at Player’s Grill isn’t very big but there are tables packed in pretty tightly. The pub looks like a typical sports bar with TV’s all over the place and beer memorabilia on the walls. The furniture is not typical small town bar though. It’s actually pretty solid wood tables and chairs. There’s a pretty good mix between regular four tops and pub tables throughout the space.
There is a little bit of a draft list with the typical macro beers and a couple craft options. I stuck with what I know and ordered a tall Two Hearted. The beer came in a very tall frosted glass beer mug. The bigger size kept me from ordering two as I did a much better job with beer management so I had some for dinner.
J found a draft she liked to. They had a Ciderboys on tap. I think it was the Peach Cider but I didn’t really pay attention nor did I take a drink
I saw wings on the menu and they seemed pretty cheap so I put in my order for 12 bone-in wings with spicy garlic sauce. The wings were not quite what I was expecting when I ordered wings. They were breaded and topped with the sauce. They weren’t Buffalo style and covered in the sauce but it was kind of put on top. Despite being different than what I was expecting, they were actually really good. The breading made the wings really crispy and really juicy. The sauce was not quite what I was expecting. It wasn’t overwhelmingly spicy or garlicky but it was still quite tasty.
I also added on a side of fresh cut curly cheese fries. The fries were pretty similar to Arby’s fries but thinner, crispier, and just overall better. The fries were covered with a couple different kinds of melted cheese
J ordered the SBR Chicken Wrap. This sandwich is a choice of grilled or crispy chicken with a spicy bacon ranch, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion. She picked the crispy chicken and left the onions and tomatoes off. This is her kind of wrap. Delicious crispy chicken with just a little bit of heat from the ranch. Her meal came with the fresh cut curly fries.
We let B bring his tablet so he was pretty checked out. We ordered him a pepperoni pizza off the kid’s meal. It was a small, personal size piz.za with little bits of pepperoni on top. He ate about half but, like I said, he was kind of checked out and watching something on his tablet.
Our bill for early dinner was a little over $50 bucks with the two beers.
Player’s Grill has always had my interest whenever I drove by on my way to Battle Creek. They have a sign out front advertising they sell Nisker’s burgers which they bought the recipe for in 2006. There was a second Player’s Grill location years ago in Plainwell (where Salvino’s is now). I had a burger when we ate there way back in 2012. I was tempted to get one this time, and I probably should have, but wings were just too tempting to pass up.
Player’s Grill is a great cross between a neighborhood pub and a sports bar. They have solid food and a feel right at home atmosphere. It’s another one of those places where we felt like the odd man out because everyone seemed to know everyone else
SW Michigan Dining 