Located in a a small industrial sub in southern Ann Arbor, Zingerman's has 3 separate adjacent premises housing a bake shop & retail, soft cheese manufacturing & retail, and a candy shop (which I did not visit). Appealing to our emotions is amongst Z's specialties. The bake shop is beautifully presented selling 20 (approx) different kinds of bread made from starter yeast (more time consuming, old fashioned, high quality), bags of cookies, croissants, muffins and other treats. There are other high quality bakeries in other towns manufacturing high quality breads, however, Zingerman's has a splendid selection. The cheese shop visit was interesting, yet it is there is where the trance of the magic Z-spell was broken. After buying the most highly recommended cheese we learned that it's imported, not made by Zingerman's (they only make soft spreadable cheeses). This could and should have been disclosed, far more apparently (if there is fine print somewhere). Some other high quality retailers sell even deeper selections of quality cheese. All representatives were polite and courteous. Some other reviewers have debated if Z's higher pricing and quality are commensurate. This first visit and purchases was not conclusive in discerning the overall value proposition for me.
Larissa F.
I called the bakehouse to inquire about a last minute cake for my daughter's 2nd birthday party. I spoke with Jalen on the phone who was informative, polite and very patient. While the Bakehouse ended up not being able to execute what I was looking for, Jalen was very communicative and went above and beyond to assist me. We'll be utilizing the Bakehouse in the future for our needs simply based on this positive interaction. Thank you, Jalen!
Angel Tan
The bread was burnt. The Palmier was not flaky, it was hard instead. I believe the ingredients are the same as before, they hired a bunch of bakers who are not trained so everything is off. Baking is very exact and precise, they just hired young people who have no experience to ruin their products!Saving on payroll also means losing customers, ouch.The profit margin is never high enough for you!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3
Pamela C.
Gem in Ann Arbor. This super cute bakery is tucked behind warehouses. There are so many things to try! I wanted it all! Mouthwatering cinnamon rolls, pies, breads and more! I love it all. As a bonus, you can watch the bakers through a window. We had a super helpful worker give us suggestions. Go check it out, you will not be disappointed.
Wen C.
I stopped by to pick up a loaf of Paesano bread, which is the bread of the month for this month. They come out of the oven steaming hot at 4 pm. I think they must bake it with magic as when it's right out of the oven, the bread itself is so tender and soft that they can't put it into the bread slicing machine, but give it a few hours and the cornmeal-dusted crust starts getting chewy while the inside of the bread is still tender. It's bursting with flavor. I love dipping the bread in some good quality olive oil and basalmic vinegar, or with some butter. I also tried their hot cocoa coffee cake. It's delicious and perfect if you like chocolate! It's pretty rich but not super sweet-you can taste some of the bitterness of the chocolate. The chocolate chips are abundant and delicious. The inside is moist as well. Yum!
Alan Kessler
Best breads around. Large
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bakery
Mar
this places rocks. best bread and donuts around
E & A Trucking
Very nice ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jeff Ceo
The price is way too high for what you get. It's actually outrageous what someone has to pay - for example, a 4" square of olive focacia bread cost $4.50 - a dollar plus for each 1"x 4" strip of bread!Parking: Very narrow, lots of traffic.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Albert T.
Apparently I wasn't sick of paczki yet after eating a ton of them from three bakeries over the pre-paczki day weekend. On paczki day, I decided to try another two places and Zingerman's was the one I was most excited about. I had heard about a group of people who tried paczki at 15 different places around Ann Arbor and Detroit and found Zingerman's to be the best. Given that news and the fact that I love pretty much everything that Zingerman's Bakehouse puts out, my expectations were pretty high. I walked in the shop at approximately 10AM in the morning on Fat Tuesday and found a line nine parties deep, which is one of the busiest I've ever seen this shop. At this point, they had already run out of my top choice, rosehip, but they still had all the other flavors. I picked up two paczki and a slice of King Cake (also a limited special) to try out. King Cake Slice ($4.99) - This is a Northern French-style Galette des Rois rather than a New Orleans-style King Cake. This consisted of super buttery whole grain puff pastry layers that encapsulated a rich almond frangipane filling. The layers are baked until they develop a bit of a crunch. Instead of a light buttery taste I normally associate with puff pastry items, this one had a much deeper, nutty, browned taste. The layers kind of collapsed together and the cake overall didn't have nearly the height or puffiness that the pictures on Zingerman's Bakehouse website shows. The frangipane is heavily almond fragranced, very apparent smelling as soon as I lifted the pastry up. My first impression as I bit through the slice was that it was baked a bit too long, a bit dried out and mushed together. Then again, I haven't had an authentic slice