Spanish music and red checkered table cloths. Does this look and sound familiar? Probably not for those of us who don’t have a Mexican or Italian heritage. This restaurant also called a café and even played “I will Survive” in Spanish! I heard that song downtown Grand Rapids in a café that’s considered Italian and Cuban fare. 

In the United States we typically find Café’s consisting of coffee drinks as part of the menu. Big O’s Café does not have any coffee drinks.  It’s not your typical American café. When you first walk into Big O’s you are welcomed by an Altoid Gum machine, where for one quarter you get two pieces of gum. Honestly the machine looked like the typical metal container that Altoids come in. It was sweet!

At Big O’s you can get anything ranging from subs, soup, and salads all for under $10. They also have 12-inch and 16-inch pizza’s ranging from $11-20. They have 22 different specialty pizzas ranging from your regular cheese, supreme and Hawaiian. You can even watch them make the pizzas. Melissa and I watched them stretch and throw the dough, which they never dropped and it never hit the ceiling. As well as pizzas they have 19 different kinds of subs. I got the vegetarian sub which had pizza sauce, anchovies, mushrooms, onions and other things on it. Melissa got the chicken pesto sub, and they both came with chips and a pickle.

This café has free wi-fi which is perfect for studying and the cool lightening creates a relaxed atmosphere. Big O’ Café is half underground which makes the restaurant different. You walk down a ramp to get into the café. When you walk in you see red walls and brick walls. It is very contemporary with many interesting and artistic paintings on the wall. Some of the paintings were definitely out of the ordinary. There was a picture of a “skanky” Mexican woman and another picture of a criminal. Don’t let these pictures stop you from going to this restaurant, the food was pretty good. 

The atmosphere is actually very welcoming and you seat yourself. A waitress takes care of your order and gives you your food, so it’s classier than your fast food restaurant.  This restaurant is basically one big room, and you can look into the kitchen and see them cook your food and wash your dishes. Fox News can be watched on a flat screen T.V. above the bar. The ceiling is open which exposes the piping and wood, making the room seem bigger and contemporary. The slogan for Big O’s which can be found on the old style leather menus is: “O’ Dine in, and O’ Delivery”. 

This café is located right in the middle of Grand Rapids and can be your downtown hot spot. Check out this half underground relaxing shop.

Big O’s café gets a good rating 4 out of 5.

Quick Facts
LOCATION:  80 Ottawa Ave. NW Grand Rapids Michigan 49504
HOURS: Monday-Saturday 11 am to 10:30 pm
Closed on Sunday
WEB: www.bigospizzas.com
PHONE:  616-451-1887
GET OUT! FACTOR (OUT OF 5): !!!!

Oberlin’s Top 3
3.  The Contemporary Atmosphere.
2. I will survive in Spanish!
1. The fact that it’s Half underground!