Zen @ Willoughby

3.5 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  2     

Ordered takeaway from Zen in Willoughby and was highly disappointed with the quality of the food. The Agedashi was delivered with no soy broth, the prawn tempura handrolls were extremely basic, with nothing other than nori, rice and a battered prawn and finally the takoyaki (although by far the nicer of the dishes ordered) was very strong and seafoody.

Considering the quality of the dishes at other japanese and sushi restaurants in chatswood (such as the new Ramen in Victoria Avenue and Sagunja in the Mandarin centre), I will not be ordering nor visiting this restaurant anytime soon.

Apr 01, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Awful food with tiny little portion. Rude service. Long wait! 30 minutes before the first dish comes. There only 2 tables of customers. We ordered sashimi, and several other dishes. It took more than 30 minutes for the sashimi to come. Curious a lot whether the chef went for fishing. The main dish is Grilled Kinfish. Only three slices of small fish meet on the plate. The fish meat is tasteless at all.

I asked the chef why it is called a main dish. The chef said, "Because it is Japanese food." The answer is silly. Why you open a restaurant in Australia? I never thought Japanese food means tiny portion and tasteless. I will never go there again. If you decide to have dinner there, make sure you prepare for the long wait and hungry feeling even after you finish you dinner.

Sep 24, 2010 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

I like to go on Fri or Sat's night for specials. It look likes japanese food but I like to call them modern japanese food. You should try pork belly.......yummy.

Sep 18, 2010 

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

Quiet Tues night. Only people there ate the start and only one other group entered. Started with a laugh when I noticed the little waitress straining to twist off the top of my wine. I pointed out it had a cork. We started with Gyoza and Edamame. The gyoza were good, although why you would make five pieces a standard serve stumps me. The edamame were steaming but, perhaps, not salted enough. Then some nice vegetable tempura, pork belly, sushi selection and a lovely parmesan coated eggplant. The servings were not huge but neither were the prices. A pretty decent meal although wasn't quite full when we left.

Jul 01, 2010 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  10      Value  8     

My wife and I came here for dinner one night, it was a very nice meal and not too expensive. Service was fantastic and the food came out fairly quickly. We go back regularly for takeaway California Rolls, they are to die for. We've never seen it too busy as well so it's always a fairly quiet relaxing atmosphere.

Jan 06, 2010 

6.3 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  6     

Great little place, good food, not very fancy but enjoyable. Edited, changed hands and got a little more expensive. Still quite nice but lost some of the menu items and the appeal for us.

Aug 13, 2009 

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  3      Service  7      Value  6     

You’ll get good food and pleasant, efficient service here from the solitary waitress, but just don’t expect much in the way of atmosphere.

It’s a small eatery with seating for only about 40-50 people. At one stage we were the only diners, at its busiest, three tables were occupied, including ours. The interior resembles a factory canteen with plain wooden tables and benches, and featureless walls. And worse, it looks a bit grubby and desperately in need of a makeover.

The Japanese-style food though won’t disappoint. It’s fresh, delicious and nicely served in just the right quantities. We started off with two types of sushi (salmon and avo and cooked tuna and cucumber), then moved on to teriyaki chicken and a beef dish. Our bill came to $46 and that included 2 starters, 2 mains and rice all round (no drinks).

For food value, I’d say it was ok, but given the rather stark surroundings, it might be a bit on the expensive side. Bookings hardly seem necessary, although Fri or Sat nights might be a bit busier. It’s about 2 blocks up from the corner of Victoria Rd, at the quieter but drearier end of Penshurst St. But it is just next door to the Liquorland Store, which is just as well, since if you’re dining in, you may as well stock up on some grog and create your own atmosphere. There’s fairly easy parking nearby.

To summarise: It’s ok for a quick, casual meal if you’re in the area or for a take-away, but not quite the ticket if you’re after an evening out.

Nov 21, 2008 

7 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

The staff are pleasant at this small and unassuming Japanese eatery. The menu is in keeping with this, being short and traditional… no ‘fusion’ food, thank God! On a reviewer’s recommendation we tried the tempura prawns which were indeed very good, as was the gyoza, salt and pepper squid, pork tonkasu, Japanese salad and miso soup.

Best of all this BYO restaurant shares a common wall with Liquorland, the parking’s easy and the prices, while a bit higher than similar places elsewhere are nonetheless reasonable given the better standard of food. The whole entrée followed by mains thing is a bit lost on the staff as we got ours in reverse, but this didn’t really bother us.

Jun 14, 2008 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  6     

Great Japanese food! Very lovely people that work there, always very polite and accommodating. I always get the Bento Box as you can choose any two dishes you want (including sushi or sashimi) and they also give you miso and rice for about $15.

The tempura prawns are probably some of the best I've ever had, very light and crisp. Some Japanese resaurants really go at it with the batter on their tempura, it turns out like fish n' chip shop prawn cocktails. But Zen do a really good job with that one! Grantes, they bring out everything at once, no separation of mains and entrees but thats really unimportant I think. Some things I think could be a little less pricey for the size of the serving, but it won't put me off going there.

May 07, 2008 

8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  9     

Nice quiet suburban Japanese. Simple well done meals of the standard Japanese dishes with nothing too adventurous. The only downside was that it was BYO only and the bottle shop next door was closed on the night we were there, but that is a minor quibble considering the price we paid. Definitely recommended.

Jan 28, 2008