Selden Standard

This place is good but I do think it’s a little overrated. It’s a cool place to hang out with friends and their food tastes good, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best I’ve tasted. Also I must warn you their portions are really small compared to other restaurants. I went there with my friends for dinner and I ordered the smoked potato and Spanish fried rice which were both pretty good! We also tried the pumpkin cheesecake and it was really good as well. I also want to mention that their service was kind of slow, especially when the place got crowded.

Best food in Detroit!
Octopus — Incredible taste and flavor
Scallops — really really good and tasty — soft and not hard at all
Acorn Squash — one of the best I have ever tasted, with the yogurt sauce and pomegranates it really gives it a unique taste
Lamb Chops — Incredible as well, full of flavor and taste. Not too cooked — super tender
Definitely try it!

I’ve been here for drinks at the bar a few times and it was fine, if a little pricey ($ 12 for a midrange bourbon?).
Stopped in for dinner last week and waited for a table. The wait was about 10 mins even though we could see 3 or 4 spots we could be sitting at. No that big of a deal until the hostess told us that the wait was not on account of space but the fact that they were «short staffed». We were finally seated and and waited. And waited. And waited. After about 15 mins of trying to get the attention of anyone who worked there, my companion went to the bar and asked for the manager. After a good long while a server appeared and asked us if we wanted drinks. We said that we’d like to speak to the manager to which he replyed «why? what’s wrong?». We told him about the wait and he said «oh yea, I didn’t know you were my table». I repeated that we’d like to see the manager and my companion asked for a glass of water. 10 mins later (we’d been seated for about 25 – 30 mins at this point) our server returned and said the manager was busy. Also, he’d forgotten the water. Our server asked again if we’d like to order but, at that point, we were late for our evening plans.
We got up, went to the entrance and asked the hostess if we could please speak to the manager. She smiled and walked off into the restaurant. After waiting for another 5 mins we cut our losses and split. We were there for over an hour and never even saw a glass of water. I would have loved to try the food but I think I’ll live.
Should be called Selden Low Standard.

Number 1 Roasted Beet Salad! Their beet salad is completely filling for a brunch entrée with house made ricotta, cranberry and spiced walnuts. It is absolutely delicious. We went here for brunch on a Sunday and they were definitely busy.
For a table for six, we had a 45 minute wait so we took seats and the bar and luckily over time six seats opened up. We ended up just dining at the bar because the bartenders were extremely knowledgeable and it was intriguing to watch them craft each cocktail. My boyfriend got the shrimp and grits and a side of tots which he absolutely loved.
Just a note — be prepared to wait for a table if you have a group, the good word is out about their brunch ;)

SHAME ON ME AND MY HUMBLEST APOLOGIES. it’s been 25days since my food awakening and I haven’t shared my thoughts. At first I needed to collect myself, there were no words to do justice to our meal. Then it became a «how was I to describe it any better than my other fine Unilocalers». And then, I simply wanted to keep it to myself.
This meal was my birthday dinner and preceded a little number called Grease, at the Fischer. We went on Halloween and we’re pleased to be seated right away. We made known we had a timeline to stick to and though we came close to blowing it, we did not.
We ordered four dishes– charred octopus, smoked potatoes, tuna, and beef tartare. I’ve never eaten food like this. I’ve never wanted to lick the plate at such a fine establishment. The tartare tasted smoked in a way, the chick peas with the octopus just had to be on the plate. Ray ordered a cocktail that I finished, that was yummy too.

By far the best food experience I’ve had in Michigan. Five stars include the food, liquor, hostesses, bartenders, wait staff & ambience/​décor. Everything was top notch without being pretentious. Love this place! This is one of those places that will bring Detroit back up. How exciting and inspiring.
Every dish we had was complex in flavors. Fresh local seasonal ingredients and a mix of culinary flavors from around the world. Tapas style, so made to share, which makes the dining experience even better.
The vegetable dishes can make me a vegetarian. Had the most amazing grilled acorn squash served on greek yogurt, sprinkled with toasted walnuts, mint & pomegranate seeds. Roasted beets on house ricotta, cranberries and nuts. Yum. The polenta with mushrooms, with a poached egg in the center, sprinkled with a pesto concoction was also memorable. The lobster salad was light and refreshing, served with a coconut milk and citrusy vinaigrette type sauce. The whole grill trout was a show stopper. Butterflied and filleted, grilled, served with smashed fingerling potatoes was amazing as well. I could go on and on. Wish I lived closer, would eat here every week. Food prices are reasonable as well. Can’t get this quality & experience for cheaper.
A must try for all foodies and non-​foodies alike.

