Café Zola

I have been to this location of Zola few times and I really like the location and vibe of it especially in summertime. Service is really good too and waiters are always friendly and considerate of our needs. We had few kids with us with severe allergies and they were very accommodating. That being said I give the food only three stars, but let me break it down for you. Their brunch menu is great, quite versatile and good portions. But their lunch and dinner options are too petite in portions for the price. It’s to the point that one main dish is not enough to feel full, and I usually can’t finish my meal at restaurants so I don’t need a gigantic meal to get full. Also their lamb and chicken are halal.

I dined here two times in the same week for business meetings. One was a Thursday evening for dinner and the other was Saturday for brunch. It was crowded on Thursday but was easy to get seating but it was completely packed on Saturday (see pic). All the food I’ve eaten at this restaurant has been really good. I recommend this place but will say it’s a little too loud for me on Saturdays and you have to speak really loud for the people at your table to hear you. I’d probably only dine here on week nights only because I tend to like it a bit quieter for meals. The staff are very friendly here. There is plenty of paid parking in a lot around the corner.

I hate to do this. I want to love Zola but she continues to disappoint. At least half if the time I walk away sad. And I have tried numerous times. Sunday brunch was not good, not hot and too expensive. $21 for two very tiny crab cakes listed as a main course. They were smaller in diameter than the lime next to them. The presentation was boring, they were cool and tasted very average. $14 for a caesar salad, unless you want chicken breast. Then you are paying $26. $12 for a very slight pour glass of rose (the bottle costs $12 retail). I love the wine list so my suggestion is to always buy the bottle. Glass pours are always ridiculously small. Way too much going on in the omelet. The Rosemary overpowered the rest of the fillings that overpowered the eggs. Stewed tomatoes do not belong in an omelet. That’s the food. The server was not present. I can’t really blame her because she had tables outside, tables at the front and tables in the back. We unfortunately were in back. But even still when she visited us she didn’t look at the table. Asked for refills on the water. She refilled t out of 3 empty glasses. Later came to ask if we needed anything and if everything was all right. Nit noticing the three empty water glasses or the empty plates. We had already finished eating so I mentioned that nothing was hot when it was served and that we had waited a very long time. She asked if there was anything she could do and I replied it was too late. She offered to take my $12 half-glass of wine off the bill and I said I didn’t intend to get a discount, I just wanted to make her aware that the entire experience was disappointing. I have had great meals at Zola. I have been disappointed too. I am a Francophile. I live close enough to walk. I love the concept and I want Zola to succeed. But I am gonna give it some time to try again.

I ordered the Turkish brunch and loved it. The ingredients were fresh and it comes with a variety of bread and muffin that you can combine with the other items in the meal. The portion size was large and could've fed two people. I arrived around 8:30 on a Saturday morning when it was not crowded at all, but it got busier with a line around 10 when I was leaving. We came here again and ordered the ricotta pancakes and crepes, they were very good as well.

The place is really busy & loud on a weekend, you're practically shouting across a small table to have a conversation. Food was ok, and service was terrible. Not sure if they're understaffed, but our waitress was no where to be seen after we got our food, and took over forever to get our bills.

My husband and I went for dinner with a couple of friends and we had such a great experience. The owner helped us finding a table available and we got to know her a little bit. Food, drinks and service was amazing! The place is super cute and I can’t wait to go back.

I was lucky and got here before the big rush. It was so good! It has a specials brunch menu plus a standard one and there are so many great choices! :) The menu is very creative and vibrant with brunch favorites with an international twist. They have stuff with eastern Mediterranean flair as well as stuff from Latin America. Thanks!

We went there in a small group. The food was good! We ordered a couple of starters and a main course. I had the lamb rack which was quite juicy and the side dishes were delicious.

