Excellent spot for tasty Bar food. Fell in love with this place from the 1st taste. I had a brother come into town and asked me to take him back here. Feels similar to a restaurant in New York I loved.

I always loving going here. The arcade up top is the best and their drinks are good. Food is great also and the kids love it.

Nice site for quality Bar food. It was so tasty. The bill was well within reason for the quality. Reminds me of a place in New York I loved to visit.

This is a decent bar in downtown Detroit with decent food and a decent beer selection. There’s nothing exceptional about it but you’ll have a good time if you’re hanging out here and you’ll have a good selection of things to drink and eat. I wouldn’t hesitate stopping by here if you just want to go to a quick dive bar.

The meals are good. I say meals more like burgers dogs and sloppy joes. Side salads are real good. If you don’t know you can go upstairs too, there’s a bar and order your food in the arcade. Lots of vintage games, lots of fun.

Stopped by here after a concert on a Sunday night, the bartender was super friendly and helpful. The bar was cozy, music was playing and the food was great.We had a great time! Will definitely return next time Im in town.

Christian B is the man!! He was so quick to service is even though he had like 10 tables. The food was good too! The burger might look gross, but its good

Great location in Detroit. Burgers are delicious and so are the shoestring fries. Decent service and overall a great experience.

The fish and chips are delicious, It has something to do with their special batter that they use. Good people run this place. You’ll enjoy the food, the people and the music, diverse friendly crowd every time I go there.

The food was really good. I got the cheese balls, mushroom swiss burger and fries. We had a party of 10 people. Found out our server was new and they had one server call off. Which left 2 bar tenders and one floor server. It was pride weekend so it was pretty busy. Our server wrote everything down so we are going to assume the kitchen staff cant read very well. 2 orders were wrong one didnt come out until we were all done eating. The plus side is that management removed 2 of the orders that got messed up off the bill.

Really great experience. I love the upstairs, way better than Ready Player One. Your get good prices and clean cabinets to play on. I just wish they didnt get rid of my high score in Galaga every week.

Love it! All the old classic games I grew up playing. Mappy, Dig Dug, Burger Time for a quarter . Huge pinball selection. Rusty behind the bar for an added bonus! This place has everything I love. Going back very soon.

This place is Fantastic! I Went here late night after a concert. The kitchen was open and the pizza was Excellent! Cool Atmosphere. The staff was really Outstanding. Total teamwork effort. Thank You!

Have not been back for close to 40 years. Still great taste and service. Creamy Coleslaw amazing. Not changing the recipe priceless

Ashley was nice cute and friendly was good music i dont drink but if i did this place would be where i would drink good food clean bathrooms big deal to me the restrooms dirty the kitchens dirty but they are clean af would eat lunch here a little expensive but the foods killer the jalapeno popper burgers fire i cant say anything better check it out get a drink and some good food

Greatest burgers in town and the people are awesome thank you so much.

This was the first spot I grabbed a bite and a beverage when I arrived in Detroit. It was excellent - I tried the Curry Pizza, which sounded funky but was *delicious*. I would absolutely recommend this spot. The service was good, the bar was funky, and theres a barcade (bar+arcade) upstairs! I also got to try a cider there that I had never tried and enjoyed it greatly.

I actually liked it. My friend got pizza and it was really good and there was variety games and they can pour a good stiff one for a reasonable price. Bathroom was also clean and attended to and thats always good in my book.

There before a concert at Ford field Saturday night. Despite being shorthanded, we had great service and great burgers! Kudos to the gal running food out to tables, she worked extra hard that night! Please tip servers and runners accordingly!

An absolute gem. The atmosphere is great if you like the local vibe in the big city. Ordered the pizza which was phenomenal as well. The bartender Tig was very personable to chat with and gave me a lot of fun tips of out to navigate the night life of Detroit as I am out of town from Toledo. Not only will I be back but ill be bringing all my friends

Yes! I love having this spot in the neighborhood. What a wonderful place to grab a slice of pizza and zone out in some pinball games. I always go upstairs to get some games in, but downstairs is also a fine place to gather.

Benjamin is AWESOME!!! He had my whole group of friends laughing and kept the drinks coming quickly. He also gave me ibuprofen for my migraine; a little gesture that I was so so thankful for! Super friendly dude, we’ll definitely be back!

