We went out to Chelsea for an afternoon of walking around the downtown shops.  There’s plenty to see there to keep the whole family entertained, as well as the Purple Rose Theater which is a cool up-close setting to see a play.  So once you’ve made an excuse to go out to Chelsea with the family, here’s a great place to suggest for lunch (or dinner).  We went there on a Sunday afternoon.  We found that some of the shops are closed on Sunday, so maybe if you plan a trip, plan for a non-Sunday.

The Alehouse is decent sized place.  It’s located just at the north end of the small downtown, nice walking distance if you park on Main by the shops.  It’s in a quasi strip mall/industrial park, so nothing that exciting from the outside.  But inside is a very nice space.  High ceilings, warm colors, and lots of seating options (bar seats, small booths, big booths, small tables, or pull lots of tables together for a big group).  There was a small stage in one corner and based on the flyers posted around, they have live music from time to time.

The lunch menu had a good variety of sandwiches, and there was a decent kids menu with about 5 different choices.  We all had something different, and they all were delicious.  The pesto chicken bacon sandwich I had was quite amazingly tasty.

With a number of beers I wanted to try, I went for the taster flight that let me choose from 5 of the 8 different beers or 2 ciders they had on tap.  They also had a collection of wines from a Michigan winery (can’t remember which one).  Of the 5 beers I had, they were all pretty good with the exception of the Black IPA, which I didn’t really care for.  The others seemed good for their style, and a couple of them were quite delicious (see my ratings/comments here).

This is definitely worth a return visit.  With the atmosphere and high ceilings, it worked out very well with the kids.  They could be a bit noisy and rambunctious without disturbing other people around, which meant as parents we could relax and just enjoy the place.