Restaurant Review

Black Rock, My Taste Buds are in Shock

The first Black Rock opened its doors October 27th, 2010 in Hartland, MI by the Morganroth family. With no prior experience in the restaurant business, they set forth to bring about change in regard to how the food is prepared. Cooking your own meal on a 755-degree rock seems to be the way to go. The Black Rock in Woodhaven, MI on Allen Road opened at 11am September 20th, 2016 presenting itself to be a restaurant that caters to the lunch crowd, the dinner rush, and to those desiring a drink or two.

The steakhouse is right in the middle of a busy intersection and in an up and coming neighborhood that is frequently welcoming new businesses. Black Rock is prepared for this busyness with a large and accommodating parking lot. The building itself is noticeable, and yet in Woodhaven at night you can look into the sky and see the beacon of light bringing the restaurant to your attention.

Once you enter the doors during dinner hours, you'll note the smoky atmosphere. Music is playing in the background, people are talking and laughing, and you hear the sizzling food on the rock as it cooks. The dress attire ranged from semi-formal and dressy to the casual attire of jeans and hoodies. Even though you are able to call ahead for limited priority seating, my husband and I did not. The hostess was courteous, and we were given a wait time of 40 minutes on a Saturday evening. (My wait time experiences with other restaurants in the downriver Michigan area has been similar if not longer.) We had the option to wait in the small waiting area, in the bar area, outside, or in our car. We waited at the bar.

The bar was crowded. It took the bartender approximately 5 minutes to take our drink orders. Once she did take our order, we received our drinks fairly quickly. Although Black Rock has an extensive selection of drinks, my husband ordered a Bud Light (boring), and I selected a glass of Moscato. The white wine was just the right amount of sweet. It was cold and crisp and I enjoyed it immensely.

   The establishment was delightful. The place welcomed dinner for two and dinners for large parties. The clientele ranged from the youngest of guests to the oldest of guests. It has two main rooms for dining. The first room is quite large, noisy, and smoky. The second room is quaint, less smoky and less loud, and you can hear the music playing in the second room. The décor was classy, yet sporty with college football games on all of the televisions in the restaurant. With the amount of traffic in and out of Black Rock, the ladies restroom was decent. There were a few paper towels on the floor and wet countertops, but it wasn't dirty.

The dining experience was overall superb. We waited 35 minutes of our estimated 40 minute wait time, and we were waited on by a kind and attentive waitress. Despite the voluminous number of guests, we were helped efficiently and promptly. We did not wait long for our food, and our glasses were never empty. The menu selections were various as well as the prices. Everything was competitively priced and comparable to other similar venues.

   The quality of food was beyond compare. I hardly have a negative thing to say. I ordered the 6oz filet mignon with French onion soup, asparagus, Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, and the Black Rock Brownie for dessert. The bowl of French onion soup was massive. It was covered in cheese (yum) and the bread under the cheese melted in my mouth. Unfortunately, the soup portion was not soupy enough for me. I enjoy onions in my French onion soup, but there is such a thing as too many onions. The asparagus was slightly cold, but after placing them on the rock for a few seconds, they heated right up tasting crisp and full of flavor. If you only looked at the Yukon Gold potatoes, they would have no appeal. They were absolutely plain looking. But to my delight, they were splendid! I loved cooking the steak on the rock. I loved the butter to cook it in, and I adored the dipping sauce. There was so much flavor, my taste buds were in heaven! Every morsel was prepared perfectly for consumption. Finally, dessert was blissful. The brownie was rich but not overly so, and the vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge hit the spot gratifying my sweet tooth. Ideally, this indulgence could be eaten by two, but when a brownie is this good, it is too good to share!

   Overall, I was pleasantly pleased with my dining experience. A night out with my love mixed with a scrumptious meal with little cause for complaints causes me to highly recommend this dining experience.