Hands down one of the best burgers in Detroit. I was also pleasantly surprised by their grilled cheese recently. Food here is always solid and the service is friendly.

Such a cool atmosphere! Go solo or bring some friends- either way you’ll have a great time! I mean hey there’s games, food, and drink...what more could you ask for?

Fantastic dive bar with excellent food and solid staff. An easy place to drink alone or catch up with an old friend, the place isnt plastered with screens. The atmosphere is dive-y but respectable; not a rough place by any means, but a welcome change of pace from the glitzy and well-polished bars all over downtown.

A great time, every time. The bar staff is always attentive, the food is always great, and the atmosphere makes me feel like I’m in an intimate lounge with all my closest friends. Stop in, get some pizza, get some strong drinks, and have a great time. Cheers.

Arcade is great and still takes quarters! Happy hour beers are cheap as all get out!

Many of my team members go there & enjoy themselves. The food & drinks were really good (as recommended by our waiter) & the environment was lively. I really enjoyed myself!

The Bar food is decent, you may still be hungry afterwards but there arent many happy hours that beat their Sloppy hour lol. Killer prices for a downtown location. Id recommend starting my night here if youre looking for madness

This place is fantastic. Got the breakfast Burger but with a veggie patty. The veggie patty was a house blend and not like a frozen patty. Would definitely go again.

Detroit dive bar with great food, staff and arcade games. Very popular and gets busier at night. Parking lot right next to the building. Two separate entrances for the bar and the arcade.

Good burgers. Service was a bit slow, but they were busy. Would have been 5 stars but we waited a while before seeing a server.

The food here is on point! You will not be disappointed. me and a few of my friends went out one night not knowing where we wanted to eat someone suggested this place and I was pretty impressed. The fries oh my gosh the fries hands-down the best fries

Went across the street to smash a couple roller dogs at 7-11 while I waited for my pizza. This proved to be a fantastic appetizer. I proceeded to obliterate 2 delicious pizzas.

Love the arcade upstairs. A great variety of games that will give you such nostalgia and fun for hours. The drinks are reasonably priced and the bartenders friendly. The pizza looked and smelled amazing gonna go back to give it a try. Bathroom sign was great. Gave me a good chuckle.

Dig this place. Good bar food. Too many hipster bars in downtown. This one keeps it real. My go to bar in downtown.

Really nice bar, we got there early and it was slow with a steady turnover of people.. had good music playing the intire time we were there, as the night whent on ,it got pretty crowded. ordered takeout which was quick and good.

Pizza was good. Drinks were well priced. There was a small draft selection. The downside was the cocaine in the bathroom.

Usually good service (especially when considering how large the groups usually were), great upstairs. Enjoyed the pinball machines

Started out really promising-- cool atmosphere and great beer. But as a vegetarian I ordered the Impossible Burger (awesome they offer it) but the food runner dropped the wrong burger in front of me and I ended up getting a real burger. Huge mistake. Im not allergic to meat but that kind of error can have really scary consequences. I think the Impossible patty is new to the menu and I suggest the restaurant put in clear processes for ensuring this kind of screwup doesnt happen again since the burgers look so much like real meat patties. For example, use blue checker paper in the baskets for Impossible burgers, instead of red checker paper. Or have a specific toothpick flag that goes in the burger. Need to have accountability from start to finish in the process, from line cook to expo to food runner. Otherwise, a vegetarian could get a very gross surprise when they bite into a circle of ground up cow.

The BEST PIZZA IN DETROIT!!! Most go here for the drinks and the arcade upstairs however, their pizza is hands down THE BEST PIZZA IN METRO DETROIT! For me, it isnt even close.

This was the first spot I grabbed a bite and a beverage when I arrived in Detroit. It was excellent - I tried the Curry Pizza, which sounded funky but was *delicious*. I would absolutely recommend this spot. The service was good, the bar was funky, and theres a barcade (bar+arcade) upstairs! I also got to try a cider there that I had never tried and enjoyed it greatly.

Was so crowded you couldnt play the games. Probably better during the day when there is room to breathe. Could see it being excellent for day drinking

This was the first spot I grabbed a bite and a beverage when I arrived in Detroit. It was excellent - I tried the Curry Pizza, which sounded funky but was *delicious*. I would absolutely recommend this spot. The service was good, the bar was funky, and theres a barcade (bar+arcade) upstairs! I also got to try a cider there that I had never tried and enjoyed it greatly.

