where to eat near Rochester Hills, MI?

Going to watch a figure skating competition. Are there any great places for dinner? Willing to drive 30 mins. Friend recommended The Rattlesnake but the restaurant said they're about 45-60 mins away. Going to be shopping at Somerset Mall so maybe have a dinner there? Thanks!

i frequently get very close to there... (work on big beaver in Troy).. i tend to not go north of big beaver but rather find the more interesting just south of there..

...Somerset Mall has a few options that are decent. J.Alexanders (which we have here in Chicago) is a decent chain serving american food.. Kinda Banderaish but I prefer it much, much more than Bandera. Good for lunch.... There's also a boring ole capital grill there, CPK, etc.. Somerset Mall itself is divided into two sections, the regular stores then the "upscale" stores on the other side of Big Beaver... The upscale side has a few restaurants, one being a French place (Bon Vie or something). I had an "OK" experience there once, then the second time so bad I almost asked for the manager... Brio Tuscan is on that side... As is PF Chang's and McCormick & Schmicks... so as far as malls go, this mall has a lot of very high end decent chains.

if you're wanting to get away from chain-city, drive 2 miles southwest to Birmingham MI. (So in total from Rochester Hills it's probably 25 mins)

Birmingham is a cute little town with shops and great restaurants. It's amazing how many high end places are there given it's small size... many of the places could give a lot of restaurants in Chicago a run for their money (though there's not as much diversity--many places are steak and seafood). The town itself is a bit more of an elitist type crowd mixed with a lot of business travelers, at times a little too stuffy (though usually made that way because of where you are trying to portray some image, not the people).. but I don't mind and you can still show up just about anywhere in jeans and they won't stare.

220 is one of my favorites for Italian, plus also they have a pretty cooljazz/blues place below it too (Edison's). It gets a busy bar crowd in front after work and in back is quieter... I'd probably recommend it if I had to pick one place... It's not overly stuffy and not too casual, and the food is always good. I don't recommend Forte. My favorite place in Birmingham--City Cellar--closed not so long ago due to liquor licensing issues. Cameron Mitchell's Steakhouse is great (small chain). Better than any steakhouse I've been to here. They have a seafood restaurant next door that is not so great--Mitchell's Fish Market, reminds me of Denny's and wasn't very good. Greek Islands Coney is supposedly one of the better of the Coney restaurants. Streetside Seafood is a good place for seafood, and the atmosphere is nice and not stuffy.

There's also the Rugby Grill in the Townsend Hotel (which is probably the nicest hotel in the Detroit area)... I like the breakfast there, I never feel like going there for dinner..

Another cute town just south of where you'll be is Royal Oak then a few minutes furth south from that is Ferndale. There are a few decent places, many of the places there are more for average joe. There's a downtown area where there's shops and restaurants along the two main streets. Both are a bit Wicker Parkish, Ferndale more so. There's a cute looking BBQ place (Memphis Smoke) with pretty medicore food. There's a few Thai places... I was there earlier this month and went to a Japanese steakhouse that was good--Katana. Though I'm told the Thai place connected to it and same owner is better perhaps. I seem to always end up in the same places in Royal Oak so I can't really recommend much there.. but if you check around on yelp you'll get a pretty good metering of what's good/bad in that area. There's a few good places in Ferndale that my co-worker (who moved to that area from Wicker Park) says are great but I haven't had a chance to check them off my list yet.

Birmingham and Royal Oak both have city garages that have free parking for under 2 hours, then each hour after that is like $1, up to $10 max.

i agree with pretty much everything dddane says (i used to work at that mccormick and schmick's a few years back). i think the food at m & s troy is better than either of the ones in chicago, but many of the preperations are similar. the exec chef is asian and the few dishes he has personally put on the menu with asian preparations (miso marinades, asian crab glazes, etc) are really excellent. there is also 4th street grill on 4th street in downtown rochester which is a really great restaurant IMO that doesn't get nearly enough credit. that would by my 1st recommendation if you are looking to go within a few miles of r. hills.