The Royal American is in the Old Charleston Forge building on Morrison Drive in the Upper Peninsula, and it has been doing the same thing since 2011: good food, cold beer, and live music in a room that's cozy and a little divey without being dirty. It's described as a neighborhood bar, restaurant, and intimate concert venue, and the live music is the thing that sets it apart - original bands on the weekends, local, regional, and national artists, and the kind of room where the show is the reason you stayed past your second round. The crowd is diverse and local, the price is casual, and the food is American classics done right: the patty melt, the smash burgers, and a baked potato that more than one review says is the best one you'll have in the city.
The house rum punch is the one drink to order, and it's big enough that one and a half cups is plenty. There are front, back, and side patios that can be booked for private events, which is the thing people don't realize about the place until they see it. It's the kind of spot that's become a fixture of the Upper Peninsula's slow development, and the kind of place where you go for the music and stay for the patty melt.