Cafe Zola has been in AA since 1996 - launched by husband and wife duo Hediye Batu and Alan Zakalik who are of Polish and Turkish descent, respectively so they fused their backgrounds with their inspiration for pretty dang tasty food. Apparently back in the day, Cafe Zola was THE place for business meetings. While it seems relatively packed on weekends these days, I don't know about suits and limos anymore. OK for the food -- AA Restaurant Week was what brought me in! So I had an app + entree: *Grilled Radicchio + Kale with Orange + Hazelnuts w/Pomegranate Vinaigrette - this was a super lovely warm salad. Dressed perfectly and really tasty! The kale was the lacinato/dino kind so just held up so nicely. The radicchio was cut into little squares for easy eating. The hazelnuts were generous and added some great texture. On the regular menu, this sits in the specials so it sounds like I need to go back ASAP for this!! *Shakshuka (sautéed peppers, onions, cumin and herbs and baked with french feta and olives, two organic eggs) - I'm used to pretty bare bones shakshukas with just some tomato sauce basically and this was a really nice filling version. It had lots of peppers & onions. This is served with either white bread or rye. The rye was the way to go forsure! FYI - they also have a second location called Zola Bistro in the Arbor Hills shopping plaza. I'll have to stop in when I'm there!

So we visited Cafe Zola on Mother's Day, which you would expect to be fairly crazy. So I'm taking that into account in this review but unfortunately, this place wasn't even equipped for what they faced so I wanted to make sure I highlighted some of the problems so they can get things right for the next holiday. Here are some of the things we noticed: - We had made a 12:45pm reservation about a month ahead, so we were surprised when their planning was still so poor that they were about 20 minutes behind our time seating us. - We ordered fairly quickly...I got the roasted mushroom toast and my wife ordered some type of special goat cheese frittata with potatoes, and we got just water to drink. As expected, it took a while for our food to arrive but my rating is based on a few things in particular: our server seemed to pretty much disappear after we ordered; the potatoes that my wife was supposed to get, never arrived...our server said that they went to another table, but then he never ever did get them to us before we left even though they were promised a couple of times; our water glasses were filled when we sat down, but then left dry for forever, even despite multiple requests. The same occurred for the coffee cups that the couple we dined with had ordered. - My wife's dish was ok, but pretty ordinary given the price. My dish, however, was pretty good although the poached eggs were overcooked. Bottom line: Cafe Zola seemed to have some potential, but they need to up their game if they want to not turn off people from returning.

We went for lunch on Monday, April 8th before we headed to the airport. I let my daughter find a place to eat and apparently she chose this place from a tik tok review but I don't know how it has scored good reviews. So we got there about 11:45 and there were about 4 tables with people at them and about 5 tables that had not been cleared of the dishes yet from the previous patrons. We were seated right away as the restaurant wasn't busy. I noticed an older couple sitting behind us and they had their menus. The server Alexandar came over and introduced himself to us and asked if we wanted anything to drink. We ordered still water and my daughter ordered an orange juice. Alexander came back a few minutes later with our drinks (a bottle of still water) and a glass of orange juice and then was going to go away but I said that we were ready to order. I did notice that no one seemed to stop by the table behind us the whole time and ask the older couple if they were ready to order. We placed our order, my daughter ordered the Kobe Burger medium well and I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo. While we were ordering I noticed the couple behind us get up and leave as I take it they were tired of waiting. After we placed our order, more people started to come in and the hostess sat them at tables around the ones that still had not been cleared. We ended up waiting 40 minutes for our food and during this time the server only came over once to check on us and also during this whole time none of the tables in the restaurant were being cleared when people finished. So if there was no busboy for the day, wouldn't you think the servers or hostess could clean up the dishes and put them in a bin for the kitchen. When our food finally came, my daughters burger was not cooked to medium well as requested it was more on the medium rare side and my chicken sandwich was missing the cheese that is was supposed to have and the bread was so thick you could barely taste the chicken so I ended up taking off the top part of the bread. We did order more water so the server brought a 2nd bottle. We finished and it took a while for Alexander to bring the bill so when he did I didn't really look at it as we were running late I just paid and we left but I did notice that it came to $73.09 and I thought it was was over priced for what we had for lunch. Now one of the reasons I decided to write this review now is because I just looked at the receipt and we were charged $5 for panna water + $5 for panna water so I am assuming he charged us for each glass we had even though we had 1 bottle at first so that first bottle was $10 and then at the bottom of my receipt I just noticed that he charged us $9 for panna water so that must of been the 2nd bottle of still water. $19 for 2 bottles of STILL WATER!! THAT IS ABSOLUTLY OUTRADEOUS!! We live in California and not even the Beverly Hills restaurants charge that for still water, sparkling yes but not still. You can buy more than a whole case for that amount. I gave it a 1 star because the server was friendly. But as far as the food quality it was not worth rating and for what they charge for water I would not recommend anyone going there. Not to mention they can't even clean the plates off a table when people leave, we were there for just over an hour and there were tables that had dishes on when we walked in and still had those dishes on when we left. I travel quite frequently around both the US and Europe and I am so surprised this restaurant is even in business. I feel like I got ripped off. I should almost contact my credit card company.

