While visiting the motor city, a group of friends and I decided to make a late night run into the city to try to get a feel for the culture. My first thought when we got in the car at around midnight was “we need to find some food”. I think that the food in a city tells a lot about its culture and people. We drove down the hig
h way looking for late night eateries, and by chance rolled past a tiny hole in the wall burger joint called Telway Hamburgers. The tiny shop with only enough space to fit a carryout window and a five stool bar did not catch our eye until we saw a sign hanging from its door, “4 Burgers 3 dollars”. We stopped immediately. A deal like that seemed impossible to pass on so we got out and tried it ourselves. Although the burgers were essentially sliders, they were incredibly tasty and left us satisfied as we turned towards our next destination. We pulled out of the lot and decided that our night couldn’t end there. The obvious next stop was directly into the heart of metro Detroit. We made it to mid town and started searching. We passed by many funky dives and exciting looking bars but landed on a bowling ally pizza restaurant combo called Sargent Pepperonis. When we walked in we thought we were just going to get a slice of pizza and sit around for a while but when we saw 
the retro bowling ally in the back of the restaurant we had to play. We ended up playing two rounds and eating 2 pizzas before we left, and decided that the night was a success. Full and happy we headed back to the hotel to get some rest. Although we didn’t have enough time to get a good feel for all of the night life in Detroit, we managed to find some great food and have a great time with out having to spend much money. If you ever make it back to Detroit these spots should be high on your list of places to go.
Detroit Late Night Spots
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Huge Sgt. Pep’s fan.. Late night crowd is interesting but we managed to hang
The Midtown night life was certainly interesting but fulfilled our needs. I just wanted to add that we went to another late night spot (I forget the name) on Thursday night in the heart of Downtown Detroit. In my opinion, it was incredibly lively and had a vivacious feel to it. I got the sense that Downtown was the place to be for a person in their 20s or 30s looking to have a good time at night.
Austin, we went to Punch Bowl Social. It was a happening place and had a college-aged crowd. I thought this was interesting because it was the type of the place the economist earlier in the week described as what was needed to attract young individuals to the area. It was a fun place and a great place to unwind after a long day.
I really thought an interesting aspect of the Punch Bowl Social was that it was a much more modern bowling alley/bar than Sargent Pepperonis, which exemplifies how much Detroit has changed over the past century. I’m sure Sgt. Pepperonis in the 60s and 70s was an awesome spot to go to, but it seems as if Punch Bowl Social was an exact, more modernized copy of the original. Anyway, both were quite enjoyable and lively with Bingo, video games, bowling, and drinks all taking place while we were there. Furthermore, the location of the Punch Bowl Social was super close to Ford Field and the Tigers Stadium, which would make it a great hangout before or after the games.
I probably should’ve included a section about the Punch Bowl Social. Thanks for the addition Will! I also wanted to add another place that I left out purposefully because it isn’t exactly a late night spot, but I feel it needs to be mentioned. During the day, we went to a local ice cream shop called Treat Dreams. The atmosphere was very authentic Detroit style and the ice cream was absolutely delicious. If you aren’t in the mood for sliders or pizza Treat Dreams is a great third option.