Detroit Athletic Club Review & Bathroom Guide
241 Madison St, Detroit, MI 48226
The best restroom I've found in Michigan, inside a private club you need a member to get into. Judged as hospitality, nothing in Detroit is close.
Reviewed June 2026
First-hand Shooki editorial · Private-club hospitality visit only
Shooki’s Review of Detroit Athletic Club
By Shooki · Reviewed June 2026
The best restroom I've found in Michigan, inside a private club you need a member to get into. Judged as hospitality, nothing in Detroit is close.
The DAC is a gem amongst gems. One of those rare places in Michigan that feels closer to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac than to a city club. It oozes old-school wealth, service and class.
The second you walk in you know the standard is different. The service is sharp, the building is stunning, and you had better come dressed for it. The dress code is real, and the club says as much in its own visiting guidelines.
A few essentials. Dinner in the dining room is a must, suit jacket required for the boys, and believe it or not, get the perch. Best I've ever had. Enjoy the wine while you're at it — the sommelier here, Tatiana, is one of the best in the country, and people come from all over to let her take the wheel. Then finish on the rooftop with a cocktail, a cigar if that's your thing, and one of the best views of Detroit I've seen.
One thing to be straight about: this is a members' club. You need to be a member or a member's guest to walk through the door. I'm reviewing what I was hosted into, not somewhere you can wander in off Madison.
Best for
- A member's guest who wants the full old-Detroit evening
- Dinner in the dining room, jacket on
- Wine, guided
- The rooftop at dusk
Less ideal for
- Anyone without a member to host them
- A hoodie-and-sneakers night
- A casual walk-in drink
The Shooki Bathroom Review
First-party restroom record · Reviewed June 2026
Restroom verdict
Stocked, staffed and spotless, with an accessible stall and an accessible route to it. This is the bar every other Detroit restroom is measured against.
- Restroom inventory
- At least 3 identified — 1 men’s restroom, 1 women’s restroom, and 1 private restroom area (designation unknown)
- Review coverage
- A club this size has more rooms than I saw. These are the ones I observed on one visit: a men's and a women's off the same marble vestibule, plus a separate door marked with the accessible symbol.
- Room reviewed
- The men's room off the main vestibule
- Accessibility evidence
- A stall fitted with grab bars on two walls; A restroom door marked with the accessible symbol; Elevators with an accessible call panel on the route to the restrooms · Overall accessibility remains unknown
- Why this score
- A 10 for stocked supplies, constant upkeep, real capacity and an accessible stall reached by an accessible route. Nothing I reviewed in Detroit matched it.
- Layout
- Wood-paneled stalls along one wall on dark tile, urinals behind wood dividers, and a three-sink vanity under mirrors and brass sconces, with a console table and framed prints in the vestibule.
- Capacity
- Multiple stalls and multiple urinals in a single men's room, with space to move between them even when the club is busy.
Top class. You're never far from one, and the accessibility is the best I've seen in Detroit: elevators, ramps, automatic doors, and a restroom door marked with the accessible symbol.
The men's room I reviewed is wood-paneled stalls on dark tile, with a row of urinals behind wood privacy dividers and a vanity of three sinks under brass sconces and mirrors. Folded hand towels, fresh soap, seat covers, lotion, mouthwash. One stall is set up as the accessible one, with grab bars on two walls.
Capacity is elite — multiple stalls, multiple urinals, room to move — and everything felt constantly monitored. Baby changing is provided too.
Yes, you need to be a member or a guest to experience it. I still have to call it what it is.
What Google Reviewers Say
4.9 on Google · 943 reviews · Read on Google →
Reviewers describe a private club that lands closer to a grand hotel than a gym: the views come up in seventeen reviews, the historic space and its architecture in nine more, and the courteous staff in ten. It is a working club — bowling, a rooftop bar, valet, and a location reviewers keep tying to the stadium across the street — and it doubles as one of the city's most praised wedding venues, named in fourteen reviews. The food and the service draw the strongest language of all. Of its 943 ratings, 859 are five stars.
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