Hits and misses at REO Town Clubhouse

By GABRIELLE LAWRENCE

One of the goals of the “She Ate/He Ate” column has always been to promote local businesses. We don’t aim to malign restaurants that we don’t particularly like, especially since the pandemic, and we’ve even occasionally changed subject mid-month when we’ve visited a place and could tell that the review wouldn’t be positive. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out for us to alter course, and this month is one of those times. We decided to visit REO Town Clubhouse, and I don’t have many nice things to say.

But I do have a few. The building is gorgeous. In addition to main-level dining, there’s also an upper-level event space that can accommodate a large group. But unless we’re talking about Le Cirque in Las Vegas, people don’t generally choose a restaurant in order to admire the interior. So, let’s talk about the food.

When I first visited the Clubhouse for dinner several months ago, there wasn’t a breadbasket offered. That has changed, and the bread was fabulous — a warm, fluffy braid generously topped with parmesan and served with oil for dipping.

For an appetizer, we had the sausage and peppers ($12), which was also excellent. The thinly sliced peppers and onions weren’t overcooked, retaining some texture, and the sauce was just spicy enough to give the dish a bit of a bite without making anyone sweat. My daughter, a spaghetti devotee, inhaled an order of fries ($5) while she waited for her noodles and marinara ($14). The fries were topped with parmesan and finely minced parsley and were salty and crispy.

The meal slid precipitously downhill after the appetizers were gone. I ordered the lasagna ($24), assuming it to be a classic choice in an Italian restaurant. Each entrée comes with two side items, and I asked for the vegetable on offer (asparagus) and a side salad. The asparagus was yellow and woody. The lasagna was, frankly, a complete letdown. I found the tomato sauce to be slightly metallic, and while there were multiple discernible layers of noodles and filling, everything was remarkably tasteless. There was no cohesion to the dish — ricotta was plopped on top of noodles that were topped with tomato sauce, and repeat — and everything tasted like the word “beige.”

The 5-year-old doesn’t discriminate when it comes to spaghetti and told me that hers was “super delicious.” I snuck a bite and was shocked by how mushy the noodles were. The angel hair was completely overcooked, and there isn’t much that can redeem a pasta dish when you’re trying to look past a bowl of paste.

My mother joined us and asked the server for a recommendation of a meatless dish. The server said she’d heard the baked ziti ($18) was good, though she’d never tried it. I found myself wondering if that response would fly in my line of work. As an attorney, my clients come to me for professional advice. If I told them, “I don’t know for sure, but a trust seems like a good way to avoid probate,” I can’t imagine I would remain a valuable asset at the firm.

The ziti wasn’t mediocre. Unsurprisingly, Mom reported that the noodles were overcooked, and she had to add lots of salt to coax some flavor out of the dish. Mr. She Ate had the chicken parm ($23), one of our perpetual favorites. This dish, by far, was the best of the bunch. The chicken was juicy and crispy, and the breading wasn’t too heavy. But the accompanying noodles, in a surprise to nobody, were overcooked and nearly inedible.

I grew up in REO Town. I’m always happy when there’s a downtown-adjacent lunch option, and I want to see businesses succeed in my community. I’ve tried, across multiple visits, to find something good at REO Town Clubhouse, something I can recommend when people ask me what I like there. Sadly, there’s not much. I want the food served in this gorgeous building to be exceptional, but as of now, it isn’t even acceptable.

 

By BRYAN BEVERLY

I dig REO Town. It’s not Old Town, but I like that it’s not trying to be. It has its own vibe. Just a quick skip across Interstate 496 from downtown Lansing, the shops, salons and eateries offer a small-town feel, with just enough walkability and bike access. However, it has plenty of edgy, eclectic charm to balance the adjacent park and garden spaces, making it an attractive location for many festivals. The anchors of the area include General Motors’ Grand River Assembly plant, the Board of Water & Light headquarters that partially occupies a former train depot and several visual and performing arts hubs.

The area has seen good barbecue, coffee, craft beer, breakfast and pizza, but longevity continues to be a challenge. Even the location of this month’s subject of review, REO Town Clubhouse, has gone through a change over the past year and a half, having previously been Ellison Brewery and Event Space, which we reviewed in August 2023. The Clubhouse clearly benefited from the previous upgrades that transformed the massive warehouse into a brewhouse, with modern lighting, seating and décor in abundance.

Marketed as an Italian restaurant, pizzeria, event space and pool hall, REO Town Clubhouse aims to make a lasting impression in the area and serve as an anchor for entertainment. Walking in, you’ll immediately be taken aback by the sheer vastness. To the left, you’ll find the upstairs event space, which is roomy and lovely, as is the main dining room on the first floor. To the right sits the pool hall, which is also quite large, offering sharks and beginners alike enough room to run the table. In the middle sits the pizza shop, with its stone hearth oven blanketed by beautiful teal tile.

 

What was uneven

The brunch menu was intriguing, offering many traditional breakfast items and others with a more Italian flair. I arrived around 11 on a Sunday morning with my much better half and the littlest of my daughters, having seen that the brunch service started at 9 on the Clubhouse’s social media. We walked into a mostly empty restaurant and encountered a service crew that seemed to be scrambling to find their sea legs, because coffee had not yet been brewed. The waitstaff, while very pleasant, seemed as if they hadn’t yet had their first cup of coffee, either.

The food was also fairly uneven. My biscuits and gravy ($15) were quite tasty. The gravy was creamy and savory with notes of black pepper, and the biscuits were dense enough to stand up to the gravy but didn’t sit too heavily afterward. The fried potatoes were golden and crispy, and the sausage patties were large and packed with sage flavor.

My much better half enjoyed a bloody Mary ($9) that had a Caprese skewer atop the glass. She also ordered the sweet crespelle crepes ($15), which looked better than they tasted. The lemon curd overpowered the palate, and the sugar-cured ham ($4) was an absolute waste of protein and money: limp and lifeless, with not a single hint of sugar to be found nor a streak of a sear on the meat itself.

 

What was better

I met a mentor/friend/colleague for lunch and had a much better experience. We both ordered the lunch pasta combo. The Caesar salads were fresh and plentiful, especially being part of a lunch combo. I had the spaghetti and meatballs ($14), and though crushed tomatoes will never be my favorite, the meatballs were large and packed with garlic, herbs and parmesan cheese. The pasta was a bit overcooked, but overall, the dish was solid.

My companion ordered the chicken alfredo ($16) and said it was one of the best versions she’d ever had. The thick and creamy alfredo sauce was a yummy revelation. The chicken was more well done than I typically care for, but it was spot on for her. She wanted me to relay that she would return at least 17 times.

 

Best bite

The fried shrimp ($16) with a Calabrian pepper sauce were very good. The breading on the shrimp was fried hard enough to withstand the oil-and-butter-based bath in which they rested. The sauce was tasty and had the perfect amount of spice for a lunch dish.