BEST DINNER RESTAURANTS DOWNTOWN DETROIT
Downtown Residents recommend the Best Dinner Restaurants in Downtown Detroit that define the spirit of the city.
(If you like Starbucks, this site is not for you.)
Downtown Detroit just has a wealth of wonderful dinner restaurants. These recommendations show culinary innovation, thoughtful beverage, great service. Locally owned, these unique restaurants are often located in beautifully refurbished older buildings. (See also Fine Dining)
Our Dinner Restaurants Downtown Detroit favorites!
Primary focus is contemporary Italian cuisine that is inspired by old Rome, but dishes from other regions of Italy such as Emila-Romagna, Piedmont, Campania, and Sicilia are also featured. The pasta is made in-house including the extra step of milling the flour in-house. The restaurant is well-designed and comfortable; the entire dining area surrounded by large picture windows providing a pleasant openness.
2019 James Beard Semifinalist
Midtown Neighborhood
A menu rooted in the savory yet simple flavors that define Lebanese cuisine, and an experience that evokes the simple pleasure of great food enjoyed in good company. Leila sits at the crossroads of sophisticated style and old-world hospitality. Great food, reasonable pricing, nice venue. A wonderful venue with a large outdoor patio. A proud member of the Best Dinner Restaurants Downtown Detroit.
Capitol Park - Downtown Detroit
Barda Detroit is the first and only authentic Argentinian and Latin American-inspired Restaurant in Detroit. Using ancestral methods of Patagonian cooking, BARDA's open fire is the very soul of the restaurant's dining experience. BARDA specializes in simple yet bold dishes, combining techniques and ingredients that reach far across vast geographical terrains. The sunken bar is integrated along the length of the dining room. ’Detroit? You bet, this is all in the re-imagined Magnet Radiator Repair Shop.
2022 Finalist James Beard Awards - Best New Restaurant
Core City Neighborhood
Downtown Detroit’s premier high-end, wine bar/restaurant. Vertical Detroit serves as a wine bar/restaurant/retail space in the historic Paradise Valley district of Downtown Detroit. Patrons enjoy quality wine, beer and liquor, paired with tasteful small plates, entrées and desserts. The below-street-level space offers a warm, inviting dining room and bar with rich colors and textures to highlight the building's historical charm, while giving the space a sleek, modern finish. Great outdoor patio in-season.
Downtown Detroit
Oak & Reel is a contemporary Italian restaurant with a primary focus on seafood. Inventive interpretations of what Italian food would look like in Detroit, combining local ingredients with seafood from waters throughout the world. Expect bright, clean, bold flavors accentuated by a kiss from our wood burning hearth and a carefully curated wine and cocktail list to complement the menu. Chef Jared Gadbaw captained the two Michelin Star restaurant Marea in New York City.
2022 HOUR Detroit Magazine - Restaurant of the Year
New Center Neighborhood
Singapore-inspired neighborhood bar, restaurant, and butcher shop hybrid. Farm-to-table, age their own meats. Direct relationships with farmers and producers ensure quality food that is as close as possible to the source. They dry age their beef on-site. Small but very effective wine and cocktail selections. Located in the distinctive West Village neighborhood, this restaurant is a community gathering place. Great outdoor patio in-season.
2019 James Beard Semifinalist Best New Restaurant
West Village Neighborhood
Baobab Fare is an East African restaurant, market, and juice bar, offering an array of prepared menu items, groceries, juices, and other retail products from East Africa. Small, casual dining area, amazingly different food. The East African restaurant is ranked among highly rated restaurants in cities like Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles.
2024 James Beard Semi-Finalist - Outstanding Restaurateur
2021 Eater - one of11 best new restaurants
2022 Esquire magazine - Best New Restaurants in America
New Center Neighborhood
Modeled after Japanese "Izakayas", Mink is a drinking (nice selections of white wine and sake) and dining (mussels, shrimp, oysters) destination in the heart of Corktown. It is a very intimate community gathering place, seating 20. Mink’s small-plates menu features seafood, including oysters and shrimp, and its offerings are presented in a minimally processed way. Very East Village, New York City.
