The Franklin

Had the best meal at The Franklin! We shared a seafood tower with friends and it was super fresh. Also loved the Caesar salad (the croutons are so unique and delicious!), scallops, and the key lime ice cream tart was my favorite! The restaurant design is so well done! You really feel like you’re on the east coast. Bonus points for the cutest themed bathroom! Really enjoyed as a date night spot and can’t wait to go back!

One of the best raw bars I’ve had in metro Detroit. A unique menu with options for even the pickiest of eaters. Atmosphere is inviting and friendly staff service. Tons of creative and fun wall art. I had the pleasure of dining upstairs in the nook with a party of 8. You felt like you had the place to yourself. Our server Sam was friendly and turned a dinner into a dining experience. As far as the drinks and food..I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. You have to give this place a try!

🦪 🦪🦪🦪🦪 East coast vibe in a quaint historic village. Impeccable atmosphere, good service, excellent bartenders and great food. The burgers 🍔 are epic. Shrimp and lobster 🦞 are first class. Nice salads. This place will only get better with time.

Fantastic experience & Highly recommend. We had a little bit of everything! Oysters, Crab Louie Salad, Octopus, Clams Linguine, Salmon, Fries. Apparently we were hungry. Lol 😂 But I must say the star of the show for me was the Stuffed Elephant Ear. Oh my, it was Divine. Save room for it!

My visit was the second night they opened. Fantastic service for a full house of patrons. Ten seats at the main bar. The food was excellent and expensive ( see menu picture). They have an upstairs dining area and bar that will be open on weekends. I'm told a happy hour is coming before July 1st. There is a lot of free parking behind the restaurant. Give them a try. You'll love it.

I have been excited to try The Franklin since their social media debut. Snagged a reservation on the first night open and was pleasantly surprised! I had the Caesar salad, NY strip and Chocolate Banana Royale desert. All were lovely! I’m not a fan of seafood, so thankful there were some options for me. Vibe, staff & quality of food and cocktails were all right on par. Will be back!

One of the best zero proof cocktails I’ve ever had. I believe it was called Without A Cause and had an olive brine & tonic base. Delicious. My favorites for my meal were the raw east coast oysters, old bay aioli that came with the fries, fried polenta croutons on the Caesar salad, and the key lime ice cream dessert. I will order all of these things again.

We had an incredible dinner and were thoroughly impressed. The staff struck the perfect balance—warm, attentive, and never intrusive. Every dish was outstanding: artfully plated and bursting with flavor. Highlights for me were the crudo and the dill Caesar salad—honestly, it blew Carbone’s version out of the water! All four of us agreed it was one of the best meals we’ve had in a while. Each course was carefully crafted, with ingredients that tasted exceptionally fresh. To finish, the dessert was nothing short of divine, and adding to an amazing experience. We’ll absolutely be returning, and recommending it to everyone we know.

My husband and I dined at The Franklin on a Wednesday evening. Reservations are a must. We started with a dozen east coast oysters. Lovely presentation with mignonette, cocktail and Tabasco sauces plus extra horseradish- nice touch. Next- amberjack crudo. Served with scallions and avocado. Just enough but did not mask the taste of the fish. Next, hot honey octopus (forgot a pic). Served warm with a cool avocado mousse. Lastly we shared the scallops entree. Served with a corn puree and greens. Four large scallops. All dishes are shareable and what I liked most is they were small enough for two people to share a number of dishes. We probably could have ordered one more small plate, however I was perfectly satisfied. Our server was friendly, attentive but not hovering. The restaurant was bustling. They fit a lot of people in a small space. It gets loud, crowded and the bar area was packed you could barely get by. The weather was overcast, however on a nice day the patio is super cute and I'd like to sit outside. They also have The Pavilion that looked like it could be used for events like a shower. Nice drink menu with fancy cocktails, an extensive wine list and a few craft beers. Definitely check out The Franklin!

Oof. Think this place is experiencing some growing pains. The good: Some of the food was very good. The salmon was excellent -- thick fillet, perfectly cooked medium, and flavorful. The seafood tower was also very good -- nice variety of oysters, solid shrimp, a little bit of lobster and a crudo. Pricey though at 65 for not much food. The bad: Some of the food just wasn't any good. The crab Louie was terrible. Almost no crab, lettuce tasted cheap, doused (I mean doused) in dressing. Also pricey for the portion, which was super small. The ugly: First, did I mention the prices? Way too high for the portions they serve. Second, while our waitress was awesome (shout out Hannah), the coordination and overall service was atrocious. We didn't get two dishes -- cornbread** and another appetizer -- despite asking quite a few times for them. When they finally did bring them out -- well after we had finished dinner -- we had already spoken to someone to get them cancelled. (To their credit, they didn't charge us.) Took like five asks to get a refill of a Diet Coke (did charge us for that, ha.) **they kindly gave us some cornbread to take home, and it was quite good. If they lower their prices (or enlarge their portion sizes commensurately) and get their act together on the service front, think this place has a good amount of potential. Not there yet though...

A pleasant atmosphere, and a nice patio for drinks or outside dining. We waited a bit too long for our server, but she was attentive from then on. Food quality is good, but small portions & quite expensive and everything is à la carte. The biggest downer was the tiniest lobster roll I've ever seen. I don't know why they ask when I made the reservation, if you're celebrating anything (wife's birthday) because they do absolutely NOTHING. Ohh sorry, after I ordered a $16 slice of cake they did serve it with a small candle It's too bad since I can walk to the restaurant. *4 friends went tonight 7/12, they ordered the Seafood Tower expensive but fresh & tasty. They celebrated a birthday and also received NOTHING ‍

We went for brunch and this place has excellent brunch and a great cozy vibe! The waiter had amazing customer service and great recommendations! I can't recommend this place enough!

