526 Main

I’m not sure if I’m glad we missed the a-​hole bouncers that everyone has been talking about lately, because the hostesses were rude and snotty that we didn’t have a reservation. Once we were upstairs, the waitress was very nice, although she had to hunt for drink and beer menus. That’s where your staff makes their money, make sure they have enough to go around…
We ordered the California Club, a flatbread pizza, and the iguana eggs. All of the food was very good and came out quickly. Drinks were good too, we had beers, long islands, and a few electric blue lemonades among our party of four. Dueling piano show was okay.
Things got weird later in the night. Apparently, they move the tables in the middle of the room against the wall to transition to a club feel after a certain time. Okay. So our waitress says our table will «disappear» around 9pm. So we ask if we can take our chairs to the bar to sit and hang with our friends. Yes. So we move, but the bouncer (who was very nice) told us we couldn’t sit there. So back to our table we went. They ended up moving the table against the wall a little while later. It got really loud, we paid our tab and went to Starbucks so we could hear each other the rest of the evening.

Fun place… two piano guys who keep the crowd laughing. Not the best vocalist but very entertaining. My only complaint is getting booted off my bar stool at 10:00 pm. To make room for people standing… get a table if you can!!!

The bouncers are ridiculous.
I was the DD tonight. We started at this place, went to another bar and then came back. The sharpie «6» be wrote on my hand the first time was awful so when I came back less than 30 minutes later… he claimed that it wasn’t his handwriting and I needed to pay another cover charge.
I was in a group of 5. I’m 26 years old. A fully mature adult… why would I feel the need to write on my hand with sharpie just to get in for free? The worst part was how DISRESPECTFUL the two male bouncers were.
I don’t care WHO you are or what kind of power you THINK you yield as a bouncer of a Royal Oak bar. You men, acted immature and down right rude to a woman who was being perfectly nice and trying to explain the situation to you both.
You BOYS were down right pathetic to squeeze a few extra dollars out of me.
Happy Holidays boys, I hope someone can remove the sticks from your ass for Christmas.
INVEST IN STAMPS. For the love of God. Spend my extra $ 5 in stamps.

Reading the other reviews it seems to me there’s a pattern here. The bouncers are DICKS. Honestly, given all the complaints I’ve read I don’t understand why the owners haven’t done anything about it. One of these days they will get into some serious legal issues if these jackass bouncers end up doing something really stupid.
It was my first time there. We were celebrating a birthday with a co-​worker so we had a huge group of people. I got there a few minutes after my party walked in so they were getting there seats. So when I walked in solo the bouncer has this look like «um can I help you?» He wasn’t going to let me in because I had a couple holes in my jeans. We’re not talking about ripped and tattered jeans here… just designer jeans with slight holes in them. So I told him I was with a huge group of people that just walked in. Long story short, he eventually let me in but said I should leave a nice tip just for letting me in. FUCK you dude.
In any rate, I had half a mind to just call up my friends that were there and head somewhere else but I didn’t. All told we must have spent $ 500 – 600 dollars on drinks and such.
It was just okay. The piano players were alright. The only reason I gave 2 stars instead of 1 is because we had a decent waitress. This will be the last time we go there.
I wonder if management/​owners actually read the reviews. Good luck staying open. I hope you guys deal with the bouncer issue… cause’ you will lose business because of it. trust me.

The bouncer just shut the door in my face because I asked him if the Tequila Blue app still waves cover. Second time I’ve experienced extremely rude staff here. No more.

A few friends were out and invited me to join them. I had never been to 526 Main so I went. The bouncer was a jackass. It was freezing and raining outside and he made a stink that I stepped inside to pull out my ID. It’s a five dollar cover after 9 pm, but whatever. I know other reviewers have complained about it but it’s only $ 5.
My friends were at the bar. I came over and got a drink. The bartender was friendly and fast. I got wine so I cannot speak to how strong the drinks were but my friends said they were strong. Now, the issue with this place is it looks enormous inside but it’s actually really freaking small. The bar kind of wraps around and they take all the chairs away at 9 so there are a lot of people standing and it sort of impedes traffic.
The piano players were funny and did a good job, I thought. However, there were a few birthday parties that were getting out of hand and it was only 10:30 pm. We ended up going elsewhere but they need to do a better job of warning really drunk people to chill out or kick them out.

The good: Great location, dollar beers weeknights, friendly polite service.
The okay: The bar isn’t sure what it wants to be, is a pub, a sports bar, a piano bar, or a tequila bar? It flops from one to the other.
The bad: Goes from dead to overly crowded.

Even though my feeling about this place is «Meh, I’ve experienced better,» I’m going with «A-​OK.»
The piano guys were funny sometimes. They definitely have talent for playing and a reasonable amount of talent for singing when they care. However, they kind of gave off this «blah blah blah, back in 20 minutes» attitude. They acted more like bad stand-​up comics than musicians, telling our table he «hopes we choke to death on our food» because we requested a song he didn’t want to play.
The wait staff are great, and the drinks are strong. They definitely deserve 3 stars for that alone… But if I hadn’t arrived before the cover charge, I’d have been pissed for paying for this «entertainment.»

