The Sonic Drive-In in Portage, MI
J and I have been in Kalamazoo all of a few hours and where do you think our first stop to eat was? We’re kind of moving in trips. My brother has helped me everytime I’ve had to move (and it’s been quite a few times) and he can’t get up here until Oct. 17. It’s not a huge deal because our apartment has a ridiculous break penalty (if there’s any legislators reading this, after you solve the budget, you should look into this…besides the two months rent, they’re charging us $20 A DAY for 60 days because we didn’t give them 60 days notice…re-f^%king-diculous..and not spelled out in the lease, so it comes out to 4 months rent) so we’ve got the Lansing apartment until the end of October.
We made the first of two trips with our cars loaded down. After unloading and doing some organizing, we realized it was after 3:00 and we hadn’t had a thing to eat all day.
It was no surprise to me where J wanted to go. I’m surprised I even asked.
Sonic Drive-In in Portage is one of five Sonic’s in Michigan. It’s just off Westnedge on Romence Road. I didn’t look up the address before leaving. I guess I just assumed it was on Westnedge. For some reason, I happened to look to my right while we were sitting at a light. We almost missed it which would have been catastrophic…we may have ended up in South Bend before we realized we had went too far.
The Sonic Drive-In just off Westnedge in Portage, MI
We pulled in Sonic then found a stall. Wasn’t too hard. There actually weren’t very many people there. I was really craving the Jalapeno Cheeseburger I had at the Sonic in Oregon, OH, but it wasn’t on the menu. Instead, I just got a SuperSonic Cheeseburger, Fries, and a Sprite. None of the Sonic drinks were really sounding good to me, so I went boring.
J ordered a Sonic Bacon Cheeseburger with tots and a Cherry Lime-Aid. It was happy hour so our drinks were half price. This is going to be dangerous. When we get totally moved in to the new place in Kalamazoo, this Sonic is going to literally be five minutes away. Maybe it will lose it’s appeal, but I doubt it.
Anyway, I swiped my card for the $12 it cost us for lunch. A few minutes later, the carhop came out with our bags of food. Again, we ran into the moral question of tipping our car hop. For some reason, it never crosses my mind and J didn’t want to make a big deal out of it with her standing right there, so we didn’t. I know we really should because she is a waitress in a way, but it’s also fast food which is why I never think of it.
Anyway, our food was good. Sonic good, but to me, it’s still just fast food. J is still in love with the place and once again, loved her Cherry Lime-Aid. She was a little bummed they didn’t hook the cherry to the top of the glass like they usually do, but it was at least in the cup.
The thing about Sonic is that it’s a good, quick meal and that’s what we needed today. We’re really stressed out over the move and taking a break with something that makes J happy is always a good thing. Like I said, my gut feeling is the people at Sonic are going to get to know us very well over the next few years. I don’t know how I feel about that yet, but I know J is happy.
Mid-Michigan Dining 
[…] got up early so they could get to Kalamazoo before noon. Everyone was hungry, so I suggested Sonic before getting on the road. My mom has wanted to go there and I knew it would be […]
Well well, one thing for sure is you’re not alone on the being cheap thing.
My girlfriend is a server at a restaurant and she lives on tips, but tips are expected as a server. They are paid only $2.60 an hour in this state.
Those car-hops you aren’t tipping make minimum wage, which to those of you who don’t know it is $7.40 an hour. Completely whack, just enough money to need foodstamps to survive.
Give and you shall receive. Throw some change out there and maybe someday when you need it, someone will throw it back to you. Oh, by the way, I’m from Colorado and Sonic ain’t no thing. I worked there. You could take your $12 to a nicer restaurant and get better food.
I appreciate your comments because you shed some light on the situation. The trip I wrote about here was an eye opener for me and I have tipped everytime since.
I don’t think it’s a matter of being cheap. I think it’s a mindset that Sonic is fast food. Would you tip your cashier at McDonald’s? I think that’s the reason most people don’t even think about it.
The car hops actually make $4.25 an hour, and every tip they get they have to claim….. The don’t make min wage like everyone seems to think….
Hopefully your sonics stay open. We had two within a half hour of us, they both closed. The birch run location, and the Flint location both. People are extremely dissapointed.
That’s sad. When we lived in Lansing, we took specials trips to both Flint and Birch Run just to get Sonic….
Just went to get shakes. Not much to brag about. Absolutely the worst shake I have ever had. 6/8/2014 at 8:25 PM