An extensive list of only Detroit’s Finest Establishments
Search by name, neighborhood, or whatever the night needs.
Takoi
My favorite restaurant in Detroit. It never fails to impress.
Two James Spirits
A Detroit OG with a one-of-a-kind round bar, fantastic cocktails, and pure Corktown energy.
Bad Luck Bar
A jewel-box alley bar with a dramatic room and serious cocktails—if the tiny space lets you through the door.
BARDA
Fire-driven Argentinian cooking in Core City with a room—and a neighborhood—that feel like Detroit’s next chapter.
Batch Brewing Company
One of Michigan’s best breweries for easy day drinking, good beer, and a casual Corktown launch pad.
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.
Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails
A genuinely special date-night restaurant where the vegetables can compete with the beef—and that is saying something.
Cliff Bell's
Detroit’s most beautiful date-night jazz room—and the easiest way to look like you planned something special.
Como's
A top-ten Detroit-style pizza stop with a patio that makes Ferndale feel like the right place to be.
Detroit City Distillery
A bourbon lover’s time warp in Eastern Market, backed by excellent spirits and bartenders who know what they are pouring.
Dime Store
My favorite breakfast in Detroit, served inside one of downtown’s most beautiful buildings.
Eastern Market Brewing Co.
The essential beer stop on an Eastern Market Saturday: industrial, communal, and woven naturally into a market day.
El Barzon Restaurante
A Mexican-and-Italian split menu that sounds like a gimmick and eats like the work of a kitchen that knows both.
Father Forgive Me
One of those only-in-Detroit places that makes me feel lucky every time I sit down.
Grandma Bob’s
Easily one of my three favorite Detroit-style pizzas—and the square is so good the round pie barely deserves to exist.
Green Dot Stables
A Detroit 2.0 original built for slider sampling, garlic fries, and the dessert move that matters most: a fluffernutter with bacon.
Hamilton's Restaurant
The rare hotel restaurant that blows past the category: a beautiful room, excellent staff, consistently impressive food, and a monster chicken Parmesan.
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.
Imperial
Metro Detroit’s finest margarita, and it is not a question—a Ferndale OG that has stood the test of time.
Kiesling
My favorite bar in Detroit—my Cheers, if Norm drank High Life under a weird ’90s movie in somebody’s classy granny’s living room.
Ladder 4 Wine Bar
A converted firehouse for adventurous wine, a tightly edited menu, and the pleasure of ordering something you would never choose alone.
Lagerhaus No. 5
A straightforward Eastern Market beer stop: German pours, patio seats, bring-your-own-food flexibility, and the Dequindre Cut right there.
Loui's Pizza
The greatest Detroit-style pizza in Michigan. Controversial? I don’t care.
Michigan & Trumbull
Michigan & Trumbull lost its ideal Corktown home. It did not lose the pizza. This is top-tier Detroit-style, period.
Queens
My default downtown bar when I don’t know where else to go—a dive disguised as not a dive.
Second Best
A ’90s-themed wannabe dive that knows exactly how to get a crew into trouble—in the best possible way.
Slows Bar BQ
Slows helped put modern Corktown on the map. It still deserves a seat at the table.
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.
The Goblin Detroit
A cute, independent-feeling sushi spot in the shadow of Michigan Central—and an easy dad-daughter win.
The Majestic Theatre
An outstanding small concert venue: general admission, standing room, easy drinks, clear sightlines, and nothing getting in the way of the show.
The Old Miami
The unequivocal king of Detroit dive bars.
The Peterboro
Elevated Chinese-American food in Detroit’s historic Chinatown, with cheeseburger egg rolls that make the decision easy.
The Rectory Detroit
A neighborhood pizza spot with an old-Detroit setting and one of the city’s easiest built-in pairings: The Congregation next door.
Sugar House
The best after-dinner bar I know—dark, artful, and pure Corktown atmosphere.
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.
Tigerlily
A beautiful Ferndale room with strong sushi and a hidden tiki bar—but a frustrating habit of being out of whatever I want.
Toast
A Ferndale brunch staple with one order that matters: the bacon fried rice.
Leña
Skip the chef’s table and order à la carte; the room, cocktails, and phenomenal Spanish wine list are where Leña won me back.
Midnight Temple
The street-food preview was excellent; make Midnight Temple a Saturday Eastern Market stop while the neighborhood is fully alive.
PUMA
BARDA’s more casual sister brings live-fire energy across the street in a former service garage—and gives you another reason to explore Core City.
The Charlevoix
An awesome neighborhood cocktail bar and cool hang that feels like somebody cared about getting the details right.
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.
Bar Pigalle
Go for Detroit’s best damn double smash burger. Everything else is beside the point.
SheWolf Pastificio & Bar
A beloved Midtown pasta destination I need to revisit before I fully join the chorus.
