Jerusalem Garden — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

Growing up in Ann Arbor, there are certain places I always pass and wonder about. This is one of those places. My husband loves middle eastern food and would eat it for every meal if he could, LOL. We were downtown for an appointment and I suggested we give it a try. It was so different than what I expected inside. It was light and bright and airy, with tall ceilings and lots of natural light. Not very common downtown. We were seated in the back and or server was very nice and fast. We both just had water (since I gave up pop 3 months ago, I know, I can't believe it either, LOL) and then we decided to split a chicken shawarma plate, it comes with rice and pickles and you can add two sides for $2.00 more. So we added falafel and hummus and pita. When it came out, the chicken was smothered in what looked like cheese, but it was the yogurt sauce. Sort of drowning the delicious chicken. The rice had vermicelli noodles in it which I love, but I would have loved slivered almonds on it as well. The plate was small and probably could have been eaten by me entirely with no problem at all, same with him, but we are both trying to eat better and more reasonable portions, so it was actually perfect. We separated portions, halving the chicken (with sauce), the rice and pickles, and there were 3 falafel, we each had 1 1/2, and then split the hummus. The sauce the chicken was drunken in was not very good. Garlic'y? yes, a bit too creamy in my opinion, and I wish it was on the side, so you could add what you want to it. The rice was very good. The falafel was AMAZING, and the hummus was pretty good as well. When we started running out of pita, our server came by and asked if we wanted more. My husband said sure, and she got some more out of a bag. Clearly, it isn't made fresh there. But that didn't really bother me. The amount of food left me still slightly hungry, but really more satisfied, knowing neither one of us overate. There is a middle eastern restaurant in Canton, which is local for us, and my husband said he thinks it is far better...so I guess that means we won't be coming back....

I apologize, but I do NOT see why this place has such high reviews other than the fact that people who are eating here don't know what good middle Eastern food is. Unless it is a place deliberately made for people with milder, inexperienced pallettes, I do not recommend wasting money here.

First of all, none of the food was seasoned with salt. The only seasoning anyone at my table could taste was SPICE with no actual flavor. That is not ideal for families with small children. The only decent item was the hummus, and even that tasted slightly watered down. The Falafel was so bland, albeit the bright green color on the inside. Sandwiches were wrapped up in cold bread and not toasted. Very little effort was put in assembling them. Considering that eyes play a crucial role in the eating experience, we were not rushing to eat our sandwiches.

The kabobs did not taste like fresh meat. The beef was tough and dry. Chicken kabobs were hard even for my children to eat. They tasted reheated. If the skewers were grilled on an actual grill, I would have at least smelled the grill beaming off my food, but nothing. We paid 13-15 dollars for various kabobs only to get 5 pieces of kind-of warm meat that didn't feel fresh off the grill. This brings me to my next point.

You can see the kitchen from the dining area. Not once did we hear or see grills turned on to actually grill the food. There was very little movement in the kitchen--no hustle or bustle of the kitchen staff making an effort to make authentic food It looks like a VERY clean space, but I would argue also about whether the space is being used properly for actual cooking.

The space is nice but none of it gives one a true Middle Eastern experience. I didn't recognize any Middle Eastern art, none of the staff are Arab or even speak it Arabic. The pictures online are misleading because of the panorama shot--it is much smaller than it appears online. But I must give kudos for its cleanliness, though.

Needless to say, we were very disappointed with our experience. We spent over 70 dollars on our food and still felt hungry...

I wish I could give 0 stars. My husband and I used to adore this place. It used to have wonderful options for vegans and vegetarians so we never minded the drive. And the staff used to be so nice. We travelled from 30 miles away to finally return after months and were soooo disappointed. Not only was the food overwhelmingly dull (we ordered the falafel plate which we now know is an overpriced, unpleasant joke of a meal) and they forgot part of the meal... When I called back to voice my concern (traveling 30 miles to leave without items we paid for) I got horrendous customer service. They would hardly listen to me, tried to rush me off the phone, refused to take responsibility for their mistake, and were extremely rude. I own a food business and would fire any staff that spoke to a customer the way my issue was handled. The only positive from this experience is that I will no longer have to drive 30 MILES to give my money to people who clearly don’t care about their business reputation. Highly recommend saving your money for business of a higher quality.

Update : I requested my tip be refunded (which I have never even thought about doing prior to this event considering I own a food business myself) since they refused to handle my concerns about their lack of attention to my order details. It took 10 hours for them to bother -they waited until the next business day to process it. I did not order late or even close to closing. I’m sure it was only done in response to this review. The service here gets worse by the minute. Really encourage anyone to save your money, you won’t get it back when they...