Richland Lanes
9900 East D AvenueAnother Thursday night. Another trip to Richland.
Actually, I kind of messed up. There was a MyWay Wrestling tournament going on at Wings Event Center so the kids were skating at The Rink in Battle Creek instead.
I assumed that L would just get a rid to Richland like she always does but it was the night before Spring Break started and ice time was a little different in Battle Creek so her usual rides ended up not going.
I assumed wrong…..but I also didn’t text anyone to ask. I got out of work early and was hungry so I just headed to Richland to find a place to eat. It wasn’t until I checked L’s location on my phone in the middle of my dinner to realize I didn’t actually need to be in Richland.
That didn’t stop me from having a tasty meal though.
I’ve almost made it through all the restaurants in Richland but there are still a couple left. This week’s stop. A bowling alley.
Richland Lanes is on the east side of Richland on East D Avenue/M-89 just to the west of 34th Street across the street from the Gull Lake Schools campus in Richland Township. The building is a pretty simple one story, long metal building that has been there for quite a while. Some cosmetic updates were made about ten years ago but the structure of the building has stayed the same. The inside, on the other hand, underwent a complete renovation last year.
When you walk in, you come into the bowling alley part of the building. There are twelve lanes and seating to hang out. It appeared a league night was just getting started as I walked in and by the time I was done with dinner, most of the lanes were full.
The restaurant is separated from the bowling alley. There is an unmarked entrance on the outside that takes you right in to the bar the area if you’re coming from the parking lot.
There is also an entrance from the bowling alley. You can go in to get food and drinks but they also had a waitress running the bowling area.
There is a huge bar that takes up a good chunk of the space. It’s kind of a U-Shape with an extension on one end that goes back towards the door. There are a few TV’s in the area as well. It was MLB opening day and the NCAA tournament was still going on so there was plenty to watch. I just took a seat away from other people in the corner of the bar.
There’s also a really large dining room with a couple of pool tables at one end. All of this looks freshly remodeled too. Everything is clean and the place is pretty bright. I grew up in the dark, dank, full of smoke bowling alley’s of the 80’s and 90’s. This is not that kind of place.
There’s a sign out front that calls this restaurant Strikers Grill but I think that may be leftover from previous owners. That branding isn’t used anywhere else inside the restaurant or on the menus. Everything just refers to the entire place as Richland Lanes.
I started with an Oberon because I have to have at least one every year. I’d usually just get a Two Hearted but it was Oberon week so I felt obligated to have one. I’ll get back to Two Hearted soon
The menu isn’t very big and it consists of typical pub fare. Appetizers, sandwiches, wings, and burgers for the most part.
I ordered a 1/2 lb burger with cheddar cheese, bacon, and BBQ sauce. The sandwich comes standard on Texas Toast and I just kept that option. There are two 1/4lb burger patties topped with crispy bacon, melted cheese and just enough BBQ sauce that I could taste it but didn’t make a huge mess. I actually really liked the Texas Toast bread. It was really buttery and crunchy but still kind of soft once you got through that outside layer. This was a really solid, delicious burger that I wasn’t really expecting. It would have been fine on a bun but the bread actually made it a little bit unique and gave it something I wasn’t expecting.
The burger comes with chips or fries. I chose fries. They’re simple, out of the bag, restaurant style fries. There was a lot of them though. I grabbed the nearby salt and pepper shakers to give them a bit more flavor. Simple fries but very filling.
The cost of my meal, before tip, was right around $20.
I found Richland Lanes by driving by it a few weeks ago when I went out to the Dock at Bayview for dinner. It’s not a place I had ever heard anything about and didn’t even know if they had a restaurant until I got home and looked it up. I’m not a bowler, never really have been, but I spent a lot of time in bowling alley’s when I was younger. My dad was a league bowler. The bowling alley’s of today are nothing like the bowling alley’s of the 80’s. Richland Lanes has clearly had a spruce up over the last few years. This wasn’t a place that was anywhere near my radar but I’m glad I stopped in…even if I didn’t actually need to be in Richland that night.
SW Michigan Dining 