The Story Behind Birmingham's Beloved Restaurant Phoenicia

BIRMINGHAM, MI — Phoenicia Restaurant in downtown Birmingham is a local favorite, and for good reason. Not only is the Lebanese food unique and delicious, the start of the restaurant is especially charming.

Lebanese native Sameer Eid was having lunch at an old Birmingham restaurant, Boridy, in 1971, when the owner asked if he wanted to buy the place. Eid bought the restaurant five minutes later for $5,700, The Birmingham Eccentric reports.

Eid quickly changed the menu of Boridy to incorporate Lebanese food. After a few noteworthy people reviewed Eid's restaurant — Bob Talbert from the Detroit Free Press, and a reporter from Travel+Leisure Magazine who named the restaurant one of the top 50 diners in the country — business started booming.

“Things just took off,” Eid said. “Suddenly, famous people like George Hamilton and Bette Midler and Jane Fonda were eating at my restaurant when they came to Detroit … everyone in the media wanted to write a review about my place.”

In 1978, Eid bought a building on South Old Woodward in downtown Birmingham, where he opened Phoenicia four years later in 1982. He ran the restaurant with no name or sign for over ten years.

“There was no trace that this was a restaurant except for the address, 12967 Woodward,” Eid told The Birmingham Eccentric.

Since then, Phoenicia attracts people of all kinds — even former President Bill Clinton.

“He came in here 6-7 years ago. First, the Secret Service scoped out the place … and then in walks Bill Clinton," Eid said. "He was the most charismatic person I ever met in my life – he stopped at every table and talked to every customer.”

The lifelong costumers are really what makes Phoenicia a special place, though.

“I’m serving three generations,” Eid said. “Some of my customers were little kids when they first came to eat here … now they bring their kids into my place. I can’t even call them customers – they’re my friends.”

To read more about Eid's story, check out The Birmingham Eccentric article.