Ann Arbor’s Café Zola restaurant is closed this week due to interior renovations, owner Alan Zakalik said.

Zakalik said the restaurant is putting tiles on the kitchen walls to make them more durable and easier to clean.

“When we opened we had dry wall with plastic sheeting over it,” he said. “It doesn’t have longevity to it and it started getting really beat up. We needed to do something.”

The popular downtown restaurant features a French-based brunch cuisine during the day before transforming into a more upscale Mediterranean-based dinner spot in the evening.

Zakalik said he’s been meaning to update the walls for years. He said he chose to do the renovations this week, since January is the restaurant’s slowest time of year.

Zakalik said signs had been posted in the restaurant more than a week in advance to notify patrons of the closings, but those who missed the memo found a notice on doors this week saying “closed for kitchen maintenance.”

“People were disappointed, which is always nice to hear,” Zakalik said. “Not everyone got the word. Some people were calling for reservations for this week, some did stop buy and were disappointed. It’s hard to cover everyone, we did our best.”

Though posted signs say Café Zola will re-open for dinner on Friday, Zakalik said construction is ahead of schedule and the restaurant plans to re-open at 7 a.m. Friday morning.

For more information on Café Zola, visit AnnArbor.com's restaurant guide.