An extensive list of only Detroit’s Finest Establishments
Search by name, neighborhood, or whatever the night needs.
Bad Luck Bar
A jewel-box alley bar with a dramatic room and serious cocktails—if the tiny space lets you through the door.
Café D’Mongo’s Speakeasy
An irreplaceable downtown last stop: strong drinks, tiny bathrooms, live music, grilled cheese, and absolutely no chance of a boring night.
Cliff Bell's
Detroit’s most beautiful date-night jazz room—and the easiest way to look like you planned something special.
Dime Store
My favorite breakfast in Detroit, served inside one of downtown’s most beautiful buildings.
Huddle Soft Serve Downtown
Some of the best soft serve I’ve ever had—and downtown’s chocolate with sea salt is the pro move.
Queens
My default downtown bar when I don’t know where else to go—a dive disguised as not a dive.
The Aladdin Sane
One of the most beautiful bars in Detroit—a high-end, high-priced Book Tower showpiece built to impress.
The Apparatus Room
A gorgeous old firehouse with one of the best atmospheres in Detroit—and an outstanding brunch too many people overlook.
Lumen Detroit
Beacon Park’s built-in patio stop: glassy, lively, and at its best on the rooftop with the park in front of you.
The Royce Detroit
A serious downtown wine bar for people who know their grapes—or for a date who will appreciate that you brought them somewhere thoughtful.
Olin
A polished downtown dinner that gets the fundamentals exactly right—especially the cheeseburger and Caesar salad.
Kamper’s Rooftop Bar
Unequivocally the most beautifully designed bar in Detroit—and a top-three choice for a date, happy hour, nightcap, or showing off the city.
Le Suprême
Polished French cooking inside the Book Tower gem—and one of Detroit’s best recent additions.
Bar Rotunda
A beautiful Book Tower lobby bar with consistently well-made drinks and a natural role as the opening act for Kamper’s.
Hiroki-San
A cool sushi spot in a great building, with enough inside Book Tower to handle the entire night before and after dinner.
The Bastille
The downtown bar I would want as my local: dark, neighborly, built around a pool table, and just elevated enough.
Central Kitchen + Bar
A dependable Campus Martius standby that has survived Detroit 2.0 for a reason—even if it’s rarely my first call.
Grand Trunk Pub
A genuine Detroit classic where the railroad history is the star and the easy, chill atmosphere keeps it from feeling like a museum.
Checker Bar
An old Detroit standby with real dive-bar ease, seriously good bar food, and an upstairs arcade when the night needs one more gear.
Saint Andrew's Hall
My favorite small venue in Detroit. Legendary, intimate, and still full of the charm that made it matter.
San Morello
Not my favorite meal for the money, but the fresh, fresh pizza and handsome Shinola Hotel room explain why people love it.
The Brakeman
A big, easy downtown beer hall where games, rotating drafts, and Penny Red’s fried chicken make a group night almost effortless.
Standby
A Detroit 2.0 cocktail original with a memorable drink program—even if the room itself isn’t the main attraction.
Presley's Kitchen + Bar
Far better than the standard hotel-bar setup suggests: outstanding drinks, a strong meal, and an easy downtown recommendation.
The Skip
Detroit’s original alley-bar flex—casual, unpredictable, and one of the easiest places to show off the city.
The London Chop House
Detroit’s old-school steakhouse theater, gloriously preserved and absolutely not pretending to be casual.
Fox Theatre
A show at the Fox. Sunda for dinner or The Royce for wine first.
The Fillmore Detroit
A great-looking Detroit concert hall that gives a bigger show the energy of a much smaller room.
Comerica Park
Baseball with the Detroit skyline staring back at you. That is the whole sales pitch, and it is a good one.
Ford Field
A downtown football stadium that gets legitimately electric when the Lions give the city something to believe in.
Evening Bar
If I could design a bar, it would look something like this.
The Rooftop at Gilly’s
The Monarch Club
A great rooftop—and sunny days can mean a full house.
The Old Shillelagh
The ground floor still has dive DNA; the rest is a three-story Irish party machine.
Unc’s Pizza
Detroit-style pizza in downtown Detroit.
Saksey's
A very cool mid-century date-night bar, in the same vein as Evening Bar.
shelby
An old bank-vault setting and craft cocktails I really liked.
Sunda New Asian
A good Foxtown date before a show—with a memorable espresso martini flight.
Sid Gold's Request Room
Live-piano karaoke and a great way to end the night with friends.
Union Assembly
The third floor is it for me. If it's closed, I turn around.