The Hill Seafood and Chophouse

We went for a night after Christmas Date and were able to get a table on short notice. We asked to split two entrees (salmon and beef filet). They accommodated our request and the presentation was wonderful. The only disappointment was the cream puff desert. The puff felt stale, but still tastes great. I recommend The Hill for a nice date.

This place used to be our family’s «go-​to» place for a nice dinner and drinks. The problem is, Grosse Pointe is getting a lot of good restaurants, and The Hill is DEFINITELY not stepping up it’s game.
We live only blocks away and there’s only three of us, so we thought The Hill would be perfect for a Thanksgiving dinner. We made reservations for a fairly early sitting, and asked for a booth. They gladly took our name down.
When we arrived the place was definitely full of people, both at tables and waiting to be seated. Our reservations were for 6:15, and we got there at 6:10. The front area around the seating station is too close to the front door with no place to stand, and it immediately became jammed with people. We were told that it would be just a few seconds before we were seated, but as the seconds ticked by and the waiting turned into a blazer-​attired rugby match, I told the hostess that we’d be glad to wait at the bar, which is very nice, comfortable and well-​staffed.
While sucking down our $ 12 glasses of wine, I noticed that the seconds had ticked to minutes. On my second glass, my wife went to the hostess station to ask why our short wait had turned into 20 minutes, especially when there were empty tables and booths in the room.
We were seated 5 minutes later, at a table, with the hostess apologizing for not giving us a booth, the funny thing is, the table we were at was next to two different empty booths. Hmmm…
Our waitress dropped menus off and took our drink order, then disappeared for 10 minutes. Bread was brought to the table about 5 minutes later, and our order was taken. Wife and I ordered the Traditional Turkey dinner ($ 29) and a salad, daughter a small filet ($ 32).
Time passes…
About 30 minutes later, with water glasses empty and drinks far from being refreshed, I got on the phone to find out if we could get a reservation somewhere else. We were totally ready to bail.
The AMEX concierge service could only get us in at GreekTown or MGM close by, which is a bit of a miss for us. We decided to tough it out. And it got tougher. After all this, nobody had come by our table.
The salads arrived along with fresh drinks. The waitress gave us the wrong salads, then took them away to her tray, and brought them back saying that «she was glad that she wrote that stuff down», and gave us the correct ones.
The salads were, well, definitely a «side-​sized» salad. My caesar was completely unremarkable. Wife’s house salad was wilted, watery and just inedible. After fishing through it for a few minutes, she demurred and ate the last piece of bread, which was never replaced throughout the meal. I think about this time someone finally filled up my water. We’re just at the 1 hour mark at this point.
Dinner arrived with all the fanfare of a rained-​out little league game. The turkey was dry, the stuffing had a character of something I’d use to caulk my windows with, and the potatoes would have benefitted from coming out of a box.
The hostess came over and asked how things were, but really moved on before I had a chance to empty my mouth and ask where the hell I was.
We had some unremarkable desserts to settle our stomach and left. As a last disappointment I was met with a $ 7 «holiday» valet charge (it’s normally $ 5, and that’s what the sign said but the valet said the owner would buy a sign).
The waitress ended every visit to our table with «enjoy». Not a sincere «enjoy», but more of a «I don’t really know what else to say when I leave your table so I’ll say this» — «enjoy».
As I left the restaurant, the only thing that dame to mind was «not enjoy».

I hosted a dinner at The Hill for one of my friend’s birthday. We were a party of 16 people and The Hill could not have done a better job accommodating us.
The ambiance was only bettered by the wonderful food.

Came with my mom, grandma and sister to celebrate my mom’s birthday. No need for reservations early on a Saturday — we arrived around 5:30 (Grandma likes to be in her PJs watching the Hallmark Channel by 7, ya know!). By 6:30 the place was filling up nicely.
Waitstaff is absolutely superb. Very attentive.
Food: As another reviewer stated, the garlic bread really is phenomenal. We had two orders of scallops (perfect texture, but the fine crust on them was a tad heavy on the salt), a vegan zucchini linguine entrée (not very adventurous and c’mon, I can do that with a spiralizer at home … that $ 23 entrée probably cost about $ 3 to make as that stuff’s still mostly in season), and the Dover sole. There was some trendy stuff like foam and purees, but no crazy exotic food combinations. All of the dish components worked together beautifully. Great meal all around, and I wish I had the dough to splurge on dining like this more often!