Our favorite brunch place, but prepare to pay $30 per person for meal and drink. The quality of the ingredients sets this place apart; we felt it was worth it. We had crepes, blintzes, potatoes and bacon-every item was absolutely delicious. Truffle coffee drink was decadent, like a Vienna.

Went here for a leisurely dinner to catch up with a friend. The service was very friendly and helpful, but leisurely. We started with the Goat Cheese and fig jam appetizer. This is one of my favorite flavor combinations and the crostini that came with it was very nice. Our waiter thoughtfully gave us extra crostini without us asking. We had the Kale Salad with lemon, Serrano chiles, and mint and it was very good. We also had the Bodrum Shrimp with Raki. This was flavorful, but the shrimp were overcooked and tough. We finished with the blueberry cobbler which was very good.

The food was excellent! The 2 stars is for the service. My friend and I sat at the bar on a weekday at 3 in the afternoon. The bartender was a young male who clearly had an attitude. He took my friends food order and didn't bother to get mine. Or our drink order. The owner ( I think) saw me trying to get someones attention and came over. She got him to come back, but he was less than courteous. He was downright rude. My friend is a great tipper, but not this time. I know restaurants are hard up for help but this guy should be fired. I might go back... don't know. If I do it's because the crab cakes I had were delicious.

We visited Cafe Zola during the summer--off season from the other college related reviews. The day was pleasant and we chose to sit outside on their picnic benches adorned with umbrellas. Overall the food was delicious and the service was solid. The smoked salmon omelet was literally off the charts good! SO rich, however, I'm glad we split it and enjoyed the other sides that came with our meals. My only complaint was the bacon. It looked great, crispy and thick cut...but the OVERWHELMING smoke flavor absolutely ruined it. To the point I only ate two bites because I started feeling nauseous. I'm not sure this is a fluke moment; I sure hope so.

I have been to Café Zola twice, once for lunch, and once for brunch. I like the place, service is good, and the ambiance is nice and relaxing. Food is pretty good. However, it's overpriced relative to other restaurants in AA. My friend ordered the crab cake Benedict and there was only one crab cake and one poached egg, which was a weird sight considering how pricey it was. Most places would have a crab cake and egg on each piece of bread. My other friend ordered the shashuka and there was no bread with it. CZ felt like it was missing a touch especially considering how pricey it was. While I could see myself coming back, it wouldn't be the first place I'd think about.

I want to love Cafe Zola - the space is adorable and the service is always friendly. But every time I go, I am underwhelmed by the food and shocked by the price. The only thing I've ever had here that pleasantly surprised me was a matcha tahini latte. Their shakshuka was lacking flavor and served with some sort of multigrain toast that did not seem at all authentic. Their ricotta pancakes were fine, but certainly not worth $20. All of the portion sizes are small compare to the menu prices. Ann Arbor lacks nicer brunch spots so I wish I liked Zola more. I just can't justify paying NYC prices for mediocre Midwest brunch.

We just stopped in for drinks. Our server was friendly. We were greeted promptly and sat. We came here over the summer so I already knew what cocktail I was planning to order. The French Ginger. It's delicious and refreshing. With a wonderful fresh lemony taste. The only drawback is that every time I order them they are never as chilled as they should be. I often have to order ice which no one wants to put ice in Prosecco yet drinking it warm isn't great either. My husband has the Bloody Mary which he thought was great. Not too spicy, unless you order the spicy version. Served with two olives and celery. Bacon is an additional $2 if that's your thing. I think they have a great menu. I saw so many dishes I would love to try. Unfortunately; as someone with food allergies/sensitivies I didn't see anything that would work for me. I will be back for drinks though

We got late brunch on Sunday at Cafe Zola. This was our first time to the establishment! Both indoor seating and outdoor seating were very adorable and cozy! Perfect for cozy warm fall vibes! We ordered wild mushroom toast and shrimp taco and hedieye's breakfast. I loved the generous amount of mushroom and avocado on the mushroom toast. If you're a mushroom lover this is the dish for you! The mushroom toast had extra kick/spice with runny creamy egg yolk and fatty avocado really tied the dish together. It was simple but very satisfying! Would definitely return for the mushroom toast! The shrimp tacos had very fresh juicy shrimp but the flavours were little bit lacking. Similar to hedieyes breakfast, it was very large hearty and heavy. Lots of cheese and eggs but it tasted little too bland the sautéed onions, asparagus felt little unincorporated. The olives were a nice touch to bring out more flavour. The service was little odd, it was pretty empty yet we felt the service was pretty slow. Instead of clearing the table they pushed our empty plates with fresh food plates to shuffle to make room. Little odd. Not necessarily unfriendly nor friendly.

