Basement Burger Bar

Definitely a cool spot in downtown Farmington to grab a bite and get a pint. Its a little too pricey for me but it would be a nice spot to drink with friends. I got some loaded burger that tasted pretty good but it was a huge mess. It had cheese sticks on it that shot out of the burger the moment I took a bite. My server was nice and the other server looked like she was working well but the bartender was a jerk to me the moment I started talking to him. Every table was full but not one person sitting at the bar. I wonder why.

I looked up where I could find the best burger in Detroit and this place came up with rave reviews. I even got lost trying to find this place but I made it there.
Parking is around the back way. Maybe I’m dense but it took a little bit to understand where this place was, but the name says it all… Follow the droves of people walking into a building and heading downstairs.
I carried out, but the waitresses were friendly, helpful and courteous. The atmosphere is laid back.
About the burger, yea it was great. I ordered the a Bacon Cheeseburger and enjoyed every bite. It smelled so good that I couldn’t wait to get back home, I started on it in the car and all I had left was a small square to let my husband try.
Overall, Id’d def go back again. I gave 4 stars because I’d like to try other options to definitely give it a for sure 5.

I love the build a burger options!
They even have a very tasty turkey burger!
Only place I know that has fresh sliced avocado and guacamole.
I had the turkey burger with avocado, banana rings (yess), grilled and sautéed onions.
I am very persnickety about sauces, as most of them are dairy based – yuck.
I went with an old standby of barbeque sauce.
I liked the tator tot option instead of fries.
I tried about two different types of beer (don’t recall names) but one had ginger (yeech) in it.
My server gladly took it back, no charge. Much appreciated, as I am a beer drinking novice. I will dabble but not my thing to drink beer.
I will definitely return!

I had no idea until recently that this place was right next to my house. The burger I had was delicious, I had bison meat which isn’t available everywhere and it was cooked perfectly, tender and tasty. I have to take away one star for the strange ditzy waitress who brought me the wrong drink, other than that small detail I really enjoyed the food and atmosphere of BBB.

I have started to make it a point to only write reviews on establishments that I’ve been to more than once so I can give a more accurate review. This place is so good. I have now been here multiple times and my Kobe beef burger with thousand island, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions (aka in n’out burger). Side of chili cheese tots to go with it or some sweet potato fries. They have karaōke nights, gets a little loud (I know gramps status) and great deals with happy hour. I know I will be coming back soon… Maybe tonight!

BBB is my favorite burger joint around. Always good craft beers on tap, tasty appetizers, and a burger prepared exactly how I like it. Bacon, cheddar cheese, and an egg. It’s like having breakfast for dinner with a side of tater tots.

A lot of talk about this place, but it doesn’t live up to it. Very expensive for burgers especially in Detroit where there are burger, and coney places everywhere. Staff was very poor with their service. Will not return.

Waitstaff was great, very friendly and attentive. Good burger and the ordering process was fun! Nice warm basement, good atmosphere. My Bloody Mary was too tangy for my taste, but my hub loved his craft beer. All in all really enjoyed our time!

I cam here earlier this week on Thanksgiving Eve. The restaurant was pretty busy. Let me preface this by saying that my standards for burgers are somewhat high.
I liked that you can mark exactly what you want on your burger. I was also very impressed by the variety of choices. I got a 6 oz beef burger with sautéed mushrooms, grilled onions, spring greens and garlic mayo with a white bun. I loved the texture of the bun — it was fluffy and had volume. The burger itself was juicy and cooked to the right temperature. The other toppings were also cooked well and the garlic mayo was delicious. The beer battered fries were seasoned well.
The service was a bit slow — it was better in the beginning but got gradually worse.

