The Elbow Room, 501 Fuller Ave NE, Grand Rapids ~ 9/5/18

 This information is from the website of The Elbow Room: Back in the 1940s, this place was Walt's Pub. In the 1950s, it was The Frolic Garden. And since 1995, it's been The Elbow Room.

This more detailed information is from local historian, Michael Page:
In 1917 a building permit was issued to property owner A. Fortuna to construct a store, that was used as a bakery. In January of 1922 a fire destroyed the building and Fortuna decided to sell the property. On December 27, 1922 a building permit was issued to property owner M. Bacerauous (or Bulcerowicz) to install a furnace which leads one to believe a new structure was built on the site.
In May of 1928 a building permit was issued to property owner John Budovick to remodel the store front. "Frolic Gardens" first shows up in 1934 and in 1939 Walter G Ignasiak is shown as the owner of "Frolic Tavern." In 1961 it was officially "Frolic Bar." Lastly, in 1983 a building permit was issued to "Frolic Bar" to build an addition on the north side of the building.

Today it's still the iconic The Elbow Room located just off the highway and is a favorite spot of ours.

There's a large round table in the back where the main entrance is. This is also where the free popcorn can be found.

This is a cozy space with four tables, four booths, and a long bar.


With Cedar Springs Brewing on draft and fresh popcorn to begin with we took our time choosing from the menu (Jagermeister is also on tap if that's your thing).

Two of us ordered the perch basket with a side of slaw and the fish was well prepared.  Especially notable was the tarter sauce that had mustard added. I don't think we can enjoy tarter sauce any other way from now on.
The bacon cheeseburger arrived as ordered and was juicy and flavorful.
The special of the night was a Southwest chicken sandwich: bacon, bbq sauce, jalapeno, and pepperjack cheese. The sandwich was moist and cooked to perfection and was claimed to have been the best chicken sandwich ever eaten. High praise indeed!
Service was superb on this night with some management oversight. After we had ordered, our menus were still out on the table and the manager stopped by to see if we had placed our orders or if we needed service.
The Elbow Room was friendly and crowded but not overly noisy. One tip for women patrons: don't look for the restroom in the back hall (entry) where you would expect it to be. It's tucked in the corner of the main eating area. (The Men's Room is in the back hall.) The Women's Room was serviceable but a little rough.
There's also an Elbow Room entrance off Fuller but we didn't see anyone use it. The parking lot has just one handicap spot, at least that we saw. Happy Hour runs 3-7pm all week and starts again 9-midnight Sunday through Wednesday. We can safely recommend spending an evening in the ER!

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