Principle Food & Drink

So, my siblings and I decided to have our parents 50^th anniversary dinner. Bad choice! We had a reservation for 7:30 and didn’t get seated until 7:45. Needless to say we were all hungry. When we were finally seated their was no apology for the wait and it actually just continued. So it took forever to get our drinks and appetizers. Then we waited another hour for our meals. The meals were way too small for what you pay and $ 7 for a small side of broccoli. Are you kidding me. So my 20 year old daughter ordered the chicken thigh and couldn’t eat it because it was so spicy despite the fact that menu didn’t say anything about it being spicy. My 17 year old son ordered the flank steak for $ 19 and was served a 4 oz. steak with no side. He requested plain rice and was told that it was not available. He wanted to know if that was his appetizer. Needless to say he left starving. I also want to mention how uncomfortable your chairs are. Since we were there so long I could hardly stand it! We also had a 9 year old and the kids choices were limited. I will not return, ever!

First time with this new restaurant. Would typically go to Rustica but wanted something different. This place delivered. Excellent opportunity for unique flavor combinations. We enjoyed the flank steak, ciopiono, hot links, scallops. See attached picture. Small plates so get a vegetable plate too. Sharing enhances the experience.

We tried Principle recently and were pleasantly surprised! They were busy so we started out down stairs and opted to stay there instead of waiting for a table upstairs (which seemed noisy). The downstairs is a nice cozy area where you can eat or grab a drink while you wait for a table. It’s very flexible, sort of like a living room\bar. We each ordered a craft cocktail and were blown away at how much complexity and flavor could be in a drink! The smoke sazarack is by far the drink of choice their! Trying one is a must. It was clear that you could easily go over board here both on food but especially on drinks. We’d been told that the broccoli was amazing and we tried the sea scallops which were some of the best we’ve had (in Michigan, who’d think). That was plenty of food for the two of us, but we could have had twice as much as well (and been stuffed)! We also tried two digestif’s and the peanut butter banana split gelato. I’d highly recommend the digestif’s it’s nice way to end the meal. The gelato also is incredible. That said we got out for under $ 80 including a generous tip. I think we did Principle exactly right, plates to share, amazing craft cocktails, digestif’s, and desert! It is what you make it, but you have to go there and try it first!

Very small portions. I ordered a $ 19 dollar steak. What came out on my plate was 3 – 4 ounces of meat. At first I thought the waitress made a mistake. Or someone was playing a joke. Nope, that’s how everything is served, in little, tiny amounts. If you have a big appetite, you’ll leave there hungry. Or spend a fortune trying to get full. Their food is good, but not good enough to justify spending that kind of money. I also hated the interior of the place, that hard urban look, dark and gloomy. Over priced food, little portions, boring décor.

Food was phenomenal as was the service at Principle. My wife and I dined here on a Saturday evening around 7:30 and were able to immediately get a table for two. They don’t take reservations for parties less than then 6 so we got lucky.
We ordered the Baked Cheese appetizer and it was as amazing as it sounds. The cheese is baked on a single piece of sour dough bread with an onion jam. We were both hungry when we walked in and this hit the spot.
Our waitress described their menu as medium plates vs small plates. You definitely want to order 2 plates each unless you order an appetizer then you can probably get away with ordering a single plate for dinner. We tried the Baked Chicken Thigh, Shaved Asperigus, and the Scallops. Between the two of us this was the perfect amount of food.
The baked chicken was served on a bed of potatoes and leaks and was topped with a nice sauce. The dish pulled together well. The scallops were fresh and cooked just right. The scallops were served with black eye peas and some nice sauces as well. The shaved Asperigus were light and citrusy. I really liked the baked garlic on top.
We will definitely be back!

The drinks are absolutely amazing. They really went above and beyond when creating their drink menu. They not only gave Kalamazoo the pizazz it needed but encouraged other bars to step up their game. The service is fantastic and the owners are very friendly. As far as the food is concerned they still need a little work. Their niche is the beverages and in that area they are excelling.

A wonderful menu. We loved all our food. My husband ordered the flank steak, it was cooked perfectly. I ordered the trout and it was excellent. The cocktail menu was amazing too. The service was very good too. Great spot for a date night or dinner with friends!

This place blew us away! What a gem! The waitress was very informative! She new EVERYTHING about the entire menu and was very informative! Their handcrafted drinks were great! Very excellent clan chowder soup! The salmon was amazing also! Definately a cool and romantic atmosphere. (Although the tables are kinda close together if you want a lot of privacy.)
Zero complaints from us! Definately going back for more!

