Mid-Michigan Dining

• 2012 E. Michigan Ave.
• Lansing, MI 48912
• (517) 482-4430
• No Known Website
• Menu

Emil's Restaurant on Michigan Avenue in Lansing.

I proved tonight that you can wear a white shirt to an Italian restaurant and not make a mess.  I think I surprised J as much as I surprised myself.  After a day of shopping, we were sitting on the couch flipping back and forth between the MSU/PSU game and the Illinois/Northwestern game.  We were both getting hungry and I was craving Italian.  Emil’s is one of the Lansing institutions that had been recomended to us when we first moved here, but we don’t eat out Italian very often.  Since I was craving, we thought, why not?

Emil’s is on Michigan Avenue a few blocks down from Sparrow Hospital.  There’s a little on street parking in the front, but there’s a huge public parking lot behind the row of businesses.  Emil’s has an entrance off the back and since that’s where we parked, that’s where we entered.  The back entrance brings you right into the bar.  We were a little confused at that point. Were we supposed to seat ourselves or is there a host somewhere.  I just figured if we walked to the front door, we’d find out.  As we made our way through the bar, a host noticed us and was waiting near the front for us.  When we got to him, he led us into a dining room seperate from the bar.

The dining room is lined on either side with booths that lend themselves to privacy.  The backs are high and it makes you feel like there’s no one else in the room.  We looked over our menus as the waiter got our drinks.  J ordered a Diet Coke.  I said “Coke or Pepsi” because usually, it’s one or the other and really, I just want a cola.  I don’t care which one.  He explained they had both.  I didn’t understand what he was saying, but J got a fountain Coke, so I assume he said they had Coke on fountain and Pepsi in cans.  He came back with my can of Pepsi and a glass to pour it in.  He left us alone for a few more minutes to look over the menu.

Emil's Restaurant in Lansing, MI

When he came back, we were both ready to go.  I ordered the lasagna and J got baked mostaccioli.  Her entree came with spaghetti sauce, but she asked for a meatless marinara instead.  Both meals came with choice of soup or salad.  We both got salad with the house Italian dressing.  A few minutes later, the waiter came back with the salad and bread.  In my opinion, this was the only disappointing part of the meal.  The salad was a handful of iceburg lettuce and a slice of tomato drenched in Italian dressing.  The dressing was good, but the salad was very underwhelming.  The bread was two slices of a homemade white bread.  There was olive oil and parmesean cheese on the table which we used to dip, but that really works better with a crusty Italian bread which is what I expect from an Italian restaurant. 

We polished off the salad and bread rather quickly, but not long after we were done, the entrees came out.   Both dishes were served in a bowl sitting on top of a plate.  My lasagna was served with a lot of sauce.  In the middle of the dish was a large chunk of homemade noodles, meat, and cheese.  It was literally swimming in a sweet, chunky tomato sauce.  There was a lot of cheese.  It was really good and I cleaned my plate.  As I mentioned early, I was wearing a white dress shirt.  Don’t ask.  I didn’t want to dirty another shirt and I thought it would be a challenge.  I ate the entire plate and didn’t end up with one spot of marinara sauce on my shirt.

J’s baked mostaccioli was also a huge portion.  The marinara was mixed in with the noodles then baked and topped with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  She ate about half of it and we took the rest home for (my) lunch tomorrow.  We were both really happy with our meals and weren’t quite ready to stop.  The dessert menu is on the table and the entire meal we were looking at the cheesecake, so we split a piece for dessert.  I don’t know why I like cheesecake because I wouldn’t eat any of the ingredients on their own, but for some reason, I love it.  There’s an option to get strawberry sauce on it which I’m sure J wanted, but I don’t like fruit so we left it off.  The slice wasn’t huge, but it was just enough for the two of us.

Whenever I see reviews for Emil’s, they’re either really good or really bad.  I would go somewhere just past the middle on the really good side.  The entrees were really good, but the salad and bread were a disappointment.  The atmosphere was nice and our meal went pretty well.  The bill before tip with dessert was just over $30 and there’s leftovers for tomorrow.  I’ve eaten at really old world, home style Italian places and I’ve eaten at the fancier, high class Italian places.  I prefer the home-y places and that’s what Emil’s is