The jr sized burger is a good size. I wish the apple burger had more apple slices because I couldnt taste it that well. Could be because I added bacon to the burger. My friends pop was flat and looked water down (came from the bar). The place was clean. Waitress could have been friendly but I assumed she wasnt having a good day. There is a juke box that has music you can choose from! Would try again.

Their fries are to die for. Drinks are lovely. The servers are also incredibly kind.

Had just about the best hot dog Ive ever had with a great beer. The bartender and server was extremely helpful. The food came out fast and hot. It was a great late night stop.

One of downtowns gems. Great diner style burgers and food.

Nasty food, but lovely atmosphere. The can of rose got me nice and buzzed. Will most definitely be back again to drink all the canned rose.

I got a checker burger, and it was decent. It hit the spot for a burger, and the fries were delicious. However, I would recommend something a bit more adventurous such as an apple burger because the paddy itself wasnt that impressive. The wait for food was longer than we expected for three burgers, so that is why I am giving the place four stars. Wait staff was helpful and pleasant and the atmosphere and interior design felt like Detroit.

Loves the pizzas! Half off Thursday! Beer and pizza!

Pretty cool gaming bar. Not the best arcade selection and a lot of the machines are pretty beat up, but otherwise a good time.

Cool place, the upstairs gaming area was nice, will have to try the food next time, pizza looks pretty good from what I saw

This place is one of my favorites in downtown. The burgers are amazing and the fries are excellent! Drink prices are very reasonable and lots of different craft beer (draft, bottle, and cans).Great crowd on weeknights and weekends.

Great service. Food is good! The Olympus burger is to die for!!!

One of my all time favorite places! The Arcade upstairs is amazing! 10 out of 10 I recommend

Visited the upstairs / arcade area. Love all the old school arcade games, and modern pinball machines. Decent beer and drink selection. Was happy to see a vegan offering on the pizza menu. Would visit again.

Amazing service. Surprisingly great food. Really, really glad we have this a shot and look forward to coming back. The brined, roasted wings were total knockouts.

I left my purse here by accident and called to have them hold it for me. A bartender lady said she had it but when I went to get it no one knew where it was. I came back a week later and no one knew still. They either threw my purse away or the bartender had to of taken it home. Trash!

Great food and atmosphere! Of course pinball/arcade games add to the fun!

Love the fries my boyfriend brought me here he used to work here

Great burger in a cool historic building. We loved the big selection of burgers, including options for a yummy lamb burger. Menu said that you could substitute a turkey patty, chicken breast, fried fish or veggie burger on any junior patties, so great options for non-beef eaters. Shoestring fries, ala carte, were good. Interesting sides included lobster deviled eggs, a bargain at $3 for 4 halves. Upstairs is an 80s style arcade,which was packed with a Gen X age crowd.

The arcade bar upstairs is awesome and has some fantastic slices of pizza. It was pretty quiet during the day but later at night it was quite busy. I loved the pub style look and menu. Great spot.

This place was decent. It seems to cater more to a younger crowd but its still good and a great place to grab a slice and a beer as you roam the city.

Its a decent bar burger. The shoestring fries are nice and crunchy. Service was pretty good.

Fantastic dive bar in downtown Detroit. Fast friendly service. Really good bar food.

Fantastic barcade with not only a RoboCop pinball machine, they have the RoboCop arcade game too. Plus Elvira pinball and a great jukebox.

Great place for burgers and bar food. Lively crowd, open late, fun atmosphere.

Really good burgers and fries. Sucks that I have to pay for parking just to have a burger

Great burgers. Friendly place. Terrific atmosphere. Perfect Hang Out.

Great bar good food nice staff arcade on the second floor centrally located very enjoyable

Such a great place! They ended up kinda sorta messing up our food order. The bartender was so nice, explained the issue, and told us the burger wasnt going to be charged to us. They were great, easygoing, and our food was amazing (regular burger with feta like the Greek burger we originally ordered). Well definitely be back.

Great bar. Just found out theres an upstairs lol. Check it out

A bit pricey but great atmosphere for a nightcap.Theres usually about an hour wait. Pro-tip: entrance is down the alley east of Griswold, not on Griswold proper.