Very creative and expertly prepared food.
I thought the house made bread was amazing. Bread, who would of thought!
I had the mushroom polenta. The mushrooms were earthy, the polenta creamy and decadent. The greens on top that were then drizzled with something I can’t recall I found to be very bitter.
The Octopus was extremely tender, but heavy on the pesto. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Carrot cake was light on the cream cheese frosting which was nice as I have to watch the sugar. In fact it was almost like a deconstructed dessert, very cool.
My lady friend had the beet salad, the gnocchi, and the campfire sundae and raved about them all.

My husband and I went for brunch. We were seated right away and our waitress was friendly. However, she underestimated our ability to consume an absurd amount of food. We showed her! Everything was delicious. We will be back for dinner soon!

Had New Year’s Eve dinner here, and boy oh boy did this place live up to the hype.
They had some great New Years specials going on, including the New York strip. The chef here recently worked at Roast, so the strip was perfectly done. 45 dollars well spent. It practically melted in your mouth. The tuna crudo was another special that impressed eve one at the table– raw tuna with grapefruit and avocado.
On the menu: gnocchi and lamb ragu were our favorite plates off the regular menu. Vegetable carpaccio, lobster salad, and scallops made everyone happy campers. Overall, an amazing meal– everyone left happy and satisfied.

This is my favorite restaurant in Detroit right now. I love everything about this place — the food, the drinks, the décor, the staff, the location. Everything. Yes, it’s busy. And yes, you’ll have to wait. But the drinks are great… so just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
My top choices for food: kale caesar, cauliflower (with pickled veg and tahini sauce), spinach gnocchi, rabbit ragu, beef tartare. Keep in mind the menu changes, and keep in mind that most of it is awesome.
Great wine list, great craft drinks.
I could go on and on, but I think that it’s better if you just go check it out for yourself. If you want to be seated right away, then try going right when they open.

One of the best dining experiences we have had! We heard about this place through a waitress at another restaurant who said that she used to work with the chef here and that it was epic. She was not wrong.
I first have to say that the prices seem crazy cheap for the types of dishes and quality of food. Second the efficiency of the wait staff and kitchen truly shows through.
To start we had some cocktails at the bar, both gin drinks I had were seriously good, and the old fashioned our guests had was great as well.
For food we had a little of everything from the flatbread with pancetta and pear, to the Spanish squid fried rice, even the duck ragu. All were not only good but phenomenal and bursting with flavor. The textures also worked perfectly and really made for a fun meal. Portions were all fair but not overwhelming.
For desert we had the smore Sunday which was delightfully rich and flavorful.
There was even free entertainment! A crazy guy was dancing outside the window, apparently he is there often!

Came here with a group of 4 on a Tue night in December. Very nice smell in the restaurant! (must be the wood burning oven). We had reservations which meant only a short wait (since we arrived early). Very well organized hostesses resulted in the crowd being managed well.
We got a bunch of different dishes. I think the pasta stuffed with sweet potato was the best (and indeed creative). Flat bread, duck ragu, & lamb chops were all good.
The only thing that we felt let down by was the décor. It is very plain and uninteresting. Steel chairs, plain tables, etc. We were at Bistro 82 a few weeks earlier, and their décor was awesome, while the food disappointed. Combine the two and Selden would set the standard. :)

