Dirty Trick

Hasn’t been opened for over a year. Someone needs to get this prime real estate and do something with it!

Just walked by this place on the way back from picking up lunch at the Bucharest. What kind of self respecting place has a bad ass looking skeleton on the awning yet is playing «Take It Easy» by the Eagles?! What the fail.

You mean to tell me they serve minors? What a great bar that might close because of some selfish girl.

Solid bar, good location, decent prices, good crowd, DJ, music, pool table, dancing, what more can you ask for?
If you think that $ 4 for a can of beer, literally across the street from Comerica Park is too high, perhaps you should «GET F#*KED.» Everywhere around there charges the same or more. Location, location, location. State Theather, Elwood, Rub Pub, etc. are no cheaper. If you can’t afford it, stay home
These aren’t «Comerica Park Prices» outside of the park. If you’ve actually had the money to go inside you’d realize that they charge $ 8+ per beer inside the park. These are normal prices for any bar in the area on game day.

If you’re checking out a show at the Fillmore or a game at Comerica, it’s hard to find a better spot this close to the stadium. The staff here is great and they have a great beer selection and solid food. Feels like the neighborhood bar, but classed up a bunch.

Beer ice cold, great music, good ppl.

I brought a group of about 30 people to the Dirty Trick on Saturday, after Louis offered to take us on when other downtown area bars and restaurants either ignored me or required a hefty fee for a group that big.
Lots of small tables were set up together for us and service was great the few hours we were there before the game. I didn’t eat but everyone who did said their food was good, drinks were strong and we all had a great time. I will definitely make this my pregaming spot when I’m in town from now on.

We love this Bar! We always have a lot of fun there. It really makes our stays in Detroit more fun : —)
We defently come back next year!

$ 4 for a regular can of beer are you out your f%$#ing mind?
Yeah I realize that you now have another borough of the Grosse Pointes on your doorstep (the Broderick Tower), but charging Comerica Park prices for beer? Get f%$#ed. This isn’t Manhattan yet, bucko, so let’s get our heads back out of the clouds here. We’re still in a Midwestern shithole, not monocle-​ville.
For full disclosure, I did not go here by choice, but was somewhat dragged here by a friend. The crowd is yuppytopian /​rich hipster doing key bumps in the bathroom cause it makes them feel gangsta or something, cause they in the D now, yo.
Pfft whatever.

I brought a friend here after speaking to her very highly of it’s former namesake, The Hard Luck Lounge. It is the same layout, the same decoration, and the same good atmosphere. The drinks have went from the delicious Hard Luck Candy Vodka concoctions to more simple ones, but they still serve quality drinks. I would highly recommend stopping in here before or after an event happening in the area, to get the full effect of the place because it was dead when we went in there on an average Wednesday.

Still like the bar for it’s location and atmosphere. We did eat here and the food is not all that great. Mostly bar style appetizers. Good for something in the stomache while you drink but not a pace to go just for a good meal. (it was busy in there when we ordered food so that could have been part of the quality, not sure)

I’m maybe a couple years overdue getting to Dirty Trick. I haven’t been through those doors since Proof left… maybe out of protest, I don’t know.
But anyway, I ventured in on a day where there was a free Jameson tasting.
I ponied up to the bar and was given a warm, friendly welcome by Lou — one of the owners. He introduced me to some of the other guests and made me feel really welcome. He included me in the conversation and called me by my name. Cheers, anyone? He and his wife were pretty awesome.
It’s apparently a hot spot during baseball season, as it’s right across the street from Comerica Park. It’s just a few steps from The Fillmore Theater and a block or so from the Fox Theater. Prime Location. It’s quaint and somewhat dark inside… the lighting in that location has always been dark and cave-​like, though. The décor was still (Hard Luck) themed (which was an awesome match), but it fit.
The Jameson tasting was awesome — very informative and the Jameson Ambassador was not stingy with the tastings. It was small and informal and it’d be great to see more events like that at the Dirty Trick.

