Jimmy's Pub on Chandler Road in East Lansing.
After another day of shopping at Meridian Mall, we decided to head out to Chandler Crossing to get some lunch. I know it doesn’t make sense, but this blog has been getting a ton of hits for Small Planet. I noticed on their new website the kitchen is (is going to be?) open at 11:00 am. Since that’s what a lot of people are coming here for right now, I thought we’d check out the menu and see if it’s worth going during the day. We found Small Planet and there were people inside, but the doors didn’t open when we got up to them, so we assumed they were closed.
Since we struck out at Small Planet, we needed a new place for lunch. We’ve seen the commercials for Jimmy’s several times on TV, but didn’t know where it was. We passed the pub on Chandler Road and the parking lot is actually connected to Chandler Crossing. It looked like our best bet for a meal, so we headed over to their side of the parking lot.
Jimmy’s has a pretty cool atmosphere. It’s kind of got a old world street feel going. When you walk in, you run into the big horseshoe bar. If you look down, there’s a faux cobblestone street. Above you is a fake night sky with little twinkling lights that look like stars. The theme is continued with street lamps used for lighting and street signs hanging in the corners.
There wasn’t a whole lot of people in the bar, but there were a few there obviously on a business lunch. We found a pub table in the “pool room” and took a seat. The menus were already on the table, so we started browsing before our server came over to take drink orders. When she came back with our Pepsi’s, we were ready to order.
I got the Hickory Burger. I got the 1/2 lb of fresh lean beef grilled medium. The sandwich came with cheddar cheese, bacon, and BBQ sauce and served on an onion roll. The meal came with homemade kettle chips, but I upgraded to fries for a buck. Onion rolls usually signal a sub par burger on my scale. Not a huge fan and didn’t notice it on the menu. I found it later in small print at the top of the burger section not in the description of the sandwich. Besides the bun, the burger was pretty good. There was a lot of BBQ sauce and it got a little messy. I tried to use some of the sauce to soften up the bun and hide the onion taste a little bit. The fries were not worth the buck. Just the same generic, out of the bag fries. If you’re going to make me pay extra, at least give me a fresh cut fry or something unique.
Since we’re such an adventerous couple when it comes to pub food, my girlfriend did something she’s never done before and ordered the buffalo chicken wrap. I know. Me getting a burger and her getting a buffalo chicken wrap. You’ve never read about that before on this blog. Anyway, there was some uniqueness to this wrap. The chicken strips were long, thin, and crispy and covered in a mild buffalo sauce. The flour tortilla also came stuffed with shredded lettuce, tomato, and melted cheddar cheese. A cup of ranch dressing was served on the side. Her wrap also came with chips, but she upgraded to the fries as well. I asked halfway through the meal if it was any good and she said it was, She had a lot left and I helped out a little with her leftover fries.
Our waitress was pretty good about not bothering us, but not leaving us with empty glasses either. Our bill was just over $21 before tip. Jimmy’s has a really cool layout and a really unique design. We sat there waiting for a food and starring at the ceiling. There were flatscreen TV’s above the windows to cut down on the glare which is another good idea I haven’t seen at any other bar. I think we both liked Jimmy’s. Too bad it’s kind of out there not near anything. It took us a while to get there from the Meridian Mall and it wasn’t super close to the Eastwood Towne Centre either. That will make it hard for us to choose it again, but it is worth a second trip….and to make things even better, Jimmy’s is smoke-free!
Mid-Michigan Dining 
If you do get back to Jimmy’s they have a nice pasta dish… I can’t remember what they call it but it has an alfredo-like sauce with peas and ham. I’ve also had a good order of fish n’ chips at Jimmy’s.
I haven’t been to the new Jimmy’s since they moved from the Frandor area. We have a $25 gift certificate though…so we will be checking it out soon.
I don’t really get why they would move there. We never would have found it had we not been looking for something else. It was good…just far away from anything and I loved the building…really cool layout and design.
We went and used our gift cards last night. I had the coconut shrimp, which was pretty good…but a little too sweet. When I bread with coconut at home I use unsweetened coconut flakes for that reason. Corky had the meatball sub and found it very good…and he is pretty picky.