Selden Standard
A Detroit 2.0 original that deserves another look—even after a few personal strikeouts.
Bodega Market
A tiny Brush Park neighborhood joint for an easy cocktail or quick beer without fighting a crowd.
Mabel Gray
A true Hazel Park culinary experience—creative, unpredictable, and worth trying at least once.
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.
Mercury Burger & Bar
A casual Corktown burger stop with a family-friendly feel and a patio that makes warm weather the right time.
Cork & Gabel
A polished Corktown option with solid food and drinks in a prime Michigan Central location—but it is pricey and not my first choice.
The Yard at Corktown
Grown-up recess for families, double dates, and groups that need something to do together.
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.
Grey Ghost Detroit
An OG of the Brush Park and Midtown resurgence with an outstanding burger—and a room that can fill up in a hurry.
Temple Bar
An old-school dive with one excellent job: getting the night started before a nearby show.
The Ghostbar at The Whitney
Have a drink on the third floor of Detroit’s most famously haunted mansion—and if something brushes past you, be polite.
Bash Original Izakaya
A real casual Woodbridge gem for great sushi, with a shoes-off seating section that makes dinner feel more memorable.
The Shepherd
A converted church turned art space where the building, grounds, and exhibitions all deserve attention.
The Oakland
A dependable Ferndale speakeasy for a good cocktail after dinner.
Niki's Pizza
Late-night Greek-style Detroit pizza for exactly the kind of night when daylight and sobriety are already out of the picture.
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.
The Masonic Temple Detroit
A beautiful, slightly bonkers Detroit landmark where the building can be as memorable as the show.
Magic Stick
A scrappy little room upstairs where a good show still feels loud, close, and wonderfully uncomplicated.
The Magic Bag
Ferndale’s dependable little movie-theater-turned-concert-room: intimate enough to feel the band, big enough to make it a night.
The Loving Touch
A no-frills Ferndale music room with pool tables, easy drinks, and exactly the right amount of grit.
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.
Detroit Institute of Arts
Two hours here and Detroit stops being an abstraction.
Little Caesars Arena
Detroit’s big shiny living room for hockey, basketball, and the concerts that need a ridiculous amount of speakers.
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.
Vecino
Hands down, one of the best culinary experiences I've had in Detroit.
Ottava Via
Corktown’s wood-fired Neapolitan option, built for a long table and another round.
Evening Bar
If I could design a bar, it would look something like this.
Tigris
The Rooftop at Gilly’s
The Monarch Club
A great rooftop—and sunny days can mean a full house.
Eastern Market
Nancy Whiskey Pub
The oldest correct answer to “one more?” in Corktown.
Voyager
Worth driving across town for, which I do.
Freya
The dinner you book when the night is the point.
Oak & Reel
A serious Italian dinner that still knows how to relax.
Dragonfly
A bright, design-forward first drink in a neighborhood with a very good second act.
Russell Industrial Center
Detroit industrial scale turned into art, events, and whatever strange thing is happening there tonight.
Pie Sci Pizza
Creative Detroit-style pizza that refuses to be boring.
Woodbridge Pub
The historic character is what brings me back.
The Lexington
Good beer, a live-music stage, and a great start before the Masonic.
Ye Olde Tap Room
A century-old east-side beer bar with absolutely no interest in becoming fashionable.
LJ’s Lounge
Take a moment to appreciate that beautiful wood paneling.
PJ’s Lager House
PJ’s has the bones of an old Corktown saloon and the soul of a small music club.
Cadieux Cafe
Belgian beer, mussels, feather bowling, wood paneling. One of Detroit’s strangest perfect institutions.
Cutter’s Bar & Grill
The Eastern Market move: a serious burger, a Bloody Mary, and a room full of people who know why they are there.
Honest John’s
Breakfast whenever, strong drinks, old Midtown energy, and no pressure to make the night more sophisticated.
The Old Shillelagh
The ground floor still has dive DNA; the rest is a three-story Irish party machine.
The Last Chance Saloon
A canned beer and a shot. That's the move.
Bronx Bar
A real old Midtown bar with a jukebox, a pool table, and a burger good enough to threaten its dive credentials.
Unc’s Pizza
Detroit-style pizza in downtown Detroit.
Two Birds
If I lived in West Village, I'd be here pretty often.
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.
Collect Beer Bar
A reason to explore this part of Detroit on foot.
Oak Parker
My Cheers—and easily one of my favorite spots in Metro Detroit.
Sid Gold's Request Room
Live-piano karaoke and a great way to end the night with friends.
Supino Pizzeria
A large pie, then Lagerhaus or Eastern Market Brewing. This is never not a good plan.
Bigalora Wood Fired Cucina
Wood-fired pizza and a sit-down dinner. A different route from the square.
Union Assembly
The third floor is it for me. If it's closed, I turn around.