The Block

Enjoyed the food, service and atmosphere! The entire wait staff was pleasant and curtious. The bartender provided the history of the place which I found to be fascinating and it added something special to my experience! Will absolutely go back!

Happy hour deals honestly deserves a 5 star, the space is very nice inside too! The hostess was very kind, offered us parking advice (they validate parking structure tickets) and watched me down the block to make sure I got to my car okay! The service was slower then some restaurants but they were very attentive and present for us, so if I had asked she probably would have speed things up, but our group was chatty :)

One of my favorite restaurants and bars in Midtown Detroit. Chef Kevin Browe has found a way to balance the menu with great gastropub fare foodies, beer geeks and wineos will love and sophisticated entrees perfect for the DSO crowed, date-​night, business gathering and networking. Some of the highlights I like are the twice-​baked Alfredo potatoes, bacon-​wrapped shrimp and the buffalo chicken sandwich packs a punch. Try the wings to perfect during anytime but during happy-​hour nothing goes down better then TheBlock wings and beers.

Had the sirloin… awesome!!! Huge portion and cooked exactly medium rare… Very reasonable price for portion… my new steak place. Fresh mash and grilled asparagus… For sure will be back. Try the Block Punch. $ 8, but one is good… worth it…

Good quality food and a great salad menu. I would definitely return for dinner. I gave them a 3 rather than a 4 because I felt that although the flavors and ingredients were well balanced, the amount of toppings looked a bit sparse. There was a good sized piece of chicken but really limited on the crumbled blue cheese, sort of a key flavor in a fruity salad if you ask me. The pecans were very limited as well and since they are the only crunch on the salad I was a little sad especially because they are cinnamon toasted, but I could not get a good sense of the cinnamon because the pieces were so tiny and far between.
Service was great and I will return to try the dinner menu, hopefully someone will be checking the plates before they leave the kitchen during the dinner rush. I am actually booking a dinner party here so I clearly have faith! The atmosphere is great and the happy hour specials and cocktails look promising.
Hopefully I can improve their score, I really want them to do well! Until next time…

The reason this restaurant is getting 3 stars is because the food was definitely a 5, but the service was definitely a 1. My boyfriend and I went here before Home Alone at the DSO and got there about 545p.m.-6p.m. for a 7:30p.m. show, so we had time to spare. The restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived, but filled up fast as we gotten there. Our server clearly was either brand new, or working her first serving job ever.
She was attempting to be personable which is great, but her professional service was so terrible that it didn’t make up for it. We didn’t order any drinks, but we did order the calamari for an appetizer which was really good. It had a spicy, sweet flavor to it.
The appetizer however, didn’t come for almost 45 minutes.
I ordered the Rock and Rye BBQ Grilled Chicken Breast which had cheese and bacon on it and requested broccoli instead of mashed potatoes. She told me they didn’t have broccoli, but it was on the menu. I showed her and she said, «oh okay, you can do that.»
Our food came about 10 minutes after the calamari appetizer. We are now almost at an hour for a restaurant that wasn’t busy when we ordered. I also had an empty glass of water in front of me the entire time. My food was excellent, but came atop mashed potatoes and with no broccoli. The asparagus and the chicken with bacon and cheese were all melted into the potatoes which was unfortunate because I lost half of my meal because I didn’t want to eat the mashed potatoes.
We asked for the check as soon as possible in order to not miss the show.
And a side note — they only have a one-​person bathroom and there was a line, so then I spent 10 minutes waiting in line while some girl was doing her makeup.
I’d go back if I had a different server, for sure!

I wanted to like this place. Honestly. But to wait 1.5 hours for a kale salad that consisted of barely washed, uncut kale leaves with a glob of store bought Caesar dressing and microwaved soup is unacceptable. I’ll give it another try in a month or so… Fingers crossed…

The food here used to be good when it was Midtown Grille, but the service has really seemed to go down recently. We grabbed a drink after an evening at the DSO and the waiter somewhat rushed us out of the door and we waited at least 10 minutes for our drinks, when the restaurant was rather empty. I wish this restaurant was more friendly to the late night crowd and had better service. Not recommended for grabbing a drink anywhere near closing time.

