Cafe D’Mongo

Have you ever been to a speakeasy before? Or rather, do you know what it is? Well, if you have not heard of it before, a speakeasy is a place or outlet that sells alcoholic drinks illegally and it was popular during the Prohibition era, that is, between 1920 right up to 1933, but in some states, it is longer than that – then it disappeared after the Prohibition era ended. Now the term “speakeasy” is used to describe retro style bars or pubs. And if you have never been to one, perhaps you may want to rent a Detroit bus and bring your friends with you to Cafe D’Mongo that is located at 1439 Griswold St, Detroit for a night of experiencing what it is like to have drinks and fun in a speakeasy.

In case you didn’t know, Cafe D’Mongo is only open on Friday and Saturday nights. Once you and your friends get down from the Detroit rental bus and enter into Cafe D’Mongo, you would most likely receive a warm welcome by the owner of the place itself, Larry D’Mongo. Not only that, the hostess and bartender are very friendly too and they also make guests to the bar feel very welcome and at ease, especially for first time visitors. The ambience and atmosphere inside Cafe D’Mongo is filled with live music playing all night through. The decoration inside is rather interesting, compared to modern pubs or bars. There are instruments on the walls, a Billy Holiday picture and newspaper cuttings that tells of the heydays of speakeasy. If you are lucky, you may even be able to watch and listen as the singer cum pianist play and sing a couple of song – he’s a really talented pianist and singer, we must say!

Right in front of Cafe D’Mongo’s, where your Detroit rental bus driver would have dropped you and your party friends, they have their food cooking in grills, which is definitely something you don’t get to see ever so often, so if you and your friends enjoy bbq, all of you would surely love this place very much! You will also find most of the crowd leaning towards the hipsters, but then again, you will also see different types of people, so it is not really too overwhelmed with hipsters too – not that it is such a bad thing. In fact, this is one of those places where people watching get to be very interesting. Drinks are considerably good too, and it would appear that one of their best ones are Detroit Brown. You will have to try one to decide if you like it.