For those seeking exemplary dining experiences, these are the best restaurants in Detroit you can find and dine at. The city is full of life, so come prepared to make reservations, have a plan B if you’re winging it, and don’t be afraid to sit at the bar and dine. Detroit offers a stupendous amount of variety to eat, with locally sourced ingredients and far away influences.
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The Detroit Food Scene
The Detroit food scene stood out to me like no other. There is a lot of vibrancy happening, restaurants and bars are full of both patrons and staff completely immersed in living in Detroit, active participants invested into the community, full of a thriving diverse culture, and they are incredibly welcoming.
I hadn’t sat down for 30 minutes during my first dining experience before a few people who had lived in Detroit their entire, long lives came over to ask what I was doing and offered to show me around the city and tell me about its history. I thought this might have been an anomaly, except instances like this continued to happen throughout my entire week-long trip of eating, drinking, and discovering the food culture throughout the city. I made friends incredibly fast, whether I was ready or not, and each one welcome with open arms.
Much more than Motor City, Detroit is home to Motown, from Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Otis Redding, and a whole bunch more. Music has a strong prominence throughout the city, making its way into restaurant menus and influencing cocktail names and styles.
Here’s a playlist on Spotify to play while you continue reading.
The food diversity and availability offers enough of everything where any restaurants can make a stand with menus unique and beyond any other. There is a lot of care with regard to slow food, making dishes from scratch, and representing ingredients in a way which pays homage to the farmers and ranchers they are sourced from.
With a city full of industry and creative culture, the restaurants of Detroit offer dishes both approachable and innovative.
The Absolute Best of Detroit Dining
In alphabetical order, these Detroit restaurants stood above the rest. These menus are rated as impossible to order anything less than spectacular. Plating is phenomenal, service above and beyond,
Ladder 4 Wine Bar
The Ladder 4 building was built in 1910, where it originally housed the Fire Department’s Engine 10 Ladder 4. The building was sold in 2015 and reopened, full restored in February 2022, with plenty of character left and subtle hints of its history, as the Ladder 4 Wine Bar. The restaurant has gone on to win multiple awards, and mentions throughout best restaurant lists in both the New York Times and Bon Appétit. I had multiple restaurant staff tell me if I was to go to one last restaurant during my time in Detroit, this needed to be at the top of my list.
There is a small wine shop inside the restaurant, where you can shop for wine by the bottle. Plenty of old world wine, a well-stocked champagne fridge, and an easy way to be lost in decision-making. The wine list is organized by sparking, white, skin contact, rose, red, beer & cider, and alternatives.
The food menu offers an assortment of dishes easy to share, from cheese and sumac, tuna crudo, sourdough bread and olives, pasta and mushrooms, morcilla and roasted cabbage, swordfish, snow crab, and tuna crudo, grilled rabbit and dry aged club steak. Ladder 4 is known for its basque cheesecake, and also offers gelato, chocolate cremeux, and lemon posset.
I had hash browns with caviar, farmer’s cheese, soft shell crab, grilled rabbit, lemon posset, and basque cheesecake. I took the cheesecake to go and had one of my best breakfasts ever the next morning with cheesecake and coffee. Ingredients are sourced from as close as across the street by @charlotteistheweb.
3396 Vinewood St, Detroit, MI 48208
Neighborhood: Chadsey Condon
Website | Instagram
Last Visited: May 2024
Mabel Gray
Located inside Hazel Park just north of Detroit, Mabel Gray’s Chef Rigato presents his point of view on the renaissance of the Michigan food scene. There is no set menu and the restaurant brings into play ingredients fresh and in season from local farmers, butchers, and foragers.
23825 John R Rd, Hazel Park, MI 48030
Neighborhood: Hazel Park
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Mad Nice
Mad Nice claims coastal California and Italian roots collide here, and I have to say, as a native Californian who has been to Italy, I wholeheartedly agree. I had such an exceptional time here – service was impressive with the food presented beautifully, which did nothing short of blowing away my taste buds.
The whole vibe of the restaurant is tastefully pink, with giant pink bouquets of flowers to greet you upon entry. Rose gold flatware and ceramic art dishware give each dish an elegant presentation.