This review is mostly based on the $ 3 Happy Hour Wings — get them grilled
Staff and servers here are delightfully friendly and attentive — free validated parking in Alexandrine structure
The Rock N Rye BBQ is sweet and tangy
Buffalo is a great traditional buffalo
Bring back the Watermelon BBQ — savory with a hint of sweet — was my favorite but returned to see it was gone !
Garlic Parmesean is a creamy sauce but I thought it had too much parm
I wouldn’t recommend the sweet chilli it was a bit salty and dry without any kick to It
Mac n cheese is creamy Alfredo style sauce if you’re into that
DRW my steak was cooked as ordered, the deserts were amazing Bacon Brownie was great– Apple Tacos were huge! I’m not a fan of baked potatoes in general so my opinion here would be biased– I thought they were okay. Kale salad was drowning in dressing

I went on a Sunday. The sign is inside which made it difficult to spot it out. Just when I was going to give up, I found it. I parked on the street.
I ordered the Alfredo potato skins as an appetizer. It comes with three. They were surprisedly great. I ordered the loaded chicken that came with mashed potatoes and broccoli. This was delicious. I ordered a dark knight for a beverage and that was nasty. But there is a wide range of things to choice from.
Service: unorganized, switched in and out, could be better
Overall, the food is bomb so I will continue to patronize here.

We tried to get in a another local place but the wait was over 1.5 hours. So we got in the car and called up The Block to see if we could make reservations that night, they told us they could take us in 10 min… Im glad they did because the food was amazing. I ordered the pan seared salmon with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus… every bite was awesome. My husband ordered the mac and cheese with bacon and chicken, very creamy and rich and he loved every bite… The only draw back to us returning is the waitress seemed shy and uncertain, she was not knowledgeable about the drink menu at all and spoke so low we could barely hear her. Slow service. we asked for s certain food out first and it came with our meal. Then she gave me the check to sign and didn’t give us a pen and when we asked another waitress for one she told us we could borrow it but that she was not our waitress… lovely atmosphere great food service thumbs down!

Everything I had for dinner last night was fantastic. The Mac n cheese was a hit and the grilled salmon BLT sandwich was wonderful. My friend ordered the rock and rye chicken wings and they were so good. The only disappointment was the cookie dessert. The menu says it’s served in and iron skillet and it was served on a plate. Presentation is such a huge part of a dining experience so hopefully a change this or accurately describe it on the menu.

I really enjoyed it here! Came with a GF during DRW and sat at the bar. Although the service was a bit slow considering they were not packed, everything we ordered was good. The rock n rye chicken was a bit over done but had nice flavor. The jalepeno margaritas were made «skinny» for us and done nicely. A solid 3.5 stars.

Stopped in on a quiet Tuesday night and grabbed some calamari and a Stella Artois. Calamari is one of my tests (hollandaise sauce being the other) of a good restaurant because it is so easy to mess up.
The calamari was fantastic and the Stella Artois is poured from an authentic Stella Artois European style tap. Completely satisfied!

Name change alert: This used to be The Grille Midtown. Same owners, same staff, so I’m not sure why the name changed, but it did, between the time I made the DRW reservation and the time my party arrived to eat.
I got my usual Gang of 10 together for Detroit Restaurant Week (DRW), and this is the place I chose for us to go. I’m not saying The Block isn’t worth a visit, because my experience is based solely on DRW, but what I can say is that I’ve been doing DRW, spring and fall, since 2011 and this is the least good place.
Nothing was particularly horrible about The Block, but nothing (except the corn bread) was particularly wonderful, either. And a couple things were kind of weird.
Weirdest of all, we were waited on by two different servers, which resulted in four of us getting each course of the meal about 5 minutes before the other six. So, for each course, four of waited with food in front of us before we could eat. Not a big deal, but weird.
Another weird thing. Two of us ordered Long Island Iced Teas and got drinks with no cola in them. Just booze. Yowza! And instead of remaking the drinks (not really necessary), or taking them back and adding the cola (easiest course of action), we each received a glass of Coke, which we then had to mix with our drinks. Yes, it was a mix your own drink experience.
So, needless to say, service was sketchy. It was friendly, but it was sketchy. I could still give a three or even a four star review with weirdness and sketchiness, but the food wasn’t up-​to-​par, and that’s a killer.
For appetizers, those of us who ordered the wings agreed they were yummy, but those who ordered the kale salad got sore jaws. For entrees, the Salmon was overdone, the chicken was overdone, the tenderloin was overdone, and the vegetarian dish was missing the sauce that (when it came out later, at our request) tied the whole dish together.
Dessert was the only solid course. Apple taco consumers and bacon brownie consumers alike were pleased.

I went on a busy Friday night with a party of 10. Walking distance from Orchestra Hall, so the location was ideal that night, but ‘new name, new menu, new décor’ (i.e. new restaurant) typically screams ‘stay away for a while’ to me.
To be brief, the food was very good. Some had burgers, some had salmon, some had the salmon BLT, some the chicken. We all agreed that the food was very good. They definitely have that going for them. Oh, and the free parking (with Block validation) at the Alexandrine lot behind their building. Major bonus.
The service was very poor. Courteous, but incredibly slow. Took a long time to get drinks, and when the food was FINALLY served (at least a half hour, with no drinks in between) one couple got their food. About 15 minutes later another couple got their food. I’m not kidding. I had to ask for my salad. Then the rest of the food started coming.
They need to get their act together. Its October 2015. I’ll wait a couple months and consider going back because of the food and i have faith they will see this and streamline their service. I hope.