Had a great time. Entertainment was hilarious. Was better than a comedy club. Food was really good and the service was outstanding. Jenna took great care of us!!! I will definitely be back.

Never been here for the food but have been multiple times for the dueling pianos. The bouncers are dicks the second you walk in. One of our party counted everyone up and asked how much for everyone and paid for the group. The bouncer then stopped the last two in our party and told them to pay up. When we complained he threatened to kick everyone out without refund. The dueling pianos are the only saving grace.

My review is for 526 Main piano bar. We didn’t eat here, just enjoyed the music and drinks.
My group of 15 came here for my bachelorette party. We made reservations a few weeks in advance. None of us had been here before. But, what a great time we all had! We loved the main guy (glasses) and a younger guy. Oh man, that younger guy had a great voice and was singing my some of my old jams. About half way through another guy with glasses came up and the younger guy left. Kinda went downhill from there, so we headed upstairs and that was just a mistake! But, there was no going back downstairs to enjoy the piano bar. We couldn’t get up fast enough from our reserved seats for the crowd standing around waiting for a table to open up. I cannot believe how rude people are sometimes. I am sure if we would have said something to the nice waitress it would have been fine, but the nerve of some people!
I would definitely go back to the piano bar and maybe try some of their food beforehand. Would make a great date night.

Dirty bar. Terrible experience. I will never come back nor recommend this place. From the old bitter doorman to the sarcastic bartender this place is a waste of money. The drinks are weak.

I truly wish I could give this establishment negative stars. But unfortunately that is not an option.
We came here on Cinco De Mayo… Thinking this would be a fun choice for the night as the outside advertises authentic Mexican cuisine. We could have not been more wrong. Let me walk you through the miserable dinner.
When we walked in there was no hostess. Ok seat yoursd, thats fine… We tried to look around for a worker to ask if this was appropriate but every time we came near someone they seemed to disappear. We sat down anyway and waited a good 15 min at least just for someone to walk over and ask if we wanted drinks. Mind you, this was not the point where they took our drink order, we had just finally been acknowledged by wait staff.
We continued to wait for around another 15 min to finally receive a drink menu. We were excited for margaritas, still giving the place the benefit of the doubt. My friend tried to order a frozen margarita and was told they don’t turn the ice machine on on Tuesdays. Wait you mean you are a Mexican restaurant, it’s Cinco de Mayo in downtown Royal Oak and you didn’t prepare by turning your ice machine on? Who is managing this place? Second choice drink order was a Mexican Mule, nope out of that too… We were ready and willing to give this place money and they weren’t ready to take it! Unbelievable.
On to the food, once our drinks were brought we asked if we could get a food menu and an order of chips and salsa knowing it would be another hour if we didn’t put that in right away… Oh and it still was. We waited and waited as server after server walked by us as we tried to get their attention to place a food order and inquire about our chips that were now taking a century to come out. Finally a new server came, still no chips, we placed our food order with this guy. Reordered chips and salsa then queso, enchiladas and fajitas.
A bit after our original server comes out with the chips. It took a while, we were out of chips he says. Again, who is doing the planning for this restaurant?! And. Any normal restaurant with a delay like this comes over to let the guests know what the delay is.
A bit after server 2 comes out with the chips
we ordered from him. Where is your communication? Then we continued to wait at least another half hour wondering where our queso would be. After all it is an appetizer. After asking twice more it finally came out AFTER the entrees. A tiny bowl with chips scattered on a second plate. And this is $ 5… Half off
so on a regular day $ 10?! Is this a joke?!
The queso tasted like melted Velveeta cheese. Authentic Mexican at it’s best all right.
As we ate, not once did anyone ask how our food was, if we wanted another drink or anything else, we never even received waters. There was not one apology for the lack of service. I cannot tell you how many times we almost walked out. Also, let me say, i can understand less than great service if a restaurant is overly busy or even understaffed. That is not the fault of wait staff. But this was not the case. They had 4 + servers for around 6 tables of people. There was no excuse. It was not busy.
Also let me set the mood for you as i remind everyone it is Cinco de Mayo. They had live music. Great right? Maybe a Mariachi band! Nope. Depressing «easy listening» at best, of that i would expect to hear at a Potbelly. I would have paid the singers to leave! Anything would have been better, upbeat top 40 sets the mood more for Cinco than a bad version of an Amy Winehouse song. Seriously who manages this place?!
We were so annoyed with the atmosphere and service we barley touched our food. It was not good, but i think that stemmed more from being unable to enjoy it sadly. We requested our bill and the girl says, I’m not
really sure who was serving you (probably because no one was!). I expected something to folllow such as, it’s on the house, we’re sorry. Nope.
The boy who took our food order eventually brought us our bill. They never asked how we wanted it split, what if we were together? Not a big deal. But still. I asked if the queso we were brought was really what was on my bill as it felt like we were brought random cheese dip to satisfy us. Remember this is the $ 10 of a tiny bowl with 10 chips scattered on a random plate.
The server agreed to take it off, not without a side comment. At this point in the night any normal restaurant would have not only comped our whole meal, as i would have fully expected to be done here. They would have also given us an apology from management and a gift certificate begging us to please give them another chance. We were VISIBLY not having a good time and not once we were even asked how things were. This is a service establishment and you can’t (or choose not to) pick up on customer feelings?
Unbelievable. I can honestly say this was the worst dining experience of my entire life, all on a night expecting a fun celebratory evening. Needless to say we won’t be back.

