Mid-Michigan Dining

• 2040 Aurelius Rd.
• Holt, MI 48842
• (517) 699-3670
• No Known Website
• Menu (From Okemos Location)

Buddies Grill in the Holt Plaza Shopping Center

Buddies has been on the short list of places to try near our house for some time.  Why we never got there is a mystery, but we finally hit it up for lunch.  Even the day we went, it was second choice.  I had heard about a deli inside a hardware store on Aurelius Road and that’s what we went looking for.  We found Big T’s Extreme Deli inside Brower’s Hardware, but there was a closed sign on the counter, so we were forced to find something else.  We had just drove by Buddies and my girlfriend suggested we turn around and head back there.

Buddies is located in a strip mall at the corner of Holt Rd. and Aurelius Rd.  It’s a huge space with a nice big outdoor patio.  The heat index was up over 90 degrees the day we stopped in, so we passed on the outdoors thing.  The inside is seperated into two rooms.  The main bar area with a variety of pub tables and regular tables scattered around the bar and then there’s another non-smoking room off to the left.  We took a table in the non-smoking section.  Our waitress came over for drink orders as we looked over the menu and it’s a pretty big menu.  By the time she came back with our Pepsi, we still weren’t quite ready, so she gave us a few more minutes. 

I went simple and predictable again with the Black-n-Bleu Bacon Cheeseburger.  With the sandwich you get your choice of chips or fries and I chose fries.  The sandwich was cooked perfectly medium with just a hint of pink in the middle.  The bacon wasn’t the usual strips, but instead chunks of bacon which made eating it easier.  You didn’t have to fight through bacon which tends to be tough on burgers.  I could see the bleu cheese, but the taste was very faint.  I could tell it was there, but I really like the taste of bleu cheese to almost be overpowering.  The sandwich was good even without the strong taste of cheese. 

The fries were fresh cut and cooked to a perfect golden brown.  My girlfriend doesn’t usually like fresh cut fries because they don’t crisp up as well.  She called these fries the best we’ve had in Lansing. They were simply seasoned with just a little bit of salt and each of our baskets came piled with them.   There was no reason either of us should have left hungry.

My girlfriend ordered the Fritter Wrap.  I’m going from memory here since there isn’t a menu on-line that lists this option, but it’s crispy chicken strips wrapped in a jalapeno tortilla with three cheeses, lettuce, and tomato (there may have been more on it, but I don’t remember).  She really liked the jalapeno tortilla.  Every now and then she would really get a bite of the heat, but it wasn’t every bite, so her mouth wasn’t constatnly on fire. 

Our meal was just over $20 and I think we both left happy.  If I had a complaint it would be that our drinks never got refilled.  The waitress came by two or three times but never offered another drink until she dropped off the check.  By then, I was done with my meal and didn’t want to drink another Pepsi, so I passed.  Buddies is not only a good restaurant, but a great bar.  It’s a nice big space and there are flat panel TV’s all over the place.  I could definately see myself stopping in for a beer or taking the family there for dinner.