Overall not a horrible restaurant. The food was good, but nothing that knocked out socks off. Service by the waiter was exceptional. Main problem was the rude, obnoxious and throughly unprofessional woman manager.
Let me start by stating that my wife an I eat out approximately 10 – 12 times per week including business lunches and dinners. My wife prefers steaks that are well done. 95% of the time we have no issues.
Tonight was one of those few times where the steak was served rare. Not even close to well done. The waiter returned her steak to the kitchen and it was brought back medium. While this normally is not an issue, the behavior of the manager was completely unacceptable.
She came over to ask if there was anything they could do to remedy the situation. Not wanting to wait for another steak, we said no. We also did not ask for anything to be taken off the bill. This manager proceeded to explain the «difficulty» in preparing a filet to well done. This was an 8 ounce filet that my 11 year old niece could have prepared properly, so her pathetic and demeaning cooking education was unnecessary. In addition, the condescending tone was uncalled for.
The waiter offered to purchase a couple deserts on his own for us and we declined. He must have addresses the situation with her because for the remaining time we were in the restaurant she glared at my wife. Normally, I would not have had an issue with the problems we encountered. However, her behavior was so dismal and pathetic I choose to let other Unilocalers know in advance.
In the end, the waiter used one of his personal 20% discounts to offset our issues. Having fair warning, if you chose to dine here request Clint and avoid any interaction with the manager who in all reality is better suited to cleaning restaurant after closing and not interacting with customers.

My favorite restaurant ever, the bread is to DIE for. Definitely order the Burrata with prosciutto, closest thing I’ve had to true Italian food since Italy. I usually try and order something off the Specials menu, and I have yet to be disappointed. Everything on this menu is DELICIOUS.

Please know that my single star rating for this restaurant is purely on food and NOT on service and ambience which were both ok. This was my first visit at this restaurant for dinner. My extended family decided to treat me here for dinner. At their recommendation, I ordered Hill’s supposedly famously lobster bisque soup ($ 11) and seared scallops ($ 33) described as «steel cut oats risotto, oyster mushroom, curly endive, shallot confit and maple butter». Both were extremely disappointing, and not palatable. Why? There was an overwhelming flavor to their food, which was a LOT of salt… I could not taste much else! I worked slowly through my lobster bisque, not sure what to do. When my pan seared scallops arrived, it was the same overwhelmingly salted food… I tasted a bit of the risotto around the scallops and realized I have to return this dish… I just could not eat it. Humm… I am a foodie at heart who loves to cook in my own kitchen (taking inspiration from chefs like Julia Child, Paul Bocuse and Ina Garten and others) and I was visiting from the San Francisco Bay area and have eaten at many establishments to know that flavor in a food starts with cooking with the freshest of ingredients, and then flavoring the foods with herbs and spices that complement the various ingredients and salt/​pepper is incorporated only to bring out all the complexity of flavors. The overall effect of the dish is NOT salt but a more pleasant and complex flavor that brings out the freshness of all the ingredients in the entrée.
In my food choices at Hill, the only flavor that I tasted was a strong hit of salt… so strong that my body wanted to reject the food. That was my reality with both my dishes here.
Paul Bocuse wrote «Good cooking does NOT mean complicated recipes or expensive ingredients The simper the food the better, in my opinion. «I could not agree more. I would encourage the chef to perhaps go to Ann Arbor and and visit two of my favorite establishments there: Zingermann’s sandwiches… their corned beef sandwich makes my heart sing… every time I visit I want to go there… and it is consistently great: high quality bread, high quality meat and cheese and made with love. Next visit, go have a cup of coffee or latte at Comet in Nickel’s Arcade… another of my favorite’s in Ann Arbor… they make a great cup… they buy good coffee, perfect the roasting process in house and I can taste this in every sip of their coffee. I give these as examples because good food should be memorable.
In my conversations with one of my favorite chefs in the area, I asked them for the ingredients of their most delicious cauliflower soup… guess what, three ingredients: cauliflower, onion, water and garlic salt/​pepper to taste. No cream, no butter and no milk… good food can be delicious, simple and healthy. Restaurants can play a part here… give us food that is delicious, simple and healthy and you will have customers coming back.
By the way, the restaurant did take my scallops back… pan seared new ones and brought me veggies on the side… hence the 1 star … like I said there service was OK. However, for the restaurants price point I expect much better food.