After hearing the ratings and doing my research I decided to give this place a try and sadly to say that I am giving the Block a ²⁄₅ stars.
I made a reservation for a party of 15 and the staff sounded really pleasant and adjusted to what I needed, to make my party feel welcomed. But don’t let that nice personality fool you! As my guest started to arrive, we only received ONE menu for the whole table until they realized us sharing that menu. Once everyone ordered, we waited for a very long time (about 20 – 30 minutes) before the food came out. I understand that we have a big party but the restaurant was not busy. The only reason why this restaurant is getting any stars is because of their food. Although they had a limited amount of choices on their menu, their food was delicious and had a variety of flavors.
Throughout the night we consistently received bad service from the waitresses. They would come to our table and asked if we needed anything. When we told them what we needed, they never came back with it, even when we told them multiple times. For example, when my guests ordered drinks, they waited over 30 minutes to either remind the waitresses or receive their drinks and by that time my guests finished eating.
Soon my guests and I became agitated after the consistent bad service and I informed the waitress that I wanted to talk to their manager. When the manager came, I told him what had happened and that we were unsatisfied with their service. He apologized and asked what we needed which was nice but nothing was done about the service besides the restaurant giving one free slice of cheesecake to me. In addition, each of my guest were automatically charged for 20% gratuity, I’m sorry to say but that the waitresses did not even deserve that much of tip.
I have mix feelings about this restaurant but I probably will not be eating at the Block again.

I would give The Block 3 ½ stars.
We started with the alfredo potato skins which were AMAZING. Highly recommend this as a starter. We then ordered boneless wings in rock n rye, sweet chili, parmesan/​garlic, and bacon/​bourbon. The sweet chili definitely stole the show. The food was great, the service was the issue…
I asked for a moscow mule with valentine vodka — the server didn’t know a mule could be made with vodka and also wasn’t familiar with the available vodkas-​also, we ordered 20 boneless wings thinking they would be similar to the size of the boneless wings found at buffalo wild wings — instead they were more like chicken tenders (which was fine) but the boneless wings come with more than 5 wings which was not mentioned to us until the dishes were brought out leading to WAY too much food for 2 people to consume.
TLDR: Food is great, definitely try the potato skin appetizer — stole the show. Service needs A LOT of work.

This place has changed for the better! Me and a group of friends went on a Saturday night during Detroit Restaurant Week and we truly enjoyed our meal… so much that I had to write a review about it. This three course meal for $ 25.00 (with the restaurant week discount) was the best meal I’d eaten all year.
First Course: My husband decided to get a little funky and order the Watermelon BBQ wings, which were outstanding! The sauce on those wings made me feel like it was the fourth of July in my mouth. With a great melody of sweet barbecue sauce and the faint taste of watermelon, it was phenomenal. I ordered the shrimp with with chili sauce, which was perfect. Other friends order the Kale caesar salad, which was so good that we’ve dreamt about it everyday since…
Second Course: Everyone including my husband ordered the tenderloin, which they all loved.
I ordered the pan seared glazed salmon with a twice baked potato and parmesan corn on the cob. The pan seared salmon gave me so much joy, it was perfectly seared and the glaze acted as a sweet cherry on top.
Third Course: If you Love bacon & brownies like I do, the bacon brownie will blow your mind.
I appreciate great meals and this place does not disappoint. Make sure that you get Michelle as your waitress… she’s the bomb!
Thank You for the great meal «The Block»
— Kesha McKinney

Previously named The Grill Midtown, The Block has a new menu and décor. We were there for Detroit restaurant week and enjoyed their short menu for this special week. We enjoyed the wing appetizer, a vegetarian entrée of sweet potato chips, carrots, artichokes and a creamed cheese spread all over a couple of slices of nut bread. It was very good. Others had «Rockin» chicken or steak. There were two dessert options – a apple taco filled with ice cream (everybody loved it) and a bacon brownie (a little weird and spicy — – some loved it but others hated it)) Everyone was happy with their meal overall. The wines were good, a Bollini Pinot Grigio and a 1865 Malbec. Service by Solange was perfect. We will definitely go back and explore their regular menu.
One point to know is that they have free parking in a parking structure in the side street just west of the restaurant. There is also some street parking.