{"id":466,"date":"2009-12-30T16:06:36","date_gmt":"2009-12-30T20:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/halfton.withbloodandthunder.com\/?p=466"},"modified":"2010-01-30T17:59:24","modified_gmt":"2010-01-30T21:59:24","slug":"between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-in-grand-rapids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halfton.withbloodandthunder.com\/?p=466","title":{"rendered":"Between a rock and a hard place in Grand Rapids."},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Blue Water Grill<\/span><\/a>
\n5180 Northland Dr
\nGrand Rapids, MI 49525-1052
\n(616) 363-5900<\/strong><\/p>\n

The season is a time of thanking and giving\u2026 or taking, depending on whether you came in on the Mayflower or you were already in the Americas. Either way, now its a time of family and food. My family went to Grand Rapids to have a Thankstaking lunch with my Grandma. Back in the day we would all gather at her house and she would make an outstanding meal, but as time wears on so does our age and she has wearied of the chore of cooking for everyone. Typically, we eat at mild eateries as Grandma\u2019s palate doesn\u2019t stand for things with pizzazz, but you can only eat at Applebee\u2019s so many times before you start losing your sense of taste (and your sense of decency). So, my Pops scouted a new joint for us to eat at and he found The Blue Water Grill . On the initial perusal the B.W. Grill looked like it was going to kick our asses in terms of the price, but after looking at the menu we found everything to be reasonably priced. Mission \u201cNomnomnom with Oma\u201d is a go at The Blue Water Grill. Dan was with me, so we\u2019re going to tag team this review, I\u2019ll get it started:<\/p>\n

Matt: First, I\u2019d like to say that the place looked impressive. There is a massive 4 sided fireplace when you walk into the joint and it actually provides heat. Unfortunately the start of service didn\u2019t deliver in this respect. The host\/hostess had apparently fled their station and we, along with another irate customer, were stuck waiting for one of the staff to meet our eyes and come over and ask what they can do to help. Instead of stewing in my own Rage-juices I asked the bartendress if we could seat ourselves (kinda rude, I know, but I really didn\u2019t have the patience to re-read the menu and pretend like waiting was a fun option), this prompted seats and menus to be provided post-haste.<\/p>\n

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Dan: I found the overall ambiance really nice. It\u2019s an interesting setup. The Blue Water Grill feels like casual dining, and the menu choices<\/a> seem like you\u2019re paying for $25 plates. We chose to sit at a booth instead of taking a seat at the bar. I don\u2019t know about you, but I don\u2019t really want to sit at a bar and crane my neck every time I want to talk with my grandma. Anyways, taking a look around, you get to see what happens when a gravel pit runs dry. They fill it with water and call it a lake; new development gets to pop up around previously worthless real estate.<\/p>\n

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Matt:\u00a0 The art they have on and around the giant fireplace is fitting for the joint, it\u2019s not breaking new ground but it\u2019s not garish.\u00a0 I could hope for something more progressive but at least it\u2019s not the disjointed schizophrenic cacophony that Applebee\u2019s and their ilk litter the walls with.\u00a0 No one gives a shit about the local little league team that won 3 games over the past decade.<\/p>\n

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Matt:\u00a0 I think I may be developing a new art form called \u201cThe Joy of Bitching.\u201d\u00a0 At the very least, I think it would make for a great book title.\u00a0 Now on with the bitching: What shouldn\u2019t you do?\u00a0 Oh that\u2019s right, eat with Old People.\u00a0 They\u2019re picky and go about things in an odd way, is this because they\u2019re old?\u00a0 My Grandma always asks for Decaf Black Tea, always.\u00a0 The annoying part is that the restaurants we go to with her NEVER carry Decaf Black Tea.\u00a0 She has quite literally asked for Decaf Black Tea on every excursion to a restaurant and they have not once had Decaf Black Tea.\u00a0 Black Tea? Sure. Decaf Black Tea? Not on your life.\u00a0 The second annoying part is that she always carries Decaf Black Tea bags with her.\u00a0 So, why ask for the tea if she already has it?\u00a0 The only reason I can suss out is the behaviour is a hold-over from going through hard times and getting the most bang for your buck possible.<\/p>\n

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Matt:\u00a0 One nice point is that they have a bread service.\u00a0 You get recently warmed up bread, vinegar, and oil to quell some of your hunger pangs.\u00a0 They served sourdough, which I happen to enjoy.\u00a0 Please note in the shot above, the aforementioned Decaf Black Tea.<\/p>\n

