Finley’s Grill & Smokehouse

To start a restaurant that boasts their low and slow Bbq menu should have Bbq available on Mothers Day. Upon ordering the waiter informed us «No pulled pork». Great start at a Bbq restaurant right? «Oh and we are also out of sweet potato fries. «
We all still ordered and got over it. That was until the manager stopped by to inform us no smoked chicken BUT can substitute chicken wings. Nice touch when you ordered a smoked quarter chicken eh? The manager also said to another guest at our table don’t worry we still have smoked pulled chicken for your order. The manager delivered our food; which I thought was odd to have a manager deliver food. Surprising the «pulled chicken» dish came out as a plain chicken breast in lieu of pulled smoked chicken in their signature Finley’s BBQ Mac N Cheese. Seriously?!?
If the food fiasco wasn’t enough in the men’s restroom the urinal anti-​splash mats were hanging from the flush handles??? Why would a restaurant ever do that?!! And seriously when has a guy ever complained about restrooms???
The manager offered a gift card but why would we ever come back? This was an awful experience.
The waiter did great in every way he could but even he can’t fix stupid! Very disappointed in the food and especially the manager. Save yourself a trip and know you aren’t missing great BBQ.

Not impressed. I guess I should’ve listened to the warnings in previous reviews but I had to try it for myself. I had never tried Finley’s when it was in its previous location on Saginaw. My boyfriend and I thought we’d be adventurous and give the new location a try. Walked into the restaurant where we waited for the hostess for about five minutes. We saw several employees talking in the back of the restaurant looking our way but no one walked up to help. Eventually a young girl walked up and grabbed menu’s and brought us to our table. As soon as I sat down I went to rest on the back of the booth and the entire backing moved, disturbing the customers behind me. We laughed it off as they admitted it happened to them too and my boyfriend and I began looking at the menu. It took our server 3 trips past us to finally stop at our table and get our drink order. I would be more understanding if her area was full of people but the place was clearing out and there was maybe a handful of people sitting in the restaurant. I couldn’t help but notice that two of the tables in front of us talked with management at different times in regard to their meals and had items taken off heir bill. This immediately discouraged me. We elected to get the potato skins as an appetizer which were very good. No complaints about those except the waitress did not bring plates with the appetizer and we were stuck waiting for them for another 5 minutes. She eventually came back and we placed our dinner orders. We both selected the Parmesan crusted sirloin cooked medium with loaded mashed potatoes and a side salad with ranch. My boyfriend selected the Cole slaw instead of the side salad. We ordered the complimentary bread which was just okay. We only got white bread we did not try the wheat. The waitress brought out my side salad and the coleslaw for my boyfriend. The salad was okay. Typical Iceburg lettuce thrown together with croutons and cherry tomatoes. The lettuce was a little wilted but I moved it off the plate and ate what I wanted. My boyfriend enjoyed his coleslaw. No complaints from him. She brought our entrée’s in good time. They were nice and hot. The loaded mashed potatoes were very good. Bacon, cheddar cheese, butter and scallions. The sirloin was okay. I expected it to be more flavorful. The Parmesan crust we both ended up taking off the steak as we both felt it was dry and unpleasant to taste. The cut of meat itself was chewy. Neither of us were interested in finishing our dinners. We sat and waited for our waitress to come by so we could ask for a box and our bill. She walked by our table 3 times looking at our plates. She completely ignored the fact that we had stopped eating and I had to wave her down to get boxes. We spent $ 37 total and that was with 50% off the appetizer and before tip. My experience here is that if you want mediocre food topped with inattentive servers and a less than original atmosphere (none of the decorations have changed since it was originally TGIF) then this is the spot. I would not come back and I would not recommend to friends and family. Unfortunately this company needs revamped and a brand makeover by someone that knows what they’re doing. Good luck.

