After 12 years of dimly lit date nights and late cocktails above Woodward Avenue, Wright & Company is pulling the plug on regular dinner service. The downtown Detroit small-plates standout says its dining room will close to the public on July 3, although the second-floor space will stay in play for private parties and special events.
The restaurant’s team broke the news on Instagram, thanking guests "for more than a decade" and reflecting that "what started as a restaurant became a gathering place," according to the Detroit Free Press. The post, as cited by the paper, confirmed that Wright & Co. will serve its final public dinners on July 3, then shift its focus solely to hosting private events and celebrations.
Perched on the second floor of the historic Wright-Kay building, the restaurant has long looked out over Woodward Avenue through oversized windows. Its menu has centered on seasonal, shareable plates, with staples such as pork belly sliders, artisanal cheese boards, and crispy Brussels sprouts featured on the restaurant’s official site, Wright & Company. For many regulars, it has been the reliable move for anniversaries, first dates, and post-show drinks.
Chef-partner Marc Djozlija has led the kitchen since the early days and picked up a James Beard Award semifinalist nod for Best Chef: Great Lakes in 2015, according to Food Republic. That early recognition, paired with years of steady service, helped cement Wright & Co. as a fixture on downtown dining lists.
Local context and what is next
Wright & Co. is tied into a broader web of Detroit hospitality operators who run multiple downtown bars and restaurants, and its pivot away from nightly dinner service lands amid a shuffle of venues across the city. Recent coverage from Detroit Metro Times and Eater Detroit has tracked a steady churn of openings and closings as owners wrestle with changing demand and rising costs.
For now, Detroiters still have a short window to squeeze in a final round of small plates and cocktails. Public dinner service runs through tomorrow, after which the team says the space will be reserved for private events and special gatherings. Representatives have not yet shared what the long-term future of the storied room above Woodward might look like.
