Good restaurant/bar to watch the TA&M game in Ann Arbor?

Submitted by LSA84 on

I'm an alum who's flying to Ann Arbor tomorrow to speak at a recruiting event for my firm, and I will be having dinner with another alum to talk to him about possibly joining us.  Naturally, we'd like a place with good food where we can watch the game but won't be so loud that we can't talk business.  Though we've both been to A2 in recent years for football games, neither of us has lived there since the '80s.  I'd really appreciate some recommendations.  Thanks and GO BLUE!

UMGoRoss

March 21st, 2018 at 7:32 PM ^

Blue tractor has a ton of TVs and shouldn’t be overwhelming. Grizzly Peak and Jolly Pumpkin might work, but I can’t remember how good the sight lines to the TVs are in there.



Fraser’s is an option, but that’s a bit more townie / dive, but at least won’t be overrun with students (the burgers there are great too)

DairyQueen

March 21st, 2018 at 11:20 PM ^

Frasers is definitely more of a townie/country-feeling dive bar rather than city-dive.

I go there all the time, it's got a vibe.

But if you're only in A2 for one night on business, with another business person talking business, and you haven't be in A2 since the 80s, then yes, I would 100% not recommend going there. 

It isn't even technically downtown.

Pretzel Bell would be slightly "nicer". Blue Tractor wouldn't be bad either, more casual than Pretzel Bell. Conor Oneills gets pretty rockin, but it gets super loud too.

(i've worked in literally nearly 1/3 of all the downtown ann arbor restaurants, and know at least someone in the other 2/3s)

And YES the Pulled Pork Nachos at Wolverine are delicious (and one of the few bars that will put on this old, little-known sport called "Hockey" on the TVs), but Wolverine is also just slightly outside of downtown.

Bo Glue

March 22nd, 2018 at 1:41 AM ^

Frasers is a hike, and even when it was across the street from me I would rather head downtown and watch it at Grizzly Peak or Blue Tractor. Wolverine could be worth going to if you had a car and wanted a quieter spot, definitely not walkable though. Haven't tried watching a game at Pretzel Bell, but definitely would recommend against Jolly Pumpkin for watching a game (though it's great at everything else).

hailtothevictors08

March 21st, 2018 at 7:50 PM ^

Really depends how classy you want this meal to be...

Something like the bar at Chop House might be appropriate if you want it to be a suit and tie thing. (Note: Chop House isn’t my favorite but I’m struggling to think of v nice places with TVs. Maybe the bar at Weber’s?)

The issue is many nice places have TVs but don’t have sight lines everywhere.

Maybe do an early dinner somewhere nice and then go to a bar for the game?

MaladjustedStrong

March 21st, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^

All the jet setters and gadabouts, and people who've been on this blog forever, yet don't know a good restaurant or how to find one.

In reply to by MaladjustedStrong

HHW

March 21st, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^

I’ll be in Bora Bora, just for the game, before I head to Sydney for the weekend. Would anyone know of a Bora Borian that would be willing to hold my iPad for me while I watch the game. I’ll be streaming, so if you have any Wi-Fi info that would be nice too. Plus, I’ll be buying the iPad once I arrive, is there an Apple store on the island?



Is that better?

Commie_High96

March 21st, 2018 at 11:09 PM ^

No, Session Room is in Scio Township, Ann Arbor ends at Wagner. Maybe look for the giant “Welcome To Scio Township” sign in the mediun there. But I was referring to it not really being in”Town” as a walkable place.

Now if you want to include the Session Room as it shares the 48103 zip with west Ann Arbor and uses the Stadium post office, this is true. 48103 extends out to almost Baker as does the A2 Public School boundaries where they encorporate Scio Farms.

BlueWon

March 21st, 2018 at 8:33 PM ^

The Blue Lep or The Garage for what will be rousing student action (have dinner at the Pizza House first) or Bar Louie.

We're going to start at BWW as they are having a Founder's Canadian Breakfast Stout tapping event -- awesome beer and it's truly a unicorn!