Wahlburgers (Detroit)

• 569 Monroe Street
• Detroit, MI 48226
• (313) 209-4499
• Website
• Menu

We actually did get two meals our first day in Detroit.  That’s kind of amazing.  We still had work to do in the evening after already working a full shift during the day but we needed to wait until it got dark.

We headed back to check in to our hotel at Greektown Casino & Hotel and get settled.  We decided to just kind of do our own thing for dinner and amazingly, we ended up at the same place.

Wahlburgers burger chain is the burger chain of the Wahlburg brothers.  You should know the two actors, Donnie and Mark.  The third brother, Paul, is a chef and the man behind the food at this growing casual burger chain.

The Detroit location is in Greektown on Monroe Street just to the west of St. Antoine Street.  We found the restaurant because it’s right next to Red Smoke Barbecue which we had for lunch.  The building was a portrait studio before Wahlburgers moved in.  Prior to that, Laikon Cafe was in that space although this building is newer and was built when they put the skywalk in from the Casino.

The lower level of the restaurant is mainly the bar.  There are a few tables near the windows and a few tables in the back. The walls are covered with pictures of the Wahlberg’s and their hometown in Massachusetts.  The pop of color comes from the green chairs used throughout the space.  There are TV’s above the bar that surprisingly weren’t tuned in to a Red Sox game or Patriots practice.  The space is lit with can lights in the exposed beam ceiling.

Most of the dining room seating is up a flight of stairs you’ll see as soon as you walk in the door.

Wahlburgers is a full service restaurant if you’re dining in but I wasn’t an neither was my colleague.  There is an order counter all the way in the back of the restaurant near the kitchen.  There’s a menu board that hangs on a wall off to the side.  There’s not a lot to choose from as burgers are really why you come to place that has “burgers” in the name.

I put in my order for a Double Decker and an order of Crispy Yukon French Fries.  The cost was a little over $13 but that did not include a drink.  I opted just to grab a couple of Pepsi’s from the hotel when I got back.

It took maybe ten minutes for my name to be called.  I grabbed the bag and headed back to my room.  My colleague was right behind me.  We went our separate ways when we got to the floor.  We’d be seeing enough of each other over the next couple of days so we decided to just relax and eat on our own.

I started with the Crispy Yukon French Fries when I got  back to the room.  They really were crispy too.  The fries are skin on fries with a little bit of salt.  Nothing super fancy but just delicious fried potatoes.

I’d been looking forward to finally getting to try a burger from Wahlburgers.  I’ve bought their fresh patties from Meijer a few times and always really liked them.

The Double Decker is two 3oz. burger patties with lettuce, tomato, onion, “government cheese,” Paul’s Homemade Wahl Sauce, and pickles.  The burger patties were exactly what I was hoping for.  They’re juicy, tender discs of meat that crumble when you take a bite.  The “government cheese” is processed cheese similar to American.  It contains several different types of cheese melted together with emulsifiers.  The Wahlbergs say they grew up on Government Cheese so that’s what they use on the burgers.  The cheese melts really well so it almost encapsulates the meat.  I’m not a big sauce person so I wiped off most of Paul’s Homemade Wahl Sauce.  I left a little on the bun just to get a little more flavor in the sandwich.  The sauce is a combination of mayo, ketchup, sriracha and a few other ingredients so it has a little bit of kick to it.  It’s one of those things were a little is delicious.

I was pretty excited when we drove by Wahlburgers on our way to the hotel on our first day in Detroit.  I knew if I was going to stop there it was going to have to be for dinner on that first night so I made it a point to get there.  The chain is slowly expanding and there are four locations now in the Detroit area in Flint.  Hopefully we see them over here on the west side of the state one of these day.  In the meantime, I’ll just have to settle for the patties from Meijer.