Avenue Cafe

This is the best venue in Lansing! Looooove this place! I’ve attended fund raisers for local non-​profits and hosted events here. The owner, Colleen, is AMAZING! She seems to know everyone & when I forgot our projector, she had one there within 10 minutes. I’ve hosted two events that reached near capacity & everyone LOVED the location, venue, drink & food prices, and ALWAYS FRIENDLY & smiling faces! I can’t say enough good things about this place!

Alcohol is always prompt. Great food available from Nomad Kitchen and everyone really likes being there

Ave café is my favorite live music venue in Lansing. They have great food, cheap drink prices, and the servers /​bartenders are great. Im not sure why some writers are suggesting they are trying to rebrand the former Gone Wired Café — this is definitely not the case.
The facility is really big and odd in it’s set up, but they do a good job of scheduling awesome Indie rock and gothgrass nationally touring acts. The sound is way better than The Loft.
If you are an uptight pussy that likes terrible cover bands you should go to the Green Door instead.

The physical space is excellent and I like that the venue hosts such diverse events and bands. I used to come here and study when it was Gone Wired, but now it is not open until 3pm and is more of a bar. I want to like it so much but:
–the food sucks. I love that they have vegan/​veg options but they are not very good and over priced for what it is
–the service sucks. If you do order food, be prepared to wait a long time.
The last time I was there, my friend got a huge clump of hair in her food. The manager came out and apologized and offered her a new plate but she obviously lost her appetite. Another friend of mine ordered a very standard drink — rum and coke — but received GIN and coke (which was mostly gin. Ew).
If they could improve the service, food, drinks, and be more professional I would like it much more. I do hope they keep hosting unique events in town like the recent Queer Comedy Show. But you’d be better off getting the excellent Chinese food next door than eating there.

Cool place with a mixed crowd, and I love their food. it’s actually not what you would expect from a dark, kinda’ run-​down place. The vegetarian options are appreciated. Good prices on beer and I know they always have specials going on. Often there will be people studying here on week nights, which I think is pretty cool. Locals also frequent this place. Nice service. Good hang out place. I think the interior could use some remodeling since things feel and look dirty. And I wish they were open earlier if they serve coffee and brunch… it’s not really a café. This is a bar!

Great start to a new Sunday brunch spot — check out the specials with Looney Tunes in the background !

My rating reflects their food. I used to come here for their red bean burger but they no longer have that. They have a black bean burger which lacks taste and was mushy. Their shoe string fries were cold and their «mashed potatoes» was not all the way cooked. Their truffled mushrooms were NOT worth $ 8. It came with 6 pieces. It was delicious but there was barely any truffle taste.
I do like that you just order and pay for your food. You don’t have to worry about a waiter coming and checking on you. I also like that they have free wifi and they now have a little arcade room! They have bands that come in on the weekends and also some weeknights.
I would never come here for food again, though.

Went here once with roughly 4 people in total sitting at the bar. Still took roughly 25 minutes to be served and when we were the beer was flat and warm. It seemed most of the employees would rather spend time outside smoking than providing customer service.
I am a believer in giving places a second chance so on the biggest bar night of the year I stopped in with a friend. Rather small crowd considering the space they have and again a single bartender situation in which we received absolutely awful service.
If you’re a normal person looking for a beer and casual conversation, avoid at all costs. If you have a beard and facial piercings, you might get served.

The Avenue is the new re-​branding of the old «Gone Wired Café». The Lansing State Journal named «Gone Wired» as the «Best Café in Lansing» so it’s a bit confusing why they felt they needed to re-​brand themselves; they were probably trying to convey their new status as a Bar/​Café. But the name Avenue Café fails to deliver on that point. I feel like simply changing the name to «Gone Wire Bar and Grill» would have been a better decision.
The coffee here is still not the best. I don’t remember who the roaster is (perhaps «Cardinal Coffee») but it always tastes over roasted to me.
I like the Idea of adding actual Irish Cream to a Latte and like Craft beer about as much as I like coffee — so big win with the Liquor licensing.
However, the hours are always confusing me and the food and coffee specialty drinks are of inconstant quality.
They used to host all sorts of cool clubs at their large venue (vampire club, board game club, beard club, and LARPERs (?) it was a blast to see. Alas, that doesn’t seem to be the case now… A business gets it character from the clientèle; and who has more character then a beard club (just sayin’).
The greatest redeeming quality of this café is the venue (when it’s open) which is amazing; it’s a huge cavernous place with ample second floor seating and a large open first floor. It’s a shame that such an amazing venue should befall such manic management.