This is really closer to 4.5 stars. I would definitely return. We loved the previous restaurant and absolutely love the patio. The lobster roll was good but it's tough to spilt. The fried green tomatoes were an interesting take but just tasted like fried something. The biscuits were a miss. Tiny and not the right consistency. But the pimento spread was amazing. Entrees were good but the pasta was undercooked. All the desserts were absolutely fantastic. If this review is critical it's because the prices are really high. If it was 20% cheaper this would be a solid 5 star. We'll definitely go back but probably more for drinks and apps/dessert

We lovedddd our dining experience at the Franklin! The fresh raw bar & oysters were some of the best I've had. The caesar salad and the warm, soft croutons deserve its own shoutout. The stuffed elephant ear was delicious, and the seared octopus was full of flavor. Ended with a smooth espresso martini! The whole place has a great vibe and beautiful design, they truly thought through the smallest of details. The bathrooms were all so cute and so different. Staff is very friendly and inviting. Can't wait to go back! Definitely our new date night spot

Unfortunately, this restaurant is not readily accessible for wheelchair users. The threshold at the front door is very high. I was unable to navigate my husband's wheelchair by myself. Two female employees at the door (hostesses I presume) stood by and watched as we struggled mightily to get in. A woman across the street saw us struggling and ran over and helped us get in. I've honestly never seen employees of a restaurant not help a disabled person get into the restaurant. This was extremely disappointing and honestly just about ruined the meal. A very unpleasant first experience for that reason.

Was very excited for The Franklin to open up and it did not disappoint! So nice to have a new restaurant in this area. Our server was super friendly and helpful with the menu. It is really pretty inside and feels like you're in Charleston or somewhere out east. Great date night spot! My husband and I shared some oysters, a caesar salad, the sea scallops and the cucumbers. Everything was fresh and delicious! Cocktails were great too. I really liked the tequila drink called the Pearl and they made a great espresso martini. Also, don't skip dessert! I didn't get a photo but the key lime pie was amazing!

Have been wanting to try Franklin Oyster Bar since it opened a month or so ago, and grabbed the first opportunity when it came up. All in all, a very positive experience, with a few caveats. First, the good. The dining area is a charming space, with (it seems) additional seating upstairs. There is also a covered outdoor area next door to the main restaurant, suitable for special events. This was not in use the evening we were there. Our server was a very capable gentleman, who gave us top-notch attention. Most important: the food. We shared a lobster roll, one of several small plates on offer. For our entrees, I got the linguine with clams. It consisted mostly of medium- wide noodles, a good quantity of clams in their shells, served in jus. It might have been improved by serving some French bread to soak up the liquid, but the flavor was quite nice. We mentioned this to the general manager, who was working the floor - he said he would bring this to the chef's attention: very good. The co-diner departed from the seafood theme and ordered chicken with pepper and a vegetable mixture. He found the dish to be well-prepared and flavorful. We ended our meal with French press coffee, which was very nice. Now, the caveats. First of all, if you want to try the establishment (which this Yelper encourages), be sure to book well in advance. We secured a table about a week ahead of time, but had to take an early dinner time. Parking was more than adequate, so no worries there. We did find the ambient noise of the other diners to be a bit excessive, particularly for older diners like us. If the place could install some noise dampening ceiling tiles, this might help. In sum, a fine addition to the suburban dining scene.

Perfection! Cocktails, food, service and ambience were all amazing! Make reservations but you could get lucky and get a couple seats at the bar that hosts 10.

We had reservations at 8:15, which is on the late side, especially as I was with my 88 year old mom. We got there a little early and they seated us. We picked out what we wanted and ordered. They brought us our wine. Then in a bit they brought us our oysters. The oysters got cleared away and we waited for the rest of our food. At 8:59 the waitress comes and tells me that they ran out of my dish. At that point I just ordered what I thought might be fastest. What a disappointment that they can't mange their orders and kitchen better. We won't be returning.

The food is really outstanding! Every plate we had was full of flavor and cooked to perfection. I really suggest the lobster roll and the country ham. Hands down, some of the most delicious food I've eaten lately! Excellent service and a robust wine selection. Everything was fresh. The elephant ear dessert didn't disappoint. I will keep coming back for the food, service and comfortable atmosphere. Can't think of a better place to spend an evening. Must try!

Small portions, overpriced, no sides come with entree. No hot vegetables available even to even to order a la carte. No soups. They List the price of each vodka for example but it cost more to have it in any kind of mixed drink. I left hungry and dissatisfied. Not even bread to soak up the sauce for the linguine with clams. Not even rice with the four medium sized scallops you get for $43. I Won't Go Back.

Went in for some oysters and a cocktail, and had both. Nothing great, but it was comfortable and lots of friendly neighborhood folks. We are going to head back in the coming weeks and check out the food offering. I think this place is off to a good start.

Not impressed, except if you like high prices with small portions. Not sure who is writing some of these other reviews. For example, $14 for a small caesar salad. Of course, it's mostly lettuce, but please don't be so stingy. The fried clams were over-cooked and not a large portion. The salmon was $39--yes, that's $39-- and it was a rather small portion, about 6 ounces. That comes to over $90 per pound! How about this: a side of marinated cucumbers was $12. I could go on. Bottom line: very expensive for what you got, portions were smaller than at most comparable spots. Service was good.

This place is absolutely gorgeous! Franklin needed this, and it did not disappoint. Ambiance gorgeous, staff wonderful, and food was outstanding!!!! The seafood platter unbelievable! All the food we had was out of this world. Thank you for opening this little gem. Looking forward to Polly's opening next door.!!