Motor City Brewing Works
470 W Canfield St, Detroit, MI 48201
The Shooki Review
Motor City Brewing Works is Detroit's oldest craft brewery, pouring in Midtown since 1994 — a little brick spot on Canfield with a U-shaped bar that seats maybe a dozen, brick-oven pizza, Ghettoblaster on tap, and a rooftop patio that fills up fast on any decent day. It's been through it lately: the century-old city steam line that powered the brew kettle got shut off, the taproom hit pause in early 2026, and as of this summer it's back on a weekend-only schedule. Detroit institutions don't die easy.
Now, the restrooms. Nobody's writing home about them, and that tells you plenty. The one concrete thing on record: it's a knock-before-you-enter setup, and there's a wheelchair-accessible bathroom — genuinely good news in a building this old. Beyond that, temper expectations. This is a small, well-loved, thirty-year-old taproom, so figure brewery-basic facilities that hold up fine on a quiet afternoon and feel the squeeze when the rooftop's packed and everybody's three Ghettoblasters deep. Serviceable, not special — the kind of restroom that does its job and asks for no applause.
Come for the beer and the pizza, stay for the roof. Motor City Brewing Works lands at a 6/10 on Shooki.
See where Motor City Brewing Works ranks among Detroit's top breweries.
Accessibility & Amenities
- Wheelchair-accessible restroom
- Step-free entrance— unknown
- Gender-neutral restroom— unknown
- Baby changing station— unknown
- Key or code required— unknown
What Google Reviewers Say
4.5 on Google · 667 reviews · Read on Google →
Detroit's oldest operating microbrewery, on Canfield in Midtown, doing wood-fired pizza alongside a rotating board of its own beer. The dough draws as much praise as the brewing does. There is a rooftop patio with a view over Midtown, which is most of the reason people stay past one round.