Sushi Zen

02/09/09

Worth the drive from Seattle!

by dianaev at Citysearch

I discovered Sushi Zen in early 2008 and it has been my favorite ever since. Most sushi places are so similar, I didn't realize that even something as basic as maguro could be so much better!

At lunch you get a bowl of miso soup to start out and if you're there at dinner, a bowl of edamame greets you at the table along with a few bites of cucumber salad with shrimp. We usually order the kaarage (think Japanese chicken nuggets) which come with a tasty ginger sauce, to start.

My favorites are Crouching Tuna Hidden Shrimp Roll (Shrimp tempura roll covered with spicy tuna), the Stuffed Tomato (a peppery, crunchy seafood salad on top of rice wrapped in raw tuna), and White Christmas Roll - which is topped with a tasty wasabi-based cream sauce. Their nigiri is spectacular (I always say I'm going to just eat nigiri and then the rest of the menu reminds me how tasty it ALL is) - it just melts in your mouth. I don't like eel, but my friends swear that the Las Vegas Roll is the best thing on the menu. A couple of basics - Spicy Tuna Roll and Dynamite Roll- are also very reasonably priced and so delicious - the perfect amount of heat without detracting from the flavor of the fish.

The service is prompt, but be patient with the sushi on busy nights- they have very talented chefs but they are making these by hand! I've been in a couple of times where an upset (and impatient!) customer gets huffy that it's not out in 10 minutes. Believe me, it's a little wait for the food, but oh-so-worth-it.

10/03/08

Great service and Excellent Sushi

by ClemondWu at Citysearch

I have gone to Sushi zen for three times in the last two weeks. The service is great and the food came fast. The best hotpot chirashi I have ever had. The stuffed pumpkin is also the best here. Really recommend it if you eat sashimi. I will definitely come back here.

• Pros: Great service, excellent food
• Cons: Quite expensive

04/05/08

Sushi Soooo Yum!

by MCMem at Citysearch

It was my first trip to Sushi Zen from a recommendation from a co-worker. It was Monday night and the place was busy. There were a lot of japanese people so that is always a good sign. We were promptly seated and were given free edamame and a shrimp cucumber dish in some vinegar which was yummy.

Our server mentioned that he was in training but did a great job. He was very prompt and attentive.

We started off with an order of calamari which came out with a huge portion and not too oily. We then had some sashimi. The Salmon and Hamachi just melted in our mouth.

We ordered the Salmon Lemon Roll, the Baked Scallops over California, Stuffed Tomato. The salmon Lemon had such a crisp fresh taste to it with the lemons and green onions. And the baked scallops and stuffed tomato highlighted it for me. My friend is not keen on mayo so it did nothing for him but he scarfed the tuna wrapped around the roll.

We ended the night with some green tea deep fried ice cream. I was soooo Stuffed. We've tried Wasabi bay and Njoy Sushi but they don't compare to this place.

The only downside I can see is that it was busy which made the place kinda loud but I guess a busy place keeps the fish super fresh.

• Pros: Excellent Sushi and Rolls. Clean, cozy atmosphere. Attentive Server
• Cons: Busy

03/21/08

Worst SUSHI Service and ROLLS!!

by CaliforniaHenry at Citysearch

I was there friday night, 3/21/08 at around 8:30pm with my wife for dinner. We sat at the sushi bar and were IGNORED by both the waiters/waitress and the sushi chef. After about 20 minutes, I finally flagged a waiter down and ordered a large bottle of beer and a glass of water. For the next 15 minutes, we were still ignored by the sushi chef untill the waitress finally asked the chef stearnly to assist us. My wife and I place an order of 2 orders of yellowtail and 2 orders of tuna sushi and an order of scallops baked over california roll. The sushie was promtly served to us. The quality of the sushi was good, but the slices were both small and thin.

We had to wait another 15 minutes for our scallops over california roll and when it finally arrived, it was terrible!

It had a "fishey" taste to it and was very bland without and texture or flavor.

I have eaten at some of the best sushi places in southern california and 4-5 differrent one here in the greater seattle area and was just horrified at how bad that dish was.

none the less, we paid our bill and left.

Between the horrible service, thin cuts and horrible roll that we had, I would give this one of the worst sushi expierences of my life!

I have NEVER wrote a bad review before, but our whole evening was a let down all because of Zen Sushi.

Drive to Bellvue and have a much better time, service and quality of both the slices, cuts and overall exp.

**** Trust me...DO NOT GO TO ZEN SUSHI****

• Pros: quality of the sushi
• Cons: small slices/cuts...HORRIBLE SERVICE and the worst CALIF over scallops !!!

03/13/08

****Newbie Rolls****

by 69GTO at Citysearch

I happen to visit this place with my family. I saw the reviews and thought it would be great, but I was really disappointed. I have gone to many places, and this was a true let down. The dragon roll was no dragon. The rice on the rolls were pressed too hard. I thought I was having sticky rice or something. The atmosphere was nice, but the food was a let down for me.

• Pros: The ambience was nice. It looks clean.
• Cons: The rolls were a real let down from what I'm use to.