Last Thursday night was the grand opening of Downtown 51 Grille in Pontiac Michigan. The gala opening had free wine and beer and a variety of tasty cocktail concoctions dreamed up by the mixologists for everyone to sample. The cocktails seemed to volatilize into the taste buds, rather than soak them, as they were sipped and were neither overly sweet nor too dry. In addition to their famous barbecue, which is a happy holdover from when the restaurant was known as Bo's Smokehouse, there were tables filled with a variety of delicious food items for everyone who attended. There were mussels, chicken and waffles with bourbon sauce, macaroni and cheese, hummus and chips, meatballs, barbecued chicken, barbecued rib tips, vegetable trays, and many more. It was a sampling of a large swath of the food they offer through both the restaurant and catering service and it was all quite delicious.

The Grand Opening was from 4:00 to 7:00 PM and was very well attended, as people just kept coming and the crowd kept growing until nearly the end. It was a free event, with tickets offered through Eventbrite, and people certainly took advantage of the opportunity to see and experience another great downtown Pontiac upgrade. All sorts of local personalities were there as well as a number of younger folks who will become better known as their generation steps up and continues to move Pontiac into a luminous future.

The Downtown 51 Grille is open six days per week, closed on Sundays, and offers a wide variety of really good food at affordable prices. Its usual hours of operation are 11 AM to 8 PM, Monday - Friday, and 11 AM to 11 PM on Saturday. We’ve been told that they are planning to stay open later when evening and nighttime events are going on in Pontiac and the frequency of these seems to be increasing. In addition to the restaurant itself, they offer event planning, banquets, catering, after work mixers, class reunion facilities, pickup or delivery for open house style picnics, full service outdoor events, and much more. We at Detroit Metro Mashup frequented Bo’s Smokehouse for many years and will no doubt do the same for Downtown 51 Grille. We highly recommend that if you are anywhere near Pontiac (except on Sunday), you should stop by Downtown 51 and enjoy their many delicious offerings. In the meantime, click on the photo stack above and visually enjoy the grand opening from our point of view!

Downtown 51 Grille
51 N Saginaw St, Pontiac, MI
(248) 338-6200