Ive 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 youd get from a small Dominos 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 hed bring me another one, but that never happened and I didnt 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 didnt 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 wasnt 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, itll 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) doesnt want to split the bill. They will do it, but theres almost always some sort of hesitation or comment like I mean, I can, but its going to take me a while and I guess I dont understand that, not just because its 2020 and these restaurants have a POS system, but I just dont think a customer needs to worry about how difficult it is or isnt for a server. They likely wont ask you upfront if you want separate checks, so I would make sure you say that in the beginning because maybe itll be less of a hassle? I dont 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 place to hangout.

The wait staff was attentive and thorough, the food was delicious and the portions were huge

Great food selections and good service. I like that Checkers is open late because not many restaurants in the Downtown area keep late hours.

We were a group of 12 and Sara(h?) took great care of us! My husband hadnt been there in over 20+ years and he said it was still as good as it had been! Everyone loved their burgers, fries, onion rings, and salads!

Checker Bar has been an iconic burger bar for years. I hung out at Checker when I was in law school...40 yrs ago and its still great today. I had the Mount Olympus burger... house ground lamb with feta and tzatziki sauce...yum!!! If youre old school have a burger or cheeseburger. You wont be sorry. I was at Checker for lunch and it was busy. Happy hour is packed, raucous and fun. Im so happy to see Checker still around and thriving!!!

The drinks were strong and the food was great. The atmosphere was really cool. The only thing we had an issue with the wait on things. Overall a nice place.

Great burger, service was friendly and quick. Wasnt super busy for lunch and we popped upstairs after and played some arcade games. Fun place downtown, check it out.

Really cool arcade games but the pinball is pretty expensive. I ordered a pizza which looked undercooked and tasted average at best.

New pizza sucks -why get rid of a good thing? 2/21/2020

Good pizza and burgers lots of pinball machines fun place

Nice chill spot good place to go for date night drinks, food, and arcade games!!!

While not being a huge fan of nostalgic arcade games I found checker bar to be fun. The food was pretty decent. We ordered pizzas, fries and chips. The burger from my cousins opinion was disappointing. Seeing it also it was kind of nothings going on. But hey what do you expect right? We lost a few dollars on one of the pinball machines we didnt know if it was malfunctioning or what. It was lighted up though so it should be operating. We tried twice but still nothing. We thought it was just us but our friends also had the same experience. We also got couple of beers but dont remember if it was spectacular or good for value so it was probably normal.

This place is much better than it used to be. Both the food and drink selection is significantly improved. However, the prices are out of control now. Burger and a beer at lunch is generally >$22. If the prices were 1/3 lower, this place would be pretty great now.

My burger was as good as it normally is and it took way too long to prepare it given that it wasnt crowded.

This is a fun little Pub in Detroit. I had the opportunity to ride the pedal bar and they stopped here at the Checker Bar. The bar was kind enough to allow all the Pedalers to use their bathroom facility. I think I will pay a visit sometime while Im not pedaling.

Attendants were super patient. Very informative on the menu and I got a breakfast burger !!

Great food. Great service! Never a let down.

Great food, great drinks! Sweet potato tots are the best Ive had in a restaurant

One of my favorite people in the city works the door, fun place, great staff

Good old time feel, reasonable prices and very good food! Will go back!

Had the burger, excellent. Vintage arcade style feel with all the classic games, Ms Pacman, galaga, pin ball. Pretty cool.

Awesome place. Great prices and cool retro game theme!

Good food and fun hes, cant complain!

There durin a quick stop on our handle bar tour via our awesome driver, Anthony, but will visit again to get the full effect! Julie at the bar was awesome! The fireball shots were amazing! #detroitchic #thehandlebar

Loved it!!! Took me back in time, cause Im 1yr from turning 50ys old

Very neat bar. I was supposed to meet my friend here and when I got there I couldnt find her. I called her and said I was at the address she gave me and said I thought I must be at the wrong place because nobody was there. I sat down for a drink and she came up to me and said that she was upstairs at the arcade bar! So it is a bar with another bar above it. There is a door with a stairway to go upstairs but not much of an indication that there is a secret arcade area up there that also serves drinks and food.