<p>What is your favorite Ann Arbor restaurant? My friend is coming in from out of town to see me and I have to figure out where I should take him.</p>
<p>There are so many restaurants. What kind of cuisine, setting, budget are you looking for? Is this a date or just a regular dinner?</p>
<p>Zingerman’s Deli and Zingerman’s Roadhouse - both are wonderful!</p>
<p>West End Grill if you are looking for something nice.</p>
<p>Cafe Zola is one of my favorites.</p>
<p>ditto Cafe Zola. Fabulous menu, great folks. One of my favs too.</p>
<p>Gandy Dancer</p>
<p>Gandy Dancer is wonderful. Also consider Real Seafood, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, The Prickly Pear. There are so many.</p>
<p>for a dynamic city, Ann Arbor really lacks a true fine dining restaurant.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know that “fine dining” is necessary. We are just looking for something that tastes good. There are so many restaurants here I don’t even know what ones I want to try first or what ones I should skip. My friend is coming in from Arizona on leave from the military and I am sure we will go out to eat at least once while he’s here and I don’t want to take him someplace crappy. 
He’ll be looking for someplace to finish his bachelors in a few years!</p>
<p>There are plenty of fine dining options, just not 5 star ones.</p>
<p>it depends on how you define fine dining. I consider fine dining as something like Alinea or Avenues in Chicago. Anything less than that is simply upscale. Fine dining is so over-used these days with all these lackluster restaurants claiming to be “fine dining”</p>
<p>I like your taste bearcats, by US standards, Alinea is one of the top restaurants in the nation. Everest in Chicago is also good. Of course, top restaurants in France, Italy and Germany are much better, but they have very different standards, significantly better cook : patron ratios and superior produce.</p>
<p>Twistedxkiss, for a nice and quiet dinner, I recommend Palios. If you don’t mind paying a little more, check out the Chop House. Of course, all of the restaurants listed above are quite nice too.</p>
<p>Twistedxkiss, I think you would find Gandy Dancer too expensive, and not always (but sometimes) worth the price. Zingerman’s is an experience, and good if you like deli food, but usually you have to wait - which is a turn off for many. Zingerman’s Roadhouse is not a good value in my opinion. The portions are ridiculously small compared to the price. We have had very good meals at the Prickly Pear and at the Chinese Restaurant nearby to it on Main Street, Middle Kingdom - both moderately priced and good food.</p>
<p>Inexpensive/Moderate</p>
<p>Prickly Pear - Mexican
Middle Kingdom - Chinese
Tio’s - Mexican
Le Dog - Soup, A hot dog/soup stand, don’t laugh, get the Lobster Bisque and DO NOT ask “What’s good today?”
Cafe Habana - Cuban
Blue Tractor - BBQ</p>
<p>Expensive (Take your Parents)</p>
<p>Pacific Rim
The Earle (Downstairs)</p>
<p>Bearcats is right, Ann Arbor is a great college dining town, but there is no restaurant in AA that would stand up against the biggies in Chicago or for that matter Detroit.</p>
<p>P.S. I hate the G-Dancer and Eve, so if you love those you may not care for my recs.</p>
<p>I have always like Gratzi! for Italian.</p>
<p>My all-time favorite is still Pizza Bob’s - can’t beat a pizza sub and a hot fudge shake. Oops, flashback moment - sorry!</p>
<p>Eve is pretty good and its moderately priced. I found Melange on S. Main to be pretty good as well.</p>
<p>I’ve tried every (and I mean every) chinese restaurant in Ann Arbor but have yet to find one that comes close to those in Boston or NYC or even DC. Great Lakes on Carpenter is probably the best, but that’s not saying much.</p>
<p>champion house is an awsome japanese restaurant where they cook the food in front of you. marine thai is great, and ive heard good about gratzi</p>
<p>Seva for vegetarian
Siam cuisine (near Kerrytown) for inexpensive thai…super nice ladies that own it.</p>
<p>Blippy Burger. And the Indian Kitchen</p>