Enjoyed drinks, apps and dessert at Cafe Zola on a trip to AA to Shinola for a watch battery change. Loved the jalapeño spiced martini! Apps were great and extra crostini with hummus were appreciated . We shared the ice cream filled eclairs with cafe-made Chocolate ganache atop- the dessert was the hit!

If you can justify spending $100+ on a breakfast for two that doesn't include any alcohol, then this is the place to do it because the food is amazing and the restaurant is extremely pleasant to dine in.

I had dinner with two of my friends in this restaurant. The atmosphere was relaxing. They lit candles on the table and darken the surroundings. I ordered a crab cake Benedict and a plate of seared ahi tuna. The first time to try crab cake, I was surprised to see that it was made fully of crab meat! Also, the Benedict was just cooked to right point. In general I think this food was great! Definitely need to try it if you haven't! For the tuna dish, the meat was delicious, but it only had 7 small pieces; it would be better if they lowered the price for that dish. My friends enjoyed the strawberry-banana crepes very much. I also tried one piece. It had a balanced combination of sour and sweet. Moreover, it was huge (especially compared to the tuna dish) The service was not bad, though we felt like the waitress wanted us to leave the restaurant quickly when we almost finished the foods.

Oh, Cafe Zola, things just aren't as good as they used to be. I was here about a month ago and again today. Neither time compared to what I remembered from when I lived here 20+ years ago. The first time I went back, I had my all-time favorite with a Kir: FRITTATA ZOLA italian style, sweet potatoes & caramelized onions, topped with challah croutons & tangy goat cheese $19.95 The Kir was fantastic, but I was sadly disappointed by the frittata. It was overly dry--not sure why that was. More disappointing, however, is that somewhere along the way the perfectly-seasoned and perfectly crunchy potatoes were swapped with soggy, dull smashed potatoes. Such a sad presentation those were, and the flavor just didn't compare. Today, I decided to branch out for something else...surely, I thought, I could hit on a new favorite. Not so much. Today I ordered: ROASTED WILD MUSHROOM TOAST WITH AVOCADO + POACHED EGG thyme, garlic, marsala + urfa pepper $17. I was talked into adding some goat cheese to this dish, and that was an additional $5. What I got was a really tough piece of toast that I couldn't even cut with a knife and fork. The dish was covered in arugula, which thankfully wasn't baked in because I don't like it at all. I was able to pick that off and move on. What I found was about 5 tiny slices of avocado, a decent portion of mushrooms, and an egg that was cooked hard. The egg resembled nothing of "poached." I was hoping that the egg's yolk would add some relief to the dry dish I was served. The goat cheese was a nice addition, but the couple of crumbles I got on it were not worth $4.95. It was when I attempted to eat the last couple of bites with my fingers because I was just done trying to cut that bread with my knife and I flipped the rubbery egg onto the floor accidentally that I discovered how absolutely disgustingly dirty the floor was. I shouldn't have bothered to pick up the egg. Yuck! Another upsetting event today was a glass on the table next to us was knocked off onto the floor. They said that they would get someone to clean it up, but that never happened while we sat there. From a service perspective today, our waitress only checked on us one time, and my water was never refilled after it went dry. The time before, we had to ask someone who bussed a nearby table to find a waitress for us after we sat for an extremely long time without being acknowledged. And this was after we were seated at a table that was squished in the line of traffic on both sides of the table so that people were constantly bumping into us as if we were seated on the aisle in an airplane. Sigh. As for ambiance...I love the interior of this place with its exposed brick and the wall of windows facing the street. Had I not seen that dirty floor, I would have said that was the remaining redeeming quality at Cafe Zola after my long hiatus. Given that I gave it two tries and that I have other places I now like better for breakfast, I don't think I need to go back. I will move on to some new favorites.

