Royal Oak's 'Most Instagrammable' Restaurant, Bar Reopens

ROYAL OAK, MI — It's been a long eight months for Pinky's Rooftop, 100 S. Main St., which closed temporarily in November 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic but reopened on Wednesday.

The reopening follows what those close to the restaurant and cocktail bar called a strong customer demand for one of Michigan's "most Instagrammable restaurants" as restaurants and bars across the state begin reopening their doors to customers.

During its stretch of being closed, restaurant owner Adam Merkel said the time was used to improve and upgrade.

"We couldn’t be more excited to re-open such an iconic space on the best corner in downtown Royal Oak," Merkel told Patch Thursday. "During the shutdown, we took the opportunity to double down on numerous building improvements and space upgrades and spend time on extra training for our staff to ensure an even better guest experience when we returned."

Reopening Pinky's isn't all Merkel has been up to, either. The restaurant group — Adam Merkel Restaurants — is adding two new eateries to its current list of four open establishments.Bohemia and Pearl’s Deep Dive are set to open in a month.

To help with a widespread labor shortage amid the pandemic, the group is hiring 150 new employees across all its businesses, with hiring incentives of $500 for hourly employees and $1,000 for salaries managers.

The incentives are available for any employees hired by June 1.

"(We are offering the incentives) to give the best experience guests expect and deserve from us, that only happens with recruiting and keeping great people," Merkel said. "We are committed to doing whatever it takes to add those people to our team and make our restaurants a great fun place to work for them."

Merkel said the restaurant group also unveiled a new menu going forward, with temporary hours being 4-11 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday initially and expanding in the coming weeks.

"I’m very much looking forward to having guests in to try our new menu items," Merkel said. "We are always looking for ways to innovate and stay fresh with new ideas in our kitchens and bars to delight our guests.

"With the end of the pandemic in sight, the timing couldn’t be better for us to return to doing what we love most - giving our guests delicious food and genuine hospitality in a great atmosphere," Merkel added. "We’re happy to be back."