Dan: \u00a0We ended up being seated close to the kitchen. \u00a0It was an open air grill type of deal, which I thought looked pretty good. \u00a0However, the General Manager was hanging out at the server station working on silverware or some shit and basically felt like he was hovering over my shoulder the whole time. \u00a0Probably not that noticeable when it’s busy, but for a slower lunch it was definitely irksome.<\/p>\n

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Dan: I ended up ordering the Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos. \u00a0I was pretty excited since I can never seem to find fish tacos anywhere in Michigan. \u00a0The plating was excellent, unfortunately the food wasn’t up to par with the plating. \u00a0The fish was completely over seasoned; \u00a0I didn’t taste any fish in my fish tacos. \u00a0I don’t know about you, but if I order fish tacos… I’m hoping for some flavor of the water to come through. \u00a0The rice was overcooked as well, the starches were completely coming apart and the rice was basically a mushy mess. \u00a0My other beef with the tacos is that I had to build the fucking things. \u00a0Don’t get me wrong, that can be fun to do under some circumstances (like when you’re cooking at home…) but I definitely don’t want to go somewhere and have to put my food together. \u00a0Also, there was nowhere on my plate to build the damn things! \u00a0So, I’m sitting here feebly cupping this tortilla and trying to shovel some of this food in while hoping to keep some semblance of balance. \u00a0The biggest stand out for the whole dish was the salsa\/chutney that they had. \u00a0It was a good mixture of spicy and sweet, I probably would have been happier with more of that and some tortilla chips.<\/p>\n

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Matt: One unrelated note to my dining experience, I noticed a lot of folks with wine.\u00a0 This may have been due to it being the Thanksgiving season or perhaps people show up at this joint for wine at 2pm on a Wednesday.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure why they\u2019d intentionally come to a place to drink wine and listen to the speakers drone out some shitty James Blunt songs and other miscellanious top 40 hits.\u00a0 One further note about the music, The BWG’s website has a jazzy atmospheric song playing and I’m somewhat disappointed that they couldn’t follow through with this theme in their restaurant.<\/p>\n

Another interesting thing about the restaurant is that it was much smaller than it appeared.\u00a0 As Dan mentioned earlier The Blue Water Grill has an upscale appearance but a casual dining experience.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t feel out of place wearing jeans and a t-shirt.\u00a0 The tables are made of a nice polished wood and were free of the slightly sticky surface that I\u2019ve come to associate with all surfaces at an IHOP.\u00a0\u00a0 The BWG is a bit of a gem in a Strip-Mall-Hell.<\/p>\n

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Matt: I ordered the Chili Crusted Burger which was covered in tasty shoestring onions on a thick roll. On the menu the roll is described as a \u2018pretzel roll\u2019 but I received a sourdough roll.\u00a0 The garlic butter crinkly fries that were served with it were alright as well.\u00a0\u00a0 The burger didn\u2019t come across as all that unique, burgers generally taste like burgers. My only beef with the samich: where is the \u201cChili Crusted\u201d portion? There wasn\u2019t a hint of kick to the flavor.\u00a0 Despite not being \u2018Chili Crusted\u2019 the burger did have a great flavor and I loved the avocado on the burger.\u00a0 One note, I ordered the burger to be cooked to medium, and it definitely did not show as Medium but rather medium-well to well-done. Quite a few restaurants seem to do this and I can only hazard to guess that this is because their patrons are dolts and send back food that is cooked to the appropriate degree (medium should be pink in the middle, which you can see on the Iowa Beef Council’s site here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Dan: While I thought my food was merely edible, I tried some of the pizza my parent’s ordered. \u00a0It was delicious. \u00a0One of the things that The BWG promotes is their wood fire grill for Pizza. \u00a0I’d definitely look at getting one of their Pizzas if I’m ever around that way again.<\/p>\n

Dan’s Rating: [rating:3.5] . \u00a0I was impressed with the ambiance, and the other food looked great.. but the tacos were a let down.<\/p>\n

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Matt: My Grandma and my Mom ordered the the Blue Water Grill Prime Rib which looked fairly tasty but I didn\u2019t have a bite.\u00a0 Our bill ended up being below $50 which is fairly astounding considering 5 people were fed. In closing the service we received from our server was fantastic. She was very present, great on refills and follow-ups, courteous and friendly.\u00a0 I think Dan needs to lay off the pipe because I thought this place was great.\u00a0 The BWG merits a [rating:4.5] from me and could\u2019ve come close to 5 stars had there been a host\/hostess.<\/p>\n

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Matt: [rating:4.5]<\/p>\n

Dan: [rating:3.5]<\/p>\n

-Matt & Dan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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