Best Patios in Washtenaw County
Seven outdoor dining spots worth planning your summer around. The season is short. Use it well.
It is March. I am writing about patios. Outside right now it is gray and 38 degrees and there is old snow on the ground that has turned the color of parking lot. None of this matters. Patio season in Michigan runs roughly May through October, and the smart move is to have a plan before the first warm Saturday arrives and you end up at whatever place has a table open, drinking a mediocre beer next to a dumpster because someone put two chairs on a strip of concrete and called it a patio.
These are seven actual patios. Places where the outdoor space was designed, or at least inherited, with enough care that sitting outside makes the meal better. I'm writing from memory of last summer and the anticipation of the next one.
The Rooftop
Jolly Pumpkin (311 S Main St, Ann Arbor) has a rooftop patio on South Main that is, on a warm evening, one of the best seats in downtown Ann Arbor. You're above the street, looking out over the rooftops, drinking a sour ale that somebody spent months aging in oak barrels. The La Roja tastes slightly better up there. I have no scientific basis for this claim. The wood-fired pizzas travel well from kitchen to roof, and the Brussels sprouts are good enough to eat anywhere, including outside with a view. The rooftop fills up fast on weekends. Get there by 5 if you want a table without waiting.
The Beer Garden
Sidetrack Bar & Grill (56 E Cross St, Ypsilanti) has what I've called the best patio in Washtenaw County, and I haven't changed my mind over the winter. The patio sits behind the building in Depot Town, shaded by trees, with string lights and a mix of picnic tables and regular tables. You can hear the Huron River when the crowd thins out. On a Saturday night in July, the atmosphere is lively without being loud, which is harder to pull off than most bars manage. The burger that GQ put on its must-eat list tastes the same out here as it does inside. The beer list runs twenty-plus taps of Michigan craft. We've profiled Sidetrack at length. The patio is the reason I'll be back in May.
The Sidewalk Spots
Aventura (216 E Washington St, Ann Arbor) puts tables on East Washington during warm months, and the sidewalk seating turns a good Spanish tapas restaurant into something that feels like a different city entirely. Patatas bravas, gambas al ajillo, and a glass of sherry on a sidewalk at dusk. Ann Arbor's downtown isn't Barcelona, but on the right evening, with the right plate in front of you, the gap narrows. The tables are close together, which is either charming or annoying depending on your tolerance for proximity. I find it charming.
Spencer (113 E Liberty St, Ann Arbor) offers a few sidewalk tables on Liberty Street, and the combination of natural wine and seasonal tasting-menu-adjacent food in the open air is worth the effort of securing a seat. Spencer doesn't have a large outdoor footprint. A handful of tables, close to the door. But the wine list is one of the best in the state, and drinking a glass of something the staff talked you into while watching Liberty Street go by is a small, specific pleasure. Book ahead for dinner; the outdoor seats go first.
The Covered Patio
Pretzel Bell (226 S Main St, Ann Arbor) has a covered patio on South Main that works in weather that would shut down a fully open space. Light rain, cool evenings in September when other patios have already closed for the season. The coverage extends the usable window by weeks on either end. The craft cocktails are strong, the old-fashioned is a reliable benchmark, and the high ceilings inside carry the same warm-light atmosphere outside under the overhang. It's the patio for people who want to be outside but don't want to gamble on the forecast.
The Country Setting
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales (2319 Bishop Cr E, Dexter) has a patio that is nothing like its Ann Arbor sibling. Out in Dexter, the taproom faces away from the road, shaded by trees, with enough space that it never feels cramped even on weekends. No traffic noise. No competition for sidewalk real estate. You're drinking oak-aged sour ales and eating wood-fired pizza and looking at woods. We wrote about the Dexter location recently. The patio is the main reason to make the drive, and on a summer Tuesday when you can get a table without thinking about it, there's nothing better in the county.
The Atmospheric
Bellflower (209 Pearl St, Ypsilanti) has two patios: one covered for year-round use, one open-air for summer. The covered patio is the one I think about in winter. It extends the restaurant's dining room into the air of Pearl Street without losing the warmth of the interior. Dan Klenotic's menu changes daily based on what the farms sent, and eating that food outside, in Depot Town, at a table that feels like it belongs to a serious restaurant rather than an afterthought, is one of the better dinner experiences in the county. The open-air patio in full summer is even better. Bellflower's full profile is here. The patios are reason enough to return.
Patio season in Washtenaw County typically runs May through October, weather permitting. Sidetrack and Jolly Pumpkin Dexter have the most spacious outdoor areas. Spencer and Aventura have limited sidewalk seating that fills fast. Plan accordingly, and check ahead on iffy days.