This place is incredible. Don’t listen to the Unilocalers who complain about service and price as they are cheap and impatient. Quality cocktails and food take time and require ingredients that aren’t cheap.
First off the cocktails are amazing and most importantly unique. You wont find these most anywhere else in town and you certainly wont find bartenders who are as skilled, using fresh/​house made mixers and syrups. My favorite is the Sythe & Sickle. It’s a bourbon based drink with a maple liquor and a maple spiced simple syrup. It’s honestly my favorite drink of the moment so much so that I now make them at home. My girlfriend loves the Dream of June which is a gin based drink. I don’t like gin at all but I’d gladly order one of these for myself if I wasn’t too busy sucking down my S&S’s faster than they can make them.
Food wise, you really can’t go wrong but don’t not start off with an order of the Cheddar Crackers… it sounds basic, so much so that you’re probably wondering «how good could they possibly be?» and I get that. That being said, they are incredible toasted/​salted cheese crackers with a light horseradish cheese spread. It’s my favorite item on the menu. As far as mains go, I suggest either the Crispy Chicken Thigh wrapped in prosciutto or the panchetta. Both are super flavorful and aren’t served anywhere else in town. If you want seafood or steak the scallops are very good and the flank steak with onion rings are solid. If you want some veggies, try the grilled broccoli and you wont regret it. I don’t even really like broccoli but I love this. Also a huge hit is the mushroom fried rice.
So far there isn’t anything on the menu I’ve tried that I didn’t like and the restaurant as a really cool prohibition era vibe that sets this place apart from the other restaurants downtown.

I was excited to try this restaurant as I like seasonal menus and fine dining, but I was pretty disappointed with Principle. The décor is really nice — think dark woods and more industrial feel. We were able to get a table right away on Friday evening at around 8:30.
We ordered the baked cheese (aka RACLETTE!), but it was literally a thin sliver of raclette on top of a slice of bread with some cookies down onions. Um okay, pretty much kills all the best parts of an unctuous runny raclette. Then it took over 45 minutes for the rest of our food.
We also ordered the flat iron served with onion rings. Flavor was pretty good, but the piece I tried was pretty tough chewy.
Grilled broccoli was good — served on top of literally a spicy mayonnaise (not the kind from a sushi restaurant). It was too spicy for my friend, so be forewarned. It was just giant stalks of broccoli, so if you don’t like the stem, you’re out of luck.
Clam chowder — this was good, the broth was really rich. The best part was the pork inside! I was actually surprised at how tender it was. This was heavily seasoned. The potato was under cooked.
Orange creamsicle — some microwaved torn aerated sponge cake with orange gel, vanilla ice cream, and orange supremes. Pretty good.
Chocolate pudding — a rich semi-​sweet firmer pudding with some butterscotch on the side and cookie crumbles. This was a little flat. Not enough butterscotch.
The food didn’t really justify the wait, and our server just was off putting. I asked her some questions about the food and she seemed bothered and was condescending in her tone.
The cocktails looked nice.

All around excellent experience. The cocktails were fun and delicious. The smoked sazerac was one I would get again and again. The cracklings were fresh and the cheddar biscuits. OMG, the cheddar biscuits with the bacon jam. The champs for me were the mushroom fried rice and the crispy chicken thighs. The rice was nothing what I expected but the combination of flavors from the mushrooms and sweet potato was absolutely astonishing. The chicken was perfect. I’m a beef girl and the thighs outdid the flank steak and the flat iron. Crisp, bone in flavorful and paired with puréed candied yams. The scallops and shrimp I tried were good too. Had a great evening out with colleagues, will be back!

A friend and I decided to meet here for dinner. I chose it based on the reviews and the menu. My friend raved about what a good choice I made. I have to agree with him, we could not have had a better experience.
We walked in and were given a cozy seat towards the back of the restaurant. Our waitress was prompt, professional, and friendly throughout the meal. We chose a bottle of Cabernet to split and it was insanely affordable, only $ 30! It was great wine. Sadly I did not try any of their creative and delicious sounding cocktails… next time.
As for dinner, I really like the small plate concept. I like trying different things and it is easier when small plates are involved. I got the baby kale salad and the beef tenderloin with onion rings. My friend got the shrimp scampi and the beet salad. My food was spot on, the salad was refreshing and well presented with a variety of textures (homemade croutons, shaved carrots, gorgonzola). The steak was cooked perfectly and was complemented well with the horseradish sauce. The onion rings were thick, battered well and cooked well. My friend’s food was also great though the scampi is a bit of a confusing thing– it’s more like tempura which the waitress did mention but perhaps they should rename that dish?
Dessert was the cherry on top. We got the chocolate malted sundae. There were two ice creams– chocolate malt and vanilla bean. There was caramel sauce and some crunchy chocolate stuff on top. To die for! I love that savory malted taste and it was spot on. I can’t say enough good things about this place

