A pleasant surprise.
About a week ago, I was out with my friends and we were looking for a chill place to just hang out and have a few drinks that wasn't too crowded when we happened upon this quiet little hangout rather by accident. For some reason, it seemed everyone in town was out that night and each one of our preferred watering holes was either too crowded or just felt meh to us.
After meeting up in Flint Township after work, we were struggling to settle on an ideal, perhaps new, place that also served decent bar food, but was laid back and not filled with Nascar fans, dbags or overly drunk 21 year old girls. After ditching two other establishments because they were not our scene, we came across Vic's Place, quite by happenstance. Vic's Place was definitely the answer. Located around the back of the new Ruggero's location (with a separate bar entrance), Vic's was a nice, quiet alternative. It wasn't a lame sports bar or dive bar, just a quiet pub with good food and drinks.
The food was quite good and the menu was fairly extensive, ostensibly because the food comes from the Ruggero's culinary team. After all, they are located within the same building. The food menu featured a lot of pasta dishes and specialty pizzas, as well as the basic tenets of bar food, namely burgers, sandwiches and deep fried appetizers. I split a ginormous order of loaded nachos, heavy on the traditional fixings with a pretty decent hot sauce on the side. My friend, Jen, ordered a personal margherita pizza and while I didn't sample her dish, it looked great, plus she said it was quite good and would order it again.
Vic's had an extensive list of beers on tap, which I like in a bar, as well as a nice selection of craft beers. Draft beers came in two sizes- big and humongous. Guess which size I had. Anyway, the beer and wine lists were impressive and the cocktails, while they took a long time to hit the table, were fun, inventive and decidedly not on the weak side. The Old Fashioned was a good classic, strong, but subtle in all the right places. I'd order it again in a heartbeat. My friend, Jen, asked the bartender to "whip up something unique." She was not disappointed. Her nameless concoction was an ode to a Manhattan, but with a twist. I tried it and she was right- it was sublime.
I liked the atmosphere. It was laid back and quiet, despite the fact that there were quite a few people in the place, seated up at the bar and at tables. The bar had a jukebox. That was kinda interesting. It wasn't something you see everyday. As for decor, there was a fire pit near our table and the bar was outfitted with a mix of high tops and low tables, with a slightly elevated seating area near the jukebox and the fire pit, which was where we were seated. Be careful when you step down or you'll trip, especially if you're a bit inebriated.
The service was a little slow and it definitely took a little bit longer to receive our food than it probably would in a typical dive bar or a greasy spoon, but it wasn't that bad and there was only one bartender on duty pretty much the entire time we were there. Plus, the food was clearly quite a few notches above basic bar grub, anyway. Prices were on par with what one would expect. The draft beer specials were cheap and well worth the extra money to order the larger size draft.
I will definitely be back. Our group came in with low expectations and left with any preconceived notions about the place completely shattered. Definitely a nice place for a quiet drink with friends after work or happy hour. read more