Overview:
Restaurant: LFG Gaming Bar
Location: 116 Portage
Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Price: Food = Relatively
cheap. Dishes range from $6-$12.
-
Atmosphere: Chaotic but I guess in a good way. Video games
scattered around with help yourself service. -
Service: Not many servers because you go up and order, pick
up drinks at the bar, self-served water, etc. Food is the only thing delivered from
the kitchen and you pay ahead of time at the bar. -
Food Options: Pretty small. Sandwiches and basic bar snacks
with clever gaming names for each option. (Like “Porknite”) -
Taste: If you’re looking for greasy bar food you’ll love it.
The “Red Bread Redemption” sandwich was really good, just a little messy. -
Vegetarian Options: Not a ton. A couple sandwiches could
easily be vegetarian by asking for no bacon. The “G.T.A Rice City” fried rice
balls were pretty good just a little spicy.
Description:
A new restaurant with a cool concept, it just needs a few
tweaks here and there. LFG (or liquor, food, gaming) is a gaming bar in
downtown Kalamazoo right across from Bates Alley. We parked in the pay lot
across the street but there is also some street parking in front of the
restaurant.
I wouldn’t say LFG is a sit down restaurant. It’s very
casual, where you walk up to the bar, place your order, pay, and they hand you
a number that you keep at your table for when they bring out the food. You grab
your own napkins, utensils, and water from a self-help station near the front
door.
The food was good but I’m not going to lie, it was very
greasy. I had the “Red Bread Redemption” a sandwich with tomato, basil, garlic,
balsamic and mozzarella (Also if you’re not a gamer, the name pokes fun of the
Western-like game called “Red Dead Redemption”) and my friend and I used so many
napkins by the time we were done. We also tried the “G.T.A. Rice City” fried
rice balls with soy aioli, kimchi, and scallions but they were a little too
spicy for me.
I definitely give them props for all their clever food names
based off of game titles like “World of Boarcraft,” and “Assasin’s Haystack.”
They also have some fun cocktails. I tried “Luigi’s Man Cave” which was banana liquor,
blue curacao, citrus vodka, and mellow yellow. It was pretty good but
definitely very sugary.
The fun part of LFG is when you order you get tokens that
allow you to play some of the arcade games throughout the place. They also have
video game consoles like Game Cube, Xbox, Playstation etc. where you can play a
variety of games from Mario Kart to Guitar Hero. I can see why this would be a
gamer’s paradise and a really fun place to hang out with a ton of friends.
Overall LFG is a work in progress, but it has a ton of
potential. I wasn’t a huge fan of how greasy all the game consoles were from
everyone playing them while they were eating and how there were just controllers
and cords strewed about. But it’s still a cheap fun place to grab a drink, eat
some bar food, and kill some time for a couple of hours.