My first dining experience here, I had the market oysters, which were from both West and East coast with house made hot sauce, beef tartare, and duck pastrami cavatelli, along with a brut rose from Burgundy. So far, Mad Nice wins for best oysters in Detroit. Restaurateurs, this is my challenge to you to steal this highly prestigious title away by inviting me to give yours a go.
4120 2nd Ave, Detroit, MI 48201
Neighborhood: Midtown Detroit
Website | Instagram
Last Visited: May 25, 2024 (IG post).
Selden Standard
3921 2nd Ave, Detroit, MI 48201
Neighborhood: Midtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Last Visited: May 20, 2024 (IG Post).
SheWolf Pastificio & Bar
438 Selden St, Detroit, MI 48201
Neighborhood: Midtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Last Visited: May 21, 2024.
Exceptional Detroit Restaurants
Adelina
Adelina embraces an Italian-Mediterranean fusion between Italian roots alongside a vibrant Mediterranean twist. Pasta is made in house.
Light, refreshing, and fresh, I sampled the Crudo, with thinly sliced hamachi, blood orange segments, citrus oil, and micro radishes.
1040 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48226
Neighborhood: Downtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Last Visited: May 22, 2024 (IG Post).
Alpino
A menu inspired by ingredients sourced from hills, fields, rivers, and streams. Inspiration is rooted in an Alpine tradition, where cattle adorned with oversized cow bells and flower crowns are led down the mountains by local farmers in early fall.Â
1426 Bagley St, Detroit, MI 48216
Neighborhood: Corktown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Barda
Best New Restaurant 2022 JBFA Finalist
4842 Grand River Ave, Detroit, MI 48208
Neighborhood: Woodbridge, Detroit
Website | Instagram
Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails
The chefs strive to showcase these quality ingredients by letting them speak for themselves and highlighting the craftsmanship that went into cultivating them. The dining space is decorated to resemble a place that feels like someone’s home, a home that you’d feel comfortable and happy to relax in.
2023 Semifinalist, outstanding restauraunteur James Beard Awards. 2024 semifinalist, outstanding chef, Great Lakes, Doug Hewitt James Beard Awards.
15 E Kirby St D, Detroit, MI 48202
Neighborhood: Midtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Dime Store
Dime Store is an all-day brunch restaurant in downtown Detroit, Michigan, specializing in breakfast, lunch and booze. They use the freshest, high quality ingredients to handcraft distinctive dishes in a friendly, casual environment.
719 Griswold St #180, Detroit, MI 48226
Neighborhood: Downtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Grey Ghost
The legends of Grey Ghost began during Prohibition, one of the cities most elusive rum runners, whos true identity was never revealed. Today, the restaurant pays homage to this mysterious ghost through a New American menu and craft cocktails.
The cocktails of Grey Ghost are delightfully creative, utilizing all sorts of unusual ingredients in ways which play with your perceptions and palate in mind-opening ways. One cocktail used malort in a non-ironic way – I think. A pisco centric cocktail included poblano, tomatilla, onion, lime, cholula – do you eat or drink, either way its an experience.
Other ingredients across the cocktail menu included roasted coconut water, 5 spice infused aperol, nori soy bitters, and strawberry infusions. This is a great spot to explore new ways to enjoy your favorite spirits.
47 Watson St, Detroit, MI 48201
Neighborhood: Brush Park, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Last Visited: May 25, 2024 (IG Post).
Kamper’s Rooftop Bar
Kamper’s evokes the spirit of Barcelona’s charming cafes within the bustling heart of downtown Detroit. Perched atop the 14th floor of the iconic Book Tower, it pays homage to the building’s visionary architect while offering traditional Basque tapas, pintxos, an elevated wine and cocktail experience, and expansive skyline views.
Book Tower, 1265 Washington Blvd, Detroit, MI 48226
Neighborhood: Downtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram
Marrow
Marrow’s vision is to build and support a sustainable food system in the Great Lakes region. They are working to bring the food lifecycle back to basics – purchasing directly from farmers, honoring the animals and land, and maintaining a small footprint in sourcing and distribution. Their approach is three-fold: educating about more ethical and sustainable ways to eat, collaborating with industry partners to improve on and reform processes, and innovating to find better solutions and better products.