Fall Sunday post a Michigan football game. Food was good and service was good. A bit of a chaotic situation getting seated. Despite a reservation we waited a while AND had to "advocate" for our table. No arguments or anything just not a clear order of who got seated and when. We noticed they were about to give a table away to a group that came in after us and had to remind them that we were still waiting. Not a big deal given the situation but a better system might help.

My first visit to Cafe Zola was a bit underwhelming. With it being a Michigan football weekend, we got reservations about a month in advance. After hearing great reviews of it, I was very excited! The restaurant was very loud, and our party of two was very close to neighboring tables. I ordered an Old Fashioned and it was nothing special. We ordered the Brussels Sprouts as an appetizer. They didn't have much flavor. It tasted much better with some salt. I would certainly recommend a different appetizer instead. For dinner we split the the Brick Roasted Half Chicken and the Penne Chianti Sauce & Sausage. After waiting a long time for food, we really enjoyed it. All the food was very flavorful and delicious. I would recommend either of these dishes. The most disappointing part was that we were at Cafe Zola for over two hours, since we spent so much time waiting for our food. When we were done eating, we were ready to go and did not stay for dessert. I certainly want to like Cafe Zola, so may try to go back on a less busy evening.

Excellent food, great atmosphere. Came here for a date night and will definitely come back again.

This place has been around so long that I expected a little better. "Whiskey smash" -- advertised as bourbon, lemon, mint, and simple -- was basically a mediocre whiskey sour garnished with a sprig of mint but no mint flavor. Cabernet, at $22/glass, was a good, deep, robust Napa selection but was very small pour. Steak frites -- $42! -- took 20 minutes. The beef, ordered medium, had very good flavor and tenderness but came out rare to medium rare. The truffle parm fries were good and tasty but could have been more crisp. I asked for a dessert menu and one of the people from the host stand presented me with a list of crepes and waffles, obviously not dessert. She insisted it was correct, but my server intervened and found the correct menu. The apple slices in my apple galette were unappealingly dark, suggesting the thing was past its prime. Perhaps like the whole establishment? I thought $95 for this meal was a bit excessive.

Three weekends in a row we ended up at Zola this month for brunch. First just my husband and I, then my husband, mom, and I, and then a whole gaggle of us, 7 total, for a big family brunch. And each visit was wonderful. Service was super attentive, and dishes came out at just the right balance of leisurely and speedy pacing. I always get the same thing (banana strawberry waffles and a side of bacon) but most recently I branched out and got one of the specials, a strawberry rhubarb french toast, which came with a whipped lemon ricotta topping, whipped cream, strawberry rhubarb compote, and fresh fruit. I was also lucky enough to get to sample my mom's shakshuka (very good!), and the dark chocolate babka french toast (I'll definitely be getting that my next visit). I also dipped into the mocktails and found that the coconut sunset is my new goto. A delicious blend of coconut, pineapple, and orange juices in a fancy tiki glass with garnish. I've been cutting back on my boozy beverages so this is a perfect treat to enjoy without the spirits.

Traveling solo in Ann Arbor for...you know, what I do I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure this was the spot for a single, handsome gent looking for dining options. You need to walk into this place to appreciate how welcoming it is. I sat at the bar and was presented with multiple menus, including dinner, wine, and specials. To the point where it's like Christmas, trying to decide what to order and ask for. There is many sharing plates available, as well as numerous main menu items. The bourbon, wine, and drink menu is very extensive and deserves time to review. I was duly impressed with the service I received at the bar from Eleanor. I also had the pleasure of meeting the owner of the restaurant, and truly appreciate the investment of time, effort, and love for the heritage that went into this restaurant. I'm coming back next week to do additional consulting at the hospital, I will provide pictures and additional information at that time At this point, I highly recommend you visit and review the multiple options for food and drink offered at Cafe Zola. Currently, you can also sit outside and enjoy the fall weather. Traveling alone, as mentioned, I chose a very comfortable bar seat. Cheers, Jay Mc

We made breakfast reservations for a party of 4 a day in advanced and stopped by on a busy game day Saturday. The service, despite an entirely packed place, was fantastic! We ordered shakshuka, the Babka French toast, and some Nutella-drizzled waffles. All four of us agreed that the Babka French Toast was the absolute best dish of the three! It was rich, decadent, and perfectly fluffy. The shakshuka was in second (just wish the portions were a bit larger), and the waffles were unfortunately nothing too special. Overall, it was an excellent dining experience. Bathrooms were well maintained and the space was decorated well for the holidays. You can't go wrong with Cafe Zola! A true Ann Arbor classic.

