The Meanwhile

Of all the places I’ve been since ive moved to grand rapids, this is the one place that hasn’t lost its flair for me.
Great drinks, great prices, great environment. All the elements of a neighborhood dive bar, but clean and with charm.
Weekly great specials, and a laid back atmosphere.
I go here during the evenings with a sketchbook and drink a few ginger peaches and just let myself go wild. Then it hits 10:00am and it gets loud. Really loud.

If you’re aged 25 – 35, white, and tattooed, this bar is for you. With a wide variety of fairly priced beers„ the Meanwhile is the quintessential Grand Rapids art dive. The first thing you’ll notice when you get here is the huge selection of art to buy with a wide variety of mediums and subject matters. If you’re in GR for Art Prize, this would be a perfect fit for 1 beer or 7.

This is pretty much the epitome of a hipster bar. Very friendly people, staff included, and great choices for Ciders and beer. I love to go here to just relax and meet new people.

Dark, loud, cheap and awesome. If you are looking to get absolutely annihilated for about the same price as you would at home whilst playing pinball and pac-​man, you have found your watering hole.

* Beautiful people
* Loud music
* Escape from reality
* Terrible Wi-​Fi
* Delicious drinks
* Juxtaposition

I asked for a ginger beer to go with a rum aka dark & stormy. The waitress brought me a bottle of ginger flavoured locally made beer ABV 5.6% poured into a pint glass with ice & a shot of rum… I wanted a nice harsh ginger soda with rum, not a beer with a shot of rum so diluted by beer and ice. I tried to nicely explain to the bartender beer & rum are not a good combo. He tried to argue in his 18 yrs of bar tending ALL ginger beers contained alcohol. I try not to argue with the under educated but as a bartender myself I knew it was an unfair battle. This seems like a popular hangout if you are a beer drinker. But if liquor is your thing be warned of the bar tending lack of knowledge.

Great time at The Meanwhile!!! Excellent offerings of mostly Michigan craft beer. Was welcome to bring in bag of Pretzels that I happened to have in car. Brick Road Pizza just down street happened to deliver Goat Cheese and Spinach Artichoke dip. Looking forward to revisiting. T-​Shirt offerings are a must have.

Fun joint. Good vibe, young crowd on a Sunday night, but comfortable for us.
Great, friendly service+pinball=funtime!

I had a great time at The Meanwhile while I was visiting Michigan. When we were on our way to the bar, the bar was described to me as being a «hipster» bar, which I’m fine with. Plenty of pretty, alternative people drinking beer and playing pinball. The people and staff all seemed nice and the atmosphere of the bar was entertaining and comfortable. They had a large outside patio drinking area and the inside had two stories for people drinking inside. I was there during the end of summer, so the weather was beautiful and we sat outside most of the night (also because the inside was jam-​packed full of people). The bar is in a cool area with other bars and plenty of late-​night eateries to satisfy you.
They have tons of specials every day of the week and they have great beers on tap. Local beers as well as beers from different areas. The specials that really stood out to me were the $ 1 Old Styles and $ 2.50 pints of Two Hearted on Sundays, $ 3 pitchers of PBR on Mondays, half off Michigan pints on Thursdays, alongside daily happy hour specials until 8pm.

Holy hipster heaven! I don’t mean that in a bad way, I’d rather hang here than most other bars. Interesting décor, and it’s refreshing to go to a bar where they play decent music. I haven’t been in a long time but would go again.