Tried this place for the second time and it will be my last. The food was disgusting and service so-​so
Spend your money elsewhere.

food was alright.
service was sub-​par. If you had to eat here, sure. if you could go somewhere else I probably would.
Took my order, no one had contact with me for 20 minutes, food came, took another 15 minutes to be checked on. Ended up refilling my water via the bar gun by myself. quick lunch? no.

This is our go to place for birthdays (you get $ 10.99 off any item). The reuben is delicious. The boys love the ribs. But today I tried the black bean burger and it is ahhhmazing! When I raved about it to the waiter he told me they only added it to the menu today! For a BBQ/​smokehouse, this veggie burger is the bestest thing on the menu. The only reason i’m editing to a star less than 5 is because of the seating situation. Our waiter was excellent but we were seated by the host in such a closed off abandoned spot yet the whole restaurant was pretty empty. I didn’t get it. They had one waiter for a large area so it’s not like they were teying to give each waiter some business. We asked to move where it was slightly livlier. Other people came in and were being seated where tables hadn’t even been bussed yet. Like I said, odd. But we’ll be back because the food and drinks are above average and possibly even fantastic. Good beer choices are the bean flicker and sloppy seconds. Both fruity and delicious. Also sabotage is an excellent coffee stout. Thank you Finleys!

Came here to eat dinner, left after one round of drinks which cost $ 22+, but mostly because of the surly bartender who felt it was a moral imperative to make you feel like you are putting her out. Especially her sarcastic «awww» when we cashed out. Totally undeserved, because we are not demanding patrons, we pretty much keep to ourselves.
Travel here a lot, and we were excited for a different food experience, but we’ve had to resign ourselves to chain restaurants in this area, because at least their management has some proper training.

Brisket kinda dry, out of prime rib which means they have a killer prime rib, great bartender, cool atmosphere! Great sauces!

Great bbq… 6 different types of sauces to choose from, from sweet all the way too hot and every single one of them are good. I ordered a two meat plate, Turkey and St Louis style ribs, the ribs were dry rub and fell off the bone and the turkey was juicy and all and all the two meat plate was a pretty good portion! Barbecue baked beans were very good with huge chunks of brisket in it. Sat at the bar. Mashia, our bartender was super cool and very friendly. Would definitely come back here again on a future trip through Lansing. Great place to take a woman on a first date!

The food is pretty good, the service is terrible.
This was my second attempt to eat here, being a fan of BBQ i try to visit local establishments. The first time I tried to eat here, i stood at the hostess stand for 5 minutes waiting to be seated. They were not busy, just inattentive. There were several wait staff talking to each just outside the kitchen doing their best to ignore customers. It worked, I left.
That was last night, I returned tonight, and was greeted promptly and seated immediately.
My server was friendly and helpful, but perhaps a little over booked.
My meal arrived in about 14 minutes not bad… but…still no drink and still no utensils.
The food:
Brisket was pretty good, did not need sauce.
Pulled pork was meh
Smoked sausage was good.
I had the 3 meet combo with 2 sides.
Finley’s mac and cheese and the beans as sides, I am not sure how they did this, but the entrée was piping hot, the sides were barely room temperature.
This place is either understaffed or mismanaged.
Not sure I will come back.

Ohhhh my Gawwwd, the service here is awful. 40 minutes to get food at 3pm on a week day. Food was pretty good though.

The worst place I’ve been too in Lansing. Food was kinda hot. That’s the best I have. Services was so bad I think they were trying. I went back just to try again and something as before. Just the worst.

The service here was great. Our waiter was very helpful. Our table ordered New York beef & cheese sandwich, Classic Ruben, and ½ rack of ribs. We all liked our choices. The Ruben was fantastic. Everyone ordered fries and they were very crispy and delicious. The coleslaw was limp and almost mushy. We did have a child with us who ordered a childs Mac & cheese. It was a dried up bowl of national brand which was surprising seeing that they have a large selection of adult Mac & cheese dishes.