Tucked away in downtown Farmington is this gem. While it lives up to it’s name (it’s actually situated within the basement of a building) its food is above and beyond your average burger establishment.
Getting to the burger bar is in and of itself a fun little adventure. You can park on the street or opt to park in the back parking lot. There are signs everywhere pointing you in the direction of where to go, but being that it’s in a ‘basement’, by default you’ll be traveling down.
Dark, dimly lit, with TV’s on every other wall its screams ‘bar’ as soon as you enter. Heavy wood accents and a loud atmosphere on a busy day/​night, its feels right at home if you’re into the whole casual, let’s sit, drink a beer, and watch the game kind of thing.
They have a full bar, bottled beers, and carry Atwater brewery on tap, so enough option to please all alcoholics alike! Their menu offers a good amount of starters which I find convenient considering stopping in for a drink, and then adding on an app is a common thing in this setting. It ranges from nachos, to chicken wings, Frickles (Fried Pickles), and Mac n Cheese Bites. Everything I have tried has been delicious all around, but you really can’t go wrong with anything that’s friend, covered in cheese, or smothered in delicious sauce.
While their menu has a good amount of choices for main entrees, I’m here to tell you that building your own burger would be in your best interest. You start off with what type of bun you would like, and while I love myself a good burger from time to time, when I’m here I always opt for no bun and extra veggies, I’ll explain this in a bit. Then moving on to proteins they have everything from Kobe beef, to bison, and turkey which all are made in house. They also have vegetarian options like falafel, portabella mushroom cap, and a black bean patty which I have yet to get around to trying, but from what I’ve heard is delicious.
Then you have sauces. I can’t even explain to you how hard it is to choose just one. When I get to this section I get that hesitation as if I’m taking a test and this menu is my scantron. What makes it even harder is the fact that majority of them are made in house! Pesto, garlic aioli, chipotle mayo, the list goes one. This section is maybe three columns long, and I always ask for some of the sauces on the side when I can’t decide on just one.
As if picking a sauce to accompany your burger wasn’t hard enough the toppings make it that much harder. Sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, avocado, guacamole, peppers, the list goes on. You also have the premium toppings like frickles, mozzarella sticks, mac n cheese? For me that’s a bit overboard, but there’s a customer for everything, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a sucker for a good mozzarella stick. Then they give you the option of what kind of leafy greens you want, then finally, cheese options.
Once I hand my filled out menu to the waiter, I always feel a sense of relief and then excitement. There’s really no way to mess up such a good thing, and you can never go wrong, but it is exciting seeing your burger concoction come to life.
Now let me explain the deliciousness of their quality of food. Their in house made patties are amazing. While I don’t eat red meat I have had their turkey burger and chicken breast. Sounds lame right? But their turkey burger is juicy, flavorful, and you almost forget that it’s turkey. And while hesitant to try their chicken breast (since if it’s not cooked right it can get dried out) I almost forgot that I was in fact eating chicken breast since it was cooked so well! I forego the bread solely because the integrity of the ingredients are so good and flavorful.
This is an overall great place to go with a group of friends to enjoy some burgers and brews, and while it does say ‘bar’ in the name, they do have a kids menu, so don’t hesitate to bring the little ones! Happy Eating!

Arrived about 12:45 AM and sat at a table, at 1:05 I opted to go to the bar to see if anyone would actually take care of me. The bartender got me a menu and a drink. My burger arrived incomplete, as it did not have mustard or mayo on it as I had ordered. Got the condiments requested once I was nearly finished, must have forgotten my second request as there was only one other patron in the building by this point. I found my own to go containers since the bartender went outside to smoke, cashed out with the cook, guaranteed never to return…
The bison burger I ordered was fair, though as I mentioned not prepared correctly as the boxes were checked in regards to what I wanted. Overall definitely not worth a return visit…

Went here for lunch this past Monday. Got the bison cheeseburger. It was pretty awesome I’m not gunna lie. They cooked it perfectly as well. Sweet potato fries with the cinnamon dipping sauce made for an awesome dessert. Will definitely be back and maybe trying one of their other burger combos, or even the build your own. They also offer no bun option and extra veggies if you are trying to avoid the carbs.

Went back today… Only four days later… This time with my mom and four days into my Weight Watcher plan. Happy to report that YES!, you can eat well and lose weight at a burger bar!
I ordered off of the Build-​your-​Own salad menu, substituting grilled portobello for the meat, and then adding all the veggies. The portobello is marinated and grilled and is so tasty, you won’t miss the meat.
And I loved the homemade honey mustard dressing. (It comes on the side)
I suggest choosing the romaine over the spring leaf lettuce because it holds up well under the weight of all those toppings.
I noticed the toppings on the salad side were much more limited that on the burger menu. I should’ve asked if I could add the sunny side egg on top of the salad, I’m sure they would’ve complied. In fact, the waitress brought me a second portobello for my salad because the kitchen thought the one I revived was too small! (I thought it was so big!). So that just shows how super accommodating they are…

I can’t express how much I love this place. My husband and I usually go after 10 for happy hour. We have tried almost all of their appetizers and many combinations of burgers and salads (build your own is the way to go) and we have always had a great meal.
Their taps rotate frequently, most of the time they have all new taps if we wait a week before coming back.
Always great service. Way better than the secondary location in Canton (we don’t go there anymore).
We easily eat here 1 – 2 times per week.

I’ve been back a few times since my initial review. I’ve realized that I like this place for their other menu items. Again, I think the burgers are okay but not particularly spectacular. However some other items are really delicious. The pulled pork sliders are awesome! The nachos are delicious as are the chicken tenders. Their cocktails are also really, really good and decently priced.
I like the ambiance of the place, the waitstaff is always friendly and prompt.