Good food. Good service. Nice atmosphere. Sea scallops were delicious. Lobster bisque was delicious. Surf and Turf was delicious.

We really enjoyed our first time experience at The Hill. Great ambiance, service and food. Will definitely be back.

This place is amazing! The waitstaff (especially Laurie) was amazing, the food was amazing and the atmosphere was perfect! We took advantage of the Valentine’s special (surf & turf) and ended with the lava cake! (the BEST dessert I’ve ever had) The cocktails were out of this world too! I’ll definitely be coming back!!! Sincerely, very happy first time customer :)

What a joke. arrogant a**holes. Expect to pay a lot of money for mediocre food and even worse service. This place is the epitome of the typical grosse pointe stereotype.

Considering she is the hostess a smile would be much more pleasant than a scowl when greeting someone that’s about to spend a fair amount of money on dinner. After having to ask someone to take our drink order service was much better and dinner was delicious, I’m glad the salvaged the evening. I’ll be back!

A real nice dining experience.
Great food…
Bread is devine.
Lava cake is scrumptious.
Great place to celebrate any minor or major accomplishment.
Wonderful place to have a date night.

This was my first experience at The Hill. We were sat immediately on the patio which was nice despite the traffic. Heard they are getting rooftop seating soon which I think is a definite upgrade. The waiter, Keith, was friendly and extremely helpful as I was dining with a friend who has severe dietary restrictions (no gluten, no dairy, no red meat or pork). I’m just all around picky. I basically said, «this is what my ideal meal would be: risotto, asparagus, and swordfish». He replied no problem! Prices were high as expected for the class of restaurant and area but the food was fantastic. One of the best meals I’ve had in a long time! I’ll definitely be going back to try other dishes soon, even though it means an hour commute each way from my home in Lake Orion. :)

What Bill K. said! Couldn’t have said it better myself. EPIC review. Read it.
The Hill is only holding on because people in Grosse Pointe don’t want to leave «the bubble/​cross the border.» There are so many better options close by — the newly opened Marais and the well established Dirty Dog Jazz Café, Cliff Bells, and London Chop House if you are looking for a similar experience. So why then would you come here unless you think it’s «the place to go» in GP? Oh, that’s right. You do.
We’ve been here a fair share of times. Between the blue hair, the carpet, and the GP snobbery, we always vow we’ll never return. But somehow we end up back here every few months or so but only at the behest of friends (we all have «those» friends.) On our more recent visits we’ve started sitting at the bar coz we just can’t stand the main dining area. Ughhhh.
As much as I hate to admit it, the food and drinks are actually decent. I’m not a big red meat person so I can only comment on the scallops and the fish tacos… But then again, I’ve had better fish tacos at Luxe a few doors down, and better scallops at Cliff Bells and London Chop House. AND I prefer the attitude and ambiance of these places over The Hill. Soooooo. Yeah.
Like Bill K. said, this place will have to work much harder now that other dining establishments are entering the scene — most notably Marais — and GP-​ers (at least the younger generation) are loosening up about dining in Downtown/​Midtown/​Corktown/​West Village. Really not sure The Hill will continue to be a GP institution for much longer.

Growing up in the Grosse Pointe area I can recall thinking of The Hill as a seriously nice place reserved for seriously special occasions, and indeed, the half dozen times or so in my life I’ve been there they always played the part – a bit snooty, expensive, and featuring a dining room packed with blue blazer retirees who have been going there every Saturday night for, well, forever.
The fact of the matter, however, has always been that this place is fine dining only in the eyes of people who simply don’t know any better.
Indeed, after having grown up a bit and stretched my culinary legs over the last decade, I can safely say that returning to The Hill drives home that it is comically pretentious and fast fading in light of a burgeoning culinary scene in southeastern Michigan evidenced by the extraordinary Torino and Marais. Indeed, when I came here with my wife a few weeks ago I felt we (noticeably younger than the other diners and dressed in jeans and sweaters) were treated with veiled disdain by the waitstaff, seated by the kitchen doors despite an abundance of better seats, and given a mediocre meal at a ridiculous price. Compare that to the Michelin starred Goosefoot we visited the week prior – a $ 140 per person culinary knockout so approachable that the Chef came to our table and personally thanked us, along with his co-​owner wife, for joining them on our anniversary – and one can’t help but see that stodgy places like this reflect a dying era of dining and a fading «old Grosse Pointe.» While I expect this place will cling on – as so many in the area have been able to – due to an well-​heeled yet non-​discriminating base, it’s going to face immense challenges competing with the new wave of legitimately great and modern restaurants knocking on the door.

