Decent food, but forced gratuity and noise levels were a turnoff We recently moved our office to 12 Mile and Northwestern, and while moving wasn't ideal, the upside is I've got plenty of new food spots to explore. I found Red Balloon Saloon on Google Maps--it looked promising, so I met up with a buddy there after work. First impressions were solid: the place looks good inside, with plenty of TVs and even a pool table. We grabbed seats at the bar and started to settle in--until I saw the sign saying they add a mandatory 20% gratuity to all tabs. That's a big issue for me. If tips are guaranteed, where's the motivation for good service? Unfortunately, that concern proved true. It took a while to get our drinks, and we had to flag the bartender down to order appetizers. I got the cheese sticks and my buddy got the catfish. Both were tasty--no complaints on the food. The biggest downside? It was insanely loud. So loud that my Apple Watch actually alerted me about excessive noise levels. It made it really tough to have a conversation, and we ended up leaving early. Even cashing out took longer than it should have. While it's conveniently close to my new office, I don't see myself coming back. The forced gratuity policy and overwhelming noise make it a one-and-done for me. read more

So I have been going to red balloon for years! Ever since I turned of the age to drink. It's consistent and doesn't let you down (and will get you there lol). The food is typical fried bar food. But it's still decent and let's you soak up some liquor lol. The drinks are pretty basic, don't expect super fancy drinks but they will get you where you need to be. The ambience is decent, pretty long bar with plenty of tables and a billiard table as well. If you want quiet, this may not be the place for you. They have TVs and play pretty loud music. They have a juke box so that you can even request songs yourself. The parking is free lot parking but it isn't a lot out front so you may have to park in the back if it's a crowded night. The establishment is in a small shopping center so you have to take whatever parking you can get. The back of the building has a huge area for parking though so aside from a potentially long walk, you should be fine. The staff can be hit or miss. It really depends on what kind of mood they are in lol. Never had any bad experience though overall, but sometimes they don't give you that 5 star smile. This is a good neighborhood bar that has a lot of character. I will always ride or die for red balloon. read more

Nice chill grown crowd good vibes good food nice staff bartenders are very attentive and security is polite and helpful I feel comfortable here read more

My daughter plays basketball at the Franklin Athletic Center next door and my 65 year old mother had nothing to do for 2 hours while she was in the area waiting for the game to start. She contemplated between Burger King and a bar and settled on the "balloon saloon" as she called it. She stumbled into basketball after two purple rains stating she had the time of her life. She met two bartenders and three patrons and it reminded her of the bar she worked at in her twenties. She danced in her seat and had some good eats. Thanks for the hospitality for my ma! read more

Drinks was the bomb! Grilled cheese with Swiss and ham was good. Soaked up the heavy alcohol drinks! Bartender was on point and friendly.

Great night out! We went here for my friends birthday weekend and we had a blast heavy drinks and good bar food need I say more! read more

Red Balloon Saloon - American Near Me - Southfield, Michigan

Located in a strip mall, typical bar that serves food. Even has a pool table in the back. I was there with a Meetup group that is connected with Mensa. We had over 20 and was able to get seated right away on a Saturday evening. Wait staff didn't blink an eye lash and even planned on separate checks. Took drink orders, so happy that they had Coke products for us non drinkers, so we could look over the menu which is larger than most bars. Burgers, sandwiches, salads, and normal apps. I ordered the smaller burger which wasn't a slider but like a regular hamburger at fast food. Got cheddar cheese and side of onion rings. I don't blame the waiter for the slow food since he went back to the kitchen a few times. The number of items on the menu had to slow a small kitchen. Burger was good for a bar and the onion rings was hot & good. Even warmed up they were good. NO dessert on menu so my bill was just under $10 which was reasonable. The background noise kept conversation to just those next to you. Don't know if the group will be back after next meeting, but will join them if they do. read more

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Neighborhood bar, noticed it before but never been there. Stopped in recently and had a pretty good time. Nothing special about the menu, typical bar food. I had the cob salad which was pretty good. TVs all around, pool table, decent sized bar area. Servers were nice and attentive. Bar manager . Seems busy with regulars that LOVE the pool table area...LoL. Pricing is on par. One buddy had a burger the other had fish. Last one had the tenders. All seemed happy with selections. Never know I may try and visit again sometime. read more

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When I'm in the mood for a bomb burger, I can count on Red Balloon Saloon! The was huge and cooked medium just like a requested. This was my first time ordering a burger, but this won't be my last. We also had potato skins which were cool. read more

Red Balloon Saloon - American Near Me - Southfield, Michigan

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Balloon saloon is a great neighborhood type of bar. The music is always loud and a good time. The drinks are strong and the food is good. It gets crowded on Friday and Saturday nights but the crowd is fun. I'm not really into crowded bars anymore but I always have fun at balloon. If you're looking for a place to have a drink and relax this is not the place. You come here to laugh loud, drink good and have fun. read more

the food is good--typical drunk food, the service is good, only get the drinks if you don't wanna make it home (they are HEAVY handed bahahaha) the ambiance is TOP TIER! always a great time! read more

