Selma Cafe

I’d give Selma a 4 overall and a 3 for the food (which is not necessarily fair, since the menu and chef change each time). But the experience alone is worth going — once or many times.
Unfortunately I missed out on the original location, but the new spot is easy enough to find and very comfortable, open, bright and sunny. It feels like walking into a family kitchen — smiling faces greet you, ask you how you are, tell you about the co-​op and invite you to sit for breakfast — possibly with other patrons, since table sharing is totally normal there.
The menu is small, but the selections are good ones. We had the cornmeal waffles, bread pudding (loved the crunchy top and didn’t need any syrup at all), and some of today’s greek specials. Everything was tasty (but not outstanding) and extremely fresh. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated feta so much! I also liked the basic but good quality coffee.
Above all else, the atmosphere is what you go for. The buckets of freshly picked «try me» asparagus at the door, the ability to watch the chef and kitchen hands work, seeing all the volunteers collaborate, enjoying the company of other patrons — mixing, mingling, learning about Ann Arbor and making new friends. If you’re into it, you’ll be very into it.
Note to bring cash — there are no «prices», but a $ 12-​$ 15 donation is suggested, and completely reasonable.

2 friends and I visited this new location during the last week of school to check it off our bucket list before their graduation and permanent departure from A2. Although Selma doesn’t open until 9am, by the time we arrived at 9:08, the wait for our party of 3 was already at about 40 minutes. I’m not entirely sure if this is normal or if everyone else at school had the same idea so it was unusually busy.
Once we got seated at 9:50, I ordered the strawberry bread pudding with roasted potatoes and bacon. One of my friends got huevos rancheros with chorizo sausage and the other got gluten-​free waffles with fruit compote.
While we really really wanted to like the place because of the concept and how much everyone else talks about this place, the food was really just very mediocre. Specifically, my bread pudding was extremely bland and runny and tasted like someone pre-​chewed it… and I’m usually a huge fan of bread pudding! I ended up drowning my food in syrup to eat it but I guess people come here for the experience of community dining, not for a culinary treat. As for bacon, 1 piece was perfectly cooked and the other was too burnt to eat. So perhaps all food here is luck-​based and I ended up with the super-​soggy center of the bread pudding rather than better textured parts towards the edges?
Still, like I said, bucket list checked.