Corktown Neighborhood
Down-to-earth, recognizable food that highlights the region’s seasonality. Subtle European, Asian and Southern influences creep in every now and then, adding an element of unpredictability to the refined rustic American fare. Menu has a quirky, creative edge and changes based upon the seasonality and availability of the freshest local ingredients and inspiration. Excellent pairing cocktails and, of course, a nice selection of Chartreuse Liqueurs. Located in the The Park Shelton built in 1926 which showcases early 20th Century Revival architecture designs.
Midtown Neighborhood
Discover an unexpected, modern Italian menu, surrounded by coastal chic decor and mid-century design with smooth, sophisticated service in midtown Detroit. All kinds of worlds collide here: Italian roots meet coastal-California vibes; farm-fresh meets fermented and preserved; vintage hospitality meets Detroit's sauce. Stylish but low-key, timeless but modern, sweet but salty, local but international. Full bar with Michigan beers and spirits, a seasonal spritz menu, a wine list boasting Italian and Californian wines.
Midtown Neighborhood
Expect personal service, handwritten menus, and a fresh, comfortable atmosphere. Chef Rigato is at the helm, and he and his staff will welcome you to their neighborhood. Food and beverage selections rotate with the seasons and availability of local farm products, with no set menu. Everything is handmade from scratch, with fresh, ethical ingredients from Chef Rigato’s extensive network of farms, butchers and foragers.
James Beard Semifinalist in the Best Chefs category five times
Not in Detroit, but in nearby Hazel Park; so outstanding a restaurant it was added to the list for Best Dinner Restaurants Downtown Detroit.
Chef Andy Hollyday’s food – flavors born in local farms, captured at the peak of the season, prepared in our wood-fired oven, and served small plates-style in perfectly shareable portions. Complementing the menu is a bar taken every bit as seriously as the kitchen. With all its awards, this is one of the Best Dinner Restaurants Downtown Detroit.
2023 James Beard Finalist Best Chef
2024 Named one of the best restaurants in the United States by USA Today.
2024 James Beard Semi-Finalist - Outstanding Restaurant
Midtown Neighborhood
Freya is a multi-course, farm-to-table dinner restaurant focused on executing the points of upper echelon restaurants in larger markets while ditching the pomp and circumstance traditions that make regular people feel out of place. They offer a price fixed 5-course menu and can accommodate a variety of dietary restrictions.
James Beard Semi-Finalist, Outstanding Restaurateur
2022 NY Times, 50 places in America we’re most excited about right now.
2024 James Beard Semi-Finalist - Best Chef Great Lakes Region
Milwaukee Junction Neighborhood
TAKOI is a Thai-inspired, fusion restaurant. Takoi’s menu has great distinction - there’s a depth, concentration, and balance between heat and coolness; a range of spices. Plate-sharing approach encouraged. Excellent pairing cocktails. They describe themselves as "our food, our drink, and our people, are bold, funky, spicy, and unapologetic." The space is a renovated former auto body shop; very Detroit with lots of character.
2017 James Beard Best New Restaurant National Semi-Finalist
Corktown Neighborhood
Olin Bar & Kitchen offers a well-balanced, Mediterranean-influenced menu. The restaurant has the vibes of a buzzy and energetic Spanish neighborhood restaurant. Inspired to feel timeless, Olin welcomes you into a warm environment that combines old-world and new-world touches, including vintage tile floors, leather banquettes, exposed brick & colorful industrial photography murals. A creative, seasonal and flavorful celebration of curated ingredients woven together with Mediterranean and Spanish influences. Inspired, approachable & simply refined.
Downtown Detroit
Bar Pigalle serves French inspired cuisine and a mélange of playful cocktails with a fantastic wine list. Enjoy a selection of French wines, focusing on regions that don’t always get a lot of play, but end up being more of a value to customers. Similarly, the cocktail menu highlights French spirits like Citadelle gin, rhum agricole, and Rémy Martin 1738. At the same time, guests can also order select craft brews and ciders. Located in inside the historic Carlton Lofts building designed by legendary American architect Louis Kamper. One of the newer additions to Best Dinner Restaurants Downtown Detroit.
is an immersive soulful Japanese dining concept deeply rooted in tradition and technique. The menu is overseen by Executive Chef, Hiroki Fujiyama. HIROKI-SAN is located in the historical building Book Tower. Merges the finest Japanese ingredients with traditional and contemporary techniques. Savor sushi and robatayaki, crafted from weekly imports flown in from Japan. The cocktail program echoes a dedication to perfection, spotlighting single ingredients in each drink.
