Black Rock Bar & Grill
| Address: | 44175 W Twelve Mile Rd, Novi, MI 48377, USA |
| Phone: | +1 248-465-7777 |
| Site: | blackrockrestaurants.com |
| Rating: | 4.1 |
| Working: | 11AM–12AM 11AM–12AM 11AM–12AM 11AM–12AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–2AM 11AM–12AM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 5
WI
Will Brown
Okay, Im going to start off this review by saying the food is rather quite good but boy do you have to work for it. Black Rock can best be described by its Melting Pot style schtick, with the atmosphere of an upscale Applebees. Theyre aiming for the middle class, "take the family out for their birthday dinner" crowd. The interior tries to be elegant but ultimately you get the sense that youre in a sports bar, which is fine, if your food was priced like one. The floors have an ever reminding glaze of grease that is pretty much impossible to fix in a steakhouse. Booths were very comfortable and spacious for the whole family. Prepare to smell like a steak for the rest of the day. What becomes a short list of inconveniences is masked by how much fun and tasty of an experience it is. Black Rock is designed for the Anniversary, the first date, the celebration. Be careful with young ones. The rock is really really hot. The perfect fall/winter place to grab dinner. I got a sitting by the fireplace feel the whole time. Cooking your own food takes practice. Youll be chewing on your side salad completely forgetting that the perfect medium rare is only 20 seconds on the rock and you put it on probably 2 minutes ago. This chain tries so hard to be different and is so close to being a truly wonderful restaurant, but it ultimately falls flat by advertising to the wrong crowd. If youre making me pay $30 for a steak I want to feel like I need to wear a suit to attend, not a jersey. Food is a 5/5, if you can afford the price of admission and can handle the experience. Vegetarians will probably go into cardiac arrest walking into this place but thats probably a given.
SE
Sean Taylor
So I have to say this place is worth a visit to see if it is your thing. Keep in mind that it is VERY busy and the steak cuts are overpriced for their grade and quality. That being said I will also point out that the meat was *acceptable* quality and had an added coolness factor being served off a 700+ degree rock. If youve ever ripped into a steak freshly seared you know why you need to try this place at least once. If you are looking at the sides or an appetizer stop and get the upgraded soup. The lobster bisque is fantastic and the French soup is perfect. The bisque has a surprising amount of meat in it, though the lobster isnt the best Ive tasted, you probably shouldnt be hunting for prime lobster chunks in a bisque. The flavor profile of the soups honestly saved Black Rock from a three star rating. The décor of the restaurant was impressive but not utilized to its fullest. Everything looked almost upscale but was missing tiny touches. Examples including semi awkward booth seating that is too small for four and too big and oriented at odd angles for couples. I would rather have sat at the bar on my date than the booth we were given. The last thing I will touch on is the fish and chips, which were good but more like "fish fingers" instead of solid chunks of beer battered fish. My girlfriend enjoyed the batter, which smelled fantastic. The French fries which came with the fish were also superb. So if you arent averse to paying a little bit extra and want to try something cool come on through but be sure to get a reservation and try the soup!
NA
Nadia Manly
This place was a hit for all in attendance for my sons birthday dinner. He picked out the restaurant after seeing the commercial with the steaks being cooked on the rocks. Seeing that Mojo swears by it we happily obliged :-) We went on a Wednesday around 4pm. There was no wait time and overall our orders were served rather quickly. Our waiter was awesome. Super nice and super helpful. Pretty much everyone in our party got some sort of steak dish to cook on the rock (which everyone does themselves---a big hit with the kids!). Everyone was raving about their steaks and Black Rocks version of a zip sauce. One of my sons ordered a bacon cheeseburger. He loved it so much he ordered another. Hes never eaten 2 bacon cheeseburgers in one sitting lol I got the Bourbon Salmon and it was DELISH! The salmon looked wild (it wasnt overly pink like it was shot up with coloring) and was cooked perfectly (still nice and juicy/not dry at all). The lobster dip was also pretty yummy as was their Apple Vinaigrette salad dressing. As for the pricing, our bill was around $300 for a party of 9 (5 adults and 4 kids) which technically isnt too bad when you consider we ordered a few appetizers and 2 of the kids ordered another steak (again huge hit) and another burger (they loved the food that much). Wed go here again since their menu really caters to everyone and we all left full (we even had to wait a few hours to serve cake & ice cream at home lol).
FR
Frank Webb
UPDATE 2: Called today for a shot-in-the-dark at a reservation for valentines day dinner. A man picked up the phone and told me that the only option was 3:30PM. Well, thanks but no thanks, I said. Youre good, but not enough to get us to eat at 3:30! Then things went sour. The jerk on the phone busted into a speech that started with, "actually, we ARE that good..." I just laughed and hung up. Well keep on going to use up our three remaining free steak coupons, but paying full price for these arrogant assholes is a fools game. UPDATE: Since our first terrible experience, we have been back several times and have grown to like this place. All the free steak coupons we got didnt hurt either. I am updating our review to 4 stars from 2. The original review is below. Where to start... Well, the food was excellent. But, the reality of cooking your food at the table is that it makes the area very warm. That means that the rest of the restaurant is COLD. In addition, our service was bordering on terrible. Slow, inaccurate, and IMPOSSIBLE to get fresh water. Our meal orders were wrong, and the drink orders were wrong and blamed on a computer "glitch." When it came time for the check, it was slow coming. When it showed up, it wasnt even the right bill. We will give it one more chance, but its on thin ice. Great concept, but disappointing execution. Someone needs to teach these fools how to run a restaurant.
SU
Susan C
We reserved a table on a Saturday night and knew that it would be crowded. We were able to find a seat at the bar as another group just got called to their table. Ordered Appetizers and drinks for the four of us and we were very pleased with our food and beverages. Service was remarkable considering how busy the bartenders were. We were seated at our table 40 min later (which was perfect) - Unfortunately, this was where the experience went downhill - Outside seating -So Cold!! We asked if the heaters could be turned on - Our waiter said he would try (30 min later); Wanted water - they ran out of clean glasses - we will have to wait. (never got the water); side items were cold (veggies and fries). Wrong Steak - (3 people later - finally got the correct one). Ordered Signature Drink - forgot the blue cheese stuffed olives (Waiter said "Oh -well" $$ vodka & olive juice). It was several little things that added up to us feeling like we did not matter. We paid the bill even though we were not given what we ordered. The worst feeling came from the Hostess as we were leaving. She asked us how our dinner was and we told her a few of the problems we had -Her response "Well, there are 600 people who are happy (as she waved here arms around the restaurant)so it must just be you."
