As much as I love visiting new restaurants, sometimes the appeal of the “new” just doesn’t make up for lack of quality.  After having a meal at the new opened Ayaka and the newly relocated Sava’s, I have to say that one is definitely preferable to the other.

Unlike some, I see no problem with having 3 sushi restaurants located within two blocks of one another on South University.  They each have something a little different to offer.  So I was eager to finally sample Ayaka on South University which serves both Korean and Japanese cuisine, including sushi.  The seating was cramped but the interior was decorated sophisticatedly enough – a far cry from the ultra casual poster shop that once occupied that space (if memory serves).  The hostess was friendly, but our waitress abrupt and awkward.  No matter – it’s the meal that counts, right?

Old friend, how could you fail me??

Unlike Sushi.com, Totoro, and Sudako, Ayaka makes you choose between the soup and the salad.  But their prices were pretty comparable to their competitors. This irritated me – there are certain things I’ve come to expect when I get sushi in Ann Arbor.  And I didn’t see any reason why I should have to choose between soup and salad, especially when the price of the main dish is pretty much the same as those restaurants which do serve both.  But a part of me was hoping that the staff knew what they were doing.  Clearly the rolls were so superb, I would regret the space in my stomach taken up by both soup and salad.

But that was not to be.  My Philadelphia roll tasted oddly like cold-cut ham, not so much like salmon and cream cheese.  Conversely, my dinner companion mentioned their selection was taste-less and unsatisfying.  Overall, I was disappointed with my first time at Ayaka.  In fact, unless I hear a rave review from a fellow sushi-lover, it is doubtful I would try for a second round.

Happily for me, a trip to Sava’s later in the week proved to be much more rewarding.  In case you haven’t heard, Sava’s State Street Cafe has moved across the way to what used to be Zanzibar.  Sava’s make good use of the space and will hopefully expand into the balcony in the future.  And before I talk about the menu, I have to mention how impressed I was with the upholstry that covered both the booths and the chairs in the center of the dining area, plus the fresh flowers that were placed liberally around the restaurant.  It’s an incredibly pleasant space to have a meal in.

Sava's old location: easy to miss

The menu itself seems pretty much the same - imaginitive burgers, paninis, various pasta dishes…since I’ve mainly gone to Sava’s for breakfast, I’m not sure how much has been newly added.  But our food was good and arrived quickly even though we came at the beginning of the post-football game rush.  Also important – our waitress didn’t interrupt at awkward moments but always arrived in the nick of time to refill glasses.  Bonus: we didn’t leave smelling like a diner (inevitable in the old location’s cramped quarters).

These two restaurants are probably not comparable.  Ayaka is new to town and has stiff competition while Sava’s has proven to be succesful enough to expand to a much larger space.  I suppose that if you’d like to take something away from this double review, it’s that Ann Arbor has a lot to offer in the way of food and even a bad experience one night can be completely offset another.

-B.C.Bodnar