Punch Bowl Social

The food is not good. Three stars because the drinks were strong and the venue itself was nice.

This place overall feels like it is trying too hard and lacking in delivery. A lot of marketing schtick and some «avant garde» videos playing on the wall. I wouldn’t exactly kick and scream if someone dragged me here again, but I couldn’t see myself ever making an effort of returning.
Went for dinner with a large group and was overall underwhelmed by the food and service. I ordered the «green plate» special, which was verbally explained to me by the waitress. Part of the problem was the waitress explained the dish poorly to me so I had expected something different, but overall the dish was not very enjoyable. It was soba noodle (I don’t think it was actually soba, it did not taste like buckwheat to me, it tasted like refined flour noodles) stir-​fried with a bunch of giant root vegetables (turnips, pearl onion, carrots). Large root vegetables just don’t belong in a stir fry– i had to slice them, and they just don’t pair well with soba noodles. The whole thing was coated in an extremely salty sauce. I didn’t really end up eating much of it because who really likes turnips.
The wait staff seemed overwhelmed by the group though it was not crowded at the time we were eating. There were a lot of odd moments with the wait staff. One notable moment was when the waitress brought my boyfriend the wrong beer, which he noticed after taking a sip, and when she brought him a new one she took the old one and threw it out instead of offering it to someone else at the table.
Another strange interaction was when my friend asked a waitress to transfer his tab from downstairs to upstairs, which other staff members did for other members of our party. She told him she couldn’t go all the way downstairs and mockingly said «oh you haven’t worked in food service?» when he asked why. He then gave her a ten dollar bill for the six dollar beer he ordered and she asked if he wanted change, as if she expected a four dollar tip for bringing him a bottled beer after mocking him for expecting her to climb stairs.
The games were fun and reasonably priced.

I don’t know what has happened in the past because the other reviews really slammed the service, but I have to say today’s service was above and beyond exceptional and the food/​drink was awesome, per usual, as well.
First, I think you have to know what to order. They are known for certain dishes: Chicken and waffle, Cauliflower nachos, candied nuts… and certain drinks: See PunchBowls! (hint: it’s in the name!) I am going to suggest the Bush drink. Just say «bush»… they’ll know… it’s on the menu.
I was there for lunch today, (friday), around 11:30. So not packed, but active.
Shout out to our server, Agyei, and the young lady training with him. They were a lot of fun and on it!

My friends and I flew into Detroit and had 48 hours to spend. Our final night (Sat. Night) before catching a plane we spent it here! The atmosphere and décor is unreal. Drinks were great and the bartender (upstairs bar) as busy as she was still spent time to suggest a new drink to my friend which ended up being delicious!
We were bummed we didn’t get to bowl at first because of how long the wait was going to be but as the night went on we completely forgot about it and enjoyed watching others bowl from the 2^nd floor. They also have ping pong upstairs
If you’re from out of town like me, I highly suggest a visit to this spot!

Our hostess was kind of a bitch for not letting us sit in a section that already had other groups. (She told us to sit ourselves) but didn’t like where we picked. Spoke to the manager who said it was okay & was cool with us. Our hostess was very sweet & helpful. The food was really good too! And it was pretty inside. Loved it.

Every time I have stepped through the doors to this place I end up kicking myself for wasting my time. With the growth of the downtown area and so many new places and activities to try out it is hard for me to see this place staying relevant in the years to come.
If you are just looking for a place to eat or grab a drink it is perfectly MEH. Nothing too special and nothing crazy to complain about.
BUT when it comes to the activities portion of PBS, this place is a prime example of buffoonery. This latest instance was the worst in a history of cluelessness by PBS staff. We called ahead about a Karaōke room, got our name on the list and accepted the wait time. What followed was a sad state of awful customer service and an activities manager calling us liars and having no remorse that we happily waited over an hour (an hour is what we were told the wait was) only to be told by the activities manger that we’d have to wait another «at least 2 hours!!! As my group of friends looked around to make sure we were not on Candid Camera we left with our mouths agape and thoughts of how this place is still open in our collective minds. TRUST ME there are far better places to go have a drink and have a fun activity paired with it!
Do not waste your time. Do not waste your money. I believe their customer service skills were borrowed from Comcast if you get my drift.
In the end I am happy though, I’ve realized it’s called Punch Bowl Social because when you leave it feels like you’ve been 1. Punched with stupidity. 2. Bowled over with laugher at said stupidity. AND 3. You’ll take to Social media to share your horrible experience. As you see here

