Roy’s Squeeze Inn
1315 E. Michigan AvenueIt’s been a while since I’ve been asked to work a Saturday. I haven’t missed that at all.
I was asked to work this past Saturday in Novi. I didn’t have anything going on and it was a 100% overtime shift that I knew would go more than eight hours so I took it.
My day started with an early morning drive to the east side of the state. I got to Novi around 9 AM and wrapped up the job by a little before 4:00 PM. I hadn’t had time to eat since I stopped at a gas station on my drive over so I started looking around for something to eat.
There were some places that sounded good but nothing was really jumping out at me. I remembered I saw a Tik Tok not too long ago about a place in Ypsilanti that I really wanted to try so I decided to head there in stead.
Roy’s Squeeze Inn is on Michigan Avenue just to the east of Burbank Avenue in Ypsilanti Township just to the east of the town proper. The small…very small…circular shaped building started it’s life as something else before becoming Roy’s Squeeze Inn in the 1950’s. The restaurant got it’s name because they would have to “squeeze” customers into the tiny parking lot when the restaurant first opened.
The restaurant is literally only big enough for a half circle lunch counter with about a dozen seats. The furniture is very dated. The paint is is a very bold, very simple red. The laminate counter looks like it has seen better days. The whole place is a time capsule. The waitress has a station right in the middle of the counter with a cash register and a Coke machine.
I had done a little research before coming to this place but as I was driving from Novi to Ypsilanti, something crossed my mind. Would they take credit card? I didn’t have much cash in my wallet so I was concerned. I ended up needing gas anyway so I stopped at an ATM. It’s a really good thing I did that because as I pulled the door to walk in, I saw a small sticker right above the handle. Cash only.
The waitress was slammed when I got there. Not by people in the restaurant but by to-go orders. You don’t have to actually come in to the store. When you call in an order (there’s no online ordering), you give them your car model and they run it to you. There’s not a drive thru per se but this works the same way. She kept apologizing and promising me she would get to me in a second. I wasn’t in a hurry so I told her not to rush and deal with the crush that she was dealing with.
The menu is pretty simple as you would expect from a 1950’s drive in. Burgers, BBQ pork, chicken, ham sandwich and hot dogs. All things that can be made and consumed quickly.
I ordered a burger listed only a the channel style menu board as the Big Cheese Squeeze. This is a half pound burger with cheese. It also comes with lettuce, tomato, mayo, an onions. According to the website, you can also add bacon. None of that is on the menu in the restaurant itself though so I had no idea what came on it. The sandwich is an absolute banger of a diner burger. The juicy half pound burger is served on a sesame seed bun. I pulled off the tomatoes and some of the onions but decided to just deal with it. It was actually pretty tasty although there was slightly too much mayo for me. I would have left that off for sure had I know. I should have asked but I assumed it would be ketchup and mustard. I need to stop assuming. Even with all the extra toppings I would have left off, this was still a really tasty burger and really worth going out of the way for.
I also ordered a side of potato wedges to go with the burger. These were simple crispy on the outside, soft on the inside wedges. I grabbed the nearby salt and pepper to give the potatoes a little bit of seasoning. There was a pretty big pile of them in the basket which made sure I didn’t leave hungry after a long day of work with little to eat.
I also got a large Coke which the waitress was nice enough to fill up for me as I was leaving so I had a road Coke. The cost for all that was right around $15.
I’m learning, after close to 20 years leaving in Michigan, that Ypsilanti has a number of classic drive in’s that I really need to explore a little more. I loved Roy’s Squeeze Inn for the uniqueness of the building which provides a one of kind experience. I’d go with different toppings in the future but outside of that, it was a really tasty, timeless meal.
SW Michigan Dining 