The Grotto - Watering Hole — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

The Grotto used to be a favorite, but unfortunately my last two experiences have made me lose faith. A few weeks ago while sitting in the outdoor seating area, a heavy smoker who was not dining at the establishment was allowed to sit next to the tables and blow smoke in everyone’s face. Not exactly pleasant. During the most recent experience on given a busier evening, we waited outside for a table for several minutes without being approached, went inside to attempt to put our name in, and were sent back outside to wait and be spoken to. Soon we were seated on the west side of the building in a row of about six other tables and were told someone would be right with us. We checked out the menu, decided, had some nice conversation, and unfortunately not a single server walked the entire row of tables for 20 minutes. We made one last effort to find a server to take our order, and I found several sitting on their phones at the front. We decided to leave without...

Good beer selection, but nothing is as it appears. I walked up to the bar to order a beer. When I saw one I liked, the bartender said the taps are all wrong. Apparently it’s too much trouble for them to switch out the tap pulls, so they just write it on some making tape which is not readable from a distance. When I asked for a list, he said I needed to scan a QR code. When I did that, I had to put in my name, phone number and table number. I didn’t have a table number since I was at the bar. Whatever. I finally did find something I liked, paid in cash and went to sit outside. While seated, I was interrupted 3 times by street people asking for money. Overall, not a very pleasant experience. I’ll be headed back to Bill’s where I can order from a written menu and drink my...

Neat place to have a beer with three different rooms and a very small patio. The largest "room" is really just a vinyl covered portion of the sidewalk next to the bar. It's like a heated greenhouse. They have a good selection of craft beers and hard liquor too. They do not serve food, just popcorn. Their audio system for music is better than any other I've ever heard in a bar. They have custom built speakers mixed with high quality outdoor speakers. They play a thoughtful variety of recorded music at the right volume - loud enough to hear and enjoy but not too loud to make it hard to talk. The bar tenders here also know their beer so they can tell you about the selections and even help you pick one if you're not sure...