I had a good time at Punch Bowl, and found the service excellent. My issues? $ 17 for a rocks pour of Don Julio? That is Manhattan strip club usury. I was floored when I saw the tab. Also, the «medium» burger was beyond well done, and for $ 14, it should have been prepared properly. Stay away from the top shelf at the bar if you value your wallet. Its too bad, as the space is very nice, and the service is good.

On our first night visiting Detroit, we decided to make this our first stop and came by via suggestion of several friends. It was aite. Maybe should of explored some of the other areas of PBS. But overall I wasn’t feelin it so much.
The lady wanted to eat, but I was still stuffed from all the tacos I had consumed earlier in the evening. We grabbed a table in their dining area, but we were seated next to the obnoxious birthday table. Minor bummer but I figured I catch up to their drunkeness after a couple rounds.
I did the Bourbon Smash which had old forester bourbon, muddled blueberry and
lemon, & house made blueberrry syrup. It was okay. A bit sweet for me and I was getting looks from some girls from the other table wondering what I had ordered. Majority of the cocktails were priced under $ 10 which is nice. But like I said earlier, just wasn’t feelin the vibe overall. As soon as the lady finished off her cubano sandwich, we closed out and moved on.
I’d give this place a shot again if I was in the Detroit area primarily to check out their social area where the games are at. Maybe go bowling or get some shuffle board playing in. Maybe this would change my mind on how I feel about this place. But til next time, cheers!

I did not play any games. But they looked fun. I heard the bowling is a little odd.
The food was good, the drinks were pricy but good. The atmosphere was fun!
I guess some people have been treated rudely, but our service was excellent.

DINNER REVIEW ONLY.
I came on a recommendation from a few Detroit-​native friends. I had just got off a plane, and was STARVING at 9pm. I almost didn’t walk in because Punch Bowl looked so crowded. But I realized that the actual dining area was only half full, so in we went.
I ordered a cubano sandwich and an old fashioned (they regularly go together don’t you know? I got jokes). Anyhow, the cubano sandwich was damn good but so rich! I also got fries on the side that were mediocre. The old fashioned was big but nothing impressive.
Maybe it was because I was in the dining section, but overall I just wasn’t that impressed. I’ll likely return on my next trip to Detroit and try and experience the entire establishment

Ordered: Cubano, Sweet Tea Chicken (recently added to menu?), Bachelor’s bowl, Milk-​xologist, Pegu club
Price: ~$ 64 w/​o tip
Ambiance: Came here on a thursday for a friend’s birthday. We just came here for food and the place was pretty nice. Very much a modern gastropub feel. We had a fairly good server who took all our orders, got us drinks, and managed all our checks well. The only part where they had difficulty was keeping track of who ordered what, usually a point where servers set themselves apart. Some drinks did also take quite a while to arrive but others arrived quickly, probably had to do with the incoming dinner rush after we arrived.
Food: Food was good but not great. They definitely try to put a gourmet/​hipster spin on every dish which seems like it is hit-​or-​miss. The cubano, for instance, has pork belly and ham, gruyère cheese, home-​made pickles, and other fixins’ which sounded amazing. In execution, the sandwich was lots of salty pork that was poorly-​balanced with the weak pickles and barely noticeable mustard. The fries were nothing special. My wife’s dish was a trio of sweet-​tea brined half-​chicken with sides of salad and their mac n’ cheese. That dish was WAY better, the chicken was moist and savory. The salad was dressed a smidge heavily but had a great balance of acids. The mac which smokey, savory, and extremely rich with a crispy bread crumb topping. I couldn’t imagine eating a full portion of the mac but sharing the 5 – 6 bites in the side was perfect.
Drinks: Pegu club was ultimately not worth it, basically tasted like drinking 4 oz of mixed orange liquers. If you’re a fan of mudslides/​white russians. definitely get the milk-​xologist as it tasted like a milkshake version of it. The bachelor’s bowl was also OK, just a spiked punch like you would expect.
Overall, this place is a very expensive gastropub with a lot of hit-​or-​miss drinks and dishes. Seems like a fun place to hang out and chill but you may be better off hitting a local dive instead if you’re looking for good food or cheap cocktails.

