The Root Restaurant & Bar

We moved to the area back in Aug, and heard good things about Root. Craving a gourmet burger, but not wanting to sit down at a restaurant, we decided to make our first experience a carry out one. The staff was very friendly and efficient over the phone when ordering, and the pickup process was as well. The burger was exactly what we were looking for. Rustic, unique and delicious. The beef, pickled onion, and aioli all played very well together. Each complimenting the next without over powering the burger meat itself. Looking forward to sitting down and enjoying an evening in house for our next visit.

Came hungry
Left hungry
Small portions of over thought food by a chef that doesn’t get it
Scallops came out under cooked twice
Pork came out on polenta tasteless mush
Learn how to season your food Root boy

Truly enjoy the freshness of their amazing menu. This the best restaurant and waitstaff around bar none.

Had an OK experience. The guacamole was amazing, sangria amazing. The wait wasn’t long at all. But our server was awful I think he came to our table twice the whole time we never got new drinks we saw the water guy a lot but we only saw our waiter when he took our order (we got our drinks at the bar while we waited) and when he brought us our check. The people we saw were the food runners and the kid cleaning our plates and giving us water. I’m not giving it a terrible review because other than the service being terrible the food was excellent.

I visited during Sunday Brunch. Their biscuit & gravy was delicious. It’s huge, so I recommend splitting it. I had their lemon ricotta pancakes. The rich cream texture, the sourness of the lemon, and the sweetness of the syrup blended together perfectly. They were amazing. The only thing that wasn’t perfect was the French Press coffee. Perhaps Root prefers to focus on the food, because the coffee was mediocre. Otherwise a great meal!

I love the root. I’ve been here for brunch and dinner many times and the menu never fails. My favorite thing in the dinner menu is the chat grilled burger and the root salad. The burger is grass fed beef and the burger is never greasy. It is simply delicious and comes topped with shredded lettuce, pickled onions, tomato and a special yummy sauce. I order it with no tomato and add Michigan white cheddar. I also recommend the charcuterie board and the cheese board for an appetizer. All the options and accompaniments were so rich and delicious. Tonight we had the kimchee and shrimp soup which had a hint of spice. For dinner we had the burger, of course, the root salad and tacos because it was $ 2.00 Taco Tuesday! They have soft corn tortilla tacos and puffy sopas. The sopas were not the favorite because they were a little too thick or dense and only had onions, peppers and potatoes but the corn tortilla soft pork tacos were very good!

Hubby and I just came to Root for a date night and we were very pleased with our meal. We started with the guac appetizer. The guac came with grapefruit on top which was a little odd, but considering lots of people squeeze lemon juice on top of the avocado to keep it from browning the added citrus wasn’t too weird. It came with large deep fried rounds for dipping which I liked but my hubby did not, he would have preferred regular old corn chips.
For dinner I got 2 appetizers, the butternut squash soup and the scallops. The soup was good, very rich even though it is vegetable based. So filling! The scallops were TO DIE FOR. They were so delicious and flavorful. Browned to perfection. Hubby got the steak that came with purple potatoes and cabbage. He could barely finish it but loved it.
For drinks he got a flight of beer which had 8 selections I believe so a pretty good sized! They also had a fun cocktail list for those of us non-​beer drinkers and I got a fun, sweet, pretty, yummy drink, just the way I like it :)

It is a great rarity that I will say I do not care if you have to get there by plane train automobile boat Nike Express tricycle or big wheel you need to get here
Sometimes one of the better attributes about working is it affords you the unique opportunities to try new places you never would have gone if you were not in the area !! So work was a great excuse for my first try but definitely will not be my last trip the scallops were absolutely cooked to perfection with the apple butter sauce and pine nuts the fresh baked bread and French onion soup with Gruyère cheese would make a vegetarian go crazy I was luckily to be there at the right time and avoided the big rush that apparently everyone else knows about this place but me it is very infrequent for me to say that the cost is justified by the quality of food but by far it is.
The waitress adrian was amazing and to have someone who believes in the establishment and their product as vividly as she did is refreshing and stated to come back and try the ribeye and pork belly if I did not like it she would purchase my meal that in itself says alot about the dedication of the staff here.
My death row meal would be pork steak with cream
style corn and the fact that they say they make their own cream style corn with Michigan made Guersney milk and braised pork belly .this will be a definite Drive soon. My only regret was not having someone to share this experience with but sometimes solitude affords you the unforeseen experience of clarity and the ability to relax and savor all the flavors. But sitting alone by candlelight maybe a little to Edgar Allan Poe for me lol
there is for sure no good way to or from this place the easiest is M 59 to Telegraph but I was able to take a lot of back Lake roads and enjoy the nighttime scenery on the long ride home hopefully my second trip will have some company but I might just want to keep this place to myself