3.5 stars
Let me preface by saying that I was really torn on what to rate this place after one visit. Straddling between 3 and 4 stars, I couldn’t really decide which direction to head, but finally came to 3.5 stars — yeah, that pretty much sums up the entire evening from start to finish.
We’ve been wanting to try this place for the longest time, long before it even became Freep’s Restaurant of the Year 2015. Mind you, we’ve never been one to go to a restaurant right at opening, but this place had me wanting to go at its beginnings.
Fast forward to this past Saturday, we had a 5:30pm reservation and was seated promptly. It didn’t take a long time for our waiter, Harrison, to greet us. Husband started with a Czech Republic ale and we perused the menu. Keep in mind that the menu changes seasonally, so what we had was reflective of this night.
We decided on 4 small plates to share — half dozens oyster, scallops, duck ragu, and grilled lamb chops. Here’s a quick breakdown of each:
1– Oysters ($ 18): We had a Kumamoto variety, and they were very fresh, but the mignonette was so unbalanced in flavor. It was overly sour, and I like my sour profiles, but this was just over-​the-​top sour with nothing else. Texturally, the shallots were not diced fine enough, and it just overwhelmed the sweeter flavor of the oyster itself. Still, the temperature of the oysters were great.
2– Scallops ($ 20): Two measly sea scallops that weren’t even seared on both sides. I haven’t encountered that in a REALLY long time, and I didn’t expect to see that here. As a result, the scallops were dry and lacked the springy texture that we both love about scallops. The sauce was not complementary to the scallops, and the meyer lemon was off putting. Carrot texture was nice but that was about all that we liked. Dill didn’t do much to enhance the dish flavor wise and texturally. Honestly, this dish confused me in both execution and flavor pairings. I wouldn’t get it just because the value was not there.
3– Duck Ragu ($ 18): Liked this dish a lot. Good flavors, fair portion, and the duck meat wasn’t dry or chewy. Loved the roasted root vegetables; those were a pleasant surprise. The mushrooms were divine, but if you’re not a mushroom fan, I’d either skip this dish altogether or ask them to omit it. However, it really livens up the entire dish. The pasta variety was unique and nicely al dente. It was my first time having this type of pasta, but it reminded me of a mini lasagna noodle. Yum. This one is worth getting.
4– Grilled lamb chops ($ 21): Yum-​O. Whomever manned their grill knows what they’re doing. These chops were perfectly grilled, and the charred flavor came through without being overwhelming. The yogurt, tabbouleh, and pine nuts had the perfect balance with the meat, and the quantity was spot on. I would have liked a 3^rd chop honestly, but this was the highlight of the entire meal.
Afterwards, Husband and I both agreed that the lamb chops and duck ragu were worth getting, and felt that we would have been a lot happier if we skipped the scallops and got two orders of the lamb chops.
As a side note — they have homemade bread and butter, and we tried it, and it was lackluster. Wouldn’t recommend getting it, as it was just a standard white bread with no flavor whatsoever. Really surprising to us.
Overall, the evening was okay. We weren’t amazed or impressed with the food as a whole and the service. Our waiter was good, but he just wasn’t attentive and we felt that he just wanted to get us out of there really quick. For a $ 100 meal for two people, we just expected a lot more, in not only the quantity and quality, but the professionalism of the wait staff.
I will mention that the ladies in the front of house and the ones who brought our food were delightful and lovely. They deserve the recognition. However, I can’t say the same for our waiter, Harrison.
As of now, we’re not interested in coming back, but who knows, maybe down the line in the New Year, we’ll change our minds.

Stopped by for brunch with a girlfriend and had a wonderful experience!!! Lovely service, love the décor and ambiance, and the food was delicious.
I tried the sweet roll and chilaquiles. The sweet roll is so decadent, sweet, and flavorful. I wanted to order more to take home but totally forgot. The chilaquiles came in a large portion and was very filling.
Can’t wait to return to try Selden standard for dinner! Also love that they have a dedicated parking lot.

This is certainly one of the best in Detroit. The ambiance is modern and inviting. We had reservations and were seated immediately. We started by splitting a roasted beet salad and it was excellent. For entrees my wife then had the scallops and I ordered the chorizo grilled sausage – we shared and both were outstanding. For dessert my wife got the Tarte Tatin and I got a cheese plate — both were exceptional.
Then my wife told our wait person we were celebrating our 52^nd anniversary and they gave us both desserts – unbelievable!
Jarvis H was a perfect wait person.
The only I thing that I think could improve this place is parking. I was lucky to find a place on the street directly in front of the door with lots of light, but there were a lot of cars on less well lighted streets and I did not see a lot of security. They should consider some options.

When I told others I would be traveling to Detroit the typical (non-​Detroiter) response was, sorrow and regret. Mine was totally different. After a fabulous meal at Forest Grill (which I now understand to be close down) I really wanted to eat at Seldon Standard.
Upon opening the door the scent of wood burning and flavor attacked you. After eating the great food stayed with you.
Roasted Red Potatoes prepared Raclette-​style with full dill flavor and pickled onion and cheese were offered as a side but served me well as an appetizer. The Shrimp over fries green tomatoes and cheesy grits was spicy and comfortable. A bittersweet chocolate gelato ended the meal in a perfect way.
Two takeaways from my visit. Never underestimate a city’s culinary fortitude and always play to the strength of the restaurant. Think wood fired, think tasty, think Detroit and think Seldon Standard.