My first time and probably last here as our experience was terrible. We called ahead to inquire about the karaōke room, and were encouraged to come and sign up for it as it was available. When we showed up, the activities manager told us the karaōke room had been malfunctioning since more than a day ago, and was out of use. More than a day ago! And we had called two hours earlier! I spoke to the activities manager about this, and there were no apologies, only that «the staff doesn’t talk to each other». Wow.
We tried to make the most of things since we were already here, and signed up for several other activities, and and activities manager had our name and phone number. We sat down for some coffees. The Great Lakes house coffee, while supposedly Great Lakes, was truly terrible and tasted like nothing. The salted caramel latte was disgusting. I got through two sips of this lukewarm mess before I had to put it away. A quesadilla we ordered was doggy and tasteless. At this point it was already two hours and nothing had become available. They never called, even after we decided to leave, thinking we would return if we got a call that something was available. No one ever called.
An embarrassment. We had brought our out of town Atlanta and Houston guests, and I was embarrassed that I chose to show them this giant warehouse collection of poor service and poor food when so many better options are available.

Great place to kill a Saturday afternoon but probably would make you want to kill yourself on a busy night. Arrived around 1 on a Saturday to grab some drinks and play darts. A very cool scene with lots of space and I was surprised how many bars they had open (3) in the middle of the day. Folks were eating, families were bowling and I started drinking IPAs while playing darts. One of the only places that charge you for darts that aren’t electronic but $ 3 lets you play for as long as you want which is not bad.
Beer menu is fantastic and they also had a nice menu of whiskey, boozy milkshakes and cocktails if that is your thing. At the far back of the joint are about 4 – 6 bowling lanes which I’m sure are tough to come by for a Saturday night — but they were empty during the day and nicer than Garden Bowl. The lanes have couches, and are close to the bar — and games didn’t seem too much more expensive than a traditional divey bowling alley. The crowd here is better.
Finally, Punch Bowl social also has a small video arcade with games like Pac-​Man, Street Fighter, Skee Ball, shuffleboard as well as some small private rooms with couches and TVs (sports viewing party anyone?). They also have a full menu, lounge areas with fire places and board games you can play. All of this is just on the main level — so if you aren’t satisfied yet, there could still be more options.
Definitely worth a visit especially if you are staying downtown or trying to do something new.

After watching a terrible finish to a hockey game where the refs handed the Red Wings a OT win against my Rangers, it was off to the bars. I don’t even remember what I drank anymore, as this was bar number 3. But the Bachelor’s bowl was incredibly easy to drink. This concoction has old forester bourbon, pimm’s blackberry elderflower liqueur, pineapple guava
yerba mate tea, and lemon juice. It was pretty sweet but the lemon flavor helped balance it out. It’s a pretty impressive drink. The bar staff has been getting a pretty rough ride on these reviews, but they were prettty decent to me. I didn’t think they stood out one way or another, to be frank.

