Best Waterfront Bars on Lake St. Clair

This is the drinks list, not the dinner list. What counts here is whether you can tie up or park and spend an afternoon: the dock situation, the patio, what is on tap, and whether the bar staff keep up when every seat is full in July. Four places earned a rank, and three more get named with the exact reason they did not, because on a bars list a warm keg or a Saturday night nobody gets seated matters more than the average star rating. For the food side of the same shoreline, see our best waterfront restaurants list.

Updated September 21, 2026

1. #1

   Mike's on the WaterTying up and staying a while

   Waterfront Dining · St. Clair Shores

   ★4.3Google (2149)

   Mike's is the one boaters name when someone asks where you can pull in for a drink. There are slips out front, a patio over the marina, and an upstairs bar, so there is somewhere to sit whether you arrive by boat or by car. Regulars name Cori behind the bar, the draft runs $2.50 at lunch, and there is live music on the deck in season. Of the 30 newest reviews only two are low, one about a dry burger and one about a 25 minute wait for water on a Sunday at five.

   It is always packed in summer, and a couple of recent tables found the deck staff slow to fix a problem once one started.

   24600 Jefferson Ave, St Clair Shores, MI 48080 · (586) 872-2630

   Sources:Google reviews(4.3 from 2,149 reviews)r/Detroit, Oct 2025Yelp(464 reviews)
2. #2

   Baffin Brewing CompanyThe beer itself

   Waterfront Dining · St. Clair Shores

   ★4.7Google (470)

   Baffin has the cleanest record of any bar on this shoreline: of the 30 newest reviews, 27 are five stars and not one is a one or two. It is a working taproom with 266 beers brewed to date, flights, a frozen drink menu, a newer cocktail line, and a covered patio that takes dogs. Food comes from a truck outside rather than a kitchen. You order at the counter, and people note the line moves even on a busy night.

   It fronts Jefferson rather than the water, so there is no slip to tie up at and no lake view from the patio.

   25113 Jefferson Ave, St Clair Shores, MI 48081 · (586) 218-7990

   Sources:Google reviews(4.7 from 470 reviews)Untappd(3.83 from 32,040 ratings)Yelp(122 reviews)
3. #3

   Zef's Dockside Bar + KitchenThe best dock setup on the Mile

   Waterfront Dining · St. Clair Shores

   ★4.2Google (1584)

   If the point is arriving by boat, Zef's has the most room for it: seawall tie-ups plus docks directly in front, two full bars, and an upstairs deck where the garage doors open over the marina. Boaters name it unprompted when someone asks where to dock. Cold beer, a strawberry margarita with the fish tacos, and a seat by the open doors is the order. Know that the view is the marina basin, not open lake.

   Five one-star reviews landed in six weeks this summer, all about the kitchen and the service rather than the bar: a slow night, an allergy swap refused, dry steak tacos.

   24026 Jefferson Ave, St Clair Shores, MI 48080 · (586) 879-6279

   Sources:Google reviews(4.2 from 1,584 reviews)r/Detroit, Oct 2025Lake St. Clair Guide
4. #4

   WavesA late night with a DJ

   Waterfront Dining · St. Clair Shores

   ★4.3Google (1846)

   Waves is the one on this list that turns into a nightclub. DJs on Friday and Saturday, a tropical room, and a bar list that regulars order an old fashioned or the house wine from. Servers get named for steering first-timers, and a table can be in and out in an hour at lunch. The food is where the misses are: a dry chicken sandwich, a $4 kids soda, a dispute over a chicken dish where the server got short.

   It sits on the Jefferson side, so there is no dock and nothing in a month of reviews mentions a water view. Come for the room and the DJ, not the lake.

   24223 Jefferson Ave #1521, St Clair Shores, MI 48080 · (586) 773-3840

   Sources:Google reviews(4.3 from 1,846 reviews)Yelp(181 reviews)

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