This is a quaint brunch place, but I was disappointed with the crepes because they were not very flavorful or filled. The coffee was good, but the staff was not very nice. I would not come again because of the inattentive staff and bland food.

So I will say Cafe Zola has nice curb appeal. The outdoor tables are nice when the weather is good and they have a reservation option which is very nice. But the food- I got a salmon omelette that would have been mid at half the price, but for what I paid it just counts as bad. I don't mind paying extra for decadence, but it seems like you're just paying extra for bad food and that's just stupid.

The food is really good... homemade bread, great breakfast... But the service doesn't even come close to the price point at which they are charging... $25 breakfast should have impeccable service... but Zola does not... so Cafe Zola comes across as another greedy business in an already overpriced for what you get landscape. Seriously, how does Fleetwood Diner have better service?

Pretty rough experience here this morning. Waitress was awful like it was her first day or something. Went know what a half caf latte was. Never offered to refill water. Forgot an entire order of someone's and we all finished eating before it got to the table. With the high price you expect good service but you won't get it here if all the waitresses are the same. Waitress was brown hair with pearls on her face and fancy nails. Maybe if we had a different server it would have been better

Amazing food! A variety of options that everyone can be satisfied. Always love the service and atmosphere. Will continue to go back. Wine choices are wonderful as well.

This place is okay, but definitely way overpriced and there are a lot more solid options in the area that I always choose over here. The only reason why I came here recently is because Frita Batidos where my friend and I were originally going to eat was closed, and it was too cold for us to walk further than right across the street, so we came here. We order 4 starters/shared dishes between the two of us and the total was over $100. Hahahahaha WHAT?! Portions were small, food was solid, but that is way too much to pay for a few starters! Definitely will be keeping that in mind going forward and probably won't be returning here anytime soon. Sorry, Cafe Zola!

Been there for dinner on Saturday and it was an amazing experience. Reached around 9.10pm and they informed us the place will close down by 10pm. Chose the patio and it was amazing with Lot of people around from Frita Batidos and from this restaurant, the vibe was great. Not sure what we ordered but everything that came out was great. Our host was friendly and great.

Hubs and I came here to enjoy a morning breakfast on my birthday. I wish we wouldn't have. The atmosphere is nice and so are the servers, but this is the second bad experience we've had. The first time we came right at 7am and as we tried to be seated the server came up and said that we could have coffee and pastries but the chef didn't show up for work and there was no hot food... which is why we came. I couldn't have coffee at the time, so we left frustrated and with no food. I tried to look over that and visit again to give them another chance a few years later. We were the second guests that arrived, and ordered straight away. It took about five minutes to order and coffees came out relatively quick, but our food took just under an hour to come out. My husband had to leave for work and I had to take mine to go to make it to the infusion clinic. After 40 minutes we informed them that we needed out items to go and the waitress told me that there were several orders in front of us... curious as the one person that ordered before us had received her food, as well as the person behind us (who came In after us and ordered after us). I'm not one to make a scene about order, but it was disappointing. Apparently they don't let you take birthday crepes to go, so I left with my to go meal that was supposed to be a quiet birthday breakfast. I was okay with that, but a little annoyed at how long it took as the second customers. So, here I am finally attempting to eat my cold Hediyi breakfast at the infusion clinic and the ONLY thing I asked for was no tomatoes and olives since I have an allergen and lo and behold: Tomatoes and olives. Save yourself some time and never, ever go here.

TLDR: will NOT return. Came on a Sunday for brunch. They were crowded, but we were seated right away. This was not to be representative of the service for the remainder of the time, however. We had a terrible time trying to get the attention of a server to bring us menus, answer a question, take our order, etc. Ordered a latte...cold upon arrival. Both the babka French toast and the French toast special tasted good, but, again, cold upon arrival Answer from the server (Meghana) when these were brought to her attention: "sorry about that, but we're pretty busy this morning." No apology, no credit to the bill, nothing. That's a combination of a lack of training and an IDGAF attitude. First time in ages that I have tipped less than 20%. Then we warned the people waiting in line as we left. Hopefully saved them some angst. Maybe it's worth a trip when they're not busy, but avoid this place for brunch.

