Johnny’s Ham King

The Ham is die for! The Owner and help are from different countries but their friendliness is equal to none other for a breakfast/​lunch place. I tried their bacon, sausage links, ham, pancakes, egg, hash brown, toast, and Coffee… I am hard to please but they got everything perfect! We will be back!
Thank You.
Pastor Peter-​John
Church of Detroit

Okay, so it is closed. Guess I was lucky enough to give it a try a couple months back.

Jambon Whoo!
I’m going to be real with you here: The eateries I get excited about are different, and my excitement for my style of food is like how most Unilocalers get excited about food trucks, food trends, new cocktail joints, weird twists on hamburgers, and places with long lines.
I use Unilocal for my day to day Jon Don’t Get Lost situation. I use Unilocal to find hard to find quality rated services like doctors and dog watchers. Or the occasional roadside hotel. I’d say most of my Unilocal success stories surround being lost in America and in need of something. When it comes to eating… I really have a small circle of trust on the things I really get excited about: food for $ 5 with less ingredients in the food than dollar signs. Food for $ 5 that’s typically found under bridges, and in old rust belt frontage roads.
It’s really how I started using Unilocal 7 years ago when I drove around the country on these roads mapping them and would find this kind of place. It’s this kind of place that makes me miss that life and makes me miss this part of the country. Lucky for us, we passed through, and in my small circle of friends that know what I mean when I say food, Robert K stepped up with some serious Jambon Whoo for this. Apparently it’s the inspiration for much of his life. Now Johnny, he’s an inspiration.
When you mistake cheese for mayo, you know something fascinating has developed. You know when you walk in and there’s a pork rump on a spit behind the counter next to a greased griddle, something fascinating has developed.
Something interesting has developed, I love ham sandwiches. For a place so far removed of anything hipster, I won’t be surprised at all if the next time I walk in here there’s both blue collars and rose neck tattoo collars commingling over $ 5 Best Damn Ham in Detroit.

Johnny used to work on the dock.
This place would be a fave of the Johnny from that song, but Bön Jovi’s Johnny has nothing on the Ham King of Detroit.
This diner dive is across from the Greyhound station and under the bridge to utopia (Canada), and is hardcore about ham. A lunch for two comes to about $ 10 and is large and in charge. Ham like your grandma made carved thick and piled high on an onion bun next to some alright fries and a crunchy pickle. The sandwich, like the location, is not for the faint of heart.
POIVRE EN FRANÇAIS: Jambon Whoo.

A great place for breakfast, or lunch. The ham sandwich was so good. There must have been a pound of ham on it. carved when we ordered it. Don“t be afraid of the neighborhood. Johnny, the owner was a lot of fun. He has been at it for 30 plus years. yes, he also could be mike illitch“s double. yes I will be back.

You say Johnny Ham King — I say I’m in!
They have one of the best breakfasts this side of Detroit. The ham is so good — I love it mixed in a fluffy egg white omelette. The potatoes are nicely done on the grill with just the right amount of greasy spoon goodness.
Another Omelette I sometimes order is the greek — as much as I love the ham — sometimes this Omelette is what hits the spot with a side of tzatsiki sauce thats good on the egg or the potatoes.
They are fast, they are friendly — and yes, it’s a bit of a dive under the bridge. It’s Clean, quick cheap and tasty. They have good coffee… if you think you are to good to eat here, you are surely missing out. The people who run this place are charming and always so warm and welcoming. Stop by, you’ll be glad you did.

This may be a dive, but they do have damn good ham ! It is quite nice for Canadians to come here as it is a few right hand turns off of the bridge to get here. Johnny the Ham King is almost directly under the bridge and sits on Fort Street. When you walk in, there is a bar area to the right with stools and a open kitchen to watch them cook. The rest of the restaurant is all booths and not very large.
I came here on a Saturday and they were busy. A very mixed crowd eating here too… Caucasians, Mexicans and African Americans all mixing it up to have a great breakfast with 95.5 playing in the background.
The restaurant loses a star on cleanliness however. It is not entirely dirty, but it is not spotless either.
The best thing about this place is that Johnny is almost giving the food away for free ! It is incredibly inexpensive to say the least. How does he make a living ?
On my visit, I had eggs, hash browns, toast and ham. The ham in itself is some of the best I have ever had. When I was here, I saw the man who delivers the Hams too. He came in a white van, maybe from the Eastern Market and he was a short guy who appeared to wearing a toupee. He just looked Mafia !!!
The hash browns very unusual and excellent. They are almost paper thin ! They give you a lot too. The eggs were perfect; however, the toast, although good, had margarine on them… the kind of margarine that doesn’t break down for 500 years. Food overall is definitely worth the visit.
Service was excellent and never had to ask for a thing. The place has its own charm too.
I assume the cook behind the counter was Johnny, a fellow eastern European who is a character. Get him on the topic of Matty Maroun !!!
I had to laugh, because many of us in Windsor despise the bridge owner. In a way, I feel bad for Johnny as the bridge owner has not made it easy for him. Across the street is a concrete barrier that makes getting here, if you are trying to come from Lafayette, a real pain in the ass.
I would recommend this place. Don’t let the neighborhood fool you, if it is safe for a tall blond like myself with two left hands, it is safe for for you too.

