The Ghost Bar

Very mixed feelings about the Ghostbar. Awesome place, mediocre drinks and service.
The place is amazing. Absolutely beautiful house with rooms full of personality. The wood and décor show that old school class that’s so hard to find. Walking in, we were greeted warmly and told the way to the Ghostbar. We take our time taking in the paintings and ambiance.
The third floor of home to the Ghostbar. The bar is smaller than you might expect with a few tables for two around it. You might not want to come here with a large party. We were a party of three, so we sat down in an adjacent room – the absinth room. The room was chilly since it jutted partially out of the house and had huge windows. The fireplace in the room doesn’t work.
We walked over to the bar for drinks, but the bartender didn’t seem eager to help us out. We got a little worried that this was not going to go well, but honestly the service was impeccable from then on. I had the «witching hour» and my cousin had the «boulevardier,» their version of a Manhattan. I wanted to like me drink but couldn’t do it. The drink is sour (not bitter) from the heavy citrus. To compensate for this, the rim of the martini glass is kissed with sugar. The sugar balances the drink, or attempts to. When your lips hit the glass, your get this intense sweet sugar, then you tip and drink this sour cocktail. It just doesn’t work. My cousins signature Manhattan was equally awkward with way too much bitters.
The one brilliant spotlight was the crab cake. It took a while to get to us, but it was great and different. Your typical crab cake is this hockey puck thing with lemon and tarter sauce. This was a ball like thing with a sweet sauce. You wouldn’t think it’d be good, but it was great.
Overall, I’m not sure I’d return for drinks. I would like to return for dinner and see what else their menu had to offer.

What an amazing and beautiful spot! We stopped here for a drink before a performance at the DSO (it was just a couple blocks up Woodward, no more than 5 minutes). We waked in on a Wednesday night and there were plenty of open spots near the bar. There are multiple rooms, all unique and cozy. The place is simply gorgeous, make sure you explore around a little!
My husband and I ordered a drink each. I had a gun based drink (can’t remember the name) which was a very full martini glass. The boulevardier was one of the best mixed cocktails we’ve had! Despite the $ 13 price tag, the drinks were strong and a good portions!
We also had an appetizer of calamari. It was nicely fried and paired with a lemon based sauce and strips of red pepper.
The only thing taking this from a 5 star to a 4 star was the pricing. Two drinks, an appetizer and a decent tip put us over $ 50. None the less it was an extremely special place so I wasn’t disappointed with our stop. I would recommend this place to anyone who wants a unique and historic place!

Firstly, this place always shows closed on Unilocal.It’s not actually closed. It’s very much open.
This is clearly one of the sweetest finds in Detroit.
Whitney is a super fine dining place and the ghost bar is their bar on the third floor.
Ambience: the bar is set inside a really old mansion owned by Mr and mrs Whitney. The entire place has high ceilings, antique windows, wooden flooring and walls, and even some clandestine doors which one may discover if one requests a tour of the property. Very classily designed.
Drinks: we had the duke of Detroit, which was a speciality cocktail. It was an interesting drink, clearly not for the light hearted. The bar tender gareth has some serious style and he adds a lot of coolness to the drink making process, which he makes interactive with the guests. I took a beer to drown my duke :) (yes they have a whole bunch on tap)
Food: we ate the bruschetta and the crab cakes. The crab cakes were very very very good.
Price: it’s not your place around the corner. It’s a proper fine dining place so expect a full priced menu, but trust me, it’s worth the money you spend.
Oh yes, they have a valet for 6 bucks. You can pay either cash or swipe your card separately for it

The Whitney is so cool and the history is a bonus. The ghost bar had a cozy atmosphere however the servers were not good at greeting people or going up to tables so we had to get our drinks from the bar. The cocktail with absinthe and champagne is extremely intense and comes out on fire… So beware
This bar would be great for a date. They play live music on the weekends and provide tours.

What an awesome place, I am obsessed! I have been telling everyone about this place since I came and had a drink, and it’s funny because no one has ever heard about it, but the Unilocal reviews were really good, so I knew it would be a great spot. Anyway, from the outside it looks like an old house/​place where they throw events, and I was confused why it was called a bar as it looked like an old historic site/​restaurant when I first walked in. As a side note, I did not eat here, but I am definitely interested in eating here in the future. Anyway, we walked up the stairs to the second floor where the bar is located (so there is a bar, ah ha!). I walked around the upstairs and tried to take some pictures, for some reason many of them did not come out right (hmmm). I swore from the second we arrived here that the place was haunted (might be a direct result of the name ‘ghost bar’). Anyway, a historic tour was going on, so we caught a few minutes of it before heading to the bar, having a drink and chatting with the bartender. At one point I went to the bathroom and swore there was someone else there in spirit and I’m not even into that type of thing! Super cool hidden gem in Detroit, but I love history, so I found the place extremely intriguing.

This bar up on the third floor of the Whitney is a very different feel than most modern bars. When you reach the top floor there is an open area where the bar is located but the reset of the seating is off in side rooms. It makes it a great spot if you want to meat up and chart with a small or medium size group and not have your conversation down out by other bar noise.
I met up with a group that were regulars, though it was my first time, and the bartender seemed to know them well, was friendly and helpful, and would come in from time to time to refresh people’s drinks.
All in all a great, and unique spot in Detroit though a little more expensive then I was expecting.

Loved this bar on the third floor of the Whitney. Bar tender was exceptional and the Witching Hour was a great drink. We’ll be back.

decided to check out ghost bar on a whim after an early dinner one Monday. aside from the obviously creepy mansion, this place was awesome. the bar area is little but has a few rooms than can be occupied when it’s busier. when we went there were only five others there, presumably grabbing drinks before dinner (it was only 6) as they quickly left and we were there with one other couple. we ended up staying a couple hours because the bartender, Alex, was super nice. sure, by some standards the drinks may seem pricey, but being from Boston and Honolulu, these were average priced drinks and well worth the price. this is definitely a bar worth checking out if you’re in Detroit and in the mood for some nice cocktails.

This place is phenomenal. It’s a mansion which is a bar and a restaurant and a cool hangout place all in one. Drinks are amazing and service is outstanding. I actually don’t think I have ever had better service anywhere else.
Very surreal experience, you’ll have to try it yourself. Also: live jazz and casual atmosphere.