Stopped in for lunch. Kitty was an absolute delight. She was kind, hilarious, and checked in with…read moreus just enough. Our lunches were delicious, save room for the beignets! The place is gorgeous, lots of seating but didn't feel overwhelming.

This is one of two places that take reservations downtown and was near the festival we were…read moreattending at Riverside Park. We arrived approximately 15 minutes before our reservations and were seated immediately in the sparsely filled restaurant. Their air conditioning was refreshing after a long day in the sun. Their menu has a Louisiana flair, so I ordered the chicken-and-sausage gumbo and had their étouffée as my main course. The dishes are very similar in content, except that the étouffée included crawfish and shrimp and came with two pieces of bread. Both were very good, but we're a little light on the Cajun spices. I enjoyed a soft parade pint of beer from their vast craft beer and wine menu. Others in my party of five enjoyed their salad with a protein pizza and a cheeseburger. They have low-top, high-top, booth, and bar seating, along with outdoor patio seating. Full bar. The interior has a knotty wood finish with a somewhat industrial feel. The building used to hold Civil War barracks. Clean restrooms. Excellent service. Pricey. Parking can be difficult. They have posted 3% surcharge fee that references fast-rising expenses. They do not charge a credit card fee, so I guess it balances out. I would recommend.

Came here for lunch, there were two other tables eating so not crazy busy. The waitress slash…read morehostess took a little while to come to the table, but was pleasant. Thankfully my wife speaks Spanish because her English is definitely limited. There were only two woman working when I ate there. Definite mom and pop vibe. The other people looked Mexican as did the customers who came after me definitely a good sign for authentic food. The drink portion sizes were pretty generous for a small size. The food took some time coming out, my wife enjoyed all three of her tacos. My shrimp taco was good and the corn tortilla was good not overly dry. Two salsas come to the table both were very good. The Gordita was solid liked the lettuce and cheese along with the meat. The thicker corn tortilla goes a longer to fill you up than a taco. Overall a good place, did not blow me away , but solid.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the little hole in the wall. This place serves food, but it also…read moreacts as a place for Hispanics to cash their checks. When I first walked in, there were two guys standing at the counter for quite a while. I couldn't figure out what they were doing until I saw the employee counting out cash. I also wasn't sure if I should sit to order my food or order at the counter. Eventually the employee handed me a menu so I sat at a table. There were other tables with native people at them so I figured the food must be good. I ordered a combo meal from the menu written in Spanish. It had two tacos, a tamale, and rice and beans. A short time later I was told they didn't have tamales. I was bummed about that so I ordered three tacos with a side of rice and beans. I was surprised at how long the food took to come out. And the portion of rice and beans was tiny, especially for $4. Of the tacos, the beef was a little tough, but the chicken and pork were good. The rice and beans were both tasty. Just not enough. Overall for over $14, I didn't think the food or experience was worth it. Maybe the tamales are the star of the show.

I love the food and the beer selection here. We live about 45 minutes away, but we visit monthly…read moreand always enjoy the food.

First time visiting, it's easy to find and lots of parking. Parking is behind the pub, employee…read moreentrance is in the "front." We were here in December so the patio wasn't open but looks roomy with many picnic tables. We opted to sit at the bar because that's usually where we get personal with brew pubs we love to discover. We always search local brews when traveling and 9/10 times the bartender will greet us, ask if we've been there, make recommendations or tell us a bit about the brewery style. Not here. I'm not sure the bartender ever even made eye contact and pretty sure he wanted to be there even less than he wanted us to be there. We did get a few beer samples by request, but no recommendations, he didn't ask what we thought and he made us feel very unwelcome right from the start. However, once that bartender was relieved the new bartender was chatty and friendly to the new customers. We had finished our beers and meal by that time and just needed to cash out. So I would say maybe it's just that one employee. We had the pretzels. Kudos to the pretzel bread-- it was delicious. Beer cheese was pretty good, as was the mustard. We asked about the menu and what he recommends (still trying to be friendly and get him to warm up). He recommended the special menu, so we ordered the Blackened Salmon sandwich. It was okay/average. Fries were cold. We ordered the Table Talk beer and I enjoyed it. I'd say that the beer was the best part of the whole experience. Overall I'm glad we tried it but we wouldn't go back. If the bartender had been more welcoming and interested in sharing a bit more about the concept, we would give it a second try when we head out there again. It's always good to try other food items and beers, but the vibe doesn't warrant a second try. I can understand if a place is busy, but we were there at 2pm on a Saturday and were two of four at the bar and he didn't look to be super busy with the restaurant as a whole. It's always so disappointing when service falls so short on something that could be such a unique experience. Three stars for the beer and pretzel.

