The Roma Cafe closes after 127 years in Detroit.

[Zacha341]

Goodness what was the name of that place?! So 'stuff shirt' with poor delivery of service and the over-priced food! For all the fancy-schnancy and royal enclosure pretense it just never lived up to the hype!

Though the idea of finnan haddie sounds great if someone else made it!

...that soul food place in Greektown, whose name escapes me) because it was a dated concept and hadn't been updated or revitalized in decades. In the mid 1990s you had to wear a coat and tie, even for lunch [[this is when almost nobody but attorneys, and not all of them, were still wearing ties to work) and they still had such throwback items as finnan haddie on the menu....

[3WC]

Joe Vicari has done a remarkably good job preserving the best of the Joe Muer's culture.

I can't count the times I dined at JM's on Gratiot, on Friday at lunch. Great memories.

The newest Joe Muer's adjacent to the being-renovated Kingsley Inn in Bloomfield Hills is packed even on week nights. The food is as good as it ever was on Gratiot although I miss the finnan haddie and blue fish [[although they have blue fish patte.)

It's pricey so bring plenty of money but apparently people feel the food quality, impeccable, attentive service, and atmosphere are well worth it. The last time I was there I had a seat by the front window and was amazed at the incoming cars; a couple of Bentleys, scads of Mercedes, a couple of Maserati's, and a parade of luxury cars not usually seen in Detroit. Lots of Caddies as well thank goodness. Quite a show.

[EastsideAl]

It's a good thing my late father didn't live an extra few months to see this day. Roma was his "spot" [[well, along with Sindbad's). The place where he and his business friends would meet for drinks, dinner, etc. Dad was on a first name basis with the staff, bartenders, and owners there, and could wander in at any time and get a table, even when the place was full [[which it often still was on Friday and Saturday nights and occasional lunch times). His family and personal history with the place was very long indeed, reaching back to his father, and he always felt at home there.

My grandfather went back with the Sossi family and their predecessors to the days when the place still had Sicilian boarders living upstairs. Grandpa's mother's family lived in the neighborhood that used to be just north of there and seemingly became rather Italianized, despite being 100% Irish. In fact, my grandfather was even involved in the Italian restaurant trade for a few years and credited the Sossis with helping him out with advice, recipes, workers, etc., even though he was supposedly competition. Rumor always was that this was in return for the help of grandpa and his family with certain issues of supply and demand during those years of unfortunate legal restriction.

In any event, even as Roma moved quite far away from its humble checkered table cloth, worker serving, roots, we would always have one or two "fancy" restaurant dinners a year there with my grandparents. And grandpa would be greeted like the old friend he was, with some drinks and wine carried "on the cuff" for him.

Having said all that, stories of the restaurant's decline over the past several years were true. Some of those reports were no doubt due to changing tastes, to be sure, as the Roma's menu of heavily cooked red-sauce pastas and veal-with-sauce dishes came to seem outmoded to diners who had become used to lighter fare and more authentic modern Italian cuisine [[as opposed to old-style Italian-American food). But the place had also grown shabby and worn and indifferently maintained, and the food had too. It became to where I dreaded our inevitable family nights out at Roma, because the food would range from OK to barely edible. In a way that no amount of first-name glad handing and warm greetings could cover up.

I wish they had modernized the place and the menu a bit and kept the name and the history intact, or at least actually sold the place to someone who would. Especially now, having survived all the bad years and with things coming together all over that part of the city. But that is clearly wishful thinking. I'm dubious about the long-term future of the lease type arrangement discussed in the article, but I do wish the new operators all the best and hope they can hold on to a bit of the spirit of the old place while moving forward.

[eastland]

It's a good thing my late father didn't live an extra few months to see this day. Roma was his "spot" [[well, along with Sindbad's). The place where he and his business friends would meet for drinks, dinner, etc. Dad was on a first name basis with the staff, bartenders, and owners there, and could wander in at any time and get a table, even when the place was full [[which it often still was on Friday and Saturday nights and occasional lunch times). His family and personal history with the place was very long indeed, reaching back to his father, and he always felt at home there.

My grandfather went back with the Sossi family and their predecessors to the days when the place still had Sicilian boarders living upstairs. Grandpa's mother's family lived in the neighborhood that used to be just north of there and seemingly became rather Italianized, despite being 100% Irish. In fact, my grandfather was even involved in the Italian restaurant trade for a few years and credited the Sossis with helping him out with advice, recipes, workers, etc., even though he was supposedly competition. Rumor always was that this was in return for the help of grandpa and his family with certain issues of supply and demand during those years of unfortunate legal restriction.

In any event, even as Roma moved quite far away from its humble checkered table cloth, worker serving, roots, we would always have one or two "fancy" restaurant dinners a year there with my grandparents. And grandpa would be greeted like the old friend he was, with some drinks and wine carried "on the cuff" for him.

Having said all that, stories of the restaurant's decline over the past several years were true. Some of those reports were no doubt due to changing tastes, to be sure, as the Roma's menu of heavily cooked red-sauce pastas and veal-with-sauce dishes came to seem outmoded to diners who had become used to lighter fare and more authentic modern Italian cuisine [[as opposed to old-style Italian-American food). But the place had also grown shabby and worn and indifferently maintained, and the food had too. It became to where I dreaded our inevitable family nights out at Roma, because the food would range from OK to barely edible. In a way that no amount of first-name glad handing and warm greetings could cover up.

I wish they had modernized the place and the menu a bit and kept the name and the history intact, or at least actually sold the place to someone who would. Especially now, having survived all the bad years and with things coming together all over that part of the city. But that is clearly wishful thinking. I'm dubious about the long-term future of the lease type arrangement discussed in the article, but I do wish the new operators all the best and hope they can hold on to a bit of the spirit of the old place while moving forward.

What's more concerning is the guy taking it over is the same guy who's been running the kitchen for the past few years, which is when critics said the food started going downhill.

[Zacha341]

^^^ Uh-oh! I hope he knows that RUNNING the place is not the same as working the kitchen ala chef.

But perhaps that will be the better -- seeing how bad the food had become!

[Maof]

What's more concerning is the guy taking it over is the same guy who's been running the kitchen for the past few years, which is when critics said the food started going downhill.

That's what I'm afraid of too!

[Armin]

So, if The Roma Cafe is closed, what is the oldest/longest-running restaurant in Detroit now? Is it Jacoby's? It's got to be.

[archfan]

So, if The Roma Cafe is closed, what is the oldest/longest-running restaurant in Detroit now? Is it Jacoby's? It's got to be.

According to Eater, it's Jacoby's [[1904), followed by Ivanhoe Cafe/Polish Yacht Club [[1909), and American Coney Island [[1917).

[GPCharles]

Problems with the original Joe Muer's:
1. Too big a facility;
2. Waiters union contract was excessive;
3. Joe overpaid to buy out his brother Tom;
4. Joe always complained about his location, yet customers always found the Roma, which takes a roadmap if you don't know where it is.

[Meddle]

As I recall, neither one of them had much of a parking lot. Double parking on Gratiot was a bit more risky than double parking on Riopelle or Erskine. As long as DFD could get their rigs in and out of the shop, nobody really cared or complained.