We stopped at Principle after dinner a few doors down from Rustica to try their desserts and cocktail selection. Being on the ped-​mall means parking is not a concept without a walk, so prepare for that. The restaurant has a dual-​shot charm, rustic meets 1920’s flapper nightclub. Bouncy art-​deco music fills the space. The waitstaff are happy, and immensely pleasant. The cocktails are masterful, not slap-​dash or hackneyed in the least. They feature custom ice cubes and thematic fruit garnish and you know a cocktail is well-​made when it’s built for sipping and makes you happy you ordered it.
There is only one passing flaw and that is the lighting. Most people would never have a qualm however it is exceedingly dusky inside this establishment. The walls are brick and slate-​gray paint and the tables appear to be cherry or mahogany. Quality is never in question and I love the lighting fixtures — they appear as a love letter to Edison and that accentuates the flapper charm. I just wish there were a few more lights on the track. Not a blaze of light, but a little bit more. Functionally it can be trying to read the menu with the ambient light available.
I definitely look forward to returning to try their primary fare. This restaurant and Rustica are elevating Kalamazoo for fine dining.
EDIT: I retract the lighting critique. The table lights are adjustable. So, that quite handily takes care of that!

4 stars for the ambiance and beautiful layout and 4 solid stars for the service, bartenders, and stiff drinks. 3.5 stars for the food.
Once inside Principle, everything feels on trend, even down to their wait staff. Kalamazoo definitely gained a lovely addition to their restaurant lineup with Principle and their creative drink menu. Their mixologists did a great job in creating a hip drink menu that one might find in larger cities like Chicago. The food menu is quite small but is always changing and would be considered more as ‘small plates’ and if you are looking for a substantial meal, you will have to order at least two items.
I do enjoy their pan seared scallops plate (with roasted sweet corn) but this time around, they were dressed with a beet purée that had a sweet and tangy taste, reminiscent to what ketchup may taste like. While I am a huge beet fan, I was not a fan of the beet purée that was served with the scallops at all as I vehemently despise ketchup and also felt that the sweet tang didn’t really pair well with the delicate sea flavor of the scallops. My BF ordered the flat iron steak salad and when it came out, it was overcooked more to well done than to medium. The server promptly had them re-​fire the dish and comped us dessert which I thought was definitely going above and beyond for customer service (thank you!). We also ordered the clam chowder (which was delicious) that was more of a deconstructed clam chowder served with whole clams all tied in together with a thick, briny, and savory broth. The cheddar crackers is a great appetizer that I would recommend.
One notable dish — going back to the very first time I came here, my BF ordered the sloppy joes and it resembled nothing like the sloppy joes of childhood nostalgia… or any sloppy joes for that matter, but it was still a very tasty dish. It was more of a deconstructed sloppy joes so don’t expect otherwise.
Again, plates served here are definitely small plates and they are pricey for what you get, but if you’re stepping in to Principle, you really shouldn’t be searching or expecting value anything.

Smoked Sazerac. How does such a crazy concoction come to be? It’s so magical and full of wonder, I imagine a genie got a little too tipsy and on his way home got in to the wrong bottle & that’s when the real magic happened.
This review isn’t even about me, it’s about the gentlemen sitting next to me at the bar who wished for the Smoked Sazerac. He expected a simple whiskey drink, one fit for a man who owns many leather bound books and fine cigars, but received something much more unique.
The bartender granted his wish by filling a glass bottle with anise smoke, then carefully placed the swirling smoke filled bottle and a crafted glass of rye whiskey, demerara syrup, absinthe mist before him. She then took the bottle opened it above his beverage and the smoke began to seep out and rest upon the drink’s chill golden surface.
«I’m supposed to drink it like this?» he asked in awe. She nodded. One taste and he was in heaven.

