After completing the Grand Rapids Insane Inflatable 5k, Shae and I headed back to our Airbnb and our friends to their hotel so we could all freshen up.
We then decided to meet up for lunch before they made their way back to Ohio. The original plan was just to meet up for ice cream as Shae had found somewhere called Love’s Ice Cream which sounded good (more on that later). We were all feeling peckish though, so before getting ice cream we went for lunch at Slows Bar BQ.
Both Slows Bar BQ and Love’s Ice Cream are in Downtown Market, an indoor market with restaurants and other vendors. When entering from the parking lot, Slows was in the back left corner.
The restaurant has several tables for two and four, as well as several longer tables with benches that can probably seat ~16 people.
Slows has a decent beer menu, along with several cocktail and wine options.
I ended up ordering a Founders Breakfast Stout and Shae got a mimosa. Although the menu listed the three Founders stouts as an Anniversary Flight, they were fine with me only ordering one of them.
Seeing as it was a draft, I’d assumed it’d be a larger pour. However, it turned out to be a decent amount and had a lovely, rich taste. Their beer menu also includes Deschutes Black Butte Porter which I tried in Chicago the other day and was delicious as well.
Seeing as we were visiting at lunchtime, we had the option of ordering from either their main menu or their brunch menu.
The chorizo hash on the brunch menu sounded good, but I figured I should get BBQ seeing as were at a BBQ joint.
The Reason sandwich was high on my list of possible options seeing as that’s the reason Slows Bar BQ exists. Getting to try one of the top 3 sandwiches in the country meant that The Yardbird was also tempting.
In the end though, I decided to go all out on the BBQ by ordering The Big Three – 1/4 lb servings of beef brisket, pulled pork and apple BBQ glazed chicken. None of the sandwich, BBQ or rib options come with sides, so those have to be ordered separately. I figured 3/4 lb of meat would be sufficient though, so that’s all I ordered.
All the meats were excellent, especially the thicker cuts of beef brisket that were extraordinarily tender. Slows has six sauce options to go with your meal:
I’m not a big fan of North Carolina BBQ sauce, so I stayed with the apple, South Carolina mustard and spicy sauces. All three were good, with the apple and spicy sauces mixing well together on the chicken.
Shae had gone through a similar thought process to me when it came to deciding what to order, but ended up getting The Yardbird sandwich with a side of cornbread and the sandwich’s bacon on the side. The sandwich was piled high with chicken, mushrooms and cheese. So high in fact that half of it fell out while she ate it, so she took it in a box to finish later that evening.
She enjoyed both the sandwich and cornbread. The cornbread was fairly moist which was what she was hoping for, so she didn’t have to completely slather it with butter.
One of our friends got The Reason with a side of waffle fries (the portion size of the fries was easily enough for two people)…
…while our other friend got the beef brisket with a side of mac n’ cheese which comes with the cheese baked on top.
We all ended up being very pleased with our meals which our friends kindly treated us to.
Slows Bar BQ offers a few dessert options if you need something sweet afterwards.
No offence to Slows, but give their desserts a miss and head across the Downtown Market to Love’s Ice Cream. To be fair, we didn’t try the desserts at Slows Bar BQ, so they may well be very good. However, Love’s Ice Cream is delicious and you can even get ice cream flights – my first time getting to have one.
In case you’re curious about which flavors I got, from left to right they’re:
- Strawberry balsamic – I ordered this as I was curious what it’d be like. The balsamic part of it isn’t too strong, so it was actually quite refreshing.
- Cookies & cream – given their ice cream is already creamy, the cookies and cream flavor was especially so.
- Black cherry – WOW! This was definitely the best flavor I tried and was simply incredible. Easily the tastiest cherry flavor ice cream I’ve ever had. Seriously – the amount of flavor packed into it was phenomenal.
- Coconut – This was very good, although wasn’t quite as coconut-y as I’d been expecting. On the positive side, Shae’s not a huge coconut fan and even she thought it tasted OK.
- Salted caramel – Salted caramel is one of my favorite ice cream flavors which is why I picked this. It wasn’t the very best salted caramel ice cream I’ve had before, but it was still very good.
Final Thoughts
If you love meat, Slows Bar BQ in Grand Rapids is a great option (as, presumably, would be their other locations). Their BBQ – especially the beef brisket – is excellent, while their sandwiches are also solid options.
Our Rating
Food = 4.6 / 5
Price = 4.1 / 5
Atmosphere = 4.4 / 5
Decor = 4.5 / 5
Service = 4.6 / 5
Total = 4.44 / 5
Addresses
Slows Bar BQ, 435 Ionia Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Love’s Ice Cream, 435 Ionia Avenue SW Stall 106, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
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