Beltline Bar — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

TLDR: mid.

Beltline Bar is a longstanding mainstay in Grand Rapids, but it seems like over the last few years, it’s really gone downhill. Our last experience here was pretty disappointing.

We ordered drinks first, a corona and a top shelf margarita, and chips and queso. The chips came out very soon; almost instantly, and they were cold and chewy- very stale. The queso was slightly warmer than lukewarm and had a film on the top of it as if it had been sitting under the warmer for a long time- maybe a canceled order passed on to us? We told our server (after he came back to deliver our drinks) that the chips were off, and he came back quickly with “new chips” which were equally stale and chewy.

My beer was fine, but the margarita tasted as if no mix had been added- meaning it tasted like straight tequila. I’m sure some people love a disgustingly strong drink, but it was undrinkable. We ended up talking to the family at the booth next to us because we heard them also complaining about how gross the chips were, and we had a “terrible chips” bonding moment 🤣.

When we were finally able to flag down our ever-elusive server, we told him that the chips were still bad and asked about ordering a regular $5 margarita. When he returned, it appeared that the server had possibly toasted the same bowl of chips in the oven for a couple minutes to warm them, as they were now warm and crispy, but after a couple minutes of letting them cool down, unfortunately returned to the chewy, inedible state. The second margarita tasted like straight margarita mix, so we were able to mix the two drinks together to create a normal tasting margarita! Success!

We ordered the enchilada combo (although only ended up being three cheese enchiladas by choice- heads up, the cheese enchiladas contain onions) and the seafood chimichanga. We both enjoyed our meals; they were served scalding hot, much preferred over being severed lukewarm, which has been my experience in the past. The flavors were good, and the meals were filling.

We came in during regular evening dinner hours, and were seated near the bar, which was filled with a rowdy, yelling bunch of people. The lighting was semi low, which is characteristic of this place.

I gave the service a rating of 3 because it was near impossible to get anyone to come to the table at any time. There would be swaths of time 10-20 min where we didn’t see anyone come to our side of the bar.

We will probably return, since this has been a go-to place for us and we can usually expect a certain standard in tex-mex comfort food; unfortunately this visit did not measure up. I may update my review at that time, but as of this last visit, I’d categorize this restaurant and bar as “mid”, as...

Excellent local restaurant serving generous portions of traditional Mexican-style appetizers, dinners and desserts along the busy 28th corridor just south of Grand Rapids, MI.

Reservations are not required, but you will want to arrive early before the dinner-time crowd comes in as this place will begin to fill up quickly.

There are several dining areas to make each room feel intimate, and is good to help control the noise level from too many talkative patrons all at once. There are both booths and tables, which can be arranged to fit larger parties.

The menu is simple, taking only two pages, so be sure to ask about the daily specials as you may get a pretty good deal. For example, the Enchiladas Trio runs about $14.00, but on Wednesdays, you can get the "Endless Enchiladas" special for only $9.99!

The appetizers are large enough to share and still have plenty to take home later. The chips, salsa and guacamole is highly recommended!

A children's menu is also available, as well as tasty non-alcoholic beverages.

There are two entrances, the main entrance in the back, and a handicapped-accessible entrance to the side.

The restaurant also offers carry-out, and apparently also offers catering.

The wait-staff is among the friendliest you'll find anywhere, and they are very helpful and accommodating.

Like many restaurants these days, a 3% price increase is added to every total bill to help offset rising restaurant costs (e.g. the fee they are assessed for accepting credit cards). This 3% is NOT part of the wait-staff tip.

We were trying to figure out the origin of the name "Beltline Bar," which seems strange since the facility is nowhere near the strip of road called "The Beltline." We came to the conclusion the name must be associated with "Expanding Beltline" because that's what your belly does since the...

Before anything else, I want to emphasize that this would have been a 5 star review were not for one stupid, ridiculous thing on this place's part.

Namely, their Happy Hour appetizers are only available if you sit in 2 specific parts of the building.

This despite the fact that their hosts seat you were they put you. Shrugs Umm... oookay then.

Thing is, that meant paying roughly about $10 more for a substitute order of 3 tacos rather than the 2 taco Happy Hour deal.

No, I DO NOT blame our server for that. I say that for 2 reasons...

1 - Our server wasn't the employee who sat us in the spot we were put in.

2 - Be it a host or a server, it wasn't their idea for either employee that a 2 Taco appetizer Happy Hour special can only be bought in the terrace area, or while sitting at the bar.

But, anyway you slice it, we had to pay more money all because of it.

Is that fair to customers? Not in my book It's not, pal.

Oh, and yes... I AM sure we were in there during the Happy Hour deal, since It starts at 3 PM, and it was 3:09 PM at the time.

So, one star less (4 stars instead of 5) for Beltline Bar and Grill).

A good place with good food, but a VERY stupid rule as it relates to where customers sit in the building being critical to whether you are eligible for the Happy Hour deals.

I never encountered such a silly thing anywhere else in my 54 years of life on Earth,...