Checker Bar Detroit — Restaurant in Detroit

A co-worker and I came here for burgers about 18 months ago. I don't remember the level of service, but do remember a very good burger. Unfortunately, my subsequent visits since then (three more times) have gotten so bad that I will NEVER go back there again. On my second visit, my medium-rare burger I ordered came back medium. Disappointed, I still gave this business the benefit of the doubt. On the third visit here several months ago, the food was mediocre, but what struck me was the level of customer service: The sister/waitress/cook was rude and acted like we were an intrusion to her in the middle of the day. And the place was nearly empty. But what really sealed the deal for me was stopping in on the Sunday of the Detroit Jazz Festival, a day that should have had this establishment doing good business. We walked in and the place was empty other than a table of what I assumed were friends of the sisters/owners having their own little private party along with the owners (who appeared to be partying while on the job). We were not greeted. After waiting a while for the waitress/cook to come over to our table and bring us menus, she came over to the table and referenced the just-ended Tiger game (a loss) while using profanity. We had to wait a while for her to come back to take our order. When my daughter inquired if she could get a substitute for the coleslaw that came with her order, the waitress/cook rudely told her "Well then don't eat it". Wow. When my fiancé stressed that she wanted her burger rare, the waitress/cook told her "I've been cooking a long time. I know how to cook a burger rare". Wow again. I ordered mine medium rare. Well, you guessed it. Both burgers came cooked medium/well. She never returned during the meal to ask us how everything was or if we needed anything. We finished our meal very disappointed and waited another ten minutes after that to get our check, which was brought to us by the sister/bartender/owner. And the check wasn't even broken down for each item, so I had no idea how they arrived at the one total that was written on it. I left there vowing to never return. You would think that with all the other negative reviews out here on the web that those two ladies would take a hint and clean up their act and change their ways. A shame that they continue to lose people's business because they evidently know very little about running a successful restaurant. Please take my advice: SAVE YOUR TIME AND MONEY! ...

I've been coming to Checker Bar fairly regularly for the last two years for lunch/Happy Hours and while it is a staple downtown, my last couple of experiences left little to be desired. I loved the pizza that they added after adding Pop + OffWorld barcade upstairs and one of the biggest draws to getting a slice of that pizza was the size of it (big New York Style slice). However the last time I ordered one it looked like a slice you'd get from a small Domino's pizza and I felt sort of weird pointing it out, but it seemed necessary since the slices all cost the same no matter what size they are. The waiter said he'd bring me another one, but that never happened and I didn't press since my table also ordered the cheese bread (which is great) so I was comfortable enough with what I had.

The most recent time I went, we had a decent size group (7 people) and all of our food came out at vastly different times (not just a couple minutes) and two people didn't have the correct order. I had ordered a Greek salad with chicken, which was clearly forgotten about and came out last after one of the, who I assume to be, managers reread the ticket off to the kitchen. I get stuff like that happens, but there wasn't an apology or even an offer to take it off my bill since the rest of the table was essentially finished eating by the time I got my salad. To make it worse, if you get a Greek salad with chicken on it, it'll cost $13.50 and was about the size of a small side salad at most restaurants. I had also ordered the new beer bar cheese with soft pretzels and I will say, that was very good.

Another thing to be aware of is it seems like every waiter I get here (with exception of the manager) doesn't want to split the bill. They will do it, but there's almost always some sort of hesitation or comment like "I mean, I can, but it's going to take me a while" and I guess I don't understand that, not just because it's 2020 and these restaurants have a POS system, but I just don't think a customer needs to worry about how difficult it is or isn't for a server. They likely won't ask you upfront if you want separate checks, so I would make sure you say that in the beginning because maybe it'll be less of a hassle? I don't know. This place has pretty good food albeit a bit pricey in my opinion for what you get, but they do have decent happy hour and drink specials and it is a cool...

This is regarding the second floor bar. Music was waaaayy too loud. As in painfully loud. Wasn’t even good music. They wanted to make it a dance place so bad lol they should have just stuck to what the mood already was: a chill hole in the wall with arcade games where to hang and talk with friends. They couldn’t even do that.

The drinks were overpriced. $7 for a redbull?? Bartender messed up one of my orders and got me both a vodka redbull and an actual redbull which I didn’t ask for. Could not take it back cause she’d already opened it.

They have a water self-serve station but the water is lukewarm. You have to ask the bartender for ice which is annoying to do every time. Speaking of lukewarm, the whole place was so hot. They had 5 AC units blowing cold air but they had ALL the windows open so what was the point when all the heat and humidity was coming from outside???

They messed up one of our friends’ food order at the table. They put two pizzas in and only one came out. Seems like these people want to give you one extra thing when you don’t ask for it and one less thing when you ask for more.

The ATM machine was out of order and the bartenders can’t do cashback so how are we supposed to play the games? Speaking of the arcade games, a lot of them had clunky buttons that would get stuck and basically end up making you frustrated instead of having a good time.

Bottom of the line: I would not go back and I would not recommend it to other people. You’re better off going to the Barcade a bit further than downtown which...