Z Chef's Cafe

Great place to eat if you don't have a lot of time but don't want fast food! There is a fancier restaurant on the first floor, but we didn't want to waste too much time so we went to Z Chef's Café which is downstairs. It is set up kind of like a cafeteria where you get your tray and order food as you slide it along the food-serving counter.
We always have to accommodate our numerous allergies (milk, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts) and there were options for everyone! Rotisserie chicken was delicious and they were able to make a side of veggies without butter. It felt like a home-made meal and the staff was very friendly and attentive.
When we were there you were just supposed to leave your trays on the table and the staff would clean it up.
Would definitely come back next time we're in this lovely town!

If you don't have the time or the appetite for the full all-you-care-to-eat experience in the main restaurant at Zehnder's, then you should consider dining at Z Chef's Cafe.
Exact same chicken; exact same sides; all the wonderful tastes of a Zehnder's Chicken dinner without it being too much.
The mashed potatoes are like eating a cloud & the seasoning in the stuffing is divine.
The chicken -- well, it's wonderful Zehnder's chicken. You too can be a part of eating the annual 900,000 pounds of chicken, 640 tons of cabbage, 180,000 pounds of mashed potatoes, 130,000 pounds of assorted vegetables, 40 tons of locally grown squash, 17,800 pounds of Michigan-roasted coffee, 26,000 gallons of ice cream, and 150,000 loaves of bread at Zehnder's!!
Refillable drinks at the soda fountain.

Yum! I really enjoyed my chipotle chicken panini! It was pretty confusing on how it worked as there wasn’t any signage for the process or ordering or anything and the staff weren’t sure of the prices of the food items but still quite tasty and good portions. Kind humans at the checkout :)

After eating upstairs for the Sunday Buffet, we went down to the Z Cafe to get some Togo items. Huge selection to choose from. Stay and eat or take home. Either way it's Awesome! (Pics are from Lunch Buffet).

Fairly quick seating especially for a large group. Good food. Lots of options. Good serving size of salad. The fountain drink choice is disappointing, a 16 oz. drink for almost $3. The chicken legs were not super meaty but good. The Mac and cheese and mashed potatoes were good. The wurst and kraut was good. The Michigan cherry salad was good. The roll tasted really baked.

We enjoy Z Cafe, you get the exact same food as you would if you were to sit down in the Zehnders restaurant (upstairs) but without the commitment to gorging yourself with an auc dinner lol. Perfect for smaller or larger appetites as you can choose how many pieces you'd like, or something different altogether. Since we like to spend an entire day in Frankenmuth & eat at some of our favorite spots, Z Cafe gives us the option to get our chicken & buttered noodle fix to fill us until our next craving in town. I just wish the dinner rolls were garlicy like they used to be, they were SO good before! Now they're just meh.

Friendly people and good food. I really appreciate the eco friendly takeout container and the buffet associate’s attention to detail. Takeout users be warned, though: while the chicken and potatoes are amazing at any temperature, the noodles must be eaten when they are still piping hot.

Zender's famous chicken but at a lower price. The food is all about comfort style. Fried chicken with stuffing, creamy mac and cheese, butter noodles, mashed potatoes and gravey, biscuits. If you're ready for a hardy meal, you will find it here. It is cafeteria style, walk down the line and pick up what you want to place on your tray. You can then find any seat and leave your tray on the table after for clean up service.
The downside is it is in the basement, so it does feel dark at times since there are no windows.

We had booked a lunch reservation instead of dinner upstairs in the main restaurant, as we had looked at the lunch menu online beforehand and thought it was a much better value. We looked down at our menus and they had the dinner pricing (which was about double the price). We asked our waiter and he said they were serving the dinner menu instead during lunchtime (12 pm). After feeling extremely rushed by our waiter and feeling like we had been bait and switched, we decided to get up and go downstairs and ate the exact same food for half the price at the cafeteria which was very good, just not $30 a person for lunch good (which would've been the price had we stayed upstairs). Partway through our meal, drumstick the chicken came around to say hello to the kids dining in the cafeteria. It was a great atmosphere if not the classic style of the main restaurant. If you're looking for a delicious chicken dinner, save your money and eat at Z Chef's instead of the main dining area.

This is a great way to get lunch or dinner for a family while out on the town. We normally get one of their family packs and split it amoungst several people.