of Galette des Rois before, so I don't know if it was over baked or is just supposed to be like this. Ricotta Paczki ($3.49) - The first thing I noticed was that this paczki was fried quite a bit unevenly - one side was way darker than the other. As I bit into it, the outermost layer kind of peeled off on both sides. This was kind of strange as it's something that didn't happen in any of the other paczki I tried. The dough was chewy, but the chew felt less like a brioche chew and more like a bready chew with a lot of gluten development. It was by far the most bread-like of the five bakeries I tried. I did like the filling - the tanginess of the ricotta really came through and balanced well with the slight sweetness of just a bit of added sugar. Chocolate Cream Paczki ($3.49) - This time the fry seemed to be to be similar on both side, but both sides were also quite dark, indicating that perhaps it was over-fried. In addition, the darker fried areas glistened in the light and made me wonder if it absorbed too much oil in the frying process. Then again, the skin didn't peel off of this one unlike the ricotta paczki. Texture-wise, it was pretty much the same as the ricotta. And again, I loved the filling; rich chocolate flavor with a perfect amount of sweetness that still allowed the natural bitterness of the chocolate to shine. Overall the paczki had great fillings but the dough was only okay. To be honest, these were probably some of the worst offerings I've gotten from Zingerman's, right next to their bagels. I'm not sure if it's just this batch that wasn't great or if they are always like this every year. I would not get them again given other bakeries around that are plainly better. If I had to rate the paczki by themselves they would be a 3 and the King Cake would be between a 3 and 4. Still, overall Zingerman's Bakehouse still deserves my original 5 star review given how great most of their other items are. Maybe I should just stay away from their once-in-a-year items.
Delightful all around. These folks did our wedding cupcakes and a small wedding cake for cutting and they ROCKED it. We got their preset wedding cake tasting box and honestly felt it was a little stale, but we used it to figure out what flavors we liked most and requested some fresh combinations that we then loved. Alyse was super easy to work with and crafted a beautiful cake! Lovely shop with all manner of baked goods, breads, sweets, etc. Super nice staff and everything I've had is delicious. A bit weird on the location but well worth your trip!
steve LaBundy
Wow, this place was awesome. Chili cheese bread, bunt cake, and cookies are delicious.
Fantastic Coffee, fresh bread and steady flow of people going in. Definitely will return ??
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bakery
Steve Renkema
All of zingerman’s services and food all in one place. It’s awesome to see all of their production and foods in one convenient place. The staff was very friendly!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cyndi Urbancic
Wonderful!Vegetarian options: Everything is so good!
Located in a a small industrial sub in southern Ann Arbor, Zingerman's has 3 separate adjacent premises housing a bake shop & retail, soft cheese manufacturing & retail, and a candy shop (which I did not visit). Appealing to our emotions is amongst Z's specialties. The bake shop is beautifully presented selling 20 (approx) different kinds of bread made from starter yeast (more time consuming, old fashioned, high quality), bags of cookies, croissants, muffins and other treats. There are other high quality bakeries in other towns manufacturing high quality breads, however, Zingerman's has a splendid selection. The cheese shop visit was interesting, yet it is there is where the trance of the magic Z-spell was broken. After buying the most highly recommended cheese we learned that it's imported, not made by Zingerman's (they only make soft spreadable cheeses). This could and should have been disclosed, far more apparently (if there is fine print somewhere). Some other high quality retailers sell even deeper selections of quality cheese. All representatives were polite and courteous. Some other reviewers have debated if Z's higher pricing and quality are commensurate. This first visit and purchases was not conclusive in discerning the overall value proposition for me.
I called the bakehouse to inquire about a last minute cake for my daughter's 2nd birthday party. I spoke with Jalen on the phone who was informative, polite and very patient. While the Bakehouse ended up not being able to execute what I was looking for, Jalen was very communicative and went above and beyond to assist me. We'll be utilizing the Bakehouse in the future for our needs simply based on this positive interaction. Thank you, Jalen!
The bread was burnt. The Palmier was not flaky, it was hard instead. I believe the ingredients are the same as before, they hired a bunch of bakers who are not trained so everything is off. Baking is very exact and precise, they just hired young people who have no experience to ruin their products!Saving on payroll also means losing customers, ouch.The profit margin is never high enough for you!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3
Gem in Ann Arbor. This super cute bakery is tucked behind warehouses. There are so many things to try! I wanted it all! Mouthwatering cinnamon rolls, pies, breads and more! I love it all. As a bonus, you can watch the bakers through a window. We had a super helpful worker give us suggestions. Go check it out, you will not be disappointed.
