Mid-Michigan Dining

• 1513 S. Cedar St.
• Lansing, MI 4891
• (517) 484-7060
• No Known Website
• Menu

Corey's Restaurat & Lounge on South Cedar Street in Lansing.

Since we found out our bar of choice wasn’t going to be open past 10:00 on New Year’s Eve, we decided to go out for dinner.  We had driven by a very uninviting building on Cedar Street with a old sign hanging off the building that simply said “Corey’s Coktails.”  We never gave the place much thought until a co-worker of J’s recommended it during a discussion of local eateries.   J e-mailed me and asked if I just wanted to go out for dinner and I said, yes and suggested Corey’s, so that’s where we ended up for dinner on New Year’s Eve. 

Corey’s Restaurant & Lounge sits on Cedar Street not too far from downtown.  From the outside, you’d never guess what was inside.  We pulled up to the building around 7:30 to find a packed parking lot.  We entered the lot off of Cedar Street and found a place to park, but we had no idea where the door was.  It definitely wasn’t on the Cedar Street side, so I assumed it was around back.  As we were walking towards the building, we saw someone walk out solving the mystery of the front door.

When you walk in, you take a step down and enter in the lounge part of the space.  There were no signs about seating or a hostess.  I noticed a pub table along the wall not too far from the entrance so that’s where we went.  There are two rooms  to the space.  Had we kept going, we would have found a more traditional dining room separated from the bar.  We climbed up the chairs and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited for a waitress to see us.  After a five to ten minute wait, we were finally noticed and a waitress came over for drink orders and left a couple menus. 

Our drinks came back right away.  Since J was on her dinner break, we both went with Cokes instead of liquor.  The drinks came back so quickly, we weren’t ready to order.  Bad move.  The waitress left the drinks and left us again for quite a while.  When she finally came back, we put in sandwich orders hoping they would come up quickly.  We were wrong.   Over a half hour and three Cokes after ordering, we finally got our sandwiches.

Corey's Restaurant & Lounge from the parking lot.

I ordered the Black Angus Burger.  The half pound burger came with cheese on a toasted bun with crinkle cut french fries.  The sandwich was pretty good.  The bun was really toasted and crunchy.  It added a depth of flavor and texture to what would have been a pretty average burger.  There were two slices of cheese on top of my perfectly cooked burger.  There was just a hint of pink in the middle, but it wasn’t greasy or messy.  There weren’t a whole lot of fries with my sandwich.  The ones that did come with it were out of the bag crinkle cuts, but they were done crispy.  I finished off my sandwich and fries in less time than it took to get the waitresses attention.

J ordered the Corey’s Club Sandwich without mayo and tomatoes.  Her sandwich was a huge triple decker on wheat bread.  The bread was stacked high with turkey, ham, bacon, and lettuce.  She also got fries with her meal.  We were both starving and she tore through her sandwich leaving just a few scraps of leftover meat for me.  I asked if she liked it and she said she did without elaborating. 

The waitress came back one more time for drink refills and J was smart enough to ask then for the check.  She was about halfway done with her sandwich.  As she was taking the last couple bites, our check appeared.  The total was $22.50 which isn’t bad for dinner, but I think a little high for sandwiches.  I’m still a little hungry and will probably forage for something around here.  We were going to pay cash so J pulled out the money and found the bathroom before leaving.  I waited at the table to give the waitress the check.  She never came.  After another long wait, we finally just left the money on the table and left.

Corey’s was good, but the wait was unacceptable.  The atmosphere was great.  It is a great neighborhood bar where people were congregating for their New Year’s celebration.  The waitress apologized a couple times for the long delays, but they were swamped.  We only noticed two waitresses working when their probably should have been four.  Experiences like this always play a factor into considering a return visit.  I think we were both pleased with our meals, but really unhappy with the long waits, so the jury is out on a return visit for us.