ImaginATE Restaurant — Restaurant in Royal Oak

Tl;dr - Don't sleep on this incredible culinary experience!

Update: Second time was even more amazing!

Full review below.

First and foremost, I'm going to start off by saying that I can be bit of a food snob. I like a quick and filling meal as much as the next person, but what I'm really looking for from a restaurant is an experience - and ImaginATE did more than deliver.

I started with the house salad, to compare it to its vibrant menu picture. Immediately I was blown away by the artistry and presentation that was laid before me, which extended not just to the plating, but the dish itself. A succulent pear topped a vibrant nest of mixed greens. I excitedly drizzled the black sesame balsamic over the meal and anxiously took my first bite... Instant bliss. The sweetness of the mixed fruits combined with the acid from the dressing and made for a mouth-watering delight that I can scarcely compare to any salad I have had before or since. The artistry of the chef could be felt with every bite and, as I finished, I immediately became eager to see what wonderful delights they had in store for our entrees.

We each ordered a different dish, including the chicken, the salmon, cauliflower steak, and, my order, the shrimp pasta. Being the connoisseur that I am, I of course took a healthy bite from each of these meals (with permission of course!).

The chicken was breaded, with a sweet maple glaze that reminded me favorably of the best homestyle chicken and waffles you could imagine and was joined by soft, expertly-grilled spears of asparagus.

The cauliflower steak was seasoned generously with two sauces for dipping - one that reminded me of a szechuan duck sauce, and the other with a sweet umami flavor that I'm already looking forward to tasting again.

As a predominantly pescatarian foodie, I do not say this lightly: the salmon was cooked more perfectly than any I have ever had. It was accompanied by a sweet cream sauce and soft, seasoned potatoes.

Lastly, for my shrimp pasta: folks, please believe me when I say that you will not find a better iteration of this meal in the entire tri-county area. I've tried numerous it's literations of this meal at restaurants ranging from cheap to staggering, and trust me that they simply cannot compare. The cream sauce oozed with smoky Parmesan and a hint of Asiago, and the seared shrimp pulled smoothly out of their tails. The chopped mushrooms and sliced zucchini and squash rounded out the dish and had me truly savoring every delicious bite.

And if that were all, I'd still have been blown away. But our server, Samantha, was polite, attentive, thoughtful and provided service that far outshined any I can think of in recent memory. But the attention didn't stop there, as we had the honor of meeting ImaginATE's very own Chef Dwayne, who came out personally to check on us and see how we were liking our meal. I couldn't hold in my appreciation enough and gushed effusively about his artistry and talent. Once again, my sincerest thanks to them both for providing an amazing dining experience!

I am not a paid reviewer - and I only take the time to review the most truly awesome restaurants I visit. So, if you're ever in Royal Oak - or heck - the Detroit area, be sure to stop by and give it a shot - you'll be...

Let me start off by saying I am no stranger to the fine dining experience. I really wanted to love at Imagínate restaurant in Royal Oak. However, my experience was absolutely horrible for starters i called and questioned the hostess about if there was a fixed menu and I was told no everything on the website was available and to my dismay after I arrived, I find out that it was absolutely was a fixed menu and what I went there for I couldn’t order it note : if you have a special diet this may not or the place for u... I had no choice but to order from a chef’s choice menu that was incredibly short and no variety what so ever salmon, fried chicken steak or some vegetarian dish with basic sides and a choice of only two appetizers (shrimp or crab cakes) I waited 3 1/2 hours for my main course after I waited 1 hour for appetizers and when I got it, the salmon was rubbery and dry slopped on the plate broken up....I’m not going to even complain about the under cooked rice, after one bite I opt not to even eat it...I already didn’t expect portions to be large because most fine dining experiences have small plates but everything and I mean everything was mediocre at best .. the four leaves of lettuce drizzle with dressing was about as good as it got for me....The worst part wasn’t even the food we barely had a waitress and the one that we had was horrible she ended up leaving before we got dessert and they bought the desert out to our table incorrect twice that we had to wait over a hour for them to get two pieces of carrot cake.. A gentleman approached our table (hope to god he wasn’t the GM) he was very inappropriate and explained that a waitress in another section was having heroin withdrawal‘s and had to go home which then caused an off-balance with service. The $350 bill wasn’t the issue. Nor the 22% gratuity automatically included for the most treacherous service not even that, it was the experience all together. This place was such a disappointment and I really wanted to love it because I was planning on hosting my birthday there and the theme was nothing like I’ve seen before. This restaurant really needs to get it together if they want people to pay for fine dining experience. My experience was ghetto, unappetizing and again the service was horrendous. I watched many patron complaining and even leaving ...Advice to the servers stop making excuses and DO BETTER or I can guarantee this place will be closed. If you don’t have the staff to accommodate patrons that made reservations the fix this! It’s nothing worse than over promising and under delivering on the experience and food. I can totally see why the table across from us literally left out without paying they’re bill after all they’re waitress skipped out on them (the heroine addict)and they couldn’t get the bill for at-least 2hrs. I seen this for my self..nothing I would do however this was 4 hrs of my time I definitely wish I could reclaim...... do better or this restaurant will be closed like the previous one they had... I will not...

Absolutely NOT recommended. We were stunningly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the ambience was really nice. The website gave us high expectations. The waiter gave a good try, and my drink was excellent.

When the food arrived, the waiter brought these large , weird, random items. A boat and a fake bread basket that served no purpose ! These things looked like they were Knick knacks from the dollar store. I asked what they were for and he said these are our “props” we bring with your meal. Since we had such a small table, I asked that he remove them.

I ordered chargrilled salmon which came with sushi rice and an order of roasted carrots. The carrots were cold and the sushi rice was cold, hard and crispy. It was obviously cooked hours before, refrigerated and microwaved before serving. I told the waiter and he graciously brought out a new order of warm rice.

Soon after, a large fly landed on my salmon. Considering that it was pretty cold out, and flies don’t usually hang out- outside in this type of weather in the cold (where did the fly come from?) When the waiter asked if I wanted it boxed I declined and told him why - to his credit he did ask if I wanted it replaced and I declined.

My husband ordered the grouper which comes with fries but he wanted to replace them with another type of fries. The waiter told us that the chef has an absolutely no substitutions rule.

I ordered a margarita and asked the waiter what type of tequila they used in a basic margarita, he said “ummmm clase azul” I told him I’d never heard of it but that it was fine. The drink was amazing.

When the bill came out, there was more random tomfoolery. The waiter brought out a jack in the box. It completely clashed with the upscale ambience surrounding us, similar to the random “props” that were brought out. My husband turned the handle and a clown and the bill burst from the box. I wasn’t sure if we weren’t being pranked or something. I’d expect something like this from chuck-e-cheese but not a supposedly upscale restaurant.

This is when I discovered the “basic” Margarita cost $48…. I was floored and highly perturbed. The tequila he quoted wasn’t on the menu, I had never heard of it before and told him so and he didn’t mention it cost so much.

To the waiters credit, he admitted that he “thought” that was the base level margarita, apologized and he did have it removed from the bill. I really appreciated that.

All in all, our food was subpar but had good presentation. The ambience was very pretty but the useless props and jack in the box bill delivery was questionable at best. The big fly that landed on my half eaten salmon wasn’t fun either. These things we’re just nonsensical and pretty jarring when you’re seeking a fun and upscale night out.

And after all of this, they applied a $43+ gratuity charge...