I want to just say the 3 stars are borderline 4. Maybe because of the hype and the praise that I’ve been hearing from A LOT of people. Sometimes all that talk, you almost expect the restaurant to bring out dishes that’ll floor that crap out of you, but it just sorta never came.
Lunch with my parents and aunts that were visiting from Sacramento. This seemed like a fitting place to bring them to. I arrived just a 15 minutes right after the opened the door, they arrived soon after. The dining area is really nice. Their main focal point is the beautiful wood burning oven behind the bar and open kitchen. The inside dining area has some kind of a minimalist theme going on. It’s nicely laid out together with the industrial ceilings, but the back patio dining space is probably a nicer place to be. Too bad it was raining at the time.
The lunch menu was pretty small, but ok, I’ve been to spots like this. They focus only a few items since lunch is always a rush. So I ordered the seafood plate and a bowl of lentil soup with bacon. The soup was phenomenal, specially when you scoop some up with the smoky toasted bread. I almost want to say that you should make a pilgrimage here just for that bread. My entrée for some reason wasn’t all that impressive.
The service was great, sodas are served in a bottle, not that stuff extracted from a machine. Nice! That’s very cool as well, specially the Mexican regular coke.
It was a pleasant experience, yes it was, I’ll see you for dinner one of these days Selden Standard. Thank you for the experience.
Follow me on Instagram and snapchat: rodtorres3

All I want to talk about is the duck sausage. You can probably read about it in the religious text of your choice or see it being enjoyed by royals and the elite in classical European paintings. Beautiful.
This is definitely a place where you want to order a bunch of stuff and share. When I went everyone wanted to order their own thing which was baffling to me and I see it as a grave mistake.

This place is really cool. From the moment you park (even the parking lot is spiffy looking) until the moment you pull away (behold, Old Miami is nearby for one more drank!), Selden Standard is a really fun place to nosh and imbibe. I must say that my review comes with high expectations of a restaurant voted «best of» — I had the pleasure of being completely rocked hard by Rose’s Luxury in DC not long ago, so that experience has set the bar incredibly high.
It was an early night for dinner — I think we arrived around 5:30, and diners were sparse. We decided to eat at the bar, so we sat on the most comfy bar stools, ever, and we ordered drinks from the incredibly relaxed bartenders. In fact, it was all so relaxed that they needed to refresh quite a bit on the new items, specials, daily cheeses, etc — thank goodness they keep crib notes. I suppose that in hindsight, the dining room wait staff may be more well-​versed on the food items than the bar staff, but I have only eaten at the bar during my two visits there. I had a Crooked Tree IPA to start, and my sister had the Transit of Venus — I was jealous because my sip of her drink made me want to trade in my IPA :)
Food is excellent. Here are the highlights: the fabulous home baked bread and butter was so amazing, it inspired me to get my bread baking game back on– super soft with a perfect crust! We had dessert first — a trio of local cheeses with a deeelicious rhubarb jam, the roasted asparagus with dill/​lemon/​feta — amazing balance of flavors with the creamy feta and citrus (omgg!), the charred octopus with citrus /​fennel/​olive/​saffron, and my favorite — the duck sausage with veggies/​fish sauce/​fried shallots– an asian– inspired morsel of perfection!
The meal as a whole was very good, and I will have to sit in the dining room for a meal the next time for the full effect Selden Standard experience.

Finally made it for dinner and it was even better than my lunch experience.
It was a busy Thursday night and a wait for two was about a half hour. We were okay with that but then I a couple of seats opened up at the bar so we snagged those instead. It actually was really perfect for sharing plates since we were next to each other so I would recommend it if you’re not into waiting for a table.
We were both starving and feeling a bit baller-​like that day so we decided to just splurge and get whatever sounded good. This meant we went through more than a few plates and cocktails. On the docket? A few dishes off the veggie part of the menu: mushroom toasts (with house ricotta, ramps, greens, aged balsamic), spinach & ricotta gnocchi (with morels, peas, crispy prosciutto) and my beloved kale caesar salad (crispy chicken skin, lemon, sourdough croûton). Plus a few dishes off the meat & fish menu: beef tartare (grilled bread, quail egg, herb salad), charred octopus (fennel, citrus, olive, saffron), and duck sausage (spring veggies, fish sauce, fried shallot). Every single dish was amazing. I would order them again and again. It’s hard to really pick a favorite since they were all so fantastic but I’d say the octopus, mushroom toasts, and the duck sausage were probably my favorites.
I also had a couple of cocktails for the first time and they were also incredible. If you like sweet sips I’d highly recommend the two I had – Stacy’s Holiday (gin, hibiscus syrup, cucumber, lime) and the Peruvian Punch (kaffir-​infused pisco, pineapple, lemon, Cardamaro, nutmeg).
To wrap things up we also went HAM on some desserts – the strawberry rhubarb sundae (with salt & pepper ice cream and shortbread, plus some delicious strawberry rhubarb sorbet) and the apricot chèvre tart. Both, again, were excellent but in particular I loved the sundae. I seriously cannot stop thinking about it.
I hadn’t seen my friend in a while so between the food, drinks, and catch up we definitely closed the place down. And luckily for us they weren’t rude or rushing us out which I appreciated.
Prices are higher than most places in the area but it was worth every single penny I spent. I’m seriously already counting down the days till I can return.