Black Rock Restaurant Now Open in Novi

Black Rock Bar & Grill brings a new kind of dining to Novi.

For those who haven't been before, Black Rock features rock cooking, a unique style in which customers can cook their food themselves at their table. It requires a heated granite stone that can be placed on the table at about 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

>>Watch how rock cooking works in the video to the right.

Black Rock opened its Novi location April 2 at Fountain Walk at the previous Godaiko location.

Branden Morganroth, general manager of the restaurant, called it a soft opening without a lot of advertising. But that didn't negatively affect business. 

"Our weekends have been really killer so far," he said.

The restaurant is getting a lot of people who haven’t experienced the concept yet, he said, so a host demonstrates the Black Rock cooking technique as soon as they walk in the door.

Morganroth said they're installing an outdoor patio in the next few weeks. It will have an awning, heaters and a 52 inch plasma TV embedded in a rock pillar, he said.

"We're waiting for a couple of beautiful days to put it all up," he said.

He said the plan is to have live music during the summer, featuring a variety of artists playing anything from modern country to '80s rock.

Black Rock also regularly has live music indoors. Lonny Morganroth, who owns the two Black Rock locations with his wife, Janette, said there is dinner music 6 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 4 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

"It's a great ambiance to add to the restaurant," he said.

The upscale, yet kid-friendly eatery also offers specialty items such as foot-long hot dogs wrapped in pizza dough, stuffed burgers and a frozen pop machine. And while the concept and service is upscale, the restaurant offers most dinners from $15-20. Other featured menu items include pizza, white fish, salmon and ribs.

Have you been to Black Rock yet? What did you think? Tell us in the comments.