Been here twice — Time for a review !
First time I went we had a few mixed drinks and played some of the board games. It was definitely lively on a Friday for my expections of Detroit haha.
Yesterday, I went for food before heading to the airport (useless fact I know).
Street Tacos were delicious ! And we found out that they make everything from scratcg and fresh. No frozen meats or anything. They also mentioned they use local goods too.
At the end, we got the tiramisu. you better get it because it is light, tasty and fluffy. Almost like a custard !
They have so many activitirs to do here. Bowling, private karaōke rooms, board games, pool tables, lounge with fireplace arcades.

Lumbersexual hipster vibe, good drinks, fun atmopshere.
Came here for a friends surprise birthday party in the summer of 2015. The space is huge! The upstairs is where were the majority of the time. This place is decorated like at hipster Elks lodge, with huge chairs, fireplace upstairs, two bars (one upstairs, one large one down), the bowling alleys and taller tables for eating.
The drinks were good. Try their daily punch special and the other punches. Their regular drink menu was delicious too. Food is okay — typical gastropub type food, nothing earth shattering. That said, the food we did eat was pretty delicious, though!
Fun ambiance with the bowling alley and overall fun kind of place. Good place to entertain and have parties.

This is a review purely about the awesome activities they have other than food eating. They have 6 bowling lanes. We went during the evening so the price of the lane per person plus shoe rental for one hour for two people was $ 21. Okay, that’s a bit pricey, but you’re bowling in the middle of a hip restaurant– no complaints here!
It was $ 3 to rent darts which was a good time, and they had various arcade games (pinball, skee ball, Mrs. Packman, Maria, etc).
You could order food and drinks while you bowl so that was a fun option. My fiancé ordered key lime pie which he really liked. The family next to us got chips and salsa as well as chips and dip. Both looked great! They had some little, tasty, and pricey drinks (reported by the friends).
There is a very large parking structure right there which was quite convenient (though $ 20).
I’d definitely come here again!

The service honestly sucks. I tried to write this review as nice as possible. But i just didn’t know how to put it in a nice way. Service means everything to me… & this place has the WORST service… The bartenders need to get there act together… its not cute not to smile and be rude all the time… & it’s also disgusting and filthy that i had to ask someone to clean up the table at the bar… It was disturbing how he cleaned it with a dirty cloth and left the table wet. Management needs to get together and come up with a better plan for this place. The venue itself is very nice. But whats a nice venue without great people?
NOTHING.

I’ll admit I’d been avoiding this place because of the reviews (and not just on Unilocal,either), but when our usual place where we eat before a Red Wings game was closed, we decided to give Punch Bowl Social a try.
The food was really outstanding.
The service, however, was subpar. Our waitress was nice enough but you got the feeling she was thinking about all the other things she could’ve been doing on a Friday night than working. We got in just before 7 and there was plenty of seating. By the time we left more than an hour later, it was completely packed. So get there early if you don’t want to be waiting around.
I had the chipotle turkey burger, which has not one, but two, ground turkey patties. It’s a giant but delicious mess with slaw, smoked Gouda, lettuce, tomato, onion. The burger is served with fries in a skillet.
As good as the burger was, dessert is even better. We split a slice of the key lime pie and pumpkin cheesecake. I don’t think I’ve had any of those two that were better than is. Each pretty light, the homemade whip is fluffy. I’d return just for dessert.

I have been here a few times now and I have had mixed opinions. I’m giving PBS four stars because overall, I have had a lot of fun here.
Now let me start off — the first time I was here, I had the traditional brunch and the potatoes sold me. However, this was a small portion. The bloody marys were five star quality.
The second time — I had brunch, it wasn’t very great. I think I had one of the hash dishes.
This was the third time — we bowled upstairs and it was a lot of fun. We ordered the deviled eggs which were great, and the cauliflower nachos — which were terrible. They had no toppings on them, no cheese, no nada.
I’d recommend checking it out for the atmosphere, but be weary when ordering the food. I’ll try something else the next time we’re there.