Zen Sushi

Zen is good for a local joint. nice service, no wait, pitchers of beer and overall good sush.

Aw, last time I can here was over a year ago. It wasn’t for a music event, but just as a club. I didn’t think it was THAT bad. it had a couple of different floors, giant beer bottles and a sushi bar that was open way late.

Zen is… dead. The sound was notoriously lousy for live acts. the sushi was … ok. but it was more of a place to grab a giant bottle of japanese beer not so much as a destination to go eat. when i say it is dead. im not kidding it has been completely gutted and the new place … to reviewer Joel r. s delight will be … a bar lounge and restaurant. I walked by and saw the dj balcony so its safe to say that there will be some club action jumpin off. the bar is HUGE. and all i can say is .it looks NOTHING like the old Zen. they are hiring servers, busboys dishwashers and cooks at the moment and im thinking they will be open in a month. maybe 2 at the very most .
RIP Zen… malibu inn and tangier … also closed… just as 08 comes to close

How this place manages to remain open is beyond me. Went here for a bday party this past summer. The parking was ridiculously tight, but at least there WAS parking. As soon as walked up to the door, I noticed the inspection grade B. Wait, was it a C? Either way, it looked like it should have been a D. I was just looking for a notice of closure!
You walk in and the place is a hot mess. They sushi ‘bar’ area looked like an aluminum work bench. It looked like it was completely deserted. The restroom was dirty. There was only one waitress there that Saturday night so you can imagine how long it must’ve taken for anyone to get their food. Yes, we ordered. We were starving! Although there aren’t very many tables, we managed to get one.
The music must’ve been played by satellite radio or cd cuz there wasn’t a dj. I’ve had better sushi — obviously for a grade C establishment you can find better food anywhere. The environment and atmosphere sucked. Food was definitely not worth it — it was expensive too. This establishment doesn’t even deserve 1 star.

I’ve lived about five houses up from Zen for 14 years… and we are all thrilled to bring this place down. WE KILLED THE ZEN. We have been writing to the City, the police, the ABC, anyone who would listen, for years. In the mid 90s this was decent, cheap sushi, but after several owner changes and expansions, by 2002 it was a neighborhood nightmare, «restaurant» in name only, an underage punk/​hip hop nightclub open seven days a week, without any such licenses. The finale was last Christmas Day, when somebody sprayed the front of the club with gunfire, and a crowd of kids came running up the street, two into the dead end of my backyard.
We don’t know for sure, but at a heavily attended meeting of the zoning commission at City Hall, two brothers who own an Asian fusion restaurant in Hollywood said they were trying to buy the place. We just hope someone will make it a normal restaurant, and not a crazy club. To all the kids who praised this «indie» club: trash your own neighborhood.

This place use to be the spot, Now however it’s under new management and unless you like hip hop and rude door guys it sux hard.

Let’s seperate this into 2 categories, music and restaurant.
Restaurant. Full bar, nice sushi. Solid place for food. Eat at the sushi bar if you can, but don’t come too late. Like between 7−10pm.
Music Venue: This venue has literally no identity. All genres come in here, plus the PA isn’t that great. Booker changes all the time and the sound guy normally is moving between the different stages. It’s nice for an indie venue but don’t expect a lot of organization or high quality.

I can’t believe this place has received so many bad reviews. My experiences here are that the sushi is good and I am a sushi snob. Really bad sushi can be found if you visit Australia and New Zealand. It can get a bit loud on the weekends but hey it is a music venue as well. The service is to be expected from most L.A. restaurants which isn’t the worst but isn’t the best either. I suggest sitting at the sushi bar instead of a table.

