Metro Detroit Italian Restaurant Profile

Mario's Northern Italian Cuisine & Banquet Center

Detroit's oldest Italian restaurant, open since 1948, with old-school service, a warm traditional dining room, downtown shuttle service, and a menu that still knows what a proper zip sauce is supposed to do.

Mario's restaurant exterior and main building image from the official site
CityDetroitMidtown / Cass Corridor edge.
CuisineNorthern ItalianClassic Italian dining with banquet service.
Address4222 2nd AveDetroit, MI 48201
Phone(313) 832-1616Official site and Google Maps listing.
What they're known for

Old-world dining, ballroom polish, and enough history to fill a couple scrapbooks.

Mario's own homepage calls it Detroit's oldest Italian restaurant, since 1948. The site highlights warm, elegant, traditional service, complimentary shuttle service to downtown venues, and a dining room that still leans formal in the good old-fashioned sense.

This is a place for classic Northern Italian plates, special occasions, and people who want dinner with a little theatrical flourish. In other words: the Lodge approves.

Specialty dishes and menu highlights

  • Choice cut beef with zip sauce
  • Chilled shrimp cocktail
  • Housemade pasta
  • Classic northern Italian entrées
  • Banquet dinner service
  • Carryout and dine-in favorites

These highlights were confirmed from public Google search snippets and Mario's official dinner-menu PDF surfaced in search on 2026-07-04.

Gallery

Public images from Mario's own site.

Map & hours

Second Avenue, downtown Detroit.

Address: 4222 2nd Ave, Detroit, MI 48201
Hours:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday–Friday: 4:00 PM–10:00 PM
Saturday: 12:00 PM–10:00 PM
Sunday: 1:00 PM–10:00 PM
Notes: complimentary shuttle service to downtown venues.
Review links

Public review pages, straight to the source.

Review snapshot checked 2026-07-04: Google Maps public listing showed 4.1 stars from 1,869 reviews and described the restaurant as an elegant supper club with shuttle service. Tripadvisor search results surfaced Mario's Italian Restaurant, Detroit, and a public snippet referencing 343 reviews. Those are public source snippets, not our own counts.