BBB is quite a hot spot in town. With it being in close quarters, in a basement, it gets pretty noisy.
When we first sat down an ordered our appetizer, it came out within 3 – 5 minutes. The Mac and cheese bites were delicious and so were the frikles!
For our dinner, you can either build your own salad or build your own burger. My whole family chose burgers and somehow it’s taken over a half an hour for a couple of burgers.
The waitress was very accommodating by giving us a free appetizer card because of the wait and in the beginning she spilt all 5 drinks all over the floor, table, and my sister. I felt so bad for her, it wasn’t her fault though.
Overall, nice place, would probably come again if I’m in town!

Say Unilocal reader, do you like basements? Do you like burgers? Do you like casual restaurants placed in basements and therefore considered a bar? Then do I have a place for you! Nestled next to a lovely funeral home in downtown Farmington Hills, this place is like a mortuary for your appetite.
With build your own hamburgers featuring numerous exotic topics such as lettuce, pickles, tomatoes and more, consumers can make their hamburgers like a modern day Dave Thomas. Even if you don’t have a ginger daughter named Wendy, you can lather on mushrooms, random cheeses and serve up that angus beef of brioche.
Feeling extra salty, try it on a pretzel bun and wash it down with a microbrew. They have a large selection of local beers that have varying amounts of alcohol which could impact your ability to drive, operate machinery or give birth to properly functioning child.
They also have a full bar and TVs so you can be front and center as SportsCenter covers the most recent NFL scandal du jour.

I visit BBB Farmington pretty regularly. They’ve come a long way from when they first opened. I think the restaurant is better than ever today. The menu pretty much features a build your own burger dry erase /​checkbox style set of choices and now has build your own salad on the back if that’s what you want. The number of choices has increased over the years. For example they added the pretzel bun, vegetarian options and variations on some awesome adders like fried egg over easy or over hard (over easy is my fave!).
They’ve also expanded their beer selections and feature a number of craft beers on tap including the newly opened Farmington Brewery just a couple doors away from this location. Excellent!
They also recently changed over all their TV’s to nicer HD flat screens all around. They really do look great and there are many TV’s here despite it being a relatively small space.
The «basement» part of the bar has grown on me over time and I find it to be kind of a unique space in this way; there’s not many other restaurants that are below grade. I went to the other BBB in Canton which is not in a basement /​below grade an immediately felt like «this is not the BBB!». Sunlight! Vampires! Bad!!! Not knocking the place as their food is just as good as this Farmington location but ya know it’s all about being true to the name.
If you’re looking for good apps the frickles are really good. They recently added these buffalo tots and they are good if you like something like Frank’s Red Hot (I do). The portion size of the tots is huge so if you tackle it on your own you might not have room for a burger too, which is the star of the show. If you don’t like your burger, it’s your own fault since you specified exactly how it’s built! :-)

The burger joint where they make it EXACTLY the way you like it, right?
Well, almost…,
The selection for burger toppings, sauces, buns (and even meat!) are far greater than other places I’ve been to. Perfect for making your own personal ‘designer burger’ but on the night I went (with a party of 10) the quality of meat was off and no one had it cooked the way they ordered it. Some of us got the Kobe which surprisingly had lots of gristle and made for a not so pleasant burger. Others got bison which seemed good. Some of us asked for our burgers rare and got full well-​done patties. Others asked for well-​done and had pink showing in every bite. For picky eaters (I include myself!) the way you cook the meat can definitely affect taste. A rare burger tastes different than a well done one. So if you’re expecting this place to make something the way you’ve asked, the answer is a little bit ‘yes’ and a little bit ‘no’.
On the other hand, their appetizers were delicious and they have a nice selection of beer. I like that it’s in downtown Farmington but may not suit the palate for burger aficionados. I’d be willing to give it another try though. Could have been an ‘off’ night.

I’m a big fan of this place and after Saturday’s visit I realized I had never posted a review for this specific location. Much like the Canton location, the food is great and the atmosphere is super fun. Don’t come here expecting anything fancy, but do come hungry for a good burger, a beer and your favorite team playing on several televisions around the restaurant.
The reason for the 5 stars is the awesome attention my group was given on my last visit. There was 14 of us, we had called ahead for a reservation and walked in to find a table with reserved signs on it waiting for us. If you haven’t been here, this place is pretty small. So, our group of 14 took up quite a bit of space. We were there for a really late lunch or a very early dinner, but the place was still pretty full. I was very thankful they let us make the reservation. Our waitress was super on the ball! The food came out at the same time, all at the correct temperatures, and all delicious (you would be surprised how many places get this wrong when they have a big order).
I would go back in a heart beat… although you will probably find me at the Canton location because it’s within walking distance of my house!