Food: 5
Atmosphere: 5+
Service: 5+
«Best Oysters Rockefeller outside of Martha’s Vineyard»
My wife and I had date night at The Hill, and boy-​O-​boy did we have a great time together! the food and ambiance was just what the Doctor ordered.
We started out with Oysters for an App, however 6 turned into 36 because they were so damn tasty! Apparently they get them from Nova Scotia.
We enjoyed two bottles of a Argentinian Pinot noir… very tasty.
We finished with sharing a porter house steak. Very good as well.
Even though we finished with steak, I can say that the oysters is what set us up for a great evening.
I highly recommend eating here. We will be back!

The Hill seems to be in decline. This, coming on the heels of several new restaurant openings in the Grosse Pointe area, is not good for their future. Their latest promotional offer, $ 46 for 2 entrees and a bottle of wine, seem like a great deal at first glance, but the «house label» merlot is barely drinkable, and the sirloin steak option is barely edible. Why would you promote below average food/​wine specials when you are facing fierce competition from the opening of 2 to 3 new restaurant openings within a mile?
Positives: Lively bar with generous pours and a professional bar staff. Negatives: Very ordinary kitchen.
In fairness, I’ve always ordered entrees priced $ 33 or less, so that is my frame of reference. However, I have nothing to recommend in that price range. Never tried the Allen Bros steaks that range $ 45 and up. But, since the chef has never impressed me with the lower priced dishes, why risk paying for a $ 45 steak?
I’m not a one time visitor from outside the area. I have dined here at least every other week for the last umpteen years. So, I write this review regretably. The new owner, just this year, has no restaurant experience. Among his first changes earlier this year: A singer and piano player. That has stopped, but it sheds a little light on where his priorities are. If you are expecting a special meal, you won’t find it here.

I started coming here when the location was 123. It went though the Jimmy Schmidt time and now has been the Hill for a while. When the Hill first opened it was pretty good. However over the last few years it has fallen down.
The current pricing is really high. I don’t see any perceived value in their pricing. For their $ 40 dollar entrees I would expect better quality and portion sizes. Service has taken a beating. The current level of service is horrible. Service is painfully slow and at time outright rude.
I hope this review and others are taken to heart by the current ownership and address their issues with food and service.

I am a Grosse Pointe native and used to love going to The Hill Chophouse. You could get a great steak at a decent price (about $ 40 for a complete entrée). However, they have recently changed their menu, and went the way of the Westside steakhouses that are all al-​la cart. They carry the same expense ($ 40 + for your meat, and $ 7+ for your side) as the great Westside steakhouses (Capital Grill, Mortons, Ruth’s Chris, Cameran’s, etc.) but the food is not as good, and the portions are horrible.
When you go to Morton’s, Capital Grill, etc., the sides are separate from the meat, but they’re generally large enough to split or share. At The Hill they change you the same price for their sides, but they’re tiny and leave you hungry, even without sharing. The Truffled Risoto is bland and the portion is ridiculously small (about 4 small bites for $ 7). I ordered the recommended «Dry Aged USDA Prime Ribeye,» which was aged well and had great flavor, but cooked poorly (over cooked). I ordered it medium rare and was cooked slightly beyond medium (it wasn’t even red in the center, it was pink). I would have sent it back but the waitress was terrible. She was rude, crass and inappropriate (she also brought us the wrong wine, but we drank it anyway). I won’t be back.
At the end of the day our meal was $ 160 for two people before tip, two steaks, two sides, 1 bottle of wine, no dessert, but I wouldn’t have been happy paying ½ of that at this place. It’s not the sticker shock that got me, it was the lack of quality in the entire dining experience. From the waitress to the food, this place fell way, way short. Typical sub-​par, east-​side dining experience, with ridiculously inflated prices.