Hostesses and waitresses were rude and inattentive (It was 45 minutes between ordering drinks and when we were able to grab the waitress’s attention to order food.), and the food was horrible. Everything was salted to nearly inedible levels including the chicken strips that tasted like they had been breaded entirely with salt.
In addition, I had horrible food poisoning from that night through the evening two days later. I was vomiting until even the stomach acid was gone and I was just dry heaving. So not worth it for a crappy burrito, okay drinks, and some obnoxious music/​bad jokes from the pianists. I wish I could ask for my money AND weekend back.

Had a great time and the food was good. I went with a friend because we pass it all the time. Bar was nice and so was the staff however when I went to a table my waiter forgot key things like napkins and silverware to eat and my refills. Still he was still polite when he forgot. It was also a busy but the music was slamming! No piano dueling but the band was great! Will be back again though for sure.

The food here never disappoints. I go here all the time with my boyfriend and we agree that it’s one of the better restaurants we go to. The portions are always good and the ingredients fresh. The staff is quick and attentive. Everyone is really nice. Definitely give it shot.
Oh also I always get the wet burrito. I personally prefer it with no meat and it’s always incredibly tasty.

Very disappointed. We went here on a Friday night before a comedy show back in September. The food was terrible. I feel like they offer mexican food because they think it’s easy, which bars should never do. I was with four others and we all got a «Mexican» dish and one got a burger. We all agreed the beans tasted like canned baked beans and the salsa, guac and seasonings in general were bland.
To top it off the hostess was rude and wouldn’t find someone for us to change the tv so we could watch the tigers game. The waitress was obviously stressed and snapped at me after she screwed up splitting our bill. AND the dueling pianos were honestly painful to listen to once they started. We’ve been here once before just for drinks and dancing upstairs and that’s honestly all we’d be back for, if at all.

This place was pretty cool at first. Dueling pianos and a cool hangout for you and your friends to sing innumerable Billy Joel hits together. What’s to hate?
Well, for one, the cover charge. I have to pay cover to see two no-​name guys/​girls playing pianos? Really? They are talented, to a degree, and have fun and make it fun for patrons, but is it really worth an entry fee like it is a Billy Joel concert? (I am aware that the cover charge is for both the piano bar and Tequila Blue but still — not everyone goes upstairs.)
The alcohol prices are also outrageous too. It was $ 6 or $ 7 for a Blue Moon. That is sad and pathetic. That goes for most bars in Royal Oak, and it’s why flasks are the best gift you can ever give to a Royal Oak bar maven. Save your money… on cover.
There isn’t that much seating and sometimes the crowd is pretentious, too. I’ve been at least 10 times, for numerous reasons. It’s okay, nothing groundbreaking. But the place will succeed because how many other dueling piano bars exist in Royal Oak? Exactly.

Went here again Saturday. .got here at 5pm. There were 8 of us, 3 men wearing hats. One baseball cap, one fedora, and one winter beanie.
After spending 5 HOURS there and running up about $ 400 between us, they decided that my BF who was wearing the winter beanie (the whole time) couldn’t wear it anymore. It was 20 degrees outside and we never saw anything posted about any kind of hats anywhere. Bouncer said rules change at 9pm. it was now 10pm.
The other 2 were fine wearing their hats but the winter beanie wasn’t allowed?
That’s BULLSHIT!!! Our waitress was pretty upset that we all left, i’m sure we would have stayed at least another 2 hours, maybe 3.
I still like the place but their «hat rule» is fucking retarded.
/​Unfair!

There’s a reason why on Mondays and Tuesdays food is half-​off. It’s pretty dead, which is understandable since, other than its imposing presence of two floors, blends in with the crowd. Their catch is the tequila and the dueling pianos, and we weren’t there for either. (I’m sure it’s happening on the weekends though, not that I’m exactly jumping at the chance to come back for that.)
Still, we had OK service — no drink refills throughout our meals, yet came back rather quickly when the waters shifted to alcohol. And there isn’t much to complain about when you get three chicken tacos with all the usual fixings (the cheese is Muenster!) for 5 bucks (shrimp, steak and Mahi Mahi also offered for $ 1 more).
One underrated thing about the place that I did appreciate was that the sound on the television wasn’t at a concert-​level sound, but at a level where you can listen to the game if you want and also tune it out easily if you’re not interested.