I stopped by to pick up a loaf of Paesano bread, which is the bread of the month for this month. They come out of the oven steaming hot at 4 pm. I think they must bake it with magic as when it's right out of the oven, the bread itself is so tender and soft that they can't put it into the bread slicing machine, but give it a few hours and the cornmeal-dusted crust starts getting chewy while the inside of the bread is still tender. It's bursting with flavor. I love dipping the bread in some good quality olive oil and basalmic vinegar, or with some butter. I also tried their hot cocoa coffee cake. It's delicious and perfect if you like chocolate! It's pretty rich but not super sweet-you can taste some of the bitterness of the chocolate. The chocolate chips are abundant and delicious. The inside is moist as well. Yum!
Best breads around. Large
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bakery
this places rocks. best bread and donuts around
Very nice ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The price is way too high for what you get. It's actually outrageous what someone has to pay - for example, a 4" square of olive focacia bread cost $4.50 - a dollar plus for each 1"x 4" strip of bread!Parking: Very narrow, lots of traffic.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Apparently I wasn't sick of paczki yet after eating a ton of them from three bakeries over the pre-paczki day weekend. On paczki day, I decided to try another two places and Zingerman's was the one I was most excited about. I had heard about a group of people who tried paczki at 15 different places around Ann Arbor and Detroit and found Zingerman's to be the best. Given that news and the fact that I love pretty much everything that Zingerman's Bakehouse puts out, my expectations were pretty high. I walked in the shop at approximately 10AM in the morning on Fat Tuesday and found a line nine parties deep, which is one of the busiest I've ever seen this shop. At this point, they had already run out of my top choice, rosehip, but they still had all the other flavors. I picked up two paczki and a slice of King Cake (also a limited special) to try out. King Cake Slice ($4.99) - This is a Northern French-style Galette des Rois rather than a New Orleans-style King Cake. This consisted of super buttery whole grain puff pastry layers that encapsulated a rich almond frangipane filling. The layers are baked until they develop a bit of a crunch. Instead of a light buttery taste I normally associate with puff pastry items, this one had a much deeper, nutty, browned taste. The layers kind of collapsed together and the cake overall didn't have nearly the height or puffiness that the pictures on Zingerman's Bakehouse website shows. The frangipane is heavily almond fragranced, very apparent smelling as soon as I lifted the pastry up. My first impression as I bit through the slice was that it was baked a bit too long, a bit dried out and mushed together. Then again, I haven't had an authentic slice of Galette des Rois before, so I don't know if it was over baked or is just supposed to be like this. Ricotta Paczki ($3.49) - The first thing I noticed was that this paczki was fried quite a bit unevenly - one side was way darker than the other. As I bit into it, the outermost layer kind of peeled off on both sides. This was kind of strange as it's something that didn't happen in any of the other paczki I tried. The dough was chewy, but the chew felt less like a brioche chew and more like a bready chew with a lot of gluten development. It was by far the most bread-like of the five bakeries I tried. I did like the filling - the tanginess of the ricotta really came through and balanced well with the slight sweetness of just a bit of added sugar. Chocolate Cream Paczki ($3.49) - This time the fry seemed to be to be similar on both side, but both sides were also quite dark, indicating that perhaps it was over-fried. In addition, the darker fried areas glistened in the light and made me wonder if it absorbed too much oil in the frying process. Then again, the skin didn't peel off of this one unlike the ricotta paczki. Texture-wise, it was pretty much the same as the ricotta. And again, I loved the filling; rich chocolate flavor with a perfect amount of sweetness that still allowed the natural bitterness of the chocolate to shine. Overall the paczki had great fillings but the dough was only okay. To be honest, these were probably some of the worst offerings I've gotten from Zingerman's, right next to their bagels. I'm not sure if it's just this batch that wasn't great or if they are always like this every year. I would not get them again given other bakeries around that are plainly better. If I had to rate the paczki by themselves they would be a 3 and the King Cake would be between a 3 and 4. Still, overall Zingerman's Bakehouse still deserves my original 5 star review given how great most of their other items are. Maybe I should just stay away from their once-in-a-year items.
Restaurantji Recommends
Delightful all around. These folks did our wedding cupcakes and a small wedding cake for cutting and they ROCKED it. We got their preset wedding cake tasting box and honestly felt it was a little stale, but we used it to figure out what flavors we liked most and requested some fresh combinations that we then loved. Alyse was super easy to work with and crafted a beautiful cake! Lovely shop with all manner of baked goods, breads, sweets, etc. Super nice staff and everything I've had is delicious. A bit weird on the location but well worth your trip!
Wow, this place was awesome. Chili cheese bread, bunt cake, and cookies are delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Cookies, Bakery, Cupcake, Croissants, Coffee Cake
Fantastic Coffee, fresh bread and steady flow of people going in. Definitely will return ??
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bakery
All of zingerman’s services and food all in one place. It’s awesome to see all of their production and foods in one convenient place. The staff was very friendly!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wonderful!Vegetarian options: Everything is so good!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Cookies, Bakery, Croissants, Salads, Coffee Cake