Zen Shabu-Shabu Sushi & Grill Restaurant

On Friday Hubbs and I met up with StevieC for Japanese food at one of the most obscure, underrated surprise Japanese restaurants in the city, Zen Sushi & Grill (formerly known as Shabu-Shabu, and Sakura).

It was our first time there, and admittedly we were a little worried at first. The location: sketchy downtown, on the edge of Chinatown and near dark alleys. However, we were delighted upon entering, to see a very clean, very spacious, very Japanese-y restaurant with tables, booths, and those Tatami semi-private rooms. LOTS of Tatami rooms, in fact. The restaurant was well-lit and comfortable, and remarkably quiet for a Friday night.

We sat down to wait for StevieC, and were immediately greeted by our server, who brought us our drinks right away (a very small pot of green tea). If I have one complaint with Zen, it is that their teapots are far too small to accomodate my thirst. The servers here, like at Doan's, seemed to "share" our table and thus we were served by whichever server happened to be free, rather than one designated person.

Anyway, our choices were to order a la carte from the menu, or go with their all-you-can-eat special (which I think they do nightly). Of course, at $24/person, we opted for AYCE. The list they brought us allowed for unlimited portions (and a fair variety) of sushi, cones, maki, hot food (gyoza, tempura, edamame, baked oysters, green onion cakes, miso soup, teriyaki beef and chicken, etc.), and a limited amount of sashimi as well. Although each portion was not huge, it wasn't miniscule either, so we were happy with what we got for our money.

The food didn't take too long to come out, and in total I think we ordered three separate rounds of grub. The servers were patient with us while we were waiting for StevieC, and they were also very good about bringing us plate after plate of food. They were polite and we were impressed with the service.

At the end of our feasting/gorging, we sat around chatting for quite a lengthy period of time, and it seemed not to bother the staff for us to loiter for so long following our meal. We eventually paid and left, and luckily, our car was still there! ;)

Before Zen, I had no idea that our humble town even had AYCE sushi, but now that I know about this gem of a restaurant, you can bet that I'll be back! Hubbs is already craving sushi again, so it likely won't be long before we head there once more. If you're looking for relatively affordable, decently fresh AYCE Japanese food, for sure give Zen a visit. You will probably end up rolling out of there, satisfied.


Rating: 9.5 / 10