Big Papa’s Pub & Eatery

Love this place! The meatloaf is excellent and their french fries are to die for! Just a great place to get some quality food and a tasty beverage.

I’d heard I should come in so I did! What a nice clean place with super friendly staff. The burgers were awesome and I always love hand cut fries. Great place for watching games. My kids were fascinated by the tough man competition on the screen that took a bloody turn. Outside of that I would highly recommend big papas.

I like it. We have been there a dozen times and it is always pretty good sometime really good. Decent burger good drinks, nice people, as far as sports bars go — above average.

First off, the pin point on the map in Unilocal was wrong, causing us much frustration in finding the restaurant. Not their fault but just a heads up, it is further north on 37 than the app directs you. Place looks quite run down from the outside. Upon entrance there was an immediate smell that took me back to my college frat house days. I’m not sure what was here before this place but they would benefit from some serious deodorizing. It smells like a really old bar that used to be full of smokers and people spilling their beers in the carpet. Kind of gross but we continued based on reviews.
Waitress was friendly and helpful. Menu has a decent variety for a pub type place. We were here on a college football Saturday and the bar area was pretty crowded but lots of tables open. I came with my husband (who loved all the tvs) and my 6 year old (who is indifferent to everything). He ordered the meatball sub and we were told they were out of meatballs, slightly disappointing but I took it as a good sign that they make their own.
We started with the chili cheese fries and I was happy to see they were smothered in a decent quality chili, not just some gross canned, seasoned meat that had been sitting in a vat for days like a lot of other places.
I got the pretzel bun sliders and my husband ended up with a Philly cheese steak sandwich. Both were excellent. I do wish I had seen the chalkboard specials before we ordered (or that the waitress had pointed them out) because there were several appealing options, I guess they can wait until next time because I know we will be back. We ordered My daughters kids meal with the fruit cup and it was actually cut up fruit, not some syrupy junk. My only negative feedback on the food would be that my side of coleslaw was on the dry side, I like it with a little more dressing but it was still really good. My husband said the naked beans were good.
Overall the food more than makes up for the aroma but I really wish they would address it and I’m leaving 1 star off because of it (scent is a big part of eating). We will be back with more people.

My husband and I ate here on our way out of Traverse City. We almost didn’t stop because the outside curb appeal. However we did stop and were thoroughly surprised and satisfied with the inside. Plenty of tvs with college football.
We both had the burgers. Excellent. I had the hand cut fries and my husband had the coleslaw. Again, both were excellent. Absolutely recommend this place.

Went here tonight with my husband and another couple, my friend and I had the black and blue burger, my husband had the Philly burger, and her husband had the Elvis burger. OMG! All of the burgers were wonderful. We all had the one 3^rd pound. The burgers were cooked perfectly medium yet still juicy. We started with the deep-​fried pickle, again great concept loved the flavors… Almost reminded me of a Cordon Bleu without the chicken. The fries were skin on, and fried perfectly. I have to say this was a great meal for all of us.

We go there almost weekly for a great burger and beer. Ask for well done if you don’t want a pink center in your burger, they typically arrive medium well otherwise. The waitresses are hilarious and very helpful.

Great sports bar atmosphere. Very friendly. They made their fish tacos for us even tho they are no longer on the menu AWESOME!!! Will not wait so long to come back next time

Went in for fish tacos they not on menu.
They made them and said they always have the «fixins».
These were and are KILLER good with the mahi and hint of lime.
Service was great — Jackie is a manager and was extremely nice
Great place always

Service is very good. We love the burgers and fries. Terra Firma beers are a nice touch. We keep going back. All the ingredients that make this a great place to dine!

This place was a joke. It smelled like a wet dog and the food seemed like it came from my kitchen but was put on a pretty plate to make it seem more interesting. Overall it was pretentious and expensive and I would have gotten a better dinner pretty much anywhere else.

I too would give this eatery a 6 if I could. We’ve been twice in two months and just love this place. I love when bars think outside the box of «bar food» and offer some really cool menu items. The BBQ Beef Brisket sandwich on a pretzel bun was amazing, the side of brussel sprouts were incredibly good. The «Soon to be Famous» wings have been wonderful both times we’ve had them — holy smokes are they good! We’ve had great servers both times and did not experience what some of the other reviewers have. Our servers were happy, energetic and quick to bring what we’ve asked for. I love that the entire inside has been beautifully remodeled from what it was — they really spent some $$ to make it a lovely place to go to. Good job, I hope to meet the owners some day to tell them so personally.

