Finley's Grill & Smokehouse — Restaurant in Battle Creek

I went there tonight (10/20/14) with my family. I figured I would try out their new much advertised slow cooked BBQ. The restaurant opens at 11am and we got there for a 6pm dinner. Prices were about average, though some items were a bit high. Waitress was mostly pleasant. We had reservations, but still had to wait 30 minutes for a table. Then came the ordering...I wanted to go with their BBQ combo...that gets me a choice of 2 meats from their selection of 5, a cornbread muffin and 2 sides.

The waitress immediately informs us that there is no turkey left. Okay fine...I order the chicken and pulled pork. She comes back a few minutes later and tells us that they are out of the cornbread muffins...and just walks away. No offer of replacing it with something else. A few minutes later she returns to tell us that they ran out of the chicken as well. So I had to switch to the ribs. A few more minutes go by and she returns to tell me they are out of the pork as well. So of the 5 choices of meat they advertised...they only had 2. The brisket and the ribs. ...and being the combo gives you the "choice" of 2...not really much of a choice.

So fine, I get the brisket and ribs....the 2 options I didn't originally want. Now like others have said...this is meat that is cooking all day so it should be fast to the table. Nope. Everyone at the table got their food before me...including 2 steaks one of which was well done. My food came out about 10 minutes after everyone else was already eating....and no fries. I had to remind the waitress that I ordered fries as well. She brought me out a small plate of fries...and they were cold. Definitely had been sitting around somewhere.

The rest of the food...meh. The ribs were mostly bone, barely any meat on them, and their idea of a 1/3 rack was 4 bones worth. The brisket was bland, dry, and not very warm and only 2 fairly thin slices. The baked beans tasted like canned beans and came in a small bowl. Definitely not enough food there to warrant the $18 price tag.

Their sauces, they bring 6 out in a cardboard holder. 2 of them tasted very similar. 1 was labeled "devil's revenge" I would have thought that would have been hot...but nope, nothing to it...and I don't really do spicy foods much. The rest were just meh. Oh, and the toast...a thick piece of texas toast under the brisket...so hard I was able to stab my knife into it, and the knife stood straight up.

Other people at my table complained about the food being either cold, or possibly sat out. Sister (who is a chef) ordered the prime rib and it was barely pink...definitely way overcooked...and no au jus sauce until after she asked twice.

when we asked to speak with the manager, the waitress simply said he was busy, but she'd send him out. We waited 20 minutes before giving up and leaving.

And lastly...as it's autumn here now, so it's dark by 7pm...no lights in the back parking lot. It was pitch black back there...not really a safe feeling walking to your car like that.

I can confidently...

ICE-CUBES SO GOOD THEY CHANGED MY FAMILY DYNAMIC

Okay. So listen. I went to Finley’s Grill & Smokehouse expecting ribs, brisket, maybe some pulled pork, right? You know, food. And yeah—the food was good. Like, genuinely good. Saucy, smoky, tender—all that jazz. But let’s talk about the real reason Finley’s deserves a Nobel Peace Prize:

THE. ICE. CUBES.

I don’t know what wizardry they’ve got going on back there in the kitchen, but those frozen little cubes? Life-changing. I came in a casual meat-eater. I left an ice cube sommelier.

The moment our first drinks came out, my little brother took one sip, then paused dramatically. He reached into the glass, pulled out a cube like he’d just been handed a sacred artifact, and whispered, “This… this is different.”

And that was it. We were hooked. I mean, forget the brisket—me and my siblings went full Arctic raccoon mode, crunching through those cubes like it was our birthright. We kept flagging the server down, like, “Excuse me, could we get another round of—” “Drinks?” “No. Just the ice.”

Two hours in, we weren’t even pretending to order beverages anymore. Just bowls of ice. Pints, quarts, maybe even a full gallon by the end. The server started sweating. The manager came out and asked if we were okay. At one point, I think they sent someone to Meijer to restock.

The texture? Immaculate. The crunch? Ethereal. I bit into one and briefly saw my childhood flash before my eyes—but better this time. My sister cried. Not from brain freeze, just from pure, unfiltered joy.

By the end of the night, we were bloated on nothing but water in solid form and zero regrets. Honestly? Would I go back for the food? Sure. But would I fight a raccoon in the parking lot for one more cup of that angelic, glacier-born ice? Absolutely.

10/10. Bring your appetite. And...

My husband and I went there October 11 for our anniversary. We arrived at about 1:20 p.m. We stood alone in the lobby for over 5 minutes before someone came out and asked us how many. She seated us and said our waitress would be right over. We sat looking at menus for well over 10 minutes before anyone even stopped at our table or even noticed us. Our waitress finally came and asked us if we were ready to order. We said yes and she took our order and what we wanted to drink. It was almost 10 more minutes before she brought us our beverages (water) and it was actually the hostess that finally brought it. Over 30 minutes later, our food finally came out. We had ordered stuff off the barbecue menu so all the food was already cooked with the exception of the fries so I don't know why it took over 30 minutes for us to get our food. Then the waitress didn't bring the ranch we had asked for twice. When she brought out the food, I had asked to place an order to go at that time so it would be done in time for us to go home, since it took so long for the first order. I ordered a burger and a salad to take home. It was almost 55 minutes later before the to go order and our check finally made it to our table. Our water glasses were never refilled either. I used to love Finley's and it was my favorite place to go for the longest time. But then the service started to get worse and we quit going after 4 bad experiences. We went back to give it another try. After today, we won't be returning. I tried to go to their website to contact someone and when you select the option for a comment card, it brings up something about Pietros restaurant. So I chose this option to warn others about the issues going on here. It was very...