Mani Osteria and Bar — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

Let me start off by saying the food was divine. Every thing was seasoned and cooked so well. The Brussels sprouts appetizer was amazing, the focaccia was lovely, and the atmosphere of the place was nice. However my customer service experience was not so great. I can’t have dairy/meat and there are no entrees on the menu without dairy. Dairy allergies are extremely common as well as dairy free options are good for health and the environment and it’s very popular to have at least one option at a restaurant. There are entire Italian vegan restaurants but not one option at this restaurant. So I figured I could easily order a margherita pizza, no cheese, with a few extra toppings. Apparently not. I was trying to make it simpler to just add a few things on to a margherita pizza instead of completely modifying a pizza with more stuff on it. And since I didn’t want a boring no cheese/topping pizza, I added arugula and mushrooms which are add on options (the only two add ons that are vegetables and not meat or cheese), but saw there were olives on another one of their pizzas, and capers on one of the pasta dishes, so I asked the waiter if I could add those too. He said okay no problem. Perhaps he was new and didn’t know this might be an issue, but he didn’t sound like it would be a problem at all. I thought, “oh awesome, I can get a pizza that not every body at the table looks at and is like what on earth is that boring no cheese pizza.” Also I understand pizza was originally invented with just bread and sauce. I have had that in Italy. But most people here expect a lot of cheese on pizza. I don’t need cheese, but I do like toppings. So I ordered a pizza with mushroom, arugula, olives, and capers. 4 additional toppings to a normally just cheese and basil pizza. Shortly after, a woman who is not our server came and announced to the entire group she needed to talk about “the pizza.” Which made me feel awkward, because I already feel awkward eating and ordering no meat and dairy within my group. She said she can “ASK” the chef if he can do ALL of these add ons as if I asked for the absolute most complicated thing for them to make. Her tone was bad and very exaggerated. Like I said, there are olives on another pizza. I can understand not doing the capers, sure. But I don’t think what I asked for was that hard, I really don’t. I know chefs work hard, my Dad is a chef, and they don’t have a ton of time to customize every thing, but there was an add on section to pizza already. Pizza is often customized, and a lot of people don’t like certain ingredients. Hence why a lot of restaurants with pizza have build your own pizzas. Not saying I expected that, but hoping you can understand more of where I am coming from. And she also said with extra emphasis “that would be like THIRTY dollars” She didn’t seem like she was looking out for me with her tone. It was a tone as if I asked for gold on my pizza. It was very strange how she said it, and embarrassing. I don’t have a lot of money by any means, but a glass of wine here is $15, I can pay $30 for a pizza. Several pizzas were $22, and some entrees were $23-25. She could have politely said “that will probably be around $30, I just want to make sure that is okay with you.” I could have appreciated that. I finally just said forget the capers and olives because I was becoming embarrassed in front of my group of friends. All was fine then. Throwing those two things on top of a pizza was apparently very complicated. So I got a mushroom and arugula pizza. Which normally would be boring and that’s why I wanted extra toppings, but alas it was absolutely delicious. A little disappointed the forest mushroom are just regular white mushrooms, but overall extremely satisfied with the pizza. It was seasoned and cooked perfectly. The sauce and crust were both divine. I just really did not enjoy that entire interaction. My other friends, one of whom is a restaurant chef and the other is a restaurant manager, said it was very snooty. I also found a small piece of sausage and a large pine nut...

I so loved Mani's food. Their arancini appetizer was amazing--the romesco sauce underneath three golf-ball-sized risotto croquettes was one of the highlights of the meal, if not of all meals I've had recently... and the crispy artichoke appetizer was yummy (and I don't even like artichoke)--something about the lemon yogurt it came drizzled with. Then, the pizzas were creative and good. I tried the Margherita and 'Red Onion and Pistachio' and thought both were great. The latter wasn't a traditional pizza in any sense, but the combination of pistachios and goat cheese felt clever and was tasty. Finally, I ordered for myself the Burrata and Balsamic pizza and was just blown away. The burrata was perfectly done, the balsamic and the spinach delicious, and there was this subtle heat from red pepper that built in the most warming and pleasant way.

The service was excellent--attentive and sweet. The ambiance was fine.

So why 4 stars and not 5? They really hassled me when I asked them to make an exception to their no-reservation policy so I could bring in my out-of-town guest, who cannot stand (or sit on bar stools) for the seemingly standard hour-long wait. Backstory: I called about a week before we wanted to come in, and was told no. If I hadn't pressed them on this and asked for the owner's contact info to write him/her a letter expressing my disappointment in that answer, the person I spoke with would have hung up without ever offering that I could speak to the manager, who eventually made things right. So it worked out, but felt really disappointing.

And then, of course, the prices are quiet high.

I'm curious to go back again and see what they've done with their pasta portions. That was what blew us away (in a bad way) the first time...

Mani's food and cocktail selection is always really, really great. The flavor profiles and combinations are awesome, and the execution has been consistently good. I have visited 4 or 5 times over the last several years (I am very limited as far as time off goes) and have always been happy about the experience. The interior of the restaurant says sleek, modern and swanky in a very reserved way; the seats are filled with mostly young professionals, college students dressed for an occasion, and intimate tables of two out for a date.

Handmade pastas, artisan pizzas and a staff that knows the menu very well all contribute to a very solid experience. The menu has changed fairly often, so providing descriptions of individual items would be fairly useless, but the food has been very good. One or two of the dishes over the years has been "great". The consistency, though, has always been phenomenal.

The only drawback is that Mani's pricing is more akin to a larger more metropolitan market. I believe that the food they are serving is very good and very consistent, but a touch over priced for a Michigan market. A dinner for two has set me back well over $100 (with only one guest ordering alcohol) before tip. The portions are appropriately sized, but only because I expect smaller portions in a setting like Mani.

Mani is great for social evenings out with a group of friends, or a date that you're trying to impress but strike a balance and remain casual. It is by no means a "special events" restaurant and by ALL means the type of place that you should visit often looking for a cocktail, a glass of wine and some pasta or...