Had another opportunity to dine at Cafe Zola, one of our longstanding favorites in Ann Arbor. Indeed, Ann Arbor and Cafe Zola were among the great places that enticed us to settle in Michigan over 20 years ago. (Confirmed. They opened in 1996). Sadly, we don't live there so we don't get to have it as often as we would like. But yesterday we daytripped and enjoyed a late lunch on the street outside. We much appreciated their COVID provisions. It was a busy day and the meal would go slowly but we expected as much. My wife and I enjoyed French Press coffee and Cafe au Lait, respectively. She was a touch weirded out by her almost fruity coffee, but that was among the minor complaints. Our son had a delicious peanut butter smoothie which we all sampled. One daughter had fresh squeezed OJ, along with our other daughter's BFF. That covered the preliminaries. The menu is glorious and it's always a battle on what to choose. I'm pretty sure I had their salmon omelet before, but it was still wonderful with fresh tarragon, mustard sauce and a side of fresh baked rye bread. The rye was a touch over toasted and didn't have much rye flavor but I'm really nitpicking here. My wife and oldest shared two meals. One was the French toast special with macerated strawberries and marscapone. The other was the yummy Portabella burger with a side of sweet potato fries. Both raved about both dishes and I sampled and concurred with their assessment. Our other daughter had regular French toast loaded with powdered sugar and maple syrup and the boy had the similar waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and maple syrup. The BFF had a strawberry crepe which she inhaled. It must have been good. The pickle that accompanied the burger was so good we had to ask for the name of the supplier. Tofur, maybe? Prices are high - it's Ann Arbor. And the wait was almost long enough to inspire hangry feelings. But the service was happy and appreciated. We still love the place, after all these years.

Very disappointing despite excellent location and ambiance. Food looked great on menu and was complete disappointment and overpriced. Avoid Caesar salad which was watery and tasteless. The Caprese salad is as swimming in oil and very little mozzarella with tomatoes sliced strangely .Avoid crab cakes which were tiny and overbreaded, overpriced, and accompanying sauce was tasteless. Drinks were small and sad. Desserts were okay. Need to upgrade those recipes. After $170 for an early dinner - sad for what was supposed to be a special occasion. We should have asked for a refund but wait staff was nice and extremely busy.

This is clearly a local favorite as it was very busy for brunch. The staff were very accommodating and friendly and worked off their feet. The food was just okay but for the price it was subpar. $18 for the Americana where the portions were meager and no bread/toast. $18 for the shakshuka, with ONE egg (menu says two)and no bread/toast! It was tasty but definitely not worth the price. Coffee was bitter and cold. The wait time after we placed our food order was close to an hour! Not worth the price or the wait.

We had a late reservation and had to wait a little longer because our table was not ready. We were with a group and found that the atmosphere was conducive to chatting. It wasn't too loud. I got the penne with Italian sausage dish and was savory and well seasoned. The portion was the perfect size in that I felt it was just enough and it made it so I did not overindulge. Definitely recommend this dish! I also got the Caesar salad but it barely had dressing and was bland. My friend got the steak and she was salting it so I assume it was a bit bland as well. My husband liked the Kobe burger but felt it was too small of a portion. The spaghetti was okay. My daughter did not eat much of it. We plan to come back and try different dishes!

We went for dinner and decided to check it out because it was restaurant week. We sat for a bit before we the waitress came for our drinks. We ordered our food and the apps came out pretty quickly. We were pleased, then it all started going downhill from there. We were waiting for our second course which was just salad/soup. It never came. After a while another server gave us our main meal. We told him we never received our salad. He didn't say sorry and just walked away to get our waitress. My daughter's pasta noodles were stuck together like they had been sitting there for a while. Prices are expensive and service was just not there. The food was not spectacular either.

Honestly a really bad experience. We had a reservation for 11:30 for a party of 7. Everything was okay until we ordered our food. It took 1.5 hours for our food to come out which is ridiculous considering the resteraunt looked half empty. When our food finally did come out one of our party members burgers was very red (probably cooked to a rare/medium rare) when he requested it be cooked medium. My crepe was overly sweet with too much nutella and not enough bannana and the crepe itself was a bit rubbery/hard as well as cold. Keep in mind this crepe was 21$ too. The service was not good and the atmosphere was very stressful because the waiters were rushing around and bumping into things and complaining loudly to eachother. The food was overly expensive and not that good especially for its price.

