Cafe Zola

We went to Cafe' Zola to celebrate a LATE Mother's Day today...all 8 of us...and we are regular customers...
My sister got a salad...ate most of it...got to the bottom of the plate, and there was a HUGE, FAT, CATERPILLAR wiggling around her salad...She ran outside and almost threw up. When we privately told the woman owner...she blamed it on the food being "organic"...shouldn't they still wash it?
She NEVER came to the table to apologize, so we had our sweet waitress go get her...the owner came to the table, IRATE...and told us in her lovely accent "We didn't belong there...and perhaps WE should never come back?"....after we handled this privately and professionally...sounds like the owner has issues!

I rarely eat out in Ann Arbor, and I'm glad I got to try Cafe Zola. The high point is the food. Interesting menu, with a lot of delicious combinations and ideas. I ordered Heidi's Breakfast, which was a glorified bagel sandwich with eggs, shredded sweet potatoes, chives, asparagus, cheese and more. It was extremely tasty.

The atmosphere is nice, kind of bustling, and crowded but not uncomfortable. The food and speciality beverages are expensive. I'm not sure where they get their ingredients, but for what they charge I expect that they are local and fresh as hell. I'm tempted to say it's overpriced.

The service was on the slow side and the servers were kind of aloof.

The food is of average quality. I had the mushroom pasta, and tasted a great deal of my girlfriend's herb-rubbed brick oven roasted chicken, and had the banana crepes on my first visit - in a word (or initials rather): "OK.". My second trip (which I now regret) included tasting the filet of salmon with leeks and the lamb chops -- again, OK, but not overwhelming or unique in any way I can ascertain. Overall, average. I know how hard it is to run a successful restaurant, so I recognize that average would be fine as long as the prices were not so inflated. I do not mind paying top-dollar for good food, but I have a decent grasp on how much a dish is worth charging for and my conclusion after 2 visits is that this is the most overpriced restaurant I have visited in Ann Arbor. I am not saying that this is the most expensive, just the most overpriced for what they offer (alternates with better food and less expensive dishes in the area include Real Seafood, Logan, The Earle and Melange).
However, while overpriced food might be forgivable, what is not is the unprofessional attitude of the Hostess. I worked as a restaurant manager in NYC and I would never consider hiring someone like this (she must be the owner's daughter). She is extremely arrogant and condescending to her customers and this will only lead to decreased foot traffic. I might have considered giving them a third chance if their Hostess was a tiny bit courteous, however I will not consider this again and I recommend passing for those considering giving Cafe Zola a try. Hopefully the owners will wise up and do a better job training their host staff - if so they might have a chance with a little more innovation in their menu and more reasonable/accurate prices.