Buddies Grill

This is one of the better buddies in the Lansing area. I always have good service and really never had had a bad meal. It’s reasonably priced and have good specials. The only thing that could be improved upon is maybe having somewhere that people are waiting for a table to go.

Third time in. Sat in screened porch area. The server was training a new employee. He followed her everywhere. I wish she would have introduced him when they first came to our table. I still don’t know his name. The food was good as usual. Asked for veggies instead of fries with my sandwich. Got a nice dish of grilled veggies. Delish! Service was ok.

I’ve eaten there twice, and both times did not disappoint. On my second trip there I had the Cheeseburger Fries. Let me tell you they were amazing! I dream about them at night. I will not hesitate to drive the three hours it takes to get there just for those fries. Yummy!

Most of the staff are really nice and attentive. Shawn is awesome. Soft tacos are really good! Southwest chicken salad is awesome. Pizzas are great.

Not consistent. They alway have compensated for any short comings but I think the must have a hard time keeping good cooks.
Good items: southwest quesadillas, spinach artichoke dip, Chicken breast with rice, nachos
Not so good: steak, BBQ sandwich, chicken parm
Has keno, pool, huge bar, and a great place for big events/​parties
Some of the staff is great, some are kinda off putting and unapproachable

First: MEGA points for having NTN Buzztime Trivia! Pretty decent bar. Food is better than most Lansing bar food, but still bar food. For example the French Dip was an ok amount meat and cheese on a fantastic roll, but the Au Jus was that GFS/​Cysco soy sauce toilet water stuff. The battered mushrooms were perfectly done. If I lived closer I could see coming here often for some dinner and trivia.

We came here for dinner on Saturday June 6, 2015. Both famished after working all day. Our appetites were bigger than our stomachs. We were seated promptly even though it was quite busy at 6pm. The waitress appeared before too long and took our drink orders. Blueberry Mojito was on special. Starved, we both ordered apps: Kentucky bourbon wings, and Mexican bean dip. We also placed our dinner orders: full size Nachos (which are called «small», they have small and «mini». The small is huge) and Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger with Onion Rings. When the apps came they looked great, but would have been all we needed for a meal! The Bourbon wings were tender and syrupy sweet. The bean dip was very good, but the chips needed salt. The Mojito tasted more like minty seltzer, couldn’t detect the blueberry. Then the entrees came. What were we thinking? The nachos were enormous! The burger and rings (cooked medium as ordered) were delicious, but not outstanding. The Nachos had lots of meat and cheese and were very good. This is sort of s sports bar, and we watched the Belmont Stakes as we ate. Second round of drinks were slow to arrive, even though business seemed to be slowing down (Moscow Mule and Margarita). All in all a good home town restaurant/​sports bar. Service could be more prompt but wasn’t awful. The food is combination preprocessed and fresh. It’s s good change of pace if you’re from the area. We ordered TOO much, and made out with a bill for $ 71 before tip. But we took some home so that’s okay

Very slow service– waitresses need more training
Took forever to get the food
Food was ok
Won’t be back for awhile …

We live in Holt so we frequent Buddies as its close to home (1 mile) and the food is decent. The staff is always very nice and accommodating but they are always busy so it can take awhile to get your food. We always get the Buddies wrap or salad which are both very good.

This one is a tough one for me because I have been here a couple times but there is a lot on the menu that I have not tried that might sway me higher.
First dilemma… do I rate it as «a bar» or «a restaurant». It is basically a good sized «Sports Bar» with food.
As a sports bar… I would give it a 4+ It is big, lots of TVs, great bar selection, craft beers… would be a great place to stop after work for drinks/​apps or to watch a game
As a «restaurant»??? Eh… I gave it a 3 and based on my two visits for lunch I would be rounding up as I would say 2.5 really. But then… I have not tried their pizzas or several other things that I read are good so I am giving them the benefit of the doubt.
What I DID try was their brisket. I have had it as a Sandwich and a entrée. To be fair, I have eaten brisket in Brisket Mecca (Texas) at several top places and also had good brisket in OH (See my review of City Limit BBQ)
At Buddies… pretty disappointed. The sandwich was better as it came on great bread and with the toppings adding some flavor it was ok. And the french fries that came with it were good.
As a entrée… well there the meat has to stand on it’s own… and it fell flat.
I got several slices and I basically could not make out any «smoke» flavor… or seasoning… all I tasted was dry beef. Instead of a BBQ sauce it came with a sauce on the side that was a red wine/​onion/​mushroom reduction that had great ambition but was bland. I think it needed salt. And maybe some pepper. All I know is it really lacked something.
My sides (you get two with an entrée) were a good but nothing special. Chicken Noodle Soup was pretty darn good and wild rice pilaf, you can only do so much with that but it was good as far as rice pilaf goes. (I was good and avoided their really good fries this time)
I keep thinking other stuff must be better than the brisket and that lead me to give them a 3 instead of a 2. I will have to try their pizza and some of the chicken dishes. Maybe even one of the Mexican dishes. Lots of things I have not tried.
But if it was looking for a sports bar in the Mason/​Holt area without driving up to Lansing this is by far the best.

Ordered 2 pizzas for take out. I ordered BBQ chicken and we got the red hot kind with hot sauce. The other was made correctly, a supreme with the peppers on the side and green olives instead of black olives. The olives were mostly end pieces. Both were way undercooked, we just wasted $ 35 on food for the kids that won’t get eaten. Previous experience, ordered a pizza that was overcooked but at least edible, the crust was disposed of and removed some of the scorched cheese and replaced it with some out of the fridge. For the amount of money spent, it is not worth it.
Another experience a few years back, ordered drinks and it took them over 15 minutes to get mine so I went to the end of the bar and witnessed them making a few daiquiris and they didn’t have enough mix left so they filled about ¼ of my glass with water from the spout. I haven’t went there for drinks since, we did do a lot of take out from there since they did have some decent food. Will not be returning at this point.