Rounding up because Haab's Barrel House has only been open for a couple of weeks and everyone…read moredeserves an adjustment period after opening. I'm happy this location isn't vacant and that they've added a couple of veg items to the menu, but the staff weren't clear on ingredient questions I had (what made something vegetarian vs vegan when the items seemed vegan). As of 2/8/25 they did not have a liquor license and said "it will be a couple of weeks".

There's an old saying that goes "What's old, is new again." On March 23, 2022, the city of…read moreYpsilanti was struck by a bombshell when it was announced that Haab's Restaurant was closing after 87 years of business. This landmark business was able to withstand the Great Depression, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam, Watergate, and the Millennium, but couldn't rebound back from COVID-19 and it's devastating effects on the local economy. It's closing was like loosing a member of your family. Now with all the dust settling, a Phoenix is now rising from the ashes. The restaurant has been rebooted, and is now "Haab's Barrel House" with a complete rebranding. Not only are they are offering some really great brisket, burgers, fried chicken, pizza, and sandwiches, but they plan on adding more entrées, including catfish and other seafood items in the near future. Currently, they do have limited vegan and vegetarian options available. I was told they will be expanding that menu section in the future. That being said, they do offer a great Vegetarian Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. One new innovation that Haab's Barrel House is offering is karaoke every night. It's a great way to unwind after a long-day at work, or relax with your friends. You'll love it!

I had an excellent dining experience at this restaurant. The atmosphere was welcoming and…read morewell-designed, creating the perfect setting for a relaxing meal. The drink menu was impressive, with a fantastic selection of expertly crafted cocktails and other alcoholic beverages that were both creative and well-balanced. What truly made the experience stand out was the exceptional service. The servers were friendly, attentive, and highly professional, ensuring that every detail was taken care of throughout the evening. They were knowledgeable about the menu, offered great recommendations, and made us feel genuinely welcome. The combination of outstanding drinks, excellent service, and a great overall ambiance makes this restaurant a place I would happily recommend to anyone looking for a memorable dining experience. I look forward to visiting again soon.

Stopped in on a Sunday afternoon with some friends and family. The decor is super fun and funky…read morewith old instruments and an airplane hanging from the ceiling! There were so many delicious food offerings. It was hard to decide. The brussels sprout salad with chicken was amazing. It fed me three times! My friends and family were all happy with their meals. Tots were crunchy and delicious and their potato fries are like nothing I've had before- thin cut pieces of potato deep fried. There was a miss on my son's food and he got his meal after we were mostly finished. Service could be a bit slow but when we were attended to, it was very attentive. Would definitely hit this place again if I'm in the area.

