Dominick's

The Location: 812 Monroe (just south of the Law Quad)

The Facts:

Dominick's is a restaurant that's known for it's atmosphere and drinks. It is open during the spring, summer, and fall, and maintains fairly early hours closing at 10pm most nights. It has some indoor seating, but the majority of the tables are outside, with a first and second story patio in both the front and back.

Other Info:

Dominick's will be closing for the winter (I'll try to find out exactly when ASAP) soon. If you want to visit, now is the time.

Review:

As I said before Dom's is known for it's atmosphere. The almost exclusive outdoor seating and the interior decor give it a feeling of a spanish bistro mixed with an alpine cafe. The patrons are a nice blend of townies (often there with their children), law students, and professors. The undergrad population there is considerably smaller than you would assume given the proximity to student housing, but I certainly welcome the change of pace from the younger spots in AA.

Dom's also has a very famous sangria. You can order it in pints, quarts, and half gallons, (pricing scales from ~$6 to ~$17. It comes in a mason jar, and you can pour it into smaller cups at your table. It is mixed there at Dom's using their own recipe, much like MY favorite Dom's drink: Constant Buzz.

This stuff is to die for. Remember the first time you saw a boob that didn't belong to a family member? Yeah, like that, but with alcohol. And stawberries.

It's basically a strawberry daqueri but with about 5 more types of alcohol. It only comes in one size (slightly less than a half gallon) mason jar, and costs about $20. When it's fall, it's less fun to drink, as it's cold out, but during the summer, there really is nothing better, than on, a Friday afternoon, going to Dom's splitting, a Constant Buzz with a friend, and sitting out on the top porch watching Ann Arbor go about it's business.

Dominick's also sells a number of local wines, and has several local beers on tap. These drafts are fairly costly, and I have never had one there.

The food at Dominick's is what you would expect from a Continental restaurant. Pasta, pastries, seafood etc. The pricing is fairly steep, so, if on a budget, I'd recommend somewhere else, though the few times I've had it, the food has been pretty good.

Personally, I've never been to a place like Dominick's in the states. It's a very European experience. I recommend going there with someone who's already been once, just because the intricacies of ordering, etc. are a little confusing at first, but definitly try to make it there if you have the time and money. I give it 4 stars.