Sanford Lake Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Jerome Township

Sanford Lake Bar & Grill: Where the Fish Fry is Holy and the Beers Flow Freely

Looking for a good old-school fish fry for Lent? Look no further—seriously, stop scrolling, put down the phone, and get in the car. Sanford Lake Bar & Grill has an all-you-can-eat fish and salad bar that’ll make you rethink all your life choices—mainly why you haven’t been eating here every Friday since birth.

First up, the salad bar. Fresh? Check. Fully stocked? You bet. All the classics? Oh yeah. It was so good I almost forgot why I came. But then the fish arrived, and oh boy—crispy, golden, perfectly seasoned, with a batter so light it could moonlight as an angel’s pillow. The fries? Crunchier than my uncle’s questionable life advice.

To wash it all down, I grabbed a Copper Harbor from Midland Brewing. Smooth, refreshing, and just enough kick to remind me that it’s the weekend and I deserve this. My wife went the healthy route with the Broiled Cod Dinner, accompanied by steamed broccoli so perfectly cooked that even a toddler wouldn’t complain about eating their greens.

Kelly, our server, deserves a gold medal in attentiveness. She made sure our plates were full, our beers were cold, and our experience was nothing short of five stars. And the crowd? You could feel the Friday night fish fry energy in the air—laughter, good vibes, and folks stuffing their faces like it was their last supper.

If you’re not already in the car, you’re doing Lent all wrong. Five stars. Would eat until I physically...

I want to like this place. The atmosphere is great, the staff is fantastic, but the menu is nothing but challenge and difficulty. I don't frequent here, but I've paid a good number of visits (maybe 20-25) over the last twelve years, and I've tried a variety of things, but absolutely everything is subpar, save only the tacos they do on Tuesdays.

The pizza they make has a specific sauce recipe with way more sugar than it needs. I don't care about that for health reasons, but it really ruins the pizza as a whole. Burgers taste weird. Not quite the same insufferable weird as what you'd get at mcdonald's, but the fact that they're comparable makes them a sure-to-avoid part of the menu. The nachos aren't BAD, but it's just stuff tossed together straight out of various ingredient packages. Could make the exact same thing at home for about a quarter of the price.

I'm probably going to upset a few people with this, but the fish is also hard to swallow. The corn meal on it isn't bad, buuuuut that's pretty much the only nice thing I can say.

Despite an overabundance of grease, EVERYTHING is dry.

I seriously want to like this restaurant. It always smells great, everyone's smiles are sincere - customers and staff alike - but every food item I've had in twelve years is just bad, and the menu is a minefield of "oh, that sounds good this time" that is impossible to...

We were traveling through the area and were looking for a local place to have lunch and always like to check out the local places versus chain restaurants. I found this place and it looked like they had a bit of everything on their menu so we decided to stop. I really loved the decor - a huge smattering of antiques on the walls, hanging from the ceiling, where you could seriously spend all day just checking it out. There is a rail bar and ample seating including high and low tops. We were able to seat ourselves and were greeted very quickly. Our server gave us the daily specials as well as menus and took our drink order. Their menu has something for everyone - pizza, burgers, sandwiches, appetizers as well as dinners such as ribs, chicken and seafood. It was tough deciding but I chose the special which was a fried shrimp Po' Boy with fries and my friends had the Italian Steak Sub. Both were served within 15 minutes and were fantastic. Our server stopped by to check on us a couple times and brought soda refills without us having to ask. I really want to come back as there was so much I wanted to try - especially the perch and cod dinners, homemade pork rinds and seafood burrito. Their prices are very reasonable too. They aren't too far off of US-10 so it's an easy stop. I'd definitely recommend hitting this place up on your next...