This was our second time visiting Principle and it even exceeded the lofty expectation we had after our first visit right after their opening in September.
The fun, hip vibe continues to set Principle apart from other restaurant destinations on the mall as does the small-​plate/​awesome craft cocktail concept. We arrived about 10:00 pm on a Saturday night following the Improv Festival at the Epic. The restaurant was surprisingly full so we were fortunate to immediately land the only open table. Waiting for tables (something we’re told can happen during peak hours) only gives you the opportunity to sample some of the original, delicious (and affordable) craft cocktails. Our favorites continue to be Pimm’s Daquiri and Sputnik.
This was one of those small-​plates-​only outings for us since it was late-​night so our choices were the chive doughnut appetizers (yum!), the lamb meatballs (my wife’s favorite), and the seafood chowder. The chowder was the new dish for us and it was amazing. No, really, it was amazing. Fresh, beautifully seasoned clams-​in-​the shell (10 of ‘em), potatoes, leeks, and bacon (which was more like smoked, tender-​but-​chewy pork belly) all in a light savory cream broth made this the most unusual and most delicious clam chowder ever. Best advice of the night? Order a side of bread ($ 3) to sop up every drop of the leftover broth.
The other new dish we tried was the ‘chocolate pudding’. Ha… what a joke. This dessert is to chocolate pudding what Aston Martins are to cars. This essentially is a decadent, light, rich, creamy chocolate bar served on cookie crumbles and a butterscotch sauce that really is made of butter and Scotch. Wow! What a perfect ending to another delightful Principle meal.
A nice finishing touch for the evening was having the owner and bartender stop by the table for a visit as the restaurant emptied out as closing time drew near. From the great service, to the creative & unusual menu selections (deconstructed clam chowder), to the «you’re family» attitude of the staff, and to the warm oil-​lamp-​lit ambience, Principle should be around for a long, long time and will continue to be a destination for us every time we visit Kalamazoo.

Having a guest in town who travels the world I wanted to try something new and fun. Principle delivered on all my expectations.
We tried a few of Kzoo’s famous craft beers to start. The Boatyard creamed ale was both our favorites.
Small plates to share was perfect for helping to keep the conversation lively. We started with the mushroom fricassee. It was a creamy assortment of oyster shrooms and it was delicious! We also tried the grilled goat cheese with capers. Apparently the cheese choice that was a favorite from his South African childhood days. Also excellent. We capped if off with the Berkshire Brat with spätzle. This dish truly exceeded my expectations.
All of this for about the cost of breakfast in NYC. So maybe expensive for us accustomed to super cheap food but truly a good deal for the type and quality of food and drink we received.
I will surely return.

Principle is basically a Tapas restaurant, and all Kalamazoo needs is another Tapas place where you spend a ton of money and leave hungry.
To give Priniciple credit, it has a very nice ambience, and the food was delicious. The problem was that the value just wasn’t there.
The waitress told us that the food comes out as «medium sized dishes». She suggested 1.5 to 2 dishes per person, which already was pricey, but not even that was going to be enough.
Also, for being a restaurant that only serves a-​la-​carte, the menu was tiny. There were not a lot of options to choose from.
It’s kind of a shame, the food was pretty good, just not worth the price.

Before I say anything about the décor, service, food, or drinks, I want to say that it’s so nice to have yet another quality dining option in downtown Kalamazoo. My wife, two children (12 and 9), and I went to Principle to celebrate my birthday and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Décor: loved the exposed brick, hardwood floors, and lighting fixtures.
Service: I remembered Jaime from another nearby restaurant and she’s as competent of a server as you can get. Knowledgeable about all of the food and drink options.
Food: overall very pleased with our choices. The concept of «medium» plates (as opposed to the tapas-​style «small» plates) is interesting. Everything was cooked to perfection and the unique takes on certain dishes, like pretzel spätzle, were fun and tasty. The tater-​tot-​like potatoes that accompany the flat iron steak were amazing. I did not care for the grilled broccoli — too much char for my taste — but I’m sure others would like it.
Drinks: I ordered two drinks off of the menu — the Mitt n’ Manhattan and the Martinelli — and they were both expertly made and tasted great.
Ambience: sure, it got a little loud as it got busier, just like you’d find in any big city.
We had fun. We’d go back, for sure. It is another great option in the growing dining repertoire of Kalamazoo. Please go and see for yourself.

+
* décor and ambience
* most of the food that we ordered
* creative cocktail menu
-
* some items on the menu are overpriced
* size of the cocktail glass
* the service was a tad slow
* chicken wings were dry