SpeakEZ Lounge — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

I am genuinely pumped to try the newly opened SpeakEZ Lounge for dinner. When it first opened, I thought, “Oh, another watering hole.” Then I tried their jerk cuban Grandwich entry, loving it to my deep surprise. This is far from “just another watering hole” and the Restaurant Week menu reflects ambition far beyond expectation. Three selections for each of the three courses? Sign me up!

We commandeer a large booth near the window. Our waitress is quick to deliver menus and take drink orders. Even with three choices, I already know exactly what I want, so I glance around the place. The pool table remains at the back of the room and not much else has changed, except the suits of armor seem to be gone. There’s also a curtained private room that I don’t recall being there. A pass-through to the kitchen has been plastered over too. Otherwise, it could easily still be Cambridge House.

For my first course, I cannot resist the Escargot Normandy. I’ve been on a snail kick for quite some time, ever since trying them at Joe Allen in New York last year. SpeakEZ’s preparation is different, in a brandy cream sauce with seared shallots on top of rosemary crepes. The crepes are a bit stiff like a tortilla (maybe a little old?) and the snails are chewier than expected—a slight disappointment after the melt-in-mouth ones I had at Paris Club a few weeks back—but the sauce is rich enough to tie everything together. In the end, I enjoy the dish. (I also try a bite of Juliet’s Tuscan Calamari. The panko parmesan crust is a brilliant stroke.)

Sesame Garlic Pork Tenderloin constitutes my main dish, sliced atop a bed of Wekame seaweed salad, Michigan sugar snap peas, and roasted red peppers, topped with pork cracklin’. My main problem with my plate is the food temperature. The seaweed is cold and the pork is barely warm. It’s a weird contrast. The seaweed and garlic combo stays with you for a long time after, too. This strikes me as one of those recipes that could have been great, but maybe on a Sunday we’re expecting too much?

Dessert is fait accompli, decided before the game began. Strawberry Rhubarb “Lemonade” is my choice. Even though I prefer rhubarb by itself, strawberry rhubarb is better than no rhubarb. At first, I’m puzzled by the pastry muffin topped with strawberry rhubarb sauce (accompanied with a shot of house-made lemoncello). It’s almost like a lazy version of pie, but after a few bites, I come around to the chef’s way of thinking. When combined, all the flavors just work. Who cares if the fruit is on the outside? I eat every last bite.

Despite the pork tenderloin faux pas, I’m impressed enough with SpeakEZ’s offerings to easily go back again and try other things. Given time, any minor concerns are bound to be tweaked and refined. I expect great things from...

Visited last night based on a glowing review in last Sunday's GR Press. It was surprisingly not busy and was seat yourself. It took at least 10 minutes for anyone to come to our table even though it was clearly not busy and I made eye contact with several employees... staffing was not an issue, there seemed to be plenty of people on staff. When we finally got our drinks we ordered falafel and a grilled cheese. When that finally came my order (falafel) was wrong (waitress claimed later she mis heard me). I waited probably a full 15 minutes for my correct order. Of course my husband was already finished with his grilled cheese (with what looked like ruffles potato chips on the side) so I asked for my food to go. When I tried to transfer my falafel to the to-go box it was just a pile of mush. I tried one bite and it was barely cooked. Needless to say I left it on the table. They did take the falafel off the bill, but given that I sat for so long with no food in front of me, nibbling on my husbands ruffles potato chips, you'd think a visit from the manger, or at least an offer of a quick appetizer would have been in order. We did tip for the drink delivery... I have never not tipped a server, regardless of the service... but this was as close as I've ever been...

We had a reservation for a late dinner and to stay for the NYE band. My friends had eloped that night so we were celebrating that as well. We quickly discovered upon ordering our dinner that the kitchen was closed due to them “running out of food.” We ordered uber eats as I’m pregnant and we all hadn’t eaten dinner yet. The manager came over and was very rude in telling us that we were not allowed outside food and we would have to go eat it outside. We did as asked. A blue haired bartender stormed outside to tell us that we were not far enough outside in the 35F weather and would have to go further out on the sidewalk to eat our food.

We then witnessed friends of a server and manager come inside, sit at a table right next to us, order drinks, and eat their outside food without being told they had to go outside to eat it. The manager even dropped off drinks at their table which was right next to us without saying anything.

I called them this morning and they’ve magically restocked their entire kitchen since 1am to be open for brunch today.

I highly recommend skipping this place for any other establishment because they treat people...