Small Plates Detroit

First Impressions. i have just moved into town and was exploring this great city of detroit (reside outside of the city proper) however...moved from chicago suburbs and was pleasantly surprised with the friendliness of the people here. in particular - i had stopped by the opera house and detroit tigers comerica building to take fotos...when i discovered that they were not open for lunch - but recommended a place nearby called 'small plates'. the name was enticing. when i arrived, i was a bit apprehensive. upon my entry, greeted as if i were a regular. mind you, i have had some trying times moving to this area - however, the entire staff was like family - upon arrival. even the guests, were like family. several parents with children, two girlfriends catching up on the week at the bar and several groups in the front, and even two unassuming 'biker boys' and me. they welcome all as if they are long-time friends or family. it was like hanging out with my cousins for the weekend (which i miss).

small plates is inviting to all, affordable and charmingly directly across the way from the detroit opera house. cheers, xiang…

NEVER Again. Small Plates WAS a regular "go to" b/c dtw options are few and they stay open sort of late (for Detroit at least). I have NEVER had good service there, the staff is always rude, they have a sort of flippant attitude or they are completely spacey. The big oafish guy is angry, never cracks a smile, talks crap under his breath and when confronted plays dumb. Punk of all Punks.

Then there's "Kelly", who does lots of kissing up when you can find her and well after she's ruined your meal. She forgets EVERYTHING and then "apologies" after you've sat staring at your food until she comes out w/the next order two decades later and STILL doesn't deliver the SILVERWARE or bring the dressing you asked for or recall that you needed CLEAN plates.

That's really just the tip of the iceberg w/this place. But as they learned w/the RO store, you can only crap on customers for so long before they stop spending on those small plates w/full sized prices.

Don't even bother, go to Centaur, they do small plates, price points are similar, they're actually HAPPY to have customers, atmosphere is far superior and the parking options are better.…

Small Plates, But Big Flavors. It's a small place with good use of space, long and narrow, and the decor is funky urban. Although the Small Plates moniker would lead you to think "tapas," the menu is far broader, with pizza from Italy, stir-fry, spring rolls and wrap dishes from the Orient, and plenty of seafood, we liked the Big Three main plates, the BBQ ribs, pan-seared scallops, and our favorite, the petitie tenderloin with gorgonzola cream sauce, cripsy onions and mashed. They make their own hand-cut fries here, their own aoli, their own mustard and ketchup, and the staff flies around like dervishes, smiling and engaging their guests. We really like this place, and there's a seven-story parking garage just across the street. Convenient to baseball, football, theatre, opera and live shows at all the major downtown Detroit venues.…

Small Plates Royal Oak. 12-07-2007 We ate at the Small plates in Royal Oak. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by a less than friendly man who waited it appeared, for us to greet him. After a brief pause, I said Dinner For Two and he asked us to wait and wlaked away. After returning, we were told that he couldn't offer us a table because the restaurant was booked for a private party at 7pm. Being that it was 5pm, and by looking around noticing at least 7 unoccupied tables, we were somewhat confused by the lack of service. Well, since we drove a half an hour to get there from Clinton Twp, we were offered a seat at the bar and took it.

Once seated at the bar, our orders were taken and drinks delivered. About twenty minutes later, only my meal (Beef Stir Fry) was delivered. Once again, we were perplexed. I asked the bartender the whereabouts of my wife's dinner. He told me, with a staright face, that it's like Meditteranean style, it's delivered as it comes to the window and meant to be shared. (a ticket for 2 prepped 20 minutes apart?)

For the record, the meal was that of less than normal portion size and clearly not enough to be shared. So, my wife politley bowed out of eating much of my meal and I didn't think it gentlmanly to eat in front of her, so we kind of poked at it until her meal arrived twenty minutes later. My meal was now cold and as we looked down at her Chicken Stir Fry. It swam in the extra sour sauce that she ordered to be placed ON THE SIDE and turned her meal into a bowl of almost soupy proportion. As the bartender returned, we expressed our displeasure in her meal and all he could do was offer her was more rice, to soak up the extra sauce that overwhelmed the taste buds at this point.

After poking at her meal for a few minutes, we decided it was time to go and travel back to our side of town. To say the very least, we do NOT recommend Small plates if you're looking for good service and the potions are not commensurate with the prices.…