Great place to warm up before a Tigers game. Just a short walk from the stadium. The bartenders are attentive, quick and friendly. The pours can be generous and the prices are fair for Detroit. The atmosphere is great. Make sure to check out the pic of the former mayor of Detroit by the door. I will hitting this place up when I go to a Tigers game.

Love this place; Lou is the best!

First time in, very impressed. Cheap drink specials (especially after leaving the tigers game but cheap compared to any other time too.
The DJ spinning the tunes was tight, played a crazy mix of music. My friends and I all hung out and enjoyed ourselves for a few hours last night.
I will definitely be going back next time I’m in the downtown area.
Staff was quick and friendly as well.
I hope next time I go in they will be a little busier, was surprised they weren’t as busy as I thought they would be especially after a tigers game. Hey their loss and my gain.

This spot has seen some turn over. About 4 years ago, it was still Proof. Then, reopened as the Hard Luck Lounge Detroit location. And now, it’s the Dirty Trick.*
This is a great location, down the block from the Fox theatre and across the street from Comerica park. On game/​event days, it’s a hopping spot full of folks from the suburbs visiting downtown. On off days, you can find it full of regulars and locals — lots of folks hang here who live in the Fyfe apartments upstairs, along with the business professionals who stop in for happy hour, and other randoms who make their way in. Lower lighting makes a nice ambiance in the evening, but during the day the space fills with light from the floor-​to-​ceiling windows.
There is security/​door staff that checks IDs when you come in, at least on game days. The bartenders are friendly and efficient. They have a food menu but they don’t serve food all the time, I think only on game days or something. If you liked flavored vodkas, this is your place.
The biggest gripe I have is the prices. A Miller Lite bottle is $ 4 regularly, even on a weeknight when there’s nothing going on. I get it for game days, but on a slow Monday night? Take it down a buck fifty, please. They free pour the mixed drinks so you will likely get better bang for your buck drinking those.
Not my first choice of spot, but I’ve never had a bad time here either.
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*Dirty Trick is basically just Hard Luck with a new name — everything else is the same. Apparently when Hard Luck opened, the owner had partnered with the guy who owns the Grosse Pointe Hard Luck, and they figured the name recognition would be better for business. And that partnership has now dissolved. So they changed the name, but kept the same owner, same staff, same menu, décor, etc.

Bartenders are super friendly & fast at work. Their liquor selection is 50% flavored vodkas, but they did have Bulleit bourbon back there which is worth a mention I guess. They also carry a bottle of Angostura bitters but don’t seem to know what to do with it (though they encouraged me to walk them through my cocktail of choice). I watched them repeatedly free-​pour drinks that use sour apple or vanilla or mandarin vodkas, so if that’s your thing, they’re more than expert. At least on my last visit, they were makin’ everyone’s drinks pretty strong — nice healthy pours.
The music’s a little loud but mixed (in an hour they transitioned from garage rock to hip-​hop mash-​ups). They’ve got a tv or two up at the bar to stare at. The space is long and narrow, which might get a little jammed when they’re busy, though both times I’ve been here it wasn’t that full. It’s got a nice anonymous corner bar feel when it’s dead, not in the local hang-​out kind of way, but in the wandering-​drifter kind of way. I can only imagine it gets a little ape shit in here after a baseball game, being right across the street from the stadium.

We initially thought this was the RUB GRUB Pub BBQ place initially due to the huge neon light outside. But we were mistaken. They have food just not on the night when we went so we decided to stay and have a drink instead of turning on our heels and leaving. The staff and owner were there and they were friendly enough. My friend enjoyed the Michigan garage rock that was playing over the speaker system. While I enjoyed my Strongbow Cider. It was nicely decorated and not run down at all. Plus the ladies’ room was super clean. My only complaint is that the live music there pretty much sounded the same and it reminded me of some kind of Kid Rock acoustic cover.