8044 Kercheval Ave, Detroit, MI 48214
Neighborhood:
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Parc
Parc is redefined contemporary Detroit cuisine, a concept incorporating simple Detroit and Midwest flavors with influences of French and Mediterranean style.
800 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48226
Neighborhood: Downtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Prime + Proper
Prime + Proper is a modern interpretation of the classic American Steakhouse. Prime + Proper offers a marriage of traditional Steakhouse fare with elevated contemporary culinary mastery. Along with
USDA Prime, P+P sources from small farms from around the US to bring limited amounts
of special cuts that are not found anywhere else.
1145 Griswold St, Detroit, MI 48226
Neighborhood: Downtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram
Last Visited: May 2024.
Takoi
TAKOI is known for modern Thai cooking accented with Michigan seasonality, a DIY mentality, and a penchant for local food production. Awards include a James Beard ‘Best New Restaurant’ nomination. As a core pillar of our mission, TAKOI operates HiO Farm which is located just a mile north of the restaurant. The farm functions as an ongoing conversation between farmer and chef. Each season is planned with Takoi and Spiedo in mind, creating a close loop, sustainable food system from seed to plate. This symbiotic relationship allows for product at its peak; it’s not unusual for a harvest to be done in the moment as the kitchen needs. In addition to growing for Takoi and Spiedo, you’ll find HiO fruits, flowers, and vegetables at other area restaurants, and the occasional pop-up farm stand.
2520 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48216
Neighborhood: Corktown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
The Apparatus Room
The Apparatus Room bridges the old and the new, offering iconic New American cuisine by Chef Rece Hogerheide rooted in Midwestern ingredients, thoughtfully crafted cocktails, and esoteric wines.
250 W Larned St, Detroit, MI 48226
Neighborhood: Downtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
The Sugar House
Presented as the 2024 Summer Olympics, The Sugar House presents 14 house craft cocktails, all Olympian themed from around the world. Alongside the seasonal menu, you can find 101 classic cocktails, including some of my favorites, such as the Blood & Sand, all listed in alphabetical order.
The vibe is intimate, dark, and bustling. Animals hang from both sides of the bar
In addition to all the fixins’ to make any drink you desire, The Sugar House has an impressive spirits menu with many rare bottles and single barrel picks available across the board. They have a proper absinthe setup, as pictured below. There is an absinthe frappé, which I think I need to go back and either love or hate. Whether you’re interested in their creative craft or fine liquor by the ounce, The Sugar House is a must in Detroit.
I tried their Flare, Flip, and Freeze, a tequila and mezcal centric cocktail with a bit of orange blossom and smoke.
2130 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48216
Neighborhood: Corktown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Last Visited: May 26, 2024 (IG Post).
The Whitney
The Whitney now provides several unique features within the historical property: the fine dining restaurant, menu dining throughout the Mansion, The Ghostbar and Gardens. Each has it’s own unique appeal that guests come specifically to enjoy and find themselves wandering, spending hours frolicking in the enchantments of the estate.
4421 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48201
Neighborhood: Midtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Warda Pâtisserie
A small and modern James Beard Award Winning pâtisserie, focused on local ingredients and global flavors and techniques inspired by travels and previous life in Algeria, France & Asia.
70 W Alexandrine St, Detroit, MI 48201
Neighborhood: Midtown, Detroit
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Yemen Cafe
Yemen Café Restaurant serves authentic Yemeni and Middle Eastern cuisine.
8740 Joseph Campau Ave, Hamtramck, MI 48212
Neighborhood: Hamtramck
Website | Facebook
Article Updates
June 3, 2024: Styling fixes and description clarity.
June 1, 2024: Initial publishing.
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I strive to paint vivid landscapes with my words, bringing the magic of far-off lands and enchanting aromas to life for my readers. Combine passion for exploration and the art of gastronomy in an unending ode to the senses. When I’m not traversing the globe, I find solace in the earth beneath my fingertips, tending to my garden and working on projects around my verdant oasis. MK Library serves as a beacon, guiding fellow travelers and homebodies alike to embrace sustainability, nurturing both our planet and our souls with purpose. Full Bio.