Finally tried something off their Smokehouse menu. I had the brisket, and at first thought the portion was small, but I was wrong. After trying to stay away from carbs, I ate the cornbread muffin, and thought it was great! Then went to the brisket, and that also was very good! It was tender, and smokey, with some good bark.
If I was to really fault anything with dinner, it would be that the waitress did not check back to see if we needed anything. What I needed was more sauce. They bring you six different flavors, and heat. My six were three of each kind. Was really looking forward to trying the hot bbq sauce, but did not happen.
Overall, I very much enjoyed it.

I went here for a work Christmas party and the overall impression was good food. A little disappointed with portion size. I assume any place that boasts about their BBQ would have a heeping helping that buried a plate. On the same note the BBQ sauce tastes just like some sweet baby rays… Not a bad thing on chicken at home but again I was hoping for something more.
Service was very good for the size of our group. However, the waiters must have been playing tag with the table seeing as we had 3 different servers wait on us throughout the meal.
I would give it 3 stars, food was good but nothing special. I would try this place out again for dinner, sometimes there is a noticeable difference.

I’m from Lansing but moved away. I came back to visit family and thought Finley’s would be a great place to come back to. Growing up I loved the bread, Hawaiian Chicken and brown rice. So I came in and ordered my favorites. The bread was alright, but the chicken or the sauce (I’m not sure which) tasted like cleaning products. The rice was gummy and tasteless.
I suppose some things are best left a memory.

Came here completely randomly, never heard of this place, but was desperate to eat lunch. My boyfriend and I sat at the bar and ordered the three meat smokehouse combo with pulled pork, brisket, and turkey. Everything tasted fantastic. Mac and cheese and baked beans were great too. Service was good too, and really quite cheap. We spent $ 23, and were stuffed. The night before dinner was $ 100 and we both agreed that our lunch at Finley’s was better. I will definitely come back when I am in the area.

Can’t really complain about the food or service in general, any mistakes are quickly corrected. That said, I ordered the same dish both times I ate here and both times it included the items I’d specifically asked to not be included in it.

This is our first visit to Finley’s since they relocated to the old TGIF’s location. When we ate (frequently) at their old spot we always had a great experience: surprisingly tasty and filling food, decent drinks, friendly and prompt service; they always hit the mark. Now, I’m not sure we’ll be coming back.
The first noticeable area of improvement is their service now. Our waitress disappeared for fifteen minutes toward the end of our meal. We ended up asking the manager to get our bill and a to go box. I enjoyed watching him search for our waitress for another five minutes afterward.
The most disappointing part was the food quality. My husband ordered a steak medium and when it was served to us just minutes later, it was truly rare. The middle of the steak wasn’t even cooked and was cold. They refired it for him and were apologetic, but I seriously question the ability of the chef who couldn’t distinguish very rare from medium. It was mooing on his plate. My meal, a chicken wrap of basic quality, was drenched and dripping in ranch, and was average at best. My husband’s steak was part of the Great American Sampler that also included their Hawaiian chicken that we’ve had many times before. This version, however, simply was not the same standard or flavor we are use to. We did like their «tater tots» that are more like fries mashed potatoes though!
We were very underwhelmed and sad to see the changes made to Finley’s as a result of their relocation, which to me shouldn’t have changed anything about their restaurant. Perhaps the cooks and the waitstaff have changed?

Well, we arrived at 11 am when they’re supposed to be opening and at 11:25 still not open. Come to find out the restaurant was open, someone forgot to unlock the door we were using. Inside we had a very nice server named Kate. The ribs are INCREDIBLE!!! The Kansas City sirloin was cooked perfectly. The steamed vegetables were perfect. I now need a nap. The overall experience was great. We will definitely be back.

The service was great and I had a timely waitress, her name was Ashley and was very attentive with food, water, suggestions etc. based on the service I received, I will go back.
The good was decent nothing to crazy good but hit the spot for sure!