Went to the Avenue Café on MI avenue in Lansing to see my buddies band play, Jacks Weak Ego. What a good show. The Avenue Café used to be a coffee shop that turned to selling booze! There were still people studying when we showed up early and they have a coffee bar adjacent to the taps. Beer section was good, MI craft beers or PBR. PBR was $ 2.50 a mason jar.
Out of the six burgers on the menu I chose the breakfast burger. $ 7.50 got you a burg with hard egg, tomato, lettuce, and cheddar. Burger lacked a lil flavor though for having the ingredients for greatness.
Burger– 2
Price– 4
Service– 4
Overall– 3.75
The Avenue is a two story spot that is larger than life when you step inside. It is dimly lit and adorned with scary paintings that are on sale for a cool $ 175. Very industrial feel with only a few billiards and games. Again this was a coffee shop before. Happy hour on Saturday night meant that burgers were half off. I’m pretty sure that the greatest part was the sriachia (sp) that was provided!

This is one of the better places to study in the East Lansing/​Lansing area. The food is simple but good. The best part is the bar as I like to have a drink while doing work. The place can be a bit dark and some of the furniture could use some fixing up but overall, a good atmosphere!

I WANT to love Gone Wired (or, as they’ve re-​branded themselves, The Avenue). I really do. It reminds me of a coffee shop I was in love with (Krankies in Winston-​Salem, NC) in a town where I used to live. It’s big, has free wi-​fi, it’s locally owned and operated. I wholeheartedly support all of those things. However, I’ve been disappointed by them so many times at this point that it’s hard to keep trying.
I’m sitting here writing this review after attempting to stop by The Avenue this morning to get some work done, only to find out they are not open now until 10AM. I realize that re-​branding themselves as a coffee shop/​bar (which is an odd combination, by the way) might have changed some things, but the baristas/​bartenders always insisted the only change would be that they also now have a full bar. Apparently, that was untrue. If The Avenue is going to continue to operate as a coffee shop at all, opening up at 10AM is far too late.
In addition, the food at The Avenue is VERY hit-​or-​miss. I’ve gone in several times and had an awesome, awesome breakfast or lunch. Another time, I went in and (based on a menu sign at the counter) ordered a «Homeless Grilled Cheese,» which was advertised to contain basil, tomato, and a couple of different kinds of cheese. I received a plain grilled cheese. When I went to the cook to complain, he insisted the food was correct. I almost brought him the sign from the counter, but decided it wasn’t worth it. The Breakfast Burrito has been both awesome and terrible. I just never know which I’m going to get. Perhaps I could remedy this if I got to know the cooks (and which ones were good), but I think The Avenue really needs to strive for consistency in the food. I’ve thrown out a few meals there, as it is.
Service can be great, or it can be slow. The coffee is generally pretty good, although nothing to write home about. The servers have always been very friendly to me, but sometimes just don’t seem like they’re in much of a hurry. I don’t expect lightning fast, but sometimes, the pace is glacial.
Finally, on this web page, and in the store, I’ve had the unfortunate occasion to witness some real nastiness on the part of the owner. Her responses to the negative reviews are really unprofessional for a business owner (personal attacks are absolutely and totally uncalled for). I’ve also been in the café when there was a large table of men who hadn’t purchased anything, and Colleen came up to kick them out. Telling them that they needed to order something or leave was totally justified. The way she handled it, however, was shocking. She berated them, was mean, rude, and nasty. After she left, I heard all of the guys saying that if she had asked politely, they would have simply ordered something. She could have handled it in a way that gained her some business instead of (undoubtedly) losing it.
All of that said, I’ll probably keep going to Gone Wired/​The Avenue in the hopes that it will live up to my expectations someday. Right now, it’s not bad, but has some weak aspects that the staff really need to improve.