Zingerman's Delicatessen — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

The food was good, but the prices were high, the layout was confusing, and there was zero service; the whole experience was very impersonal.

I did like the food - the sandwich was large, the meat was good, and it was tasty. The price was high for the sandwich, but not if you view it as a special treat. Zingermann's would be unaffordable for the typical person to eat there regularly.

My real issue was with the layout of the place and the (lack of) service, which they of course want a tip for.

The deli is a store in the front and a restaurant in the rear, with seating upstairs and outside. For someone not familiar with the layout, it was unclear where to go to order, receive food, and eat.

The service was non-existent and kind of insulting and how impersonal it was. The only employee I saw was someone handing out menus and nonchalantly telling you to stand in line to use a kiosk. Whether I could have ordered with a real person, I do not know, but the layout and store's design encouraged you to use a kiosk. The kiosk was fine, but it's impersonal by design and unless you know what you want, it isn't as good as ordering with a person because you may have questions about what something comes with, how large the portions are, etc. Anyway, you pay right there at the kiosk, and then they want your phone number to text you when your food is ready. I don't really like giving my phone number out, but there didn't seem to be another option, and since it was a kiosk and not a person, it's not like I could have asked for a receipt with an order number. Then you go through a room with a soda fountain either to an outside sitting area or an upstairs sitting area, which resembles a school cafeteria or college dining hall. There is at least one long table where multiple small parties are expected to sit. Upon getting a text that our food was ready, my friend went downstairs, picked it up, and walked back up with it. We then ate and then were expected to bus our own table.

I would call the service poor, but that wouldn't be accurate. The service was basically non-existent. You stand in line. You type your order yourself in a koisk. You process the payment. You receive a text message and pick up your food when it's ready. You bus your own table. It's hard to imagine how there could have been LESS service and employee interaction than there was. To add insult to this lack of service, Zingerman's asks you to tip someone (not exactly sure who) for this non-existent service. On the kiosk, it puts a screen before finishing your order asking for you to tip (again, not exactly sure who, as I never saw anyone save the dude telling me to use the kiosk). Frustratingly, Zingerman's employed a "dark pattern" here: There wasn't a "no tip" option, you had to manually choose custom and enter zero to give the correct tip commensurate with service. This required multiple taps on the kiosk and could trick someone into thinking a tip is compulsory. To give a tip, you only had to tap once, though. This seems like a purposeful, and likely misleading, design choice, although I cannot say that with 100% certainty.

My experience would have been so much better had I been able to talk to an employee, ask about the menu, order with an employee, have an employee direct me through the confusing layout of the building, etc.

Instead, I had to wait in line to order via a kiosk, pay a pretty hefty price for the food, figure out the confusing layout by following the crowd, go back downstairs to pick up the food, and bus my on table. And I was asked to tip for that experience! It felt very much like a "give us your money but we want to do the minimum possible and don't really want to interact with you". Not a great feeling...

It's the mecca of midwestern deli deliciousness. Gotta love going to a restaurant surrounded by red brick streets. Try the Reuben. Ask for Babs...

On Google's "People also ask," there is a question, "Why is Zingerman's so expensive?" As a former UofM MSEE grad school student in 1990-2, I used to ask the same question and have become a loyal fan now in 2021... so let me try to answer in a new way.

In grad school I was always frugal. Ten dollar haircuts were my norm. Living near North Campus, I'd pass Zingerman's Deli every time I'd go to a racquetball club on the south side of Ann Arbor, but their prices made the food a bit out of my league as a teaching assistant... so each time I'd drive by it was with a metaphorical nose pressed against the glass which left me wondering why so many were so loyally ecstatic about their delicacies.

When I graduated in June 1992 and got a good engineering job in LA, Beverly Hills beckoned.

Eventually, a girlfriend insisted I get a 1993 haircut at Jose Eber Salon on Rodeo Drive.

She even offered to split the cost as enticement.

WooHoo... what an experience it was!

It was a Saturday in September, and a Notre Dame college football game played on this busy salon's many TV sets as the quality and service of Beverly Hills pampering, musing, and fusing showed me what a "Real" haircut & color "really" could be. Was it expensive? You bet. But can one haircut initiate a paradigm shift in why we pay for such Quality? Oh, you betcha. I doubled-down on it and returned on my own for a 2nd $165 Rodeo Drive "experience" in 1994.

So glad I did because in January 1995, I acted as an extra in "Get Shorty" and appear in the background of 5 scenes shot at LAX.

30 years later, I don't remember any details of all of those $10 haircuts but am grateful for those 2 Beverly Hills haircut "events" and still vividly recall them with no regrets for the prices I paid... and 3 decades later as an author and musician, I thank my lucky stars every time I see that Rodeo Drive haircut & color in that fine film which was written by Michigan's most-excellent Elmore Leonard... someone whose screenplay literally changed my life when I left that LA engineering career to make a leap of faith... to become creative on a daily basis... which to me means true happiness...and with an awesome food appreciation to boot too... now there's a Butterfly Effect fully-flavored full-circle with Zing!

Rarely do my eyes roll to the back of my head when I take a bite of packaged and processed grocery store food, but it happens all of the time when I take a bite of Zingerman's. It's just that (OMG) good.

A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimension.

Kinda like a little league team versus true professionals of Quality...

I think the saying is "You get what you pay for."

That's why I shop there now in 2021.

Now excuse me while I take a bite.

Zing's Magic...

During our recent upper Midwest road trip it was high on my list to visit the famous Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor. As a long time deli man myself it was a bit of a bucket list item as so much has been written about the experience and food. Unfortunately we left with dashed expectations. Parking is clearly at a premium in the area but somehow we were fortunate enough to get a metered spot directly across the street from the front door. It may look small from the outside but there is a lot of room upstairs and out back. Also in the cafe/bakery next door. As you walk up you will see a tent on the sidewalk with a sign with how to order info. You have a few choices-kiosk in the tent, online, kiosk inside with friendly assistance and at the counter. The process feels very hectic once inside. You initially walk past the breads and bagels counter with a friendly helper and cookie samples. I noticed what looked like a fresh herb biscuit and found out it was a Hungarian item called a Pogacsa (poh-gotcha), a cross between a flaky biscuit and a scone seasoned with dill. Delicious. The menu is vast with many sandwiches and salads available in large and small. Easy to see online. Most famous for the corned beef and pastrami options. With our friendly helper we followed the kiosk prompts to get two sandwiches and two containers of salad ordered. Binny's Brooklyn Pastrami Rueben on grilled pumpernickel and Dave's Open Road chicken with cheese and bacon on grilled challah, both small. Plus roast beet with feta salad and their take on a mustard potato salad. With chips, drink, brownie and tip just over $65. Somewhat expected but poor value after eating the meal. First disappointment came when my DW discovered that the beet salad had some unexpected, unpleasant cilantro as one of the ingredients. As this salad was not listed on the menu, she would have had to read every ingredient on the label of the prepackaged product. Something we really aren’t used to doing. Next issue was the mustard potato salad has red peppers in it which was not listed on the menu. Again, this would only be known if you read the entire label and this is a known allergen so should be listed on the menu also. The Reuben was most disappointing with dry ends of dense pumpernickel over grilled and the small amount of overly peppery pastrami left on the flat top (?) to the point of almost all moisture being removed. DW was not enjoying the bread or the strong swiss cheese so she just pulled it apart and tried to enjoy the meat and kraut. The chicken on the Open Road sandwich was nicely grilled but the weak bread and over abundance of ranch caused the sandwich to fall apart quickly and needed a fork to eat the better parts. Might try again someday but...