Where to eat and stay in Detroit

Sick kids and snow days have been the theme of the week, so I’m running behind a bit over here on the blog. I thought it would be fun to share a bit of our 16th wedding anniversary trip today. Not to mention when I shared on Instagram, I had lots of requests to put all this info in a blog post for easy reference. So here we go!

I tagged along on a recent business trip with Dan to Detroit and we had the best time! It happened to coincide with our wedding anniversary, so we decided to stay an extra night and make a fun weekend of it. We really ate (and drank) our way through the city. They have done such an amazing job of reviving this city. We didn’t get to see half of what we wanted to in the 2 days we were there. We actually booked ourselves for dinner at 6 PM and 9 PM at two different restaurants Saturday because we couldn’t decided between the two. If you are in the Michigan area definitely consider it for a fun weekend getaway! The Mr. had conference calls the whole way there, so I got to read my book – a win win for everyone :)

A couple of people that are sitting in a car posing for the camera

We stayed at The Detroit Foundation Hotel which is a converted fire station and it was really unique and cool inside! We had wanted to stay at the Shinola hotel, but it was completely booked so check out that option too. This was our room and it had so many fun and unique touches.

The Foundation Hotel Detroit

I loved that the front doors of the hotel were the old firehouse doors.

Detroit hotel doors

They had beautiful vintage rugs scattered throughout the hotel, and I could have rolled them all up and taken them home with me.

vintage rug Foundation Hotel lobby

They also had a lot of really cool artwork displayed throughout various parts of the hotel. This is one of the sitting areas by the elevators.

The Foundation Hotel Detroit

One of the biggest perks of staying here is the restaurant/bar in the lobby which is probably one of the coolest restaurants I’ve seen. I could move right in! It’s called The Apparatus Room and it houses all the old fire poles. The windows, tile work, and furniture in this place are perfection. Not to mention their food is amazing! We had drinks and appetizers here Saturday night and hit up their Jazz Brunch before heading home on Sunday. The lighting at the bar is so fun.

A group of people standing in front of a building

I grabbed this shot early Saturday morning on my run down to grab a coffee when it was empty so you could see all the eclectic details! The architecture was so beautiful everywhere you looked.

an empty restaurant bar

Friday night we started at The Monarch Club which has very cool views (we need to come back in the summer to try out the rooftop deck) and an oldschool vibe that was so fun.

cool bars to visit in Detroit

The atmosphere here was such a throwback to a different era. They nailed the details and the drinks were delicious.

A person sitting at a table with wine glasses

A man sitting in a bar

It poured most of the weekend which made exploring a bit more difficult, but I snapped this shot while we ran a few block to dinner.

A rainy city street

We headed to Prime and Proper for dinner with some of Dan’s clients. The food here was fantastic! This is a pretty classic steakhouse, but gorgeous inside as well. The gooey butter cake dessert was possibly the best thing I ate all weekend.

Prime and proper steak house

Saturday night (when we double booked ourselves as I previously mentioned), we took an uber over to Shewolf for out of this world homemade pasta. Ok, and now I remember the gelato there too, so I may need to declare it a tie between the gooey butter cake and the pistachio gelato. I’m still dreaming about it!

great places to eat in Detroit

Their cocktails were also delicious and beautiful. I ordered the Sophia Loren, which was the inspiration behind the cocktail I shared last week (get the recipe here!). I was too busy stuffing my face to take a photo of my cacio e pepe pasta, but trust me it was amazing too.

A person holding a cocktail on a table, in Detroit

We had to get back to our kids Sunday, but I feel like we didn’t even scratch the surface of all the great dining, fun shopping, and events Detroit has to offer. We definitely have plans to go back and take the kids to a game and explore more!

A lot of you sent me great suggestions of places to go in Detroit that we didn’t have time for, so we are looking forward to checking out the following on the next trip too!

The Evening Bar – cocktails

Bad Luck Bar – cocktails

The Dime Store – great brunch or lunch

San Morello – brunch or dinner

Detroit Shipping Factory

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18 Comments

  1. My husband and I spent the weekend in Detroit 2 summers ago. We stayed at Trumbull and Porter which is a very cool hotel in Corktown. Great bar and restaurant too!

  2. This is great! We recently moved to NW Ohio, so Detroit is a pretty easy getaway for us. We haven’t had a chance to explore much of it yet, but on the few occasions we’ve been there, we’ve been impressed.
    Glad to get tips & ideas of restaurants and hotels! Thanks :)

  3. The hubs and I are from metro Detroit and visiting Toronto this weekend. A sales clerk here kept going on about how she loves to visit Detroit as well!!! So awesome!!

  4. You caught my heart with this post – thank you! My grandpa was a battalion fire chief in Detroit and retired to Greenville – so we grew up visiting from Wisconsin and hitting Grand Rapids and Detroit to visit family. I wonder if my grandpa was in that restaurant when it was in use – yep – you def caught my heart! so glad it was a great trip for you & your hub!

    1. Oh that is SO cool! They have lots of old photos of the firefighters in the hotel I wonder if he is on the walls somewhere?!

  5. How fun! So happy for this city. Before I had kids I used to travel there monthly on business and it was a bustling city. I am so glad it’s for it’s come back that’s even better than 20 years ago. I fly there often to visit my family who lives in Chatham Canada. We love shopping in Novi. But thank you for these recommendations!

  6. Wow, I’ve never been to Detroit but you make it look like a lot of fun! I am over the moon about that raining street scene photo. Would you be willing to grant me permission to do a painting from it? I’ve always wanted to try a raining city scene. It might take a few months before I could get around to it but if you would allow it, I would share a copy with you! Thanks, Bridget

  7. I stayed in the Shinola hotel on Jan 2 (only night during the holidays that had availibility/affordability!). It was top-notch but next I want to try where you stayed and the Siren Hotel as well. It’s so fun watching this rebirth. Thank you for sharing your weekend. I love reading about “all things Detroit.”

  8. We live in metro Detroit. Lots to do and see. Check out Eastern Market as well.
    Did you go downstairs at Prime & Proper? They age the meats there, but there is a really cool private bar as well. We were the only ones down there so we took photos.

  9. We live in Grosse Pointe and have watched the rebirth of Detroit firsthand… It’s wonderful!! It’s become a food mecca and Maru Sushi is a definite favorite of ours that you need to try next time you’re here! Glad you had such a great weekend and I loved your photos. It’s so good to see Detroit looking like a real city with so many cars and lights!

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