Zou Zou's — Restaurant in Chelsea

This review is based on two visits to this restaurant in the last week; and is being offered both as a customer and as a former dining room and nightclub manager. Their signature crepes (my wife ordered a savory version) were fairly tasty but a little bit too oily for our taste. During both visits the house coffee was decent but brewed a little bit too weak. I do appreciate the available cinnamon, chocolate, half and half, and simple sugar at the coffee station. Their corned beef sandwich is pricey and the portion is quite small. While the corned beef itself is pretty good (and is house made) it is very surprisingly not offered with Dijon mustard which is standard for corned beef sandwiches. There was only plain mustard and honey mustard. Today I ordered the lox and bagel plate which supposedly comes with fruit salad. The lox tasted fine, but the portion was small. I ordered an everything bagel and instead received a plain bagel. There was hardly any cream cheese on the sandwich, and a fruit salad consisted of three or four small pieces of pineapple and a couple of grapes. The quality of the lox and bagel compared to a good Jewish delicatessen was lacking both in quality and size. As evidenced by the very small corned beef sandwich, the very small amount of lox and cream cheese on the bagel, and the quarter size fruit salad, this restaurant is offering quite small portions considering the relatively high menu prices. The person who brought out the food barely spoke a word. When I asked which coffee was brewed most recently, the response was, "I don't know I just got here," instead of "I'll be glad to find out for you." When I went to use the restroom, the bathroom was dirty and had toilet paper and paper towels strewn on the floor. There was one staff member during our previous visit that said "please do let me know if you need anything else," which was appreciated. However the two staff members that I interacted with today--the cashier and the young man who brought the food- -did not seem customer focused. This used to be one of our favorite restaurants, but based on the shrinking food size, increasing prices, mediocre to average food quality, less than clean restrooms, relatively weak coffee, and non customer focused customer service, we will not return anytime soon. However, because of their very fine past history, we will probably try the restaurant again in a year or two to see if positive changes...

Hi,

We enjoyed our ride out to the Purple Rose Theater from Ann Arbor. We also enjoyed our visit for dinner at the Common Grill. Chelsea has a loveliness leftover from its history as an independent milling town out on the Michigan wilderness. However, Chelsea has become a transportation ghetto. The Amtrak stations do not stop at Chelsea, despite a historical station. The Ann Arbor bus system doesn't service Chelsea. No taxi cab company has made its home in Chelsea. And worst of all, taking an Uber to Chelsea requires little effort at all. However, Uber makes no promise at all of a ride share back to Ann Arbor. The app works in Chelsea, but I rang for a ride numerous times. Let's call it an edge case, the use case of Uber stranding risk. People can get to Chelsea by Uber but shouldn't go due to the risk of stranding. I would pay more for some assurance that a ride could be easily scheduled back to my first destination.

This failure of the Uber network while I visited Chelsea compounded into anxiety because I had taken my twenty-one year old daughter out for a show. Luckily, I coaxed an Ann Arbor Cab into coming for us, taking a hour's wait at a local coffeehouse. Stranded myself, I could care less. I'll thumb if I must. Strand her, and we've reason for words.

We had time to talk over tea at Zou Zou's, and she assured me she wasn't worried or upset. Meanwhile, I was working the phone like a madman, making sure my cab would come through. It did. It cost me sixty dollars, tip of ten, when the ride out cost half that much.

In fairness, since we tested the effectiveness of your network with our very bodies, please consider giving sixty dollars in ride credit to make me whole.

I had a similar experience when I took an Uber out to Canastota, a twenty dollar ride, only to pay thirty five dollars and wait an hour to return home. This really is a trust issue. I would love to Uber to Cazenovia today, but I am afraid that the same issue would result, either a pricey rescue ride or no ride at all.

What are the plans of Uber to assure low cost reliable rides every where inside a...

This is a nice little coffee shop at the main intersection in downtown Chelsea. As a matter of convenience, it's a one block walk or so from the closest city parking area. Based on my single experience, I'd give ratings for the atmosphere and service of 5 stars each, but the coffee would only get 3 stars. I'll elaborate.

The vintage interior is very nicely done and provides an attractive, roomy space to enjoy a hot beverage (or a cold one, I suppose) and perhaps also a treat. There is a reasonable number of indoor tables and outdoor seating is also available. That's a great option for nice weather days, as was the case when I was there.

The staff were very efficient and attentive when I visited. I opted for an Americano, which was decent. Quite honestly, I was hoping for a stronger brew, as that is generally my preference. So I'm giving this rating more on the exceptional ambiance and good service. I don't want to penalize too much for one visit trying one item. Next time, I'll go with a Redeye now that I've calibrated their offerings relative to my taste. But overall, this is a very enjoyable spot for a few relaxing moments when you're...