Doesn’t look so great from the street. Walked in and it was a delight from the get go. They were more than happy to turn on our out of town hockey game for us and even had a new product called SoundDog which allowed me to hear my game through my iPhone. The grilled meatloaf and brussel sprouts with bacon were spectacular. My husband had the brisket which was tasty but a little dry. His green beans and bacon were gone in a flash. The homemade ranch and bleu cheese dressings were fabulous. Great beers on tap. They even let us sit after closing to watch the end of the Tigers game. I will definitely go back!

Hit or miss, roll the dice if you want, we did. The place is pretty new, but the laminate on the tables is peeling off, not very attractive. The service was decent. The food was not very consistent though. Soft pretzels and fried pickle appetizers were so-​so. Mini sliders on pretzel rolls were pretty good to me, but just ok to my husband. Fries were great. Brisket was pretty good, very tender, but not like BBQ style, more like slow cooked in the oven. Corn chowder was surprisingly good while the two sides we ordered, brussel sprouts and green beans had way too much black pepper, ouch. We might go again, we might not. I’d like to give them another shot. One wall of 5 or 6 big screen TVs, all tuned into sports, and while we asked if maybe one of the screens could be turned to another station, one that had the same thing on as another, the waitress did not bother to ask or answer our request.

We have been there five or so times. Wait staff works really hard. The best way to describe is growing pains, for a new restaurant they are working to find their rhythm. Get the Swiss bliss for sure. Also consider the brisket and red skin potatoes.
Local owners which always rocks but don’t go there impatient.

We had a great meal! Three of us had burgers… all were chowed! I had Mahi tacos with a side of risotto. The tacos were fab… I wasn’t sure about the risotto, it was bell pepper risotto… but it was SO yummy! My son had chicken strips… these were REAL chicken folks! The kind you would want your kids to eat… not processed! For dessert we had deep fried Oreos and ice cream to split… they were heavenly! They were different than any other dessert I’ve ever had… but so good!!! Oh! we had great drinks, too! We will be back!

We have been here twice. Our first stop here was on a Friday evening about 6pm the waitstaff seemed inexperienced but attentive. The food was «ok» for bar food. The atmosphere is sports bar themed with movie posters on the wall. It was quite loud when the place was nearly full.
Our second stop was on a Saturday evening 8pm (⁰⁴⁄₁₃), we stopped in for drinks and sat at the bar… we sat for 5 minutes before we were «noticed» we were only two of eight people seated at the bar, and with two bartenders I am not certain how we were missed. We each got a drink, but were not offered menus… half way through our drinks I requested a menu from one of the bartenders… ten minutes later I gave up on the idea of ordering appetizers after our bartender seemed to check-​out on us… we literally sat unattended for for nearly a half hour while I counted six employees either at or behind the bar, some munching on watermelon and drinking from sports bottles. We decided to go elsewhere for drinks but were waiting on our tab when management noticed we were visibly unhappy/​upset with the service. He came to our table, apologized, comped our drinks and we were gone. This type of service was totally unacceptable! Excellent service can make you overlook some short comings, but poor service with even excellent food will leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

staff was friendly, and attentive. food was very good quality and reasonable.

I don’t even know where to start with this place. First of all, we used to go here on occasion in it’s past life. It was a seedy little karaōke pool hall. Its now a classy, wonderful pub. We stopped in before the Beach Bums game and had a couple hours to kill. Upon walking in the doors, the fresh, nice décor was my first impression. Was greeted by super friendly servers and staff. Got drinks promptly. Very affordable drinks. $ 3 for a HUGE miller light and the hubby got a micro brew that was also like $ 3 or something. We sat in front of the wall of TVs and my kids were thrilled to find SpongeBob on one of them. Great kid’s menu and crayons. Kids got Mac and Cheese with fries and a drink for $ 4!!! Mac and Cheese was awesome. Chicken tenders were awesome. Fries are made from scratch and delicious. I got the hamburger and fries and the hubby got the Mahi. It came with green beans with little bits of bacon and delicious flavor. The waitress was literally the nicest server I have ever had. I tipped the most I have ever tipped. She was tolerant of my kids and was super attentive and friendly. This place got two thumbs up from all 5 of us!!! I can’t wait to go back. I am bummed I live on the opposite side of town. I would be here more often. Clean, affordable, good quality food, friendly staff, I could go on… GO THERE!