UDetroit Cafe featuring Dan Good Pizza

The single star is more for service than anything else. I love Dan Good Pizza, but avoid this one at all costs! «Featuring» is taken very literally in this case. UDetroit Café is a bar that just sells Dan Good Pizza. Therefore, when you call in an order, a bartender that knows very little about the pizza business will take your order. I order a very mean pizza if I say so myself… kind of a Greek style (hot pepperoncinis, italian sausage, banana peppers, feta cheese, Kalamata Olives, and marinated tomatoes). Although that is a tall order, this particular Dan Good has managed to mess up my order on every single occasion I have ordered from them. I wouldn’t normally mind too much, but this pizza isn’t cheap! The last straw was when they gave me a pizza with nothing on it. How do you mess that up??? Save yourself the time and order from one of the Dan Good locations in the suburbs. This Dan Good doesn’t have their priorities together yet. Hopefully one day they can get out of UDetroit. That place is bringing them down!

I was looking for a new pizza place to try that catered office lunches and wanted to give Dan Good a try before I spent the money for the whole office.
The pizza was okay and they do deliver but with a hefty delivery add on if you ask me in this area. Everyone else delivers for free!
The pizza was on the good side of okay so I decided that it would be alright for our luncheon on Friday, but they only carry the small pizza’s at this location. So if you are looking to have something catered, better look elsewhere!

I’m a frequent traveler to the Detroit area and have recently discovered some of the advantages of staying downtown rather than in the outlying areas … and this place is a very big one. It is both a live-​recording/​broadcasting studio and an upscale restaurant/​café/​bar at the same time. The
website focuses more on the studio and with some searching you can find the performance/​stage schedule low-​down on the Watch Live tab (which streams live if you wish to preview before a visit). The food is provided and managed by Dan Good Pizza
and is simple but, from the Garden Pizza and Michigan Salad I had, I’d say superb! Merlot being the only red wine selection was a small negative, but that was made up for by excellent service. I was there on a Tuesday night for «Jazz Jam w Terry T» and was blown away by these guys … all first rate musicians. The calendar said starts at 10:00 but from my room at the Hilton Garden I could see they were playing soon after 9:00 so I started the evening early. Returning on Wednesday night I found the place packed as they were featuring a fantastic rock band. BTW, The Detroit Seafood Market
is a 5 star seafood restaurant next door and, combined with the
and its neighboring attractions a block away, the Hilton Garden Inn Detroit Downtown is an outstanding (and safe) place to stay. THIS IS the new Detroit!!!

I’ve been here only a couple of times. Once was for an event in which I did not have food, but I ordered a few cocktails (on special for happy hour).
The second time, my co-​worker & I got there before 4 pm (which I didn’t realize they didn’t open until 4, I guess). The door was unlocked, though, and we saw people inside, so: shrug: we went in. We sat down for a bit, while a radio show was being recorded… the people we saw walking around continued to walk around. We finally asked the cook if we could order with him (or what). He was a bit surprised by us being in there and told us the door is usually locked. Oh.
So, he checked with the owner (?) and proceeded to give us a menu, take our order and get us taken care of. Kudos to this guy, as he was helpful and friendly.
The menu is rather limited and the prices are actually rather high for what they are offering. They had sliders on the menu, but they also had burgers and platters served with chips and a tiny serving of cole slaw (dip your fork twice and it’s gone) for $ 6.95. That’s what we ordered. The burger was the size of a slider.
I guess since we were in there before they were scheduled to open, the bartender/​server wasn’t there, so the owner had to check us out. He overcharged me on the burgers (I guess using the pre-​set button on the register, which was incorrect) and had to phone the bartender/​server for instructions on how to correct the matter. I was patient since I could understand that’s not his everyday handling.
I’m still trying to figure out the real draw of UDetroit Café. Is it a bar? Is it a restaurant? Is it a bar with restaurant food? Is it a coffee shop? I see coffee machinery… do they sell it? (everything looks shut down and out of commission over there) Do they want people to come in for specific radio broadcasts? Because I feel like I can’t converse with the person I’m there with because a.) I can’t hear over the broadcast and b.) I feel that our conversation would interrupt the broadcast.
So, the jury’s still out with me… The place is cool in concept and awesome for Detroit… Maybe I’d need to give it another shot, but it may take another specific event to pull me in there again.

