Pensacola's hidden gem, Grover's Fingers and Wings, not so hidden anymore

Ten minutes is all it takes to transition from hearing only the soft sizzle of the fryer to the clamor of a busy lunch rush. Groups of friends, blue-collar city workers and college students all fight to claim one of the five booths that make up the Grover's Fingers and Wings dining room.

"This place is unpredictable," manager Halee Parrish said of the small spot at 9418 N. Davis Highway. "Before COVID, we were breaking $6,000 to $7,000 a day."

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Only a wood-washed order counter with a small entryway just large enough for an order runner to squeeze by separates the small eating area from the kitchen. Grover's employees switch sides only to replace the freshly brewed sweet tea, wipe down a table surface or to deliver a hand-dipped ice cream cone.

Staff savor the small breaks in the rush whenever they can — usually sometime after 2 p.m. — and in the quiet, there is a gentle hum of CNN headlines on the TV mounted on the wall. Those in the forward-facing booths glance up between bites of golden, juicy deep-fried chicken tenders that are included in the restaurant's namesake.

The constant door chime of customers walking in is as second nature to the staff as the sound of a cellphone ring.

The batch of customers who lose the booth roulette spill out to the overflow picnic tables outside, soaking up sunshine as traffic passes by on North Davis Highway.

Co-owner Michael Graham is a rarity in the restaurant industry, as he views being too busy as a bad thing.

"I used to know every customer's name, first and last," Graham said, of starting the place 16 years ago. "They promised not to tell any of their friends. .... They (expletive) that all up."

Graham said the service was the part of owning a restaurant he always cared most about. You could come into his place, order good food and feel like you were important.

"They come here to see us because this is their spot," Graham said. "That's all of what this is, and we try so hard to maintain it."

The menu and the hours of the restaurant were designed by and for the customers. Graham and co-owner, Amy Johnson, would come in before the sun came up to start slicing and prepping for the day ahead, and customers would hear the music playing, see the lights on and jiggle the doorknob to see if Grover's was open.

"We couldn't afford a TV, but we had a radio in the corner," he said. "The door was unlocked, they came in and they tried to order."

Before long, breakfast sandwiches and French toast plates found a permanent place on the menu.

Unlike the modernization of most mom-and-pop restaurants, the restaurant's style has remained virtually untouched since original owner, Grover Thomas, used the space as a Tastee Freez for 55 years in the 1950s.

Graham eventually purchased the Grover's name and built the menu around the simple concept that Thomas started. He has added more to it over the years, scribbling the first draft on a napkin while sitting in one of the booths.

He said he wanted to keep the food inexpensive, but real. The menu still provides plenty of choices for a meal under $10.

"If you went here in the '50s ... this is the place your grandpa snuck out to take your grandma," Graham quipped.

Though the burgers, onion rings and milkshakes on the menu are reflective of typical fast-food fare, he said "fast" has never been the goal. The goal is to make "good food," fresh to order, and the customers who come back often enough have learned that about the place.

Despite there sometimes being a little bit of a wait, most customers only pop in for a one-time lunch before becoming frequent repeat customers.

Customer Nicholas Hoeft said that even though his drive to Grover's is about 30 minutes longer now than it was when he found the place years ago, any time that he is in the area, he knows where he is going.

"I know a great chicken place not too far from here," he said he will tell his friends. "I've never had anything other than their chicken fingers and gravy. It's good."

Craig Stinson said even though he has lived in the area his entire life, he never knew about Grover's until a friend brought it to his attention recently.

"I was not disappointed at all," Stinson said.

Parrish said it takes a "strong person" to keep up with the day's demands, especially when staff significantly shrank during the pandemic.

There were fewer people and still plenty of orders, eventually leading Grover's to convert its drive-up window to be a pick-up window for call-in orders to avoid going inside.

"It was me, the owners and two other people trying to run this place," Parrish said. "We were working seven days a week. We were so close to ripping our hair out. I was up here at 5:30 in the morning. I got a 2-year-old, I'm tired. … We just didn't want to do it anymore."

Despite the long days, she said the staff felt an obligation to keep going for their customers.

"We've become a family because of it. It brought us together," Parrish said. "Our owner, Amy, has made it home. She really cares about the place; she cares about the people who come here."

Graham said he and Johnson have devoted years of hard work into making Grover’s what it is now.

"It inspires you to come back seven days a week for the first couple years," Graham said. "To make it at all in this business is crazy. But to be a place that succeeds, that is sought after. ... We're in love with this place, it's like getting high."

Grover's current hours are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Grover's Fingers and Wings continues to draw crowds in Pensacola