In a building that you likely never paid much attention to because of nearby, more-famous towers like the Westin Book-Cadillac and the Book Tower, Detroit's Big City Bar & Grill in the Holiday Inn Express is a place you should file away until the next time you're heading downtown. Looking to catch a few minutes of the start of March Madness, I popped into Big City and found the following: so many TVs that I could pick the one that gave me the most comfortable angle; really cool artwork, including the mural pictured above, devoted to Detroit's history; and an awesome three-pack of sliders. I knew I had found something good. And then I discovered a pool table tucked in the back of the bar, and that clinched it.
The menu at Big City is pretty simple, but the food is good. And there was no sign of a cheesy lounge singer anywhere, so don't let the "hotel bar" thing scare you. The Holiday Inn, by the way, probably should've been included in the poll you may have seen on this website. It's fairly new, right across the street from the Book-Cadillac, just down the street from Campus Martius, and about two blocks from a People Mover station. All of those are good things.
Best of all, it has a pretty cool bar downstairs. With a pool table.