I have several interests: building Lego, reading mysteries, and seeking out a delicious meal. Yelp…read morehas allowed me to chronicle these adventures, serving as a repository for my dining memories. Echelon has now made it to my exclusive list of 5-star restaurants. I readily admit to being a tough reviewer - very few places earn a 5. Allow me to share some of the reasons: Service was stellar. The staffers were professional and friendly. They quickly brought out each course and cleared the table efficiently. They were tireless in answering my many questions about the ingredients. I prefer tasting menus. For me, after the first few bites, my taste buds get fatigued. The six-course tasting menu, with its complex flavors and textures, kept me interested throughout the meal. The dining room was spacious and well-appointed, without being stuffy and overwhelming. I loved the table groupings and comfy seats, whimsical wall coverings, oversized lighting, and wall of windows. I believe the tasting menu changes; I had: - A bite of brick dough (I had to look it up) pastry, served with a tart, faintly bitter rhubarb soda for a palate cleanser. - The Kanpachi crudo arrived with smoky fanfare. It was served with agua fresca and droplets of chili oil, topped with watermelon radish. I loved the fatty, slippery fish paired with the acidic, fresh, and spicy liquid. - My favorite course was the wood-roasted maitake mushroom in a shoyu glaze, topped with shallots, with a red pepper sauce. I wouldn't have minded a main entrée of these savory, meaty mushrooms. - Next up was the sesame seed-encrusted shrimp toast on Japanese milk bread. It was served with lobster bisque and tiny lobster tail skewers. I am very familiar with deep-fried shrimp toast, a dim sum staple, and loved the novelty of black and white sesame seeds. The bisque was rich and flavorful, while the lobster tail was sweet and delicious. It was such a variety of flavors on one plate. - I never had Cappelletti before and enjoyed the pasta stuffed with a manchego-ricotta mix. It was served with more mushrooms (yay!), buttermilk froth, and fried shallots. - The restaurant considered the Wagyu bavette the star of the tasting menu. While I liked the tender beef, peppercorn demi-glace, potato croquettes, and creme fraiche topped with bacon, I still preferred the mushroom course. - The grapefruit granita and compressed grapefruit were another nice palate cleanser. - The dessert was as beautiful as it was creative. Sunchoke ice cream and crispy sunchoke straws enhanced the chocolate hazelnut flavors. I only wish a duck course was available on the day of my visit. It was offered a few weeks earlier.

Really enjoyed our tasting menu here! This place has been open for a while - overtook the old…read moreMongolian BBQ space in downtown Ann Arbor and I've heard mixed reviews. Mostly that it's a bit overpriced for the portions. They do have vegetarian options but not a lot. It's one of those cases where you can pay $20 for a plate of vegetables and expect that to be a full mean but if you eat meat or fish you're getting something a bit more substantial. I was hesitant to come for just dinner and order à la carte for that very reason. So instead: we came for the vegetarian tasting menu. They offer a vegetarian, vegan or pescatarian (as well as regular Meat) tasting menu on Wednesdays and Thursdays only and it's 5 or 7 courses. We did 5 which was plenty. It was a very vegetable-forward meal but it was a good way to try their menu. I do wish they had more vegetarian protein offerings but again, the flavors were fantastic. Our server was knowledgeable and attentive and was able to explain each dish with detail. I'll def come back but I hope they offer some protein options like beans or tofu or something for their herbivore friends!

