Red Balloon Saloon

The security guards are dope but bartenders
can be alot better when servicing us boss females

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 3

Great vibes while I was out of town. Good strong drinks, good pool players and nice food. My type of hole in the wall. Music was on point.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Had a great time on a Friday night!!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

Did not eat just had cocktails

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

This place is great for a quick bar bite, music and a strong drink. Lately the crowd has gotten a lot younger and the servers have changed. The server attitudes have changed and that's not a good thing. Their drinks are always strong, but there's a difference between strong and terrible and that's what we had the last time.
We brought this up to our server and she started to argue with us that the drinks here are always strong. We told her we've been coming here for over 15 years and always order the same drinks, but this one need a tweak. She was just combative and ignored us the rest of the night. This was different from the usual wait staff who are always friendly and helpful. The food is always fresh, hot, and delicious.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 2

Service for food was extremely slow and it wasn't even crowded 😔

Overall, really good place. Maybe our waitress was having a bad night. She was not approachable nor professional.
She never smiled or made us feel welcome in the establishment. The ladies working the bar were much more personable. Drinks were onpoint. Recommend green tea shots.

Food was meh?? Chicken strips were inconsistent. Onion rings were soggy.

I would return, but maybe sit at bar or different area, where more friendlier staff were waiting tables.

Although lots of parking, spots are small/tight
Someone hit my car while I was inside.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 2

I don't think it's right that any restaurant or bar automatically add a gratuity to your bill without asking. I would have tipped her more than the 18% they added automatically.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 2

Service: 2

Horrible experience

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

The food and drinks were excellent.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

★★★☆☆ Decent food, but forced gratuity and noise levels were a turnoff

We recently moved our office to 12 Mile and Northwestern, and while moving wasn’t ideal, the upside is I’ve got plenty of new food spots to explore. I found Red Balloon Saloon on Google Maps—it looked promising, so I met up with a buddy there after work.

First impressions were solid: the place looks good inside, with plenty of TVs and even a pool table. We grabbed seats at the bar and started to settle in—until I saw the sign saying they add a mandatory 20% gratuity to all tabs. That’s a big issue for me. If tips are guaranteed, where’s the motivation for good service?

Unfortunately, that concern proved true. It took a while to get our drinks, and we had to flag the bartender down to order appetizers. I got the cheese sticks and my buddy got the catfish. Both were tasty—no complaints on the food.

The biggest downside? It was insanely loud. So loud that my Apple Watch actually alerted me about excessive noise levels. It made it really tough to have a conversation, and we ended up leaving early. Even cashing out took longer than it should have.

While it’s conveniently close to my new office, I don’t see myself coming back. The forced gratuity policy and overwhelming noise make it a one-and-done for me.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 1

Always a good time at the Red Balloon Saloon!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 4

The Ladies of the Red Balloon

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Nice people and the drinks are strong enough to get arrested. 💪🏿 💙

Strong drinks, good food, great music & good people= excellent time