Jacoby's — Restaurant in Detroit

We had a very disappointing experience here. It was my boyfriend’s birthday, and we were out with his family hoping to end the evening with good food and drinks. Unfortunately, our waitress/bartender was rude and dismissive from the start. She carried an attitude throughout the evening rolling her eyes, giving short responses, and acting as though our questions or requests were an inconvenience. When we asked about Wi-Fi, instead of simply saying “unfortunately, we don’t provide Wi-Fi,” she gave a disrespectful response. As someone who has worked as a waitress myself, I know how important customer service is, and this set a negative tone for the night.

While the food and drinks were great, the service left a lot to be desired. On top of that, we were automatically charged nearly 22% gratuity, which was not disclosed anywhere on the menu or mentioned by the staff before we ordered. In my experience as a server, it was mandatory to disclose this upfront. Customers have the right to know, and while we would have happily paid a gratuity, the lack of transparency combined with the poor service was unacceptable. Tips should be based on service and experience not the other way around. When we questioned it, the waitress simply walked away saying, “I’m not dealing with this right now,” which was incredibly unprofessional.

To make matters worse, as we left, a customer who seemed close with the bartender made a racist comment about us being Indian. This was highly offensive, and such behavior should never be tolerated in any establishment.

We had been recommended this place by a couple of police officers downtown, and when we shared our experience with them afterward, they agreed the gratuity was excessive and should have been disclosed. We didn’t want to create a scene, especially with family visiting from Montreal, but we left feeling very disappointed and disrespected. To add, when we asked for the manager’s name, it was not provided.

Overall, the food and drinks were enjoyable, but the unprofessional service, constant attitude from our waitress, lack of transparency, and offensive remarks completely ruined what should have been a special evening. I would not recommend anyone dine at this establishment or spend their hard-earned money here, as you risk being disrespected, racially profiled, and...

I want to love this place so bad - I really do, and rave about it on here, but unfortunately it mostly missed the mark. To start, it's cool to be in such a historic place (if I heard right it's one of the, if not the oldest, bars in the area), the decor inside is pretty nice with a decent atmosphere. Unfortunately, and I have to be honest, the dining/bar area is uniquely small, and there is just not enough space to contain a cozy and invigorating bar atmosphere. I understand them wishing to maximize their patronage and seating, but the tables are packed so tightly together it's uncomfortable trying to slide between just to find the bathroom. Any proper German bar should get their beer right, which this one did, in terms of the food, my fellow party members marked that it was distressingly bland and unauthentic; some even marked that it tasted frozen which is a shame because in a place like this we really expected an authentic German experience. Because the room is so small, the noise level makes conversation and even being in it for very long difficult. I am not exaggerating when I suggest that, if you suffer from sensual overstimulation visually or especially audibly, I would not recommend this place; it will make your head spin.

It is also pretty poorly staffed - when we went there was only one manager on duty and a brand new hire and sadly the former seemed to have the only experience and tried to run the packed bar pretty much by herself. No joke, there was even a point of the night where the new hire ordered something from the kitchen and just started eating it out in the dining room mid-shift. The manager was required to take all the phone calls and if I remember correctly some of the beer couldn't be acquired because the manager was not tall nor strong enough to reach it. She was very nice and did her best to be accommodating but it just wasn't enough - as far as I saw the place only had one cook as well and I have to commend him for keeping up with everything. Although, sadly it also supports the suggestion that the food is more reheated or preprepared like a conveyor belt to accommodate all the orders, but take that bit with a grain of salt. I'm sad to say I'm not sure if I'd be willing to go again...

You had me at German Biergarten. The group discussion by my colleagues was a challenge, trying to figure out what we would do for dinner. When I suggested "German with German beers on tap" the decision was made. We lucked out with our arrival on a busy night as the place is first come, first served and it is not at all very large. Three or four tables, two community tables and a dozen seats along the bar. And if you're not inside, you're queued up outside. We got the last two tables.

Beer? They have all the big German beers on tap in large and larger glasses. Or if you want a tin? They have that too. They even have the good NA beers if you prefer.

I started off with the Schöfferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen from Dortmund Germany (not very Germany purity law pure, but it's hot). On a hot day after walking too many streets of Detroit, this was a treat. With dinner, the Hefeweizen from Brauerei Pinkus Müller from Münster, Germany. Both cold and delicious and refreshing.

For dinner, I chose the wurst platter, taking off the potato pancakes (I'm sorry) and substituting red cabbage. They were deliciously grilled, served hot and I enjoyed them very much. The only miss was that they didn't have their own mustard. I had to use the table mustard which was a bummer.

Great service, we were never rushed though the serving staff was trying very hard to keep up with the flow. It was a fabulous meal and my great food hunting reputation with my...