Black River Tavern
403 Phoenix StreetUsually when I’m in South Haven, it’s a grab and go lunch situation. I’m either there for work and don’t have a lot of time or we’re at the beach and we’re grabbing something on our way home.
I’d really like to be one of those people that rents a house for a week and enjoys all South Haven has to offer but that’s for rich FIPS (I can say that because I am Illinois People)…not people like me who don’t take vacations unless they’re related to figure skating competitions.
I was in South Haven Monday night for work but I was by myself. I decided to get over there early and see if any new spots had opened over the winter to grab dinner.
I drove around town for a while and didn’t really find anything that jumped out at me….except the one bar on the west end of downtown that I’ve wanted to go have a beer at forever.
Black River Tavern is on the corner of Phoenix Street and Kalamazoo Street right as downtown turns into “the bluff.” The building is part of the Elks Lodge #1509 building taking up the street level space of the two story brick building that has great views of the harbor and Lake Michigan off in the distance. Black River Tavern replaced a spot known as Jake’s Beach House about fifteen years ago and has become a staple in downtown South Haven since then.
As much as I would have liked to have sat down, had a beer, and enjoyed a burger, I couldn’t do that while I was on the clock. I could have still sat at the bar and ate but I just chose to use the online ordering option and grab a burger to go.
I got to BTR about fifteen minutes after putting my order in. There was a sign at the door to seat yourself and I just assumed I would pick up my order from the bartender. The bar is right inside the door as you walk in. It takes up pretty much the whole front of the building. It was about 4:30 PM on a very snow, very cold Monday and most of the barstools were full. There are TV’s hanging above the liquor bottles on display tuned to ESPN but most people weren’t paying attention to them this early in the evening.
Right across from the main bar is a standing bar that can be used on busy nights if you don’t want to take up a table. There are barstools on either side an you can just kind of hang out without having to stand or without having take up space in the dining room.
The dining room is fairly big and has tables packed in to the space. The restaurant really makes use of the brick walls and low lighting that come with an older building like this to set the atmosphere. This is kind of the spot to be on weekends for live music in South Haven during the summer so they make use of all the space they have.
I was a few minutes early to pick up my sandwich so I just took a seat and waited. Less than five minutes after I got there, I was handed a bag with my food, napkins, and some ketchup packets.
I headed over to my job site to eat. It was really cold out and snow as blowing sideways (in March) so I just sat in the car instead of getting out and eating on the hood like I do during the warmer months.
I started with the fries that I ordered as a side for an extra $3. The fries are battered, seasoned frozen fries and there were a lot of them in the box. The menu on the website is vary vague so not sure if it is typical to pay extra for fries or if that was me reading the online ordering wrong but I wasn’t too mad when I saw how many were there. These aren’t always my favorite kind of frozen fries but I was really hungry and these tasted really good in the moment. They threw some ketchup packets in but I’m not really a sauce person when it comes to fries.
The burger I ordered was the BBQ Bacon Burger. The problem sometimes with online ordering is the vagueness of the description of the burger. In this case, there was none. All I knew is that it had BBQ, bacon, and it was a burger. The online ordering makes it a little more confusing when you start picking toppings. I just didn’t click anything other than cheese because all I really wanted was BBQ, bacon, and a cheeseburger. I got those three things but there was also sauteed onions on the burger when I got it. I did not want those. They were easy to wipe off though without losing any of the toppings I wanted. Without the onions, this burger was exactly what I was looking for. Two large pieces of crispy bacon, cheese melted into the meat and a thin layer of BBQ sauce on the bottom of the bun that added a ton of flavor but didn’t make a huge mess while I was trying to eat this in my car before heading in to a meeting.
The cost of my meal was right around $20 which seems to be about the average anymore.
I got a tasty meal from Black River Tavern but I still didn’t have the full experience. I really think this is one of the places you need to experience on a Saturday night in July when the town is hopping. It’s still a great place for the locals in the off season and a great place to sit down for a delicious meal and a cold beer no matter when you’re in town.
SW Michigan Dining 