Restaurant Review: Zamaan Cafe - Ann Arbor

3580 Plymouth Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Phone: 734.213.3350
Hours:
Monday - Friday 10am - 10pm
Saturday 11am -10pm
Sunday 11am - 9pm
Price: $$

Hungry the other night, I decided to sift through my pile of coupons and try something new.  I cam across a coupon I had clipped out of a monthly coupon mailer for Zamaan Cafe.  I am in love with Mediterranean food (especially chicken shawarma sandwiches) so I thought I would check to see where this restaurant was.  When I looked at the address on the coupon I discovered it was located only about a mile and a half from where I live.  How did I not know there was a Mediterranean restaurant so close to home.  I immediately called the number on the coupon and ordered my stand by favorite, a chicken shawarma and fattoush salad. 

When ordering I was asked if I wanted the traditional chicken shawarma or the one with feta cheese.  A chicken shawaram with feta was a new concept to me, I have been to a lot of Mediterranean restaurants but I have never seen this on the menu. 

Once home with my take out, I could hardly wait to dig in.  Everything looked and smelled delicious  My first bite was of my fattoush salad.  The dressing was yummy, but overall I thought the salad was a little heavy on the lettuce and a little light on the cucumbers, tomatoes, and other yummy additions.  Overall the salad was average.  Next I bit into my shwarma and OMG feta should be a standard addition.  The sandwich its self was average, like the salad, but the addition of the feta made it AMAZING.  I will for sure be ordering this addition on every chicken shawarma I order from now on. 

Zamaan has a pretty good combo deal, a sandwich with your choice of salad, fries, or rice for $6.99.   Not a bad deal for something much healthier then fast food. The food was good, but pretty average compared to other Mediterranean restaurants in the area. 

Leslie @ Munchin' Michigander

Restaurant Review: Gabriel's - Ypsilanti, MI

2585 E.Michigan 
Avenue     
Ypsilanti, MI 48185 
(1 additional Location)
Phone: 734.483.5846
Hours:
Monday-Sunday: 10am - 9pm

Sunday: 11am - 9pm
Price: $$
 




www.gabrielscheesesteaks.com

Gabriel's Menu

Have you heard the idiom, "don't judge a book by its cover"? Garbriel's is a prime example of why you should not prejudge this restaurant due to the location, menu size, or its exterior appearance. What we found inside this red and yellow dive was a cheese steak hoagie that could turn a Philadelphian into a Michigander!

Gabriel's is small and dingy, but the kind of dingy where you know food must be good as there was a steady flow of customers coming in the door. It could probably seat about 25 people, though many customers opted to take their sandwiches to go. With only four sandwiches to choose from, this may have been the smallest menu I had ever seen. Leslie and I both ordered the cheese steak hoagie with a side of  peppers.

After a short wait, I was unwrapping my cheese steak from unbranded paper that reminded me of something a department store cashier would  use to wrap up something fragile. The bun was lined with American cheese and stuffed with steaming hot paper thin slices of ribeye and sauteed onions. I topped off my hoagie with a tangy-diced hot cherry pepper relish, or in Gabriel's lingo -- a side of peppers. 

It was mouth watering delicious! If I even thought I could squeeze a couple more ounces of food in my stomach, I might have ordered a second. This cheese steak hoagie was far from the ordinary over processed burger and greasy french fry meal. There were no liquid renderings running down my palm. Nor any drips on my shirt leaving behind the evidence of a sinful meal. But it tasted like there should have been! This sandwich is a broke college kids late night dream food. Too bad it's not a little bit closer to Eastern Michigan University's campus. 

Lindsey @ Munchin' Michigander