This is a cool little spot. I had the chicken salad sandwich with coleslaw and MI Better Made potato chips off their simple little menu. This is a great place if you’re looking for a cool atmosphere and a decent sandwich, but honestly the food is nothing to rave about. They were broadcasting to their online radio station while we were there enjoying a couple MI beers and checking out the Detroit paraphernalia. UDetroit is worth checking out for the atmosphere, but don’t expect food that wows.

Have I mentioned yet today that I love Detroit? Well, here’s another reason why — $ 3 Atwater Dirty Blonde drafts and lots of big screen TV’s in the heart of it all.
This is a pretty typical sports bar atmosphere, except the cool entrance with the giant word Detroit and skyline scene greeting you when you walk in the door. But what makes this 4 stars and not 3 is the location and the crowd. What great Detroit sports watching!
We happened to be there to watch the Tigers in the ALCS and the Lions play (and win) Monday night football. They had live music during commercials and great drink specials. The also carry some menu items from Detroit Seafood Market, particularly delish is the Lobster Mac n Cheese. Nummy.

I’ve hit up uDetroit 3 times in the past two weeks, and it’s been pretty solid. Obviously, it’s a new spot and I think they’re still working out some of the bugs (one time the credit card reader wouldn’t work, another time all of the registers were down, etc.) but all in all, it’s a pretty cool place.
If you’re thinking of stopping in a for a bite, I highly recommend it! All of the food is prepared in the Detroit Seafood Market kitchen, which is shared with uDetroit. So far, I’ve tried the «Hitsville USA», which is a wonderful grilled salmon sandwich served with fries, the «Detroit Rock City» clam chowder (Hands down, the BEST clam chowder I have ever had!) and the «Hastings Street Wings», which are pretty standard (but delicious!) buffalo wings, which thankfully aren’t breaded! People have also raved about the «Cholly ‘Pops’ Atkins» chicken sandwich. I think that will be next on my list of menu items to try. Also: How cool is it that every dish is named after something to do with the Detroit music scene?!? Seriously. Awesome. The flatscreen tv’s throughout the place are always showing something music-​oriented: interviews, live concerts, artist profiles, etc. AND, there’s a radio station streamed on the web that’s broadcasting from inside the café! If you have any sort of appreciation for music, you’ll love the atmosphere. And, Harmonie Park is attached to the café, so you never know who you might see coming in and out of the recording studio!
My only real critique? The service at the bar. The male bartender, Dax (sp?) was really friendly, went above and beyond to make sure our group had a great time. He knew his stuff, made menu recommendations, answered questions about the food, the building, etc. The third time we were there, a brunette gal was tending bar. I’m thinking maybe she’s new to it and just hasn’t gotten into the swing of things… After waiting at the bar for 5 minutes to see a sign of anyone who might be working, she came out from the back where she was apparently busy texting or doing something on her phone. You’d think she’d be keeping an eye on the bar and customers coming in. Anyways, she seemed very timid and unsure of herself when answering questions about drinks and the liquor selection. A lot of «Ummmmm…» and «Uhhhhh» happening. Another blonde gal who was behind the bar intermittently would jump in and provide a more informed answer every now and then. Like I said, maybe she’s new. I don’t know. I feel like I’m tough on bar tenders because I am one.
uDetroit, you’re pretty cool so far. Maybe once you’ve been open longer, the kinks will get worked out. You sure are a cool spot to hang and I hope you’ll stick around!

A great concept downtown: bar, restaurant, web broadcasting centre!
Our bartender Brandy showed us a really great time, live music, banter and an awesome crowd. Definitely worth checking out!!!