Located on Centre Street appropriately two blocks from Comerica Park and Ford Field is Coaches Corner. As its name might suggest, Coaches is a straight-up sports bar and grill, with a bunch of Detroit, as well as Michigan college, memorabilia decorating the inside of this huge wooden-clad lodge-looking spot. With sports tuned televisions surrounding the bar (even on the second-floor loft area and in the downstairs event room), and a large selection of big-name as well as a couple local brews, this is a great place to be hanging out with friends on game day, or any day.
Coaches is huge, with regular seating on the main floor and on the second-floor loft area (mostly on game day), and the bar at its central. There's also a full bar downstairs, though it's usually reserved as an event room for private parties or for game-day events. The size of this place makes it sort of impersonal, so it's a place that's best enjoyed with a large group of friends. The staff seems to be used to big parties, so they tend to not be intrusive and let you be you, which is nice when you're just out trying to enjoy a night on the town.
Coaches is a great place for a beer more than anything. They have the usual big-name brews bottled and on tap, but also pay good homage to their city by sporting a great selection of local brands such as Atwater, Founders, and Motor City Brewery, just to name a few. There's a limited wine list with the usual red and white varieties, but nothing super fancy. If you're in the mood for something ambitious, try one of their specialty mixed drinks such as the French 75 (Remy 1738, simple syrup, lemon juice, and champagne) or the Coaches Rum Punch (Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum, three different kinds of juice, topped with ginger ale).
The food menu is comparable to Buffalo Wild Wings or Applebee's. They offer a couple choices of burgers, sandwiches, and salads, though the main focus appears to be on appetizers, with a huge selection including fries, wings, mozzarella sticks, and nachos. They also have homemade chili, and five different kinds of fresh pizza from meat lovers to vegetarian. It's not the sort of place that seems to be geared toward a quiet dinner for two, but one to accommodate large groups of passionate sports fans.
With Wayne State University right down Woodward Avenue and the College for Creative Studies not far from there, students in the area may enjoy Coaches' weekly college night event every Thursday. Live DJs on both floors, crazy games of beer pongs, and student-budget-friendly drink specials such as $1 shots and $1 beers — sounds like a great time, right? Oh and there's no cover charge for the event with a student ID, and shuttle service is provided to and from Wayne State's campus.
