Star's Cafe — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

Disclaimer, I reviewed this place several years ago and gave them 5 stars. Not sure why they have four.8 stars. I would rate my experience as a four: “forget four ever”. Yesterday, I went to this place and ordered a sampler 2 plate and soup. I paid approximately $16 for the two items. They gave me a number to put on the table. Cashier brought the soup within 5 minutes which was awesome given the post-lunch rush. Along with the soup I was given a spoon (for soup) and a Fork (for my sampler plate). Finished soup and figured a little delay due to lots of orders. So I waited and waited and waited. After 30 minutes I noticed that the place was very quiet. Only 2 tables were occupied, one single diner and a couple chatting who were there when I initially came in. It appeared that cooking area was cleaning up after the rush hour. I finally decided to leave the restaurant. As I was going by the cashier, he said “thank you my friend “. I said “why are you thanking me, you never cooked my meal”. Person by the grill (the cook ??) starting laughing at me. I did not see the situation as humorous. So, I paid approximately $16.00 for a bowl of soup and a wasted 30-45 minutes. I’m not sure a bowl of soup is worth $16.00. Pretty sure I...

I was a customer for several years. We had a bad experience with them a few days ago. My family and I were the first ones to get there and place our order to dine-in during dinner. After us, a bunch of people got there. After a long waiting (more than 30 min) we noticed that a party of 5 people that placed their order after us got their food first. I stood up and asked the guy who takes orders why our food was not ready while other 5 meals were already served. He went inside to ask the cook. He came back saying that it was because they just changed the oil to fry a couple of chicken strips. I was surprised to hear that almost 40 min delay was due to changing oil of a frier. To me this was an excuse. They could prepare 5 meals to feed 5 customers and let us waiting for almost 40 minutes. We got there much earlier than them, the only difference was our skin color. The people who got their food first were white and the ones waiting brown. Their priorities are clear to me. Never going back again and not...

For seven years I worked a couple doors down from there so I ordered regularly. My absolute favorite, and that which I still think about even though I haven’t lived in the same state for years, is the chicken lemon rice soup. O m g my life’s mission is figuring out how to make this. So sticky and hearty and lemony and delicious … it’s the best. I also love the eggplant and feta sandwich - didn’t sound good but I trusted a veg friend’s recommendation. SO GOOD. My favorite sandwich was the chicken deluxe - just as good as the eggplant and feta, but I enjoyed the extra protein from the tender chicken.

And the fatoosh tawook - oh man, the best salad in the world! So flavorful, crunchy, fresh, crispy, bright, garlicky, lemony, good for you - if you live in A2 and haven’t had this, you need to fix that!

I stopped working nearby in 2010, haven’t lived in MI since 2016, but it’s 2024 and I STILL think about this place.

Get a sandwich! Get a salad! And get the chicken lemon rice...