Cliff Bell's Review & Bathroom Guide
2030 Park Ave, Detroit, MI 48226
Detroit in a tuxedo: all wood, low light and some of the best live jazz in the city. The walk to the restroom takes you past the drummer.
Source published June 2026
First-hand Shooki editorial
Shooki’s Review of Cliff Bell's
By Shooki · Source published June 2026
Detroit in a tuxedo: all wood, low light and some of the best live jazz in the city. The walk to the restroom takes you past the drummer.
Cliff Bell's feels like Detroit in a tuxedo.
All wood, low light, live jazz, and that Rat Pack kind of energy that makes you want to order something brown, sit at the bar, and pretend your phone doesn't exist for a while.
This is easily one of my favorite bars in the city. The room has history in its bones. Old school without trying too hard, classy without being stiff — the kind of place you walk into and wonder why more bars don't feel like this any more. I'm honestly curious whether Detroit has another bar quite like it.
My move here is simple: sit at the bar, get a drink, and let some of the best live music in the city do its thing.
It gives you a taste of what Detroit must have felt like in the forties and fifties — smoky, stylish, loud in the right ways, and full of life.
Best for
- A seat at the bar with the jazz going
- A drink that suits a room this old
- Anyone who wants Detroit at its most stylish
Less ideal for
- A quiet conversation
- Anyone who needs an easy route to the restroom
- A private walk back from your table
The Shooki Bathroom Review
First-party restroom record · Source published June 2026
Restroom verdict
Clean, solid, and well covered for capacity in the reviewed multi-user room, but the route beside the stage makes the trip feel conspicuous.
- Restroom inventory
- 1 reviewed area — 1 multi-user restroom area (designation unknown); total venue room count unknown
- Review coverage
- 1 multi-user restroom area reviewed; designation and total venue restroom count unknown
- Room reviewed
- One multi-user restroom area; designation not documented
- Reviewed room fixtures
- 2 stalls/toilets · 2 urinals · 2 sinks
- Accessibility status
- Unknown · The source raised a navigation concern but did not document enough detail to determine accessibility.
- Why this score
- The 6/10 score reflects a clean, solid room and strong fixture capacity, offset by the conspicuous route beside the stage and unresolved accessibility questions.
- Layout
- The reviewed room is reached by a route that passes immediately beside the stage and drummer.
- Capacity
- The reviewed room contained two stalls/toilets, two urinals, and two sinks; total venue room count is unknown.
Shooki’s first-party restroom record describes one clean, solid, multi-user room. The reviewed area had two stalls/toilets, two urinals, and two sinks, giving it useful fixture capacity.
The room designation was not documented, and the source does not establish how many restroom rooms exist across the venue. The route passes right beside the stage—close enough to the drummer that the walk can feel unusually public. An access concern was raised, but the available record is not detailed enough to determine accessibility, so accessibility remains unknown.