I was annoyed that I drove an hour and some change out to a goddamn strip mall in the middle of nowhere anchored by a JcPenney and TJ Maxx that I assume was stocked with Christian Audigier clothing worn by everyone I encountered at the nearby barbershop –I got my haircut before my meal (fresh to death) — that proudly promotes open carry for some reason, because, White Lake!
My skepticism faded on first bite, though, and grew into absolute love. My friend and I went heavy on the veggies — kale salad, brussels sprouts, and broccoli — and that’s a good thing. Each plate was shareable, delicious and only a 800 percent price markup on the actual cost of vegetables (which is still 200 percent less than what all the other great restaurants charge for their farm-​to-​table tubers and tap roots).
For my entrée I went with a lamb meatball made from the lambs that were humanely slaughtered with a cute and cuddly killing blade in nearby Ray Township («Well, Cletus, have the lambs stopped screaming?), a spicy sausage gumbo (I’m not sure how the pigs in the gumbo were killed and now I’m overwhelmed with tremendous liberal guilt. Dammit. I should have at least asked if the farmers buried their bloodied bodies underneath a giant tree and planted a bed of daffodils in memoriam) and a Sloppy Joe — yes, I spent like $ 11 on a Sloppy Joe, and it was well worth it, as were the cocktails — I highly recommend the gin-​based Corpse Reviver, just for the name alone.
Anyhow. I don’t blame you for not wanting to drive out here, but it really is well worth it, if not for the food, but for the elaborate stories on how both the vegetables were curated and the animal bits you’re stuffing in your already over-​fed face were killed.

My date and I went here twice. The first time was for lunch, it was okay but nothing special. When I asked a friend they said that there lunch wasn’t anything great we had to go get dinner to really experience the root. My date and I went to dinner it had a extra hipster vibe, the board we got was over priced and skimped and we left before the entre. The scallops were great tho.

Great place, great service.
I’ve been here a few times and ordered different things.
They change their menu often and have a variety of specials.
Service was great, they really care about your experience, from the food to the bar.

I’ve been starting to wonder if the hipster foodie towns are where good service, manners and class go to die. As the food scene grows and thrives, there are suddenly amazing restaurants everywhere. I find myself happily traveling to Detroit and other out of the way destinations. While my delicious food needs are more than satisfied, I can’t help but notice– where has good service gone? Why is it suddenly the acceptable norm to wait for 45+ minutes while the heavily tattooed waiter/​waitress/​bartender «fashionably» ignores your table? This is exactly why I’m giving The Root a very rare 5 stars. On a special occasion, I decided to make the drive to White Lake. I was less than impressed by the strip mall location. However, the second I walked in the door, this reaction disappeared. The Food. The Service. Nice ambience. Instant and forever fan.
Chef James Rigato’s philosophy is centered on the concept that good, local food can sell no matter where it’s located, and The Root proves this. I’m sure there’s more to White Lake, but The Root is THE place that compels people to drive the distance. He continues to prove this statement by venturing to Hazel Park for his next venture, and I bet Mabel Gray will do for HP what The Root has done for White Lake. Chef Rigato has widened his scope by throwing pop up dinner parties and collaborating with other local chefs. It’s this obsession with perfection and quality that has earned him well deserved notoriety. OK, on to why you’re here… THE FOOD.
The menu is on the small side, and rotates often. I was happy we had such a great waitress to recommend dishes. Maybe the fact that she’s from Traverse City is the reason she is such a great server… she had the small town charm, attention to detail and friendly attentiveness that I miss lately. On her recommendation, we started with the Crispy Braised Michigan Pork Belly appetizer. Surrounded by fresh creamed corn, topped with Kimchi and Korean BBQ sauce… it was melt in your mouth a-​maz-​ing. Against my better judgement I ordered a salad (good, but I should know better than to choose salad over scallops!!) while my friend got the french onion soup. Oui, oui… c’est bon bon bon. There’s some kind of unidentified awesomeness along with the oozing cheese. We splurged and split the ribeye steak, and I’m SO glad we split– this steak was larger than my head. They split the steak for us, and we both had enough crispy, salty fingerlings, greens and steak to be stuffed to the brim. Word of warning: If you don’t like garlic, don’t mistake the white smear for potatoes. I LOVE garlic, but didn’t realize the potency beat even my favorite shawarma. A little goes a long way, but enhanced the perfectly cooked, medium rare steak with a sweet drizzle of balsamic reduction. I never even thought to look for a salt/​pepper shaker (rare for me!) because everything was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Which they’re aware of, because they don’t have them on the table.
Have I had pork belly, onion soup and ribeye before? Yes. Was it in the top 5%? YES. Did the amazing service somehow make it taste even better? Hell yes. The waitress talked to us about Mabel Gray, opening in HP on Tuesday, September 29^th. Since she’ll be waitressing there, I’ll be at her table soon. We discussed the more inventive menu, and I can’t wait to see what creativity and mad cooking skillz can pull off together. Put it on your list.

