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Underwhelming food, bad music and poor service. Im sorry to say it but likely the worst sushi Ive ever had. The fish is poor quality and it is way ove…
Katsoutham
Zen Sushi & Bar
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Disgraceful service. The manager at Zen Sushi refused to honor a valid coupon WWU coupon book, and for that, I will never go back.…
Jtwwsu
Zen Sushi & Bar
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Not a good experience!. This evening we were told that there would be about a fifteen minute wait to be seated. That's not a problem except for the fa…
Chrisfinsand
Zen Sushi & Bar
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Zen Sushi & Bar serves Japanese, Sushi and Teriyaki. Incorrect or missing information? Make a report, or claim the restaurant if you own it!Details
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8 Reviews on “Zen Sushi & Bar”
Disgraceful service. The manager at Zen Sushi refused to honor a valid coupon WWU coupon book, and for that, I will never go back.
Not a good experience!. This evening we were told that there would be about a fifteen minute wait to be seated. That’s not a problem except for the fact that there were several booths open — completely unoccupied as well as several seats available along the conveyor belt. When I asked for clarification about the wait given the obvious space available, the Manager/host was extremely rude and condescending in his manner toward us. We overheard him comment about to the wait staff as ‘difficult guests.’ We were in no way trying to challenge or be difficult…. It was just unclear to us why we weren’t being seated. We left knowing that we were simply not welcome at Zen Sushi even though there was plenty of seating available.
Are the reviews a joke?. I travel a lot, and so I’ve also tried many sushi places. Zen is by far the best in Bellingham with attentive service, decently fresh fish (not straight from the harbor but fresh within the day) and well made rolls made on the spot. I like talking to the sushi chefs when I can and it seems like Zen exists to one-up Kuru Kuru. Which, as a customer, is great. Zen makes sure not to serve old sushi as Kuru Kuru does for example, and stole the Kuru Kuru chefs.So no, Zen isn’t the best. By far. But unless you’re going to drive to a sushi place that’s a couple of hours away this is the best you’ll get. But it’s by far not a bad place. Great atmosphere, great service, pretty good sushi.
If you know sushi. You won’t go to Zen. This is a beautifully decorated restaurant that claims to be a sushi bar. It is not. It’s a weird mixture of California rolls, Chinese stuff and precious little Nigiri. I had hoped this place would help elevate the generally low level of sushi in Bellingham, but it’s even worse than the other so-called sushi restaurants. Don’t waste your time and money. Go to Vancouver.
Just Walk Across The Street. Given that we live only a few miles from this restaurant, we had to try it, even though most of the reviews have been very bad. We arrived before 5PM to take advantage of happy hour. Its a very stylish and upscale looking place. In addition to of a couple of martinis, which were good, we had a total of 11 menu items (but nothing with crab, because its imitation crab- at least they admit it on the menu). The fried tofu, Udon soup and sesame noodles were all very good, and the deep fried jalapenos featured fresh jalapenos and were tasty. Everything else varied from a little below average to downright bad. The astute reader will notice that everything we liked was in fact not sushi. The sushi is: 1. Almost tasteless. 2. Poorly made. 3. Has too little fish. 4. Spends way too much time on the conveyor belt, which is really long (I think it turns around somewhere around alpha centauri). 5. Features rice which sometimes had a real strange consistency, more like a glob of starch than rice. Like others have said, for sushi, just walk across the street to Little Tokyo, which has better sushi (but still not great) in addition to a more comprehensive menu of Japanese food.There have also been a lot of complaints about the service and price, but we had no problems in these areas. The only negative comment I can make was that our server really didnt know much about the food- but she was attentive and friendly. Also, it was not all that expensive (I think theyve lowered their prices a bit recently). While our drinks and a couple of our starters admittedly had happy hour prices, our whole bill came to only $61 plus tip. I was still a little hungry afterwards, but my wife was stuffed. So, the summary is that there are a few good things on the menu, but for sushi this place is way below par.
We have been a couple times to this place. Havent been impressed at all. The rolls are mediocre at best and I had a dish I hadnt tried before and it tasted like cat food, It was horrible. Some so called crab item that looked like a big ball with all kinds of sauces on it. The waitress came by and asked how we were doing an I expressed my displeasure. She was good about it and did not charge me for it. I have to say there are no improvements since they opened. This place should throw in the towel. I guess patrons like it due to the close location of Regal or something. Wait staff is mostly friendly but there is one gal who must be owners wife maybe and was the rudest slowest person on staff that night. She should be the first to be fired. Sorry but wont be returning due to bad food. Oh and if you want the hot items, I would recommend ordering them as everytime they are ice cold from the belt. cold calimari and Gyoza, mmmmmm
Would Not Recommend. Not good. The only good part was the waitresses were nice but they weren’t very attentive. It took 20 minutes(no exaggeration) to get our drinks which were quite possibly the worst drinks I have had in Bellingham to date. Quality was clearly not something they cared about. My girlfriend and I shared roughly 12 plates and sampled all different varieties of fare they had to offer. The let down was a big one to say the least. The rice was gummy and not well prepared. I believe the belt length may play a part in the issue of temperature control for the different rolls. All were mostly warm thus making most unpleasing to the palate. I would not recommend Zen sushi, especially when there are so many great, quality sushi restaurants in town to choose from.