Food is always perfect service is on point and a modern and chill environment all in all the best in Ann Arbor

The ambiance of this restaurant was great. However, the pricing for the food was incredibly expensive. I ordered the Classic Waffles with a side of eggs and bacon with a hot chocolate. All of this combined was like $35 which would have been okay if the bacon had not been incredibly burnt and dry. Whatever you do, do not order the bacon. The waffles were good but didn't seem to warrant 15 dollars to me. They were just basic waffles. Ultimately, my food experience was good, but not great. I feel like there are definitely some things they could do to improve the experience.

Spent a bit of time here sitting at the bar a while back. Had the octopus, an arugula salad and a few aperol spritzes ! If you're an octopus person, I would definitely get it. I wish it had more to it but it was cooked well and the sauce was bomb. The salad looks like it has chicken on it but it's actually a seared cheese (mozzarella ?) . It took me by surprise and the flavor was a dream. I enjoyed everything I had and I would return any time I'm in Ann Arbor. The service was fine, my bartender was nice but slightly inattentive.

Great, caring servers and the food is fantastic! One server went above and beyond to meet some of our trickier food allergies, which I really appreciated. There's a nice, shaded outdoor patio area and the inside is cute and cozy. The prices are on the higher side, but the food quality is much better than comparable places with comparable fares in downtown.

We were in the Ann Arbor area for lunch and decided to stop in. Glad we did. We sat at the bar and received excellent service from Vance - she was awesome. We order the salmon burger and Monte Cristo sandwich. Although they were pricey, they were great . I would definitely recommend this place.

Cute outdoor area, friendly service and great food. Liked that they easily subbed fruit for bread/potato's and it was all berries!

3.5 would be most appropriate. The waitress was personable and engaging. Food was really very good (better than expected). Overall the service was slow due to the kitchen, not the waitress. It felt as if they were more focused on the outside tables vs. the inside. The restaurant essentially doubled its capacity for outside seating and couldn't keep up with the volume of food. Old fashioned was delicious (I had 3). I'd definitely go back with the expectation of a slow casual dinner.

Terrible and Expensive. Do NOT waste your money here. Had a chicken ceasar salad with no dressing on it, asked for chicken and it was an additional $12..... So basically just paid like $35 for lettuce. Terrible Disappointing Never Returning!!!!!

The waitress was pretty okay except she spilled a mimosa on my husband.. and then dropped 4 more things after that. She was still nice and we would've come back had it stopped there. We had reservations for my friend's graduation who we haven't been able to see for 6 months so we sat, ate, talked and it was great regardless of the spill.. until we were waiting for our check and the hostess approached us and tried to rush us out because there was a big reservation coming in. We were barely here for an hour and spent $184.07 for a party of 4, 1 being a kid. You would think they would appreciate our business a little more and give us our time.

Waited 30 minutes for our order to get taken, 1 hour for the appetizer to come out, and 1 hour and 40 minutes for our food; which was a small plate of spaghetti and a sandwich which consisted of two pieces of bread, one slice of tomato, a leaf of lettuce, and one small scoop of pre-prepared chicken salad. Cannot fathom how that should take more than 30 minutes at most, especially because it was not extremely busy when we got there. Was going to order the grilled chicken plate but was told that it takes 30 minutes and would result in a longer wait so I didn't, just for other customers to come in after us, order multiple plates of this dish, and leave in the time it took us to get the simplest sandwich and some spaghetti. Was pricey as well. Will not be coming back.

Food is amazing- I've never had a bad dish there. The ambiance of sitting outside is great here, very cozy in the winter too.

As usual Cafe Zola does not disappoint, the food was great. We stopped here for breakfast, and ordered a pile of food. A dish that stood out was the ricotta pancakes, the whip ricotta was great but the orange syrup made the dish excellent. Zola's classic, is their waffle with Michigan maple suyrp, or preserves. The raspberry preserves are a good choice, they also offer other preserves with the waffle. The food = 5. The service however was a bit slow although I do understand it's probably hard to find help none the less this place is awesome go here for brunch lunch or dinner.

Atmosphere was good, service was okay, dessert was good, but the food is absolutely boring and not worth it at all