Longtime fan of this local-for-me no frills watering hole. Used to go here much more years back and at the original location down Northwestern Hwy. Not as big and snazzy as the sports bar down the road but nice homely feel. Mixed crowds in ages and types. Since it is smaller, it can get crowded inside and in the parking lot. Good burgers and solid bar food. A lone convenient pool table. Limited drinks specials. Jukebox often utilized. read more

I have been going to the Saloon for a while. Would always have a great time. My last 2 visits havent been great. The wait staff are rude, impatient and not appearing to want to assist you. Whenever I would attempt to order drinks, instead of stating we dont have ingredients for a White Russian "cant do that" was the response. The inability to have your own bill even with a party of 4. The billing and payment changes are very odd. Needless to say, time for a new afterwork spot. read more

Will never go to this place again..... ordered an old fashion and they gave me fire ball, took 1 tiny sip and told them this in not an old fashion. The waitress returned and said they are still keeping it on my bill. I told the I'm not paying you for no f@#in fireball. After I go back and forth they said ok. I then said let me get the simplest drink I can think of.... ordered a jack and coke (I don't even drink jack). Drink then came out the color of sprite and tasted like chemicals. Didn't even feel like going back and forth again. Didn't drink my drink, asked for the bill, paid and left. read more

This place is a very chill vibe for the grown and sexy. Imagine being able to set up a backgammon board in a restaurant while eating some of the most savory catch fish fingers in Detroit. The staff is friendly and the ambiance is awesome for just a relaxed meal. read more

Red Balloon Saloon - American Near Me - Southfield, Michigan

This place is never a disappointment, bottom line. It's a friendly neighborhood bar that's been around for more than ions. THE bartender(Demitra) love every guest and the drinks are flowing. One pool table to rule the bar for the night or for how many times you're there to rule it. It's a dive bar to the tee, juke box available that uses a phone app if you're that type. Darts, golden tee, poker arcade, tables and life in a bar you will find and enjoy here at the balloon saloon. Thank you for not changing and only updating. read more

Red Balloon Saloon - this place is dope, seriously. Original suburb dive bar!!!! - American Near Me - Southfield, Michigan

If you ever go to this bar, bring cash. They will run your card two times without permission for the same bill, paying themselves twice. Once with a tip, the other without and they'll tell you it's a glitch in their system that does it automatically. If you catch it and complain they'll take a week to repay you. The repayment will be $10 short of what they initially took for "restocking fees, etc". Just a mess. I'll never go here again. If ever I do, it will be straight cash money. read more

Would give a 0 , they charged my card twice WITHOUT my authorization claiming that my "friends" card didn't go through so they charged me for for her total (without telling me) I didn't realize until I checked my account. Makes absolutely NO SENSE AT ALL . Miranda over the phone told me that I would need to go to my friend to get this resolved . COMPLETELY UNPROFESSIONAL. Why would you charge someone twice without their permission and then tell them to resolve the concern themselves . We had two separate bills , I've never known anyone to operate like this . This gives me scammer vibes . Don't go there it's not even worth it . If your going to charge someone's card twice you need to tell them and ask for permission. It's completely illegal. The fact that Miranda didn't even try to bars illegal mistake is sad. If they're that hungry for money they need to close down. read more

Sooooo, it really is sad that people love to hold on to things. I walked in Balloon this evening & Maria tells me I'm "not allowed" inside because she's upset about a bad review I post over a year ago. I've actually been in a few times since then but she wasn't working. She's not an owner. She's really not even a manager. She's an old, miserable bartender who dislikes pretty women. She just confirmed my previous review that if she doesn't like you, she'll have you escorted out. Is that not the most miserable thing ever? It's not my fault that she's addicted to cold medicine. It's not my fault she's been working there for 100 years & is unhappy in her personal life. Why should that affect business? Smh. It's really sad. Do better Maria. Seek help. read more

I use to love this place but since the new owners took over during covid the pricing is getting out of control. They r charging 25¢ for a togo container if u want to take food home that u hv left over. They r charging 20% gratuity per person NOTE not table but per person. read more