My friend had high praise for Spencer, so I was excited to try it out when I was in Ann Arbor. My…read morefriends and I arrived 10 min before they opened for brunch and there was no wait, though the restaurant filled up quickly behind us. The space is rustic and simple, with fresh cut flowers on the tables. A majority of the walls were occupied by floor to ceiling racks of wine, as that is their award-winning product. Their brunch menu changes weekly and is extremely tight and cohesive. My party ordered the entire food menu sans olives (2/3rds of us don't like them), and two plates of the potato pelmeni. My thoughts below: Amaro Apertivo: mocktail based on the namesake dessert wine. This tasted like candy but not too sweet, and we enjoyed it a lot. Lovage soda: Google told me that lovage is an herb that tastes like citrus and celery. I am a huge fan of drinks with a twist, and I'd say that celery is a pretty big one! Crisp and not too sweet, the citrus flavor definitely balanced the Celery, and both flavors kept the soda fresh and crisp. This was great paired with the rest of the herbaceous menu and balanced out the richness of some later dishes, though it's not necessarily something I would enjoy by itself without appropriate accompaniment. Pickled egg, fried shallot, dill: I had only heard of pickled eggs in the context of strange British food on YouTube, so I was a little hesitant about this dish. The concept of an egg floating in vinegar brine is a bit off-putting, but once I powered through that mental roadblock, I found myself enjoying this bite. The egg is perfectly cooked with a slightly jammy yolk, and the shallots added a much needed crunch. Dill enhanced the pickled taste while cutting through the richness of the fried shallots and yolk. Sourdough focaccia, whipped butter: Never in my life have I ever made focaccia this tall. This focaccia was raised by a loving family and nurtured to develop a golden, non-greasy, crisp crust protecting its tender, pillowy innards. The classic sourdough tang is a novel addition to each bite, and cuts through the creamy, whipped butter to keep me wanting more. I could eat a whole pan of this alone, but we had many more plates to sample. Saucisson sec salami, pickled carrot: This is a simple, charming, carb-free mini charcuterie; place a slice of salami, some of the mozzarella (next dish on this list, below), and its oil atop a pickled carrot base, and you are in for a perfectly balanced treat. My favorite part of this dish is the fact that the salami was incredibly savory, and not too salty. The more you chew it, the more the flavors express themselves, so be sure to chew slowly and thoroughly! The crunch of the crisp, dill-pickled carrot and the soft chewiness of the mozzarella give each bite a lot of good contrast. Mozzarella, green garlic oil: Fresh, hand-stretched mozzarella is something that even I, a notorious cheese-hater, can't say no to. It is not sharp or funky at all, nor is it too salty. Most of the flavor comes from the green garlic and olive oil smothering each bite. Fresh and floral with a little bite, this was delicious with the salami and carrot above. Potato pelmeni, asparagus green adjika, sour cream: Given the portion size of the previous dishes (small, tapas vibes), we were not expecting the platter full of double carb heaven that met our eyes. And we ordered two!!! This is a gorgeous dish with plump, quarter-sized pelmeni nestled in a vibrant green asparagus and herb sauce with a dollop of sour cream on top. This was a classic comfort dish with a verdant twist! The pelmeni were stuffed full of creamy potato, and the dough was cooked perfectly al dente for a satisfying, pillowy bite. The sauce was homey but packed with zippy flavor and tender asparagus. The major feedback I have for this dish is that it was way too salty, to the point where the flavor was a tad too sharp because of it. Lettuces, radish, pumpkin seed, caraway vinaigrette: It was through this dish that I found out what caraway tastes like and through this dish that I figured out that I'm not a caraway fan. The lettuces were bitter and when combined with the slightly medicinal caraway taste, wasn't for me. The crunch of the radish and the nutty pumpkin seeds were great in this dish though! Fennel cornmeal biscotti, rhubarb compote, cream: This was a single biscotti with generous dollops of compote and cream. We were quite full when this dish was set in front of us, so I was frankly relieved for the small portion size. The fennel in the biscotti paired wonderfully with the tart rhubarb, and the rich cream rounded things out nicely without tipping into cloying territory. The savory cornmeal complimented the fennel and provided additional depth of flavor. A great small bite to end on! Overall, Spencer's strong fundamentals allow them to take risks with in-season local produce. Some things worked for me and some didn't, but I would love to come back to see what they can create next!

