Detroit's first Applebee's opens on 8 Mile

Ending months of anticipation, Detroit's first Applebee's restaurant opened on Monday along 8 Mile near the old Michigan State Fairgrounds.

The restaurant fronts the new Gateway Marketplace shopping center that is anchored by a Meijer superstore. It joins the more than 1,900 Applebee's outlets nationwide and is operated by TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants.

The restaurant's interior features the names of metro Detroit high schools and photographic murals of the schools' student athletes. There are also snapshots of Detroit landmarks, including the Belle Isle canals and nearby Dutch Girl Donuts on Woodward.

The restaurant was about half full during the start of Monday's lunch-hour rush. One party of six wore Detroit Applebee's T-shirts that they created for fun to celebrate the city's first-ever outpost for the casual-dining chain.

"The fact that there was so much media hype around (the opening) — we had to," explained Dave Phillips of Clinton Township, a partner in the website and podcast ITintheD.com.

"If this would have opened up in Ferndale, it would have been crickets," said Bob Waltenspiel of Auburn Hills, a fellow partner of the website. "But the fact it opened up on this side of 8 Mile — let's have a parade!"

The new restaurant employs 140 people and is currently the only restaurant in Michigan to serve Atwater Brewing's 8 Mile Amber, said Barb Pasciak, director of marketing with TEAM Schostak.