Again, the service SUCKS! But, cold beer, plenty of TVs and good food. If your looking for games to watch, and drink then your safe here. But, order 2 at a time and if your lucky, you’ll get one of them in a timely manor.

Entered this place with a lot of hype behind it. My friends talked nothing but good things so I was excited. As I entered it was very crowded which is a good sign yet it was very disorganized and I saw a lot of confusion with everything. Me and my party were seated and I ordered a drink off menu which was a common drink (Southern Hurricane). After ordering it, it took them over 20 mins just for them to come back and tell me that «no one knew how to make it» And after waiting that long for the drink I just ordered something which was completely different «White Russian», and after 10 mins later I got it and even after that there was under pouring.
Needless to say I stuck with Dr. Pepper after that.
So as my food came in, I ordered what sounded like a good flavorful burger. The Chuckwagon I believe. And I ordered it as medium. And as it came over it looked great. Topping looked very well presented. Fries were good. and that is about it. After cutting the burger in half as I am used to doing to see how it was cooked, it was completely overdone (No juice or anything with the meat). And after taking a few bites I realized that there was no way I could continue.
And after that not once was I asked how my food was. At all. I payed for my meal (unfortunately I did not get recompense for the meal, but I get it, it is a business).
I am not posting this to be a person saying «STAY AWAY», but I want to leave this a something to work on and to get better at. I don’t know if I will ever come back again, and I am not sure if I want to. But these are my 2 cents. I hope it can change.
Other than that, the fries were good and so was the appearance. Staff needs to step up.

Great place to enjoy food, drinks and friends. The wait staff is extremely nice, I can count on one hand how many time I’ve been displeased with the service. If you are looking for good food at a good price, Buddies is the place!

Buddies is a great place to meet friends for drinks or dinner. The inside of the place is huge with the regular bar /​eating area when you first enter, then another mostly blocked off section to the left where you normally sit if you have kids with you or something. They have plenty of TVs, trivia, and I think live bands /​karaōke on certain nights.
The food, I think, is pretty darn good! Their deep dish pizza is seriously probably the best I’ve had in Lansing (yuck to all the chains we have around here!). The appetizers are all huge, and the rest of the menu is robust with anything from mexican, to pasta, to salads, steaks, burgers, and other sandwiches.
The only down-​side here is the service. It’s usually pretty slow. Don’t come if you’re in a hurry. Even when it isn’t busy, it’s slow for some reason. The staff is a mixture of high school students and middle aged women. Last time we were here, there were only a few other tables and we waited probably 5 minutes before even being greeted, then the waitress forgot the booster seat for our child after two requests (ended up going to find one myself) and took 10 – 15 minutes after we finished to bring the bill, and forgot to bring our take out boxes after being asked twice as well

My friend and I were on a «shop hop,» a cross-​country fabric-​buying expedition that brought us to a quilt shop in the same mall as Buddies Grill. The place is a sports bar, with lots of TV screens viewable from all angles.
We stopped in for lunch. The place was fairly quiet — a few other groups. We were seated quickly and tried to figure out what we’d eat.
The eggplant sounded yummy, but I went for the smothered burrito, knowing that the fiber in the beans would sustain me longer. My friend ordered the same. She got beef, I got chicken. We got the «regular» size — it was HUGE! We could only eat half. We asked for boxes.
Turns out that the leftover portion of the burrito was to become our dinner on the return leg of our all-​day road trip. So keep that in mind. They give you a lot at this place. Bring friends to help you eat it or plan to take some home.

Went there at 6 pm on a Friday night. The place was busy with no wait.
The service was excellent throughout the entire meal. Timely, correct, refills before we had to ask, and a friendly server. The entire staff was smiling. Nice to see employees hustling!
The food: Black and Blue salad — the steak was prepared perfectly. Light on the blue cheese crumbles, and menu stated a mix of romaine and iceberg lettuce. Did not see much romaine and a lot of white iceberg. No onions, so be sure to ask for them if you want them.
20 wings. Order 20 plain with a side of Thai chili sauce. I ordered extra crispy and they were done properly. Decent sized wings.
BLT and fries. Bread was unevenly toasted and the lettuce was slimy. Light on the bacon and overcooked. Tasty fries.
The ranch they serve is very good! Much better than 85% of the places we have gone to.
Many game machines throughout the place, internet jukebox, one pool table ($ 1.25 a game), and 8 dart boards. They were having a poker tourney that night with 4 tables with people yet to show up to play.
Nice sized screened-​in patio. Keno screens and TV’s views from all areas. Bathrooms were clean, but need to have broken items fixed in the men’s room.
Very nice and fully stocked Bar that seats about 20 — 25. Good selection of beers and liquor.
We will be back!

I usually talk my wife out of coming here. There’s a long history of very slow service, really slow. Tonight was a great surprise. Service was excellent and food was good. I’ll pass on the 6oz steak next time though. It was ok so next time it’s the wrap or nachos.

Some of the best nachos I’ve ever had!
The mini is huge as 3 of us were able to share the huge plate and still have a little left.
Great beer selection, TVs everywhere & stellar service… what more could you ask for!!!

Standard Michigan bar fare. Their salads are pretty standard and drink prices are decent. It seems to be quite the gathering place for HHS alumni around the holidays and probably year round. Now that the no-​smoking law has gone into effect it’ll probably be more enjoyable for everyone.