I want to preface this by saying, I still recommend Spencer. The food is incredible, the wine…read morepairing with the menu is divine however, we had a bit of a downfall with them. For background, my boyfriend and I are from Ohio and ate here around the same time last year and have been talking about our experience ever since. My boyfriend suggested we go and get Spencer again for lunch and saw that they do not take reservations online. That is important to this review, that they don't take lunch reservations online. We got to Spencer around 2:06 and it was busy which obviously is no issue at all. When we first talk to a server, she said it would be about a ten, fifteen minute wait. Then a man came over and said about 40 minutes, again no problem at all. The issue is that they don't "do callbacks", so they don't take your number. You are expected to literally wait around the restaurant in order to hold your place, however the man said to just come back within 40 minutes. We were willing to wait, again with it no issue at all as we were expecting to wait anyway. We walked around downtown for about 30 minutes and went back just to check in. The same man said it would take a little longer, 15 minutes but that we were first in line and would be sat first. Again this is no issue, you can't gage on how long people will stay and eat so we were willing to wait. We let him know that we will be waiting outside then so we don't miss our reservation. A couple were actually in the same boat as us waiting outside. Finally, after about another addition 30 minutes a couple left the restaurant so the couple outside with us walked in and we were behind them. The man saw us, apologized and said they were in front of us because they "made a reservation online." Then crossed off their name below us on a sheet of paper. I'm sorry? I checked and you cannot make a reservation until 5 PM. So what in the actual world was that? I wish I was kidding and I know how I sound here but it was so obvious that he let them in before us. At this point we were in a catch 22, leave after waiting for an hour and thirty minutes at this point just to have them come out and look for us or stay for another promised "fifteen minutes". We waited since we did drive 2 hours and 30 minutes specifically for this restaurant. Finally, after almost an hour and forty five minutes we were sat. Almost half the menu was sold out. I just HAVE to laugh at this point. Apologies were said and at this point like what were we supposed to do? We ordered everything that was left, bread, olives, salami with carrots and a celery salad which they had to make a substitute with the salad. Whatever I would've eaten scraps at this point. I had one glass of wine and after all was said is done, they gave us last call. I am still laughing at this point. We ate our small dishes and promptly asked for the check, which was 58 dollars including gratuity. I am not even going to mention the countless people we talked to outside asking us to hurry up and eat fast so they can get in. This review is for no one BUT the management at Spencer. As someone who works in the service industry and understands set backs, you NEED to figure out your reservation system. Either you have one or you don't. Talk to your staff when these things happens so they don't lie to costumers when they accidentally seat someone before them. I loved the food, loved the atmosphere, but my God please figure out the seating and waiting system. I wish you all the very best!

Came here for a lunch on a Friday. There was only one server who is the same person that takes…read morephone orders. Speaks very good English so no communication issues. After taking our order the food comes out very fast. The quesobirria was outstanding perfectly tender meat the dipping consume was outstanding which means their Birria stew is probably very good. The rice and beans were excellent. The California burrito was excellent, fries perfectly crispy, Asada was very good. Also a very pleasant surprise is they give complimentary chips and salsa, which given economy/inflation is becoming more rare in Mexican restaurants. Both salsas were excellent the red is a spicy smoky flavor. The salsa verde is tangy and mild. Inside has the Latin vibe but you can tell they took over a 50's style diner so gives the overall feel an interesting vibe. Will definitely eat here solid food good prices good service.

The first time we came here, we were highly impressed with the friendly service, and everything we…read moreordered. The wet burrito was great and my husband enjoyed the variety of tacos he ordered. The second time we came, there were many slices of the onion skin in one of my tacos, which were far too tough to be chewed. This time there was a bone the size of a small cube of meat hidden in the middle of the al pastor taco and I bit it so hard I feared that I chipped my tooth. (I didn't.) I also was very disappointed with the al pastor taco because there was no pineapple flavor and certainly no pieces of pineapple. It tasted like salt with a few other spices, and I would not order it again. The asada taco was fantastic, cooked perfectly, and would also be a great choice for a burrito. My husband said his shredded chicken enchiladas were ok, but nothing special. We both think the beans and rice at El Castillo is wonderful. The same server/cashier is always working and is super friendly. They have dine in as well as carry out. If you want to eat there, you can sit anywhere you'd like in the large dining room, but know that it's not fancy (which doesn't matter to us) and is always cold (which is a bummer in winter). I hope you have a great experience and the food is stellar.