Fazoli's in South Lansing....sorry about the focus...it was snowing really hard.
Looks like I can squeeze in one more Mid-Michigan review before Christmas. I made it back to Lansing Monday morning at 3 AM after a 12 hour ride on an Amtrak that is only supposed to take 4 1/2 hours. I’m not going to bitch as much as I want to, but let me just say, it was awful. What makes it even more awful, is we’re supposed to hop on another train tomorrow morning to head back to Chicago. We’re both a little stressed out wondering if we’re gonna make it home by Christmas.
Since I’m just back in Lansing for a few days, we didn’t do any grocery shopping this week therefore, we have no food in the house. Let me take that back, we have food, but it’s only to make cookies which I’ve been doing for two straight days now. So, the only option was to eat out. Last night, we hit up Steak ‘n Shake to take advantage of their 4 meals under $4 menu. Tonight, it was Fazoli’s.
Strangely, my family has a history with Fazoli’s. When I lived in Joliet, the only place, other than Chicken-n-Spice (review HERE), I took my parents to eat when they came to visit was Fazoli’s. At that time, I had never heard of the chain and didn’t even realize it was a chain until I saw one on one of my “party visits” to the University of Illinois.
Fazoli’s in South Lansing is located on South Cedar Street. We’ve drove by it many times, but never gave it much consideration due to the fact it was chain, fast food Italian. I always remembered it as being “ok”, but not really something I really looked forward to. We got a coupon in the mail touting their specials which all run under four bucks. Since the weather was so nasty and we didn’t want to spend a fortune on dinner with the holidays coming up, I picked J up from work and we slowly made our way to Fazoli’s for dinner.
Fazoli's on South Cedar in Lansing...sorry about the focus...it was snowing really hard.
Fazoli’s is kind of a cross between a fast food restaurant and a sit down restaurant. When you walk in, you make your way to the counter to order just like you would at McDonald’s. Most of the meals are what you would expect at an Italian place. There’s also a selection of pizza which you can buy by the slice and some sandwiches.
Since we were looking to eat cheap, we both ordered today’s special which was baked spaghetti. J ate at Fazoli’s last Thursday for the first time (I think) and was really impressed with the sampler platter which was the special that night. She said she got a ton of food, so even though the special was something different, I figured if what she got the other night was enough for her, the baked spaghetti special should be enough for me.
After ordering, they give you one of those buzzer things restaurants give you when you’re waiting to be seated. We grabbed our cups and went to get drinks then found a table and waited for our buzzer to go off. Like I said earlier, it’s a cross between fast food and restaurant. There is no waitress, but the food is made (or at least re-heated) after you order. It didn’t take long for the buzzer to go off and I went to get our tray.
The baked spaghetti is served in a foil tin with one breadstick. I was a little surprised by the size. For four bucks, there was quite a bit of spaghetti. I topped mine with some more Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes. The spaghetti was alright. J said it was really good and she liked it. I didn’t think it was bad, but to me, there wasn’t a ton of flavor. There was a ton of cheese which is a good thing.
I remember Fazoli’s having endless breadsticks. When we use to go in Joliet (8 years ago), they would have someone walking around with a basket of the breadsticks and ask if you wanted one. They only gave you one at a time, but they were usually pretty good about getting you another one if you didn’t have one on your plate. I didn’t see that tonight. Don’t know if it’s still endless breadsticks and you just have to go back to the counter or what, but that was kind of disappointing.
We got out of there for just under $11. I can’t tell you the last time I ate for for $11 let alone the two of us. I left a little it hungry, but I feel better about leaving a place hungry where I paid $5 for my meal than if I paid $11. Most people I know seem to really like Fazoli’s. I like it, but don’t love it. It’s a nice option, but I’m not going to be sad if I never eat at one again.
Mid-Michigan Dining 
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