Restaurants in Sterling Heights

Strings of colored lights twinkle from the rafters of Gator Jake's Bar Grill Patio, where walls of retro neon and pressed-metal signs lend the dining room a vivacious vibe. The menu brings creole and southwestern perspectives to the table, providing etouffees, steak-fajita subs, and barbecue chicken monterey to complement a glass of Beringer wine, a specialty cocktail, or a beer called Guinness, Killian's, or Corona. Wall-mounted flat-screen televisions broadcast major sporting events as the sounds of clacking pool balls, whirring darts, and songs from the jukebox and periodic live entertainment fill the air. Open until 2 a.m., Gator Jake's—which took third place in the 2011 Detroit A-List's race for Best Sports Bar—welcomes patrons to stay for a late-night birthday party or celebrate the opening of a foreign stock exchange far, far away.

Dream Dinners makes meal preparation a breeze with easy-to-follow instructions, precut meats and veggies, and a host of complementary ingredients. The experience is like a cross between a barn raising and a bar crawl, minus the alcohol and hard labor: After choosing from a rotating menu of up to 14 dishes per month, customers schedule a spot at a fun prep session (call at least a week in advance) to assemble meals in-store. Items from the April menu include blackened salmon with pineapple salsa ($15.89 for three servings) and crispy sesame chicken with gingered green beans ($14.04 for three servings). Groupon holders can dazzle dining-room tables with fancy, restaurant-inspired fare or serve up flavor-filled comfort foods such as white-chicken lasagna ($14.04 for three servings) and caliente pork chops with garlic mashed potatoes ($16.42 for three servings).

The kitchen crew at Sahara Mediterranean Grill shaves tender layers of their popular chicken shawarma from the spit of a traditional vertical broiler, helping them earn the title of Detroit’s Best Middle Eastern restaurant from Local 4 viewers in summer 2011. Vegetarian options range from a falafel sandwich to the smoothly textured adas lentil soup, with beans that chefs carefully crush with an announcement that none of them made their high school’s baseball team. The menu also includes house specialties such as the potato chop—seasoned beef stuffed inside a golden-brown, deep-fried potato shell.

Sips from specialty drinks and smoky hookahs add a sweeter dimension to meals as diners perch on dark hardwood seating. The furnishings contrast visually with butter-yellow walls on which murals appear to emerge from behind crumbling stone.

Filippa’s Wine Barrel

At Filippa’s Wine Barrel, seasoned chefs pay homage to the melting pot of American cuisine with a menu of seafood and steak-house cuisine created from seasonal ingredients from local sources whenever possible. A bounty of fruit de mer dishes range from southern shrimp casserole steeped in rich mascarpone to South African lobster tail. A large, rotating wine list includes pours from local Michigan wineries, as well as French burgundies and Napa Valley reds. Diners tuck into the upscale eats inside cozy, horseshoe-shaped booths or sup al-fresco on the patio surrounded by a lush landscape of high grasses, the gurgling of a small pond, and the soft, lilting melodies of an opera-singing garden gnome.

While Mill Street Grille's wings ($7.99 for eight wings) have earned the restaurant ticker-tape parades from CityVoters and Nobel Prizes in physics, the rest of the menu proves to be no slouch in culinary capability. Split an appetizer of deep-fried pickle chips ($4.49) or conquer the mountainous nachos for two ($9.49) like an edibles-minded Edmund Hillary. Entrees include grilled salmon ($12.99), the Mill Street rack of ribs ($16.99), and a rib-eye steak dinner ($14.99), all of which come with a choice of fries, coleslaw, or house salad. Mill Street Grille's selection of sandwiches and wraps covers all-American favorites such as the catfish po' boy ($6.99), the Philly steak ($7.99), and the club wrap ($6.99), while its brigade of burgers ranges in size from four sliders ($5.99) to Mill Street's Big Daddy ($9.99), a pound of meat topped with cheese, lettuce, tomato, Mill Street Grille's special sauce, and the well-wishes of concerned onlookers.

Every guest who steps into Kalamata Greek Grill smells it—the warm, comforting aroma of freshly baked pita bread. Made from a closely guarded recipe—the one thing Caesar saved before burning down the Library of Alexandria—pitas serve as the foundation of Kalamata's made-to-order Greek cuisine. The kitchen staff lines the pocketed bread in full view of customers, stuffing it with ingredients such as steamy gyro meat and each guest’s choice of toppings. They can also make house-style pitas, such as the Greek Cowboy, which includes green pepper, red onion, and greek barbecue sauce.

The dining room invites patrons to relax under its latticework ceiling, and the patio offers alfresco seating. Kalamata's combination of fresh Greek food and a welcoming atmosphere—plus its enthusiasm for helping out with fundraisers—has won it Best Greek Restaurant from 2009 to 2012 in WDIV's Vote 4 The Best awards.