About a million and half years ago, my high school friend and I would drive by this place, all wondering what kind of things were going on in there. We were always so curious...I think it had to be the blacked out windows and the funny name. Was it an homage to Nena's 99 luftballons? or to the french film by the same name? or just a euphemism for something more sinister and seedy? Despite our guesses, we never knew the true meaning behind the name...all we knew was that we were curious, as we counted down the days to when we could legally find out the mystery behind the bar's name. So finally, we slowly started turning 21 and slowly we started venturing into the bar scene. Yep, The Red Balloon Saloon was on that list of bars to check out. Imagine our surprise when we found out its just like any other divey bar. No Nena enthusiasts, no Francophile film lovers, no seediness. Just a normal, run of the mill, divey joint that serves up fairly priced drinks, bar food and a place to watch the game. So that's what it became to us. The Saloon became a place to catch up with friends when they visited from out of town, catch that Tigers game or to shoot some pool, if so inclined. Food is pretty good here as well, nice big and reasonably priced burgers, thick cut fries, spicy wings and decent specials make this a great dive to stop at when cruising down Northwestern Highway. Oh, and we still don't know where the name come from. read more

Red balloon saloon is a neighborhood regular on the list of bars to chose from when friends are looking to have good drinks with average food. As of lately, not sure if there has been a change in management/ownership or if management has decided to now be customer facing but the service has been insufferable on multiple occasions. The waitresses are cold, unpleasant, very impersonal, and rude. Located In a predominantly black community, it's odd that service seems to be off put by black customers. We're rushed to order, unaccommodated, when making regular requests (napkins, drink refill, extra sauce) the waitress is curt and brash... being sneered at by staff when trying to enjoy a night out is a sure way to make customers feel unwelcome. Not once or twice, but three different occasions of rude, unbearable, antagonizing, argumentative, and prejudiced service, which is highly unfavorable and simply disgusting. Please diversify staff with people of the community that you're located in. Provide training and pep talks to boost service and morale. Take a YouTube accelerated course in customer service if need be. Perhaps you could sit in on other bars (one conveniently located 0.6 miles away and another 1.5 miles away) that you're clientele greatly favors to understand how customers are to and should be treated. If nothing changes, please understand clientele will greatly decline. Be it as it may, red balloon used to be a good time, would not recommend at this point. read more

So I randomly walked into this bar after changing my mind about getting food from the restaurant next door (Sweetwater Express). I needed something to eat and an adult beverage. So I went straight to the bar, looked at the menu, and before I could look up the bartender (Dee) acknowledged me. I ended up ordering some wings and a drink. The wings were delicious and were so freshly cooked that I had to wait to eat them and the drink had a kick! I'll definitely be back. read more

Nice little dive. Great music and food is really good. Some of the best wings. And the loaded fries are delicious.

I was pleasantly surprised on a recent excursion to the Red Balloon Saloon. On many a drive to other lunch spots- I have joked about stopping here, but then continued on. It looks shady- it's next to a seedy sex store and the windows are all blacked out. Additionally- I always thought that Red Balloon film was weird, so I figured this place is probably weird too. Guess what? It's just pretty normal. It's pretty clean inside- and it's well-lit to counter the lack of windows to the outside. There are plenty of TVs for your sport watching pleasure (though lunch companion #3 was a little POd that one of the TV's was tuned to the home shopping network during March Madness). Service was decent. My lunchtime meal was a cheeseburger and fries for $4.95 and a draft Killians for $4 and change. I wouldn't mind stopping back. read more

Very solid dive bar, in a strip ball, with all the windows painted black. The type of place when you walk in, everyone stops what they're doing to look at you, then they go about their business. Never eaten here, so can't comment on the food. The drinks are well made and very reasonable prices and have plenty of TVs to watch the game. The waitresses are always very attentive and I have no complaints about this place. The other patrons always seem to be friendly to us chicagoans. read more

This review would be 5 stars were it not for the disappointing service I received from the waitress who appeared to be tired from what was probably a long day for her. Totally not focused on getting the order correct and I had to chase her down to get refills. The wings were exceptional though. Loved the battered ones dipped in buffalo sauce. read more

Local dive bar..I agree with the other reviewer. Clean bathrooms though.. I believe were remodeled around 2003. Each week is a different themed night, hockey night, football, or trivia night. I recall a beach night in the winter so they try to get creative. Weekend drink specials, Jagermeister is poured from the ice machine if you have ever seen one of those, and besides a decently grilled burger or chicken strips they can put together a nice chicken caesar. read more

This is your classic hole in the wall local bar. The atmosphere is dark and gloomy with old-school bar Decour. In fact, when you leave, your eyes will have to re-adjust to the daylight. This is a great place for lunch. The burgers are very tasty. I will go back when hungry for a good burger. read more

I used to love the Balloon Saloon when I was in my twenties. The old location was one of my favorite hangouts and even went to the new location a few times many years ago. We stopped in last night for a burger. It was 8 PM and the parking lot was empty. We thought maybe it was closed at first. We walked in to a completely empty bar except for about 10 regulars sitting up at the bar. The tables were completely empty! No music. Sports on the TV's but no sound. It seemed as though the regulars would just prefer to hear themselves talk than anything else. But the bathrooms were clean and the patty melt and burger were pretty good. I think this place could use a visit from that guy from Bar Rescue. Sorry but we wont be back. read more

