Early Bird Menu Change
We went for dinner last Friday and were disappointed in their new early bird menu. The Calamari appetizer was different and could not be eaten. The crackers and salmon appetizer is almost non-existent i.e., almost nothing. The Ceaser salad had almost no dressing.    [10 Feb 2003 11:10:45]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­Bob    

Ann Arbor's special occasion restaurant
The Gandy Dancer is, in my experience, the spot people like most for celebrating graduations, marriages, and other special events.

It's an upscale restaurant in a beautiful historic building on the train tracks (a Gandy Dancer is one who hops between trains or places railroad ties, depending whom you ask).

The menu focuses on fish, and the food was quite good (I haven't been there in years).

Overall, an upscale restaurant with an excellent local reputation.    [29 Aug 2003 18:31:40]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: fish

     ­guanxi   

Early Bird Menu is for Cheap poeple
I dine at the Gandy dancer weekly and find both the food and service to be great. However, some of the riff-raff that the "Early Bird" menu a.k.a the discounted cheap menu bring in ruin some of the ambiance. Come around seven-thirty, and always do your best to make a reservstion.    [20 Dec 2004 22:56:43]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: The Dover Sole and Calamari

     ­Adam   adamrey5 at hotmail dot com

Good for a big blow-out or dining on the cheap
Back in college I had Champagne tastes, but a beer...er...water budget.

When my folks first dropped me off at school they took me to the Gandy Dancer and we had a FINE meal in the main dining room. My dad and I agreed that the chowder alone would make a good meal. Unlike most teenagers, I tended to take my dad's advice.

So, for the five years it took me to graduate from University of Michigan, I would often go to the Gandy Dancer during happy hour and gorge on ten cent oysters and $1.85 bowls of chowder, sopped up with warm sourdough bread. (I always stuck to the bar side, so as not to offend the swells.)

Cut to two years ago, when my father was a patient at University of Michigan hospital. I returned to the Gandy Dancer bar at happy hour and little had changed. Sure, the prices had climbed, and the chowder bowl was a little less full, but I enjoyed the finest Bluepoint oysters, a great shrimp cocktail, and my beloved chowder and sourdough bread at a bargain price. (I still don't understand how the Gandy Dancer gets such incredible oysters. I have eaten oysters from Vancouver to New Orleans to Bluepoint itself, and Gandy Dancer offers the best.)

The Gandy Dancer bar at happy hour offers a seafood sampling at a bargain price. I suggest sitting at one of the booths which are elevated high above the floor. If you desire a formal sit-down meal, the main dining room is even better. It is the only place to go in Ann Arbor for seafood, especially Great Lakes fish such as lake perch or whitefish.

BTW, the Gandy Dancer is (was???) a Chuck Muer restaurant, and similar to other Chuck Muer restaurants. Joe Muer opened what is arguably the best seafood restaurant in Michigan years ago, and his son Chuck branched out on his own to open Gandy Dancer, Charley's Crab, etc. Chuck was lost at sea on his sailboat years ago.    [18 Jun 2005 03:35:17]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: fish chowder!!!

     ­tikipirate   tikipirate at hotmail dot com

One of my favorites
From the bluefish or salmon pate, through the seafood entree and on to the keylime pie, this restaurant usually doesn't miss a beat. I come here for celebrations, I belong to Charlies Friends Dinner Club, it is a true dining experience    [19 Jan 2006 23:06:29]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Both Salmon and Lobster creations

     ­Anonymous   lrgatty at hotmail dot com

Can't get no satisfaction
I've given the Gandy Dancer several chances and have never had a good experience there. From intimate dinners for two to private parties of 20 they've never been able to make it work for me. Call me picky, but I like my reservation to be honored within 15 minutes of my reserved time. Only once have I been seated less than 30 minutes after my reservation time.

Being picky, I like my food served warm to hot, not cool to cold. And, if I send fish back because it's cold I don't want it returned to me crusty and dry by a smirking college lad.    [04 Apr 2008 23:39:43]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­Anonymous