The Motown Bistro — Restaurant in Detroit

This was our first time here. So very disappointed.

We went yesterday (Feb. 13th) with another couple. We were seated within 10 minutes of arriving for our reservation. We sat a good 10 minutes waiting to be greeted. The restaurant was full (they were definitely at 100% capacity.) When our server arrived, she took our drink orders. Our drinks LITERALLY took 20 minutes to receive, and our order was never taken within those 20 minutes. After looking at the menu, we were very surprised at the prices. I researched this place, looked at the menu and thought this would be perfect. I understand restaurants will raise the prices for something like this, however, it wasn't Valentine's Day, and the prices were raised dramatically. Surf and Turf was $36 on the regular menu. It was $89 on their condensed menu that only had I believe 5 entrée options. Our drinks arrived (well 2 of them) we still didn't receive the other one. I had a margarita (asked for salt) and got sugar. Little did I know that this drink was $22.The bloody Mary only had a lemon and a lime, until the bartender came around to our table with a glass of olives and some other things and apologized that the server took it out of the window before she could put everything in it. Wow, I've been in the Food and Beverage industry for 32 years. That's a pretty steep price not to get it right. Anyways, we asked for a couple appetizers and those came reasonably quick. The cooked oysters (can't remember the name) was well liked by our friends. We had the steak bites, which were not steak at all. It tasted like beef stew. The server tried to tell us it was filet. No, definitely wasn't filet. I've had filet. My friends sent it back. We had to ask for bread to go with our soups and salads. I don't know if she forgot, or just didn't feel like we needed it. When our meals came out, she only brought out 3. Never said where my meal was. Just walked over to another table and took their order. My meal didn't arrive for another 10 minutes. One of our friends ordered another drink. 20 minutes went by, we asked her where it was, she said "I'm sorry, I didn't know you wanted another one." Funny, because you asked if we wanted another drink. I bought a Groupon online. $40 off a party of 4 or more. Wasn't accepted. Not on weekends. They used paper for the table cloth. And they gratuity your bill without even telling you or putting that on their website. We had 4 people. In all my years of the business, I've never seen gratuity on 4 or more. Yes, it's the day before Valentine's Day, but if you're going to change up everything, you may want to put that on your website. I will always give credit where credit is due, but we will not be returning. The entertainment was the highlight of the dinner. I don't know who they were, but they were great to listen to. I understand you're out to make money, but a $36 meal on your regular meal to $89 on this menu was just absolutely ridiculous. I am all for tipping graciously to anyone who deserves it. But the $50 gratuity that was slapped on our bill was a...

Dinning Date: October 23, 2021

MoTown Bistro Dishware Safety Hazards

My mother’s salad plate arrived on chipped glass plate

My father’s ginger ale glass arrived to the table with a crack stretching all the way up to the rim.

Entree Food Safety Hazard: Meal 1: Motown Trio (undercooked fish)

Meal 2: Motown Trio (undercooked fish)

• this was not a typo both Trio meals had undercooked fish that made it to the table*

Meal 3: Market Price Lamb Chops (Requested: Medium cook/ Received: Rare cook)

Confirmed Reservation Time: 8:15 PM Time Actually Seated : 8:50 PM Arrival Time of Entrees: 10:15 PM

At 10:20 PM after being flagged down the waiter collected the entire lamb chop dish from the table to have the meal prepared again ( it’s been 2 hours of waiting at this point). The waiter stated that the kitchen shouldn’t take long to re-fire the undercooked fried fish for the two trio meals but it would be an additional extended wait for the lamb chop re-fire.

Management’s Lack of Customer Service: We asked for the Manager at this point because it took 2 hours to receive undercooked food

When the “manager” arrived, my family and I explained in detail EVERY issue we’ve experienced during our now almost 3 hour stay and wait at MoTown Bistro. We expressed the lack of confidence we had in the kitchen to return the lamb chop dish quickly as it took 2 hours to receive our meals and we’re ready to leave.

The “manger” did not acknowledge nor apologize for any of the issues we reported and states “Well, y’all have new fish coming out and you (referring to my fiancé with the lamb chop meal) we’ll just stop the re-fire of the lamb chops in the kitchen and remove the price of the entree off of your bill”

My fiancé asks “well ma’am what am I supposed to eat? It’s almost 11pm! My time and stomach deserve some type of proper accommodation or compensation because you’re literally sending me home hungry”.

The manger responds, “We’ll HE DON’T DO THAT! (Referring to the owner). He won’t compensate for the time you spent here! The best we can do is give you a $20 gift certificate for your NEXT visit. When asked why the certificate couldn’t match the price of the lamb chop meal that we did not receive, she said replied again, “He don’t do that!”.

When asked if the owner could please come to the table to further speak about this matter, the manager replied, “ yes, he’s here but he not gone do that! He’s not gone come to the table”. The manger was called to our table twice and on her second arrival she Sarcastically stated “Well, and I’m back at this table again, what’s the problem?” . The lamb meal was removed from our bill, which left my fiancé leaving this establishment hungry and my parents left with the third piece of their trio meal in plastic to go boxes.

I will not spend another penny in this establishment. There’s not an excuse in the world not even Covid that could explain the lack of decency, the lack of customer service, empathy, and the lack of basic...

My family and I went to The Motown Bistro for Mother's Day Brunch on May 9th and we were not pleased with our experience. When we entered the restaurant, we were immediately surprised by how crowded it was because the website and the person that took our reservation insisted that they would adhere to social distancing guidelines. The restaurant was packed and the tables were about a foot apart. It took our waitress a while to greet us and ask for our beverage orders/bring waters. After enjoying our drinks for a bit, my daughter noticed that my sister's mimosa glass had a large crack and a chip missing from the rim. When she informed her, she looked down and noticed that the glass piece was on the table in front of her. My sister immediately brought the issue to the bartender's attention but she simply took the glass and said she would send over another mimosa. Neither our waitress nor the owner came over to apologize. We were obviously a little on edge by that point. When our food did arrive, only 5 plates were brought out. Most of my family liked their meals but my lobster pasta was pretty salty. My daughter and nephew had to sit there for 15 minutes while the rest of us ate. Finally, their food arrived. After a couple of minutes of eating her Salmon Benedict, my daughter found a 1 inch long black hair in the salmon. We finally flagged down the owner, because our waitress was nowhere to be found, and told him about the hair. He apologized and stated that this is a, "once in a blue moon occurrence". I wasn't sure what that had to do with anything because this "once in a blue moon occurrence" happened to my daughter. He then asked me if she wanted a new salmon Benedict or a different entree. She decided on the fried chicken and that came out pretty quickly. When it did arrive, she said it tasted great but at that point, she wasn't even hungry. Our waitress finally walked by and noticed that she had a different entree and asked why. We told her about the hair and instead of immediately apologizing, she actually had the audacity to say, "hmm I wonder how that could've happened". It almost seemed like she didn't believe my daughter. I was truly angry at that point, but I simply said, "I'm guessing it fell out of someone's head or beard". When we received our check we were shocked to notice that the mimosa, the salmon Benedict, and the fried chicken were all on the bill. We had to ask the owner once again to come over and fix it. He ended up taking 10% off the bill, which I feel like was the least he could do. I am truly shocked that a business could have such terrible customer service during these times. We should have read the other reviews before eating at The...