I was so excited to try this place. I am a vegetarian and always looking for new places to try. I have heard wonderful thing about the food and ambience.
The restaurant is located in a strip mall, kinda odd, but nevertheless, the décor did not disappoint. Very «earthy» feel. Nice lighting and very friendly waitstaff.
The food was ok, at best. The guacamole was wonderful, but other than that I was not blown away. One of the guests at my table ordered a burger medium, it came to the table a very medium RARE. It also took far too long in my opinion for the food to come out (I worked in food service for over four years). I had a onion soup and The Root salad. They both left me wanting more. Not enough flavor, just eh.
I was also disappointed they didn’t have more seafood options on the menu.
I will give this place another chance because I feel like it has the potential to be great. Hopefully next time will be a better experience.

I went to The Root last night for a birthday dinner and I can’t say I was blown away. I have heard great things about this place and since we had a person in our party who is a vegan we figured this would be the perfect place to dine. The restaurant is located in a strip mall with Marshall’s and JCPenny which is kind of a turn off. I think they would do much better in there own location.
We were greeted only minutes after getting seated which was great and the server was extremely enthusiastic and friendly! The server was very fast with the drink order and the appetizers came out only minutes after ordering them and our soups followed promptly. Our main dishes didn’t come out for another hour. After being rushed with the apps/​soup and then waiting an hour for the main dish, everyone in my part was too full to eat. It is disappointing since the food looked great.
My friends burger was undercooked and the fish special was dry. The rest of the table got The Orchard salad which were very good but that can be hard to mess up.
I will definitely give this place another try but as of right now I don’t think it is anything special.

My husband and I have been to The Root twice now and the food has NOT disappointed. We have only eaten lunch there since we are usually in the area after a morning of hiking at Kensington Metropark.
Our first visit was almost perfect. We made reservation via OpenTable which was convenient but not necessary– the place was nearly empty! Our friends had been telling us to go for ages so we had high expectations. I was a little disappointed with the service — our server didn’t welcome us or offer to explain the menu or what The Root is all about. For our first visit I was hoping for more than «Ready to order?» Service issues aside the food was great. I ordered the Baked Michigan Brie ($ 10) and a cauliflower and beet pita ($ 7). Both of my dishes were delicious and perfectly priced!
Our second visit brought better service and we sat on the patio. Our server was very attentive, cleared our plates in a timely manner, no complaints with him! I had the Brie again (so good!) and wanted to get the pita but it wasn’t on the menu. I was disappointed as there weren’t any other vegetarian sandwiches :(I ordered the vegan chilled cucumber and tomato soup — holy crap! I’ve never had a cold soup before and this one had so much flavour and was perfect to enjoy on the patio. My husband offered the burger ($ 11.50) and has named it one of his TOP THREE burgers ever! That’s saying something.
We will definitely be visiting The Root again. For people with dietary needs, definitely call and see if the menu online is up to date. They change their menu quite a bit.

This place is AMAZEBALLS! The food tastes ridiculously good, the service is 5 star and to top it off they use locally sourced ingredients.
We started with the French onion soup and bread. The soup was the best I’ve ever had. Perfect croûton and melted cheese and hot throughout. The bread is great with herbs and salt/​cheese on top.
We had the fresh fish of the day (trout) and steak. The rib eye steak was the best we’ve had in years and the fish was perfect. Both came with fingerling potatoes and greens which were awesome.
We ended with one regular coffee and one Spanish coffee. Both were very tasty!
We will definitely be coming back here!!!

This was a fabulous restaurant. My wife and I drove for an hour each way to come here. The ambiance was very inviting and very comfortable to be in for an hour or so.
I started out my meal with the Michigan Brie. It was made perfectly the balsamic sauce was an excellent pairing with the cheese.
I then had my main meal which was the Ribeye. I have steaks done medium and without doubt this one was cooked perfectly. The seasoning on it gave it another perspective. The wine I had was a light red wine from Napa Valley.
The deserts we had were the banana with a melted marshmallow and the vegan chocolate brownie. Both were awesome and had different tastes that were unique in themselves.
I would have to hand it to this place. I made a reservation on Open Table and included it was my wife’s and my 10^th wedding anniversary and they knew that and gave us a desert on the house.
Our server was great and knowledgeable about all the food and where it came from. I also enjoy eating fresh food that is locally sourced. This place does that and creates not just an awesome experience but something that you will remember.

