Mickey’s Restaurant & Lounge In Plattsburgh Review

Feature Photo: Mickey’s Restaurant & Lounge Plattsburgh by Brian Kachejian 2023

Have you ever walked into a bar or restaurant for the first time and it just instantly feels like home? That’s the feeling I got when I walked into Mickey’s Restaurant & Lounge today for the first time. It will not be my last. Mickey’s is located in upstate New York in the city of Plattsburgh. This is one of the most interesting cities in upstate New York.  It’s a location just about twenty minutes south of the Canadian Border. The city also hosts SUNY Plattsburgh.

Plattsburgh also stands as somewhat of an international city because of its proximity to Canada as well as its hosting of Plattsburgh International Airport. It’s lined with about thirty hotels and major shopping centers along a commercial strip on Route 3. However, despite the influx of international travelers and college students, the city of Plattsburgh and its surrounding communities is still very much an old-school upstate town filled with proud locals who work hard. It’s in places like Mickeys where you find that exact community eating and drinking from 11:00 am in the morning until late night hours.

I love finding local places to eat and found Mickeys by chance just driving down the road looking for adventure on my continuing coverage of the Plattsburgh area. I walked into  Mickey’s at about 11:30 a.m. on a Monday morning. That’s not exactly a busy time for bars. However, by about noon, the place was packed with locals. Here’s why……

I noticed right away that the bar section of the restaurant was very clean. It did not smell like a bar. The place was impeccably clean. The bar chairs all looked brand new. The high tables were neatly arranged and in wonderful shape.  I was greeted by a very friendly waitress/ bartender. She smiled and said, “sit wherever you want.” I asked her what was the most popular food item on the menu. She recommended the Philly Cheesesteak. The menu was filled with plenty of items to choose from. Pizza, all types of sandwiches, and more. The soup of the day was chicken tortilla. However, when I saw that they had French Onion soup on the menu, I couldn’t pass that up.

Photo: Brian Kachejian

When the waitress brought this soup out to me I simply uttered a big Wow? She said, “I know, and wait until you taste it.” As good as it looked, it tasted even better.  It’s not easy to get a good French Onion soup in a restaurant. It’s a hard soup to get right if you’re not using quality ingredients. This is where Mickey’s hit a home run. The melted cheese was to die for. It was phenomenally fresh. It made me think that if the cheese that covered the French Onion soup was so fresh tasting, the place must have great pizzas. If you’re making a stop at Mickey’s, I highly recommend that you get their French Onion soup.

The French Onion soup was rather large and quite filling. I was worried that what waited for me would probably be another king size meal that would make me walk out of there a lot slower than when I walked in. My worries were confirmed when my waitress walked out of the back with a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich that could probably feed a family of four.

Photo: Brian Kachejian

Once again, the cheese set the tone for another amazing culinary experience old school style. The hero was filled with very flavorful high quality meat that tasted wonderful. The peppers were soundly fresh and the bread was incredibly soft and delicious. It looked like it would be a tough sandwich to eat but one bite melted in my mouth. This was an extraordinary Philly cheese steak made in my home state of New York. Just another special moment in my life as a New Yorker that made me proud to be a New Yorker. That’s what I’m talking about baby!

While I was eating, I kept staring at a couple of photos of a baseball player on the wall that looked like Micky Mantle. I thought to myself okay this must have been opened by a fan of Mickey Mantle or someone from the Mantle family. I could not have been more wrong. I was lucky to have a chat with one of the owners on my way out. He informed me that the restaurant had nothing to do with Mickey Mantle. It was opened by a man named Alvin “Mickey” Michelucci back in the 1950s. It was originally located down in the heart of old Plattsburgh on Margaret Street but was eventually moved to its current location on Riley Avenue which is not that far away from its original location.

The owner informed me that Mickey’s was split between the bar section that I was eating in and a huge dining room down the hall. Between the quality of the food I experienced and the friendliness of the owner and waitress, I could tell that this was a place that had a huge loyal following. Everyone was so nice, the place had a great atmosphere, and it was already packed by the time I was leaving. If I was a local this would be a place I’d go to probably every day. Old school New York, old school upstate, and wonderful local people. Doesn’t get better than that

ClassicNewYorkHistory.com claims ownership of all its original content and Intellectual property under United States Copyright laws and those of all other foreign countries. No one person, business, or organization is allowed to re-publish any of our original content anywhere on the web or in print without our permission. All photos used in the articles are either original photographs taken by ClassicNewYorkHistory.com journalists, public domain Creative Commons photos, or photos licensed officially from Shutterstock under license with ClassicNewYorkHistory.com and ClassicRockHistory.com. All photo credits have been placed at the end of the article.

We are not responsible for any locations visited based on our recommendations or information included in the articles as the website is for entertainment purposes only.