Grand Rapids Eating/Drinking Question

Not from GR but visited quite a few times. Founders is focused on sandwiches and salads for the most part, but they're huge and delicious. Hopcat has a bigger menu but a similar sandwich/pub fare focus, tasty as well. Personally, I would recommend hitting Founder's for lunch then heading over to Vivant. Perrin is about 15 minutes outside of town, so plan that as you see fit. Vivant has excellent food, maybe not as much so for kids. Whenever I'm in town, I hit up Vivant then go right across the street to The Green Well for dinner, it's incredible!

 

@bigtizz123 is pretty spot-on with the info. I like Brewery Vivant better than the others when considering the food, although they might be a bit more expensive. They do have a kid's menu (it's at the bottom of this link): http://www.breweryvivant.com/#!menu/c24r3

It's really a toss-up for which place you choose. The differences in the satisfaction are not that great. You can stay flexible and aim at one but go to Plan B if your first choice is swamped.

 

Perrin does not have a large food menu, but I've had three different burgers/sandwiches there and all have been good. Like others have said, Founders does sandwiches, and they are also tasty. Not impressed worth hop cat's pub fare. Just average to maybe slightly above average bar food to me. Brewery vivant has really good entrée options but is a little pricier and may not be suitable for picky children.

 

Founders lunch
Perrin
Brewery Vivant
Grove for dinner

 

Marie Catrib's for lunch is the best spot in town. No beer, but incredible food.

 

Agreed, Grove is amazing.

 

If you want to save a few bucks, Hopcat has Happy Hour pricing from 2-6 PM Mon-Thu. !/2 price burgers and discounted pints. Their burgers and fries are pretty good too.

 

Go to Founders at the open or the afternoon. The evenings get to be quite crowded there. The other comments above are excellent. I would throw in that I have three young teenagers and they like to go to Hopcat strictly for the crack fries. Perrin's also has a shuffleboard table that your kids may enjoy.

If you want to hit the four places that you posted in your original post, you will probably want to keep your visits restricted to those four places. You should be able to enjoy all four visits but you will cut yourself thin if you try to add any more.

Perrin's sells crowlers of everything on their taplist. You can get growlers at the other places, however, there may be some beers on their taplists that they will not fill in growlers. Brewery Vivant may have some special releases canned in their gift shop when you make your visit.

 

Jumping on here to ask a quick question since there's so many different GR threads right now. I'll be up there next weekend and I'm looking to snag a few bottles of Prairie BOMB, any of the varieties. Is this a ridiculous expectation? If anyone knows of any spots in the area that might have some, please share. Also interested in hearing any recommendations for locally available heavy duty stouts or porters that I might be unable to grab in Ohio. Thanks!

 

Varieties are all gone, generally going within a few hours since we see so little. But regular Bomb is usually sitting on the shelf at places like Rishi's, Horrocks, and and D Schulers.

 

the Poutine with brie cream sauce at brewery vivant is to die for!!!!

 

Founders definitely makes some good sandwiches, so it'd be a good place for you to start (and grab some lunch). They usually have quite a few beers on draft that are brewery only (and definitely worth trying). I can't really speak to the quality of food at Perrin/Vivant/Hopcat as I've never eaten at any of them. I can say, however, that Perrin/Vivant typically have some good taplists - and I've heard nothing but good things about the food at Vivant.

What kinda budget are you talking about regarding dinner? I only ask because Mangiamo! is just down the street from Vivant. I think the past few times I've gone there I've dropped around $100 for my Wife and I (with a beer or 2 each, an appetizer, and entrees), but damn is it good. There are a TON of options for food around Grand Rapids so let us know what type of food you enjoy and what type of price range you're looking for and you should be able to get some more specific answers.

 

The Green Well definitely has good food. If you're looking for a sit down pizza place in the area, Pepino's is a pretty solid (right downtown within a few blocks of Hopcat). They usually have quite a few draft options and the pizza is also enjoyable.

 

With all the breweries listed, you might as well eat there. Save places like Marie Catribs, Green Well, Winchester, etc. for a GR foodie trip. HOWEVER, for breakfast, you must absolutely go to San Chez Tapas Bistro. It has too parts, the tapas dining room and the cafe. Breakfast, which is exceptional here, is served in the cafe side. Try the Bloody Mary Hash, the Fried Chicken and Waffle Bennie, or the Shrimp and Grits plus they have great coffee. GR has just ruined me. Founders and San Chez are must stops now on any GR visit. If you have time, swing by Madcap Coffee for a true crafted cup of coffee.

 

HopCat has a great Happy Hour with 1/2 burgers and $3.50/Local 8's. I can attest to their burgers and fries. The HH at the Detroit HopCat is better with a bigger beer selection for HH. They do two happy hours: 2-6pm and 10-close.

 

Teenagers will love the crack fries at hopcat.

I've eaten at Hopcat, Founders, and Perrin from your list.

Founders is basically just deli sandwiches, good but still deli sandwiches.

If I had to choose, I'd get lunch at Hopcat and dinner at Perrin. Perrin has a fantastic Cobb salad and sweet potato fries with garlic aioli dip. All of these places will get busy after 6-7 pm. Last time I went to Perrin we had a wait of 45 minutes or so for a group of 8 but the service was fast once we sat down. I've never been disappointed with Perrin.

 

I'm as giddy as a school kid just thinking about you going to Founders. Get that giant double decker sandwich. It's a biggin'