Amazing place, amazing food, and amazing waitress Laura
Many options to choose from starters, salads, soups, burgers, main courses, vegan dishes, and deserts
Beautiful place for gathering
We went there for early dinner and we were hungry and waned to taste many things…
They had a menu sampler where you can chose 4 courses in small portions
So we ended up ordering the menu sampler plus a starter, the quantity was more than enough to share for two
The menu sampler we chose was:
Starter 1^st course — the Brie pastry
Salad or soup 2^nd course– the radish salad
Main course 3^rd course– the fish
Desert 4^th course– affogato (with vanilla and maple gelato)
The extra stater we choose was meatballs with curry (fresh and tasty)
Every thing was so delicious
Unique flavours
Beautiful food presentation
And above all, they mostly use local food
Will come again for sure

Their philosophy here is local ingredients, farm to table, and thank goodness table to belly. It’s worth the drive for the food, service, and atmosphere.
Start with one of their Michigan Brew’s on tap. Yum! One option is to try their tasting menu. Be aware, each portion is almost the size of the regular order. You will be stuffed by the end and you may not finish everything. You’ll want to, you may even force yourself because it’s so good.
Also the menu changes regularly for the season making it great to try something new and it compliments their philosophy, but it’s a bummer when you find something outstanding and then it’s gone.
Their Baby Octopus with Red Onion, Smoked Olive Oil, Orange, Radish, and Capers was good but not great. This is the dish that lost them that extra 5^th star. It’s too bad, but the octopus was over cooked and a little tough. The sauce though was very delicious, with just enough acidity and tanginess.
Root Orchard Salad is served with Spicer’s Apple, Red Leaf, Marcona Almond, Dried Michigan Cherries, Saga Blue Cheese, Pickled Onion, Crispy House Made Bacon, and Spicer’s Hard Cider Vinaigrette. It’s a perfectly thought out salad for balance, texture, and flavor. The sweetness of the cherries is contrasted well with the strength of the blue cheese, the pickled onion and the saltiness of the bacon. It’s a delicious piece.
They served an excellent Intermezzo to help cleanse the palate after the salad.
For the star of the evening, it’s the Pork Shoulder. I was shocked on the portion size, given this is suppose to be the tasting menu. It’s huge, which was great for my taste buds, but my stomach was getting close to overflowing. The pork was outstanding. In fact, amazing! It was so tender and juicy, then served on the plate of grits. The grits were so smooth and creamy with the touch of chili oil adding just enough of additional flavor to go so very well with the Pork Shoulder. I truly wanted to eat every bit and then lick the plate clean. If I wasn’t so full and didn’t have table manners, I would have done it.
Somehow I had to make room for dessert which was Banana Cream Pie with Homemade Marshmallow. Simply put, homerun. The fresh banana flavor in this creamy pie was outstanding.
I can’t wait to go back. I practically want to try everything on their menu.

The real benefit of doing brunch at THE ROOT with a group of eleven fellow foodies and Unilocalers, is that you can literally order and sample EVERYTHING on the menu… and that is exactly what we did on this beautiful early-​September Sunday morning.
Once seated in the tasteful contemporary digs of this 3-​year old casual but sophisticated restaurant, Kris G, one of our ringleaders and a long-​time Root devotee of cult-​like proportions (I swear she knows EVERYONE here) quickly introduced us to the Jackie, the Root’s manager and then to the man himself… James Rigato, the Root’s executive chef.
Rigato, a 29 year old native Michigander who emphasizes crazy fresh, local farm-​to-​table cuisine, has gained quite a rep as one of the most imaginative young culinary guns of the Detroit area having won the prestigious 2012 Free Press Restaurant of the Year Award in the Root’s first year of operation. Rigato is also one of 15 of the country’s best chefs who will be competing on Bravo TV’s «Top Chef» this fall.
I love to see a restaurant’s key players «on the floor» of their eateries chatting it up with patrons and we experienced this in spades this morning. We thoroughly enjoyed listening to James Rigato’s reccos from the brunch menu. He strongly encouraged us to share our plates with the others in our group in order to get a nice cross section of their offerings.
After choosing a sampling of a few of the Root’s special cocktails (I can personally vouch for the sting of the «Electric Screwdriver»), we got down to the business of why we came. We ordered everything on the menu… the Buttermilk Biscuit & Chorizo Gravy… the Chicken & Waffle… the House Salmon Lox… the Pastrami Hash & Eggs… the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes… even a Root Orchard Salad.
Whoa! Some hearty, some delicate, some naturally sweet, some with a bite, all flavorful and spiffylicious.
Throughout our visit, Dawn provided awesome service with a smile. Props as well for the background tunes piped into the dining area throughout our meal with a hoppin’ mix of mostly 80s and 90s ear candy from a diverse group of artists such as Fleetwood Mac, 4 Non Blondes, Cyndi Lauper and Counting Crows.
Got to throw the Root the «Fin» for a way over wonderful Sunday experience.