I am so excited I ran across this page !!! I went here one time for breakfast years ago and couldnt remember where it was, I was working construction a few miles from here and my foreman took a couple of us here for breakfast. Im not a big ham eater, but let me tell you this was the most AMAZING ham I have ever had!!! I will be there this weekend now that I know how to get there :) Its a small friendly place and unbelievably affordable, cant wait for breakfast!!! See you soon!!!

I am giving in and making my 100^th review one that is not stellar. And I do this because I’m a little bit pissed.
Reading reviews for JHK lead me to believe it was a kick-​ass dive in Detroit with a great breakfast. In fact, it was recommended to me as a place to go after I went to a hearing downtown. Must be awesome, right? Not so much.
JHK is a filthy little place with not much around it. Every inch of the restaurant is covered in a base layer of grease, which is then coated with dust and whatever else has managed to burrow in to the grease over the years. The service was curt and businesslike. I can look past ambiance, service, and even cleanliness if the food is good. The breakfast we had there was exactly the same breakfast I could get anywhere in Detroit, Livonia, Inkster, Canton… you get the idea. It was coney breakfast. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing we ordered was above «just ok».
There was no witty banter from the elusive Real Johnny. The customers were a mix: border patrol agents, Detroit cops, two older women dining together, and us, dressed up in our fancy clothes coming from a hearing. There wasn’t any conversation between the men running the grill, the waitress, and the customers. In fact, it was eerily quiet.
So I ask: Why do people constantly refer to places like this as a cool «Detroit experience»? Why would anyone make a point of sending me here? I have seen many Unilocalers do this, and it bugs me. If you are trying to get people to go downtown and experience new things, then pick quality places that have something to offer! Just because its dirty and someone from a different ethnic background or nationality runs it does not mean you are awesome for going there.
In summary, I am all for dives and finding new places downtown. Independent, unique places are what makes Detroit great. But let’s expect some quality in those places! And remember, even this white, suburban mom who drives a mini van is not going to think you are cool, or street, or hood if you send me some place that is just plain crappy.
There. 100^th review-​check. Social commentary-​check.

As a ham-​hater, let me say, it’s incredible ham here. and LOW prices!!! I could definitely see a lot of people giving this place a 1 star because it’s dive-​y with a capital D, but i feel fairly confident those people are the type who would never stop by in the first place on this little desolate patch of Fort St. next to the Ambassador Bridge. For those who WOULD pop into a shady looking dive in a shady looking stretch of nowhere… this is a sure 4-​stars.
One of my favorite things to do on a weekend is to speed along empty Fort St. with the windows down on a warm afternoon, blasting some classic rock or norteño (thanks 88.1 FM!). After a good trek down to the post office, I thought I’d give ol Johnny’s Ham King a try, because I pass it all the time, the idea of anything naming itself «Ham King» is inherently intriguing, and I had a few stray lines from Al P.‘s enthusiastic review swirling around the old memory jar… so I pulled on over into their little lot and stepped in, like when the bandit in an old Western flick drags himself into a dimly lit saloon. There was a handful of patrons already up at the counter, turning to see who’d just descended. ALL the characters from Brian F’s review were still there as described. Only the loud guy behind the register, who I immediately took to be Johnny himself, didn’t pause in his boisterous conversation as he gave me the quick eye-​down. I mustered a faux-​confident «howdy» and that seemed to be the keyword into the friendly and wholesome world of Johhny’s Ham King. Service from that moment on was a total charm.
The food is standard diner fare — a giant flat-​iron griddle cooking up breakfast goodies and hamburgers. I went with eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon… and after just a moment’s hesitation, decided to throw in the towel and try some ham. I hate ham ordinarily, hate it. But, since I’ve started Unilocaling, I’ve noticed a little more experimental bravado when it comes to confronting a new menu. I couldn’t have been better rewarded for leaving my usual comfort zone. The ham was amazing. Super juicy, salty, rich pork flavor, maybe a tad tough along the edges, but still tender enough to make easy work with a dull diner knife. I was totally shocked, and can see why Johnny’s the Ham King… indeed. The hashbrowns were also awesome, and served in a manner I’ve never seen anywhere else… like shaved potato… does that make sense? it will… go try them, they’re delicious. The eggs were good. The bacon, taking me completely by surprise, was actually not that great. It’s hard to get bacon wrong, but my bacon was tough as nails — haven’t experienced that before. Next time, I’ll just stick to the house specialty… almighty ham!
*CASH ONLY* (I made the huge blunder of walking in sans green… and after a half-​second of very skeptical eyebrow raising… Johnny let me run to the bank and return to pay for the meal. Glad he thought to trust me, cuz I definitely wouldn’t want to mess around with the Ham King!)

I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews of this place. I haven’t been there since the late ‘90s and it’s good to see that nothing has (apparently) changed.
Yes, it has been a long time, so take this with a grain of salt (ed pork). I got great service and a hearty breakfast for 3-​something. Mostly truck drivers in the crowd…