Granted we came here on a Tuesday Night during the NBA Finals.. We seated for 30 minutes, tried waving down the two servers. We only got drinks ordered for us bc the table next to us that JUST arrived were regulars and ordered for us bc they felt bad. I give one star bc it would be a good spot to watch a sporting event with friends bc there are plenty of open tables. The service needs a lot of work. I've been in the hospitality business most of my life and have not seen such poor service! It took the server 50m to approach the table and she had no idea what drafts were on tap... 7 minutes later another server comes by and took our order.. We waited almost an hour. Luckily regulars hooked us up. We only stayed for the game and location! We finished our drinks and waiting for a server for another... Both the servers ignored and walked pass our table... We ate from the left overs that we had from a previous restaurant we went to bc we couldn't get a food menu... Then finally a waitress stopped by our table and told us that we couldn't have it there . No shit! ...Maybe how about a menu?! And then we tried again for drink #2.. Went to the bar.. And the same... If they only knew we've all worked hospitality and are great tippers.. Worst service ever! And to top it.. It wasn't even incredibly busy which would be a good reason for the poor service! read more

I love that fellow yelper, Valerie G., has gotten me hooked on checking in whenever we go out for lunch. So I've become a regular at the Balloon Saloon (we're pretty tight, so I've dropped the Red from the name). Though I must say I think I only had to check in twice to become a regular, so I'm not throwing back beers on my lunch hour on a regular basis. The food is good and cheap. They always have a burger & fries special for just under $5 and various beer specials. Who doesn't love a 16oz beer can? There are a few large TVs, good for NCAA tournament watching which was the reason for our most recent trip. It's never very crowded during lunch time and I don't have to worry about running into other people from work (which cannot be said for many of the establishments in the Mixing Bowl area). My one complaint is that it is pretty dark inside so if it is a sunny day be prepared to be blinded when you walk outside. But that definitely won't prevent me from returning. read more

Not the bar I go to most often, but ti would be if it was nearer to my home. Its the only place in Detroit that knows what I want when I walk in. "The Usual?" which at his location for me is a $1.75 16oz Miller Lite in a Can. They'll hand you the remote if you ask for it, meaning I can Watch Fox Soccer or Cartoon Network. Started going here when Mr. Joe's was closed for remodel and I havén't really been back to Joes'. All the food I've had here is great too. read more

TERRIBLE! Poor service and Blatant Disrespect! Wish I could give it less than 1 star.Waitress was acting like the drink police for no reason! Refusing to serve more than 1 drink, at a bar! RIDICULOUS! Will NEVER go back!! read more

The beer is cold but I am not sure I would eat much more than the chips in a bag. A dive bar in a strip mall. A fine place if your expectations are set properly. read more

Great local dive. Good service, good specials and good mini burgers.

We started out as three good baby-boomer, Viet Nam-era buddies who were just looking for a spot to meet once a week and have a decent lunch. Dave, Jeff and Rog. Somebody recommended to Jeff that Red Balloon was a decent place with good food. So we tried it one day. Jeff had never steered us wrong. Dave had the longest distance to travel. He was living in Clarkston. Jeff was from Troy. And me, I was living in Southfield. I think it's been about six years ago, 2007, that we had our first lunch at Red Balloon. We've been regulars there ever since. Except for Dave who now lives near Oscoda. (We miss you brother!) There are a combination of factors which have made our lunch-time choice easy to make. Fabulous, tasty food with ample, filling portions that never disappoint. Generous, flavorful drinks. Staff who are focused and attentive and treat you better than a brother. Comfortable, clean, atmosphere with adequate space between tables so you never feel claustrophobic. More than enough parking. And of course there are the HD televisions everywhere, plus Wi-Fi Internet access. Always a well-behaved bunch of customers at lunch-time. Never any annoying, disrespectful customers. So relax and enjoy the place. You will want to return and it will easily become your favorite. read more

They've completely redone this place since last time I was in there. It used to be that you couldn't see the TV for all the smoke, and when you got home, you'd have to put everything in the wash, or you'd smell like a ash tray. This is one place that has really benefited from the indoor smoking ban! They have enough TVs (but not super large screens), and they now have a digital jukebox (not overly loud either). They have lots of stuff on the menu, but the best thing is the burger. The fries are pretty good too. For a beer and burger place, I'd highly recommend this one now. read more

Balloons is a local dive bar and my husband and I love it. Great drinks and their chips and salsa are GREAT! We try to go as often as possible to unwind after a long week and enjoy ourselves each time. I also like that it's a nice mixed crowd! read more

A loyal customer for over 10 plus years staff is excellent, drinks are great I recommend steak bites, and Balloon burger always best bet..