Brad S.
Yelp
Where do I begin? Let me first say I have been a fan of Lansing Brewery since my first visit 5 years ago. SO we were absolutely delighted. It was beautiful, hip, clean with great service and a better attitude from the staff who seemed proud to be working there. At the time, they had a lot of great beer they made themselves. My favorite was "The Angry Mayor" and second to "The Gov" which had a drawn picture of Governor Whitmer gracing the can. The food was delightful and healthy, heaping portions accompanied a decent price point. They also have outstanding pizza from (we suspect) a fire oven. My wife and I would share a Marguerite pizza along with an appetizer of fried pickles. We might get another set of drafts and be on our way with some swag from the front counter.
We made several trips back, at least once a month. Then Covid hit and ruined a lot of things. Kept everything locked down for months after it lifted, venues were still struggling to keep it together. We expected and rolled with the punches. The food stayed pretty on par and slowly started to decline as prices started to go up and favorites disappeared from the menu. We attended a few times and found the oven not working - so we ordered other things and went on our way.
Tonight, on a palmy evening in April we thought it would be great to stop in and enjoy the sunshine, atmosphere and some good food. We arrived to a half filled venue at about 5:30. Walked in the doors and were seated. We got our menus and water as we waited our server. We noticed the menu had changed again and our favorite sandwiches were gone. But that's ok. We can have the pizza. Our server dashed that quickly with a "sorry, our oven is not working". Ok. Back to the menu. We ordered some beer we knew from LB's line. We also ordered some different meals because our favorites were unavailable or deleted.
We still had the sun and the promise of good food. The beer came and mine was absolutely flat. It tasted nothing like it had before, nor the 6 packs I would buy around town. Thats a disappointment. And our server was nowhere to be found. In fact, they never came back to the table. We waited and looked around and the fried pickles came. They were ok, but kinda burnt and greasy. Not the batter blown delectables from before. Our server must have left as we had another gal bring us our food in a to-go bag. We were confused and so were they. They thought it over and said, they put this on the wrong ticket and they disappeared and came back 5 mins later with platters and said she figured it out. Cool! OK.
So we started on our sandwiches (that were 16.00+ with chips.) This was new to me. Chips. The sandwich itself was fair but very dry. It was a BBQ burger with Louisiana sauce, cheddar cheese and deep fried onions. It was also the DRYEST entree I have had in a very long time. My wife's was not much better. Her bun was soggy and the shredded chicken was just a smidge wetter than my entree. We waited for more drinks, or an offer of more water or something to finish. Nope. No one ever came back to the table.
I had to walk to the cashier and ask him for a bill. He went and got it from our server and we sat there for a bit, noticed no one was coming and then I walked back and asked to pay. He then had to GET my server. They seemed irritated to have to come. They took the bill and card and handed it back to me. Didn't wait for me to sign or add tip. I did my diligence and paid/tipped. This was not good and alarming enough to write about, because in this day and age, $70 bills still are expensive for 2 people. I love this place and wish it would take a look at customer treatment when food and costs of the restaurant are more a factor than a pleasant meal and experience. I hope they fix it. I really do.