When DP Sound threw Bridges here on Saturday nights, this place was the shit. 25 Stars,
Street parking + cheap valet. Two and a half different areas. Upstairs hotbox was dope for the live hip hop shows, if a little poorly ventilated.
From a hip hop perspective: It was the best crowd and music in LA nightlife, period. This location was almost enough to make me forget about The Larchmont, though I haven’t yet (single tear).
I’m not gonna lie, I even ate the sushi. It’s dark, you’re drinking, I’d never been here during the day, lol, I had NO IDEA it was a B Rating. Never got sick or anything, but I definitely wouldn’t do it again, now that I know.
The outdoor smoking patio was that perfect mix of black, white, asian and mexican that you wish you could find at every other club and drama never, ever popped off.
Blunts got rolled. Blunts got passed. Blunts travelled around the entire perimeter of the patio, and blunts got returned to their owner.
Like I said, this place was the shit.
Without Bridges, this place has not a gotdamn thing to offer anybody.

I’m not overly paranoid about health department ratings — sometimes a B is a sign of a Misunderstood Ancient Cuisine which people have been eating without refrigeration for millennia … but if there is one thing I’m not going to eat at a B establishment it’s sushi. Seriously, people — fix your rating.
Otherwise, the main room with the bar and sushi island has a warm yeasty smell like bread, or beer spilled on the floor. You guess which. The bathroom has two stalls with shower curtains instead of doors for that extra privacy feeling and an idiot having a long personal conversation on her cell phone in one of them. Oh, maybe that isn’t a permanent fixture.
This place deserves no stars — this is a warning, not a recommendation.
Even using the Autoclub’s approach, where one diamond means «appeals to the budget minded… provides essential no-​frills accommodations — meets the basic requirements pertaining to comfort, cleanliness, and hospitality» this is a no diamond, no star establishment appealing to people who came there for some other reason — like to hear a particular band or support a particular cause having a fundraiser there.
Parking: street parking on the hilly streets off of Hyperion was a lot better than I would have guessed it would be

This place sucked ass so bad. That’s all you need to know– don’t go.

WACK WACK WACK!!!
i have nothing nice to say about this place.
actually, i take that back. the security guards are cool.
thats all.
if i could give it no stars, i would.

I’d have to say, this place is kind of depressing. We went here last night (Saturday) to see a friend’s friend perform (he’s a rapper/​aspiring actor). The place is actually pretty big, with three rooms for performances and could be a pretty good place for small concerts… if there are people there!
The drinks are overpriced, about $ 8 for a drink that comes in a plastic party cup.
We got there around 11:30PM and went upstairs to see who was performing. It was a solo artist with an acoustic guitar who no one was paying attention to — we made up about 30 percent of the crowd (there was five of us). The room was almost empty, even when the next act went up to perform — a punk rock band with all of their five groupies on the dance floor.
We then went downstairs to wait for our friend’s friend to perform and while waiting, a big fight broke out and everyone scattered and left. It was kind of scary — i feared someone would bust out with a knife or gun or something, so we ran out and didn’t go back. We didn’t get to see our friend’s friend perform, but headed to the 4100 bar, a place we’ve always liked, a place where we know that there will be more than 10 people in the room.

A co-​worker of mine brought us there for his going away celebration. Well, I guess it was alright. When I went to the red room I lost all hearing. The band was loud as heck and the room was pretty small. We ended up just hanging out in the back. I guess it’s alright. The sushi was cool but, the guy making it was a bit of a jerk. Haven’t been there for almost a year but, I guess I wouldn’t mind going back. I’m just going to avoid the red room.

This place has the most disgusting sushi in the world. I’m not sure how they even operate as a restaurant! Truth is, I have seen some pretty cool shows here in the upstairs room, and the bar serves it’s purpose fine, but the sushi being so bad and the name of the place having sushi in it drops this place down to zero stars… it has a B on the window to!!! A sushi restaurant with a B on it is like a Diner with an F. You just don’t eat there… well… the «decent» venue for shows upstairs gives this place the 1 star that I can give it. Sorry Zen Sushi, but you should change the name to Zen, quit serving sushi, and then you may get some more stars!

Food is at best «luke warm». Nothing great and the «zen» is a bit boring.
I think they should turn the entire venue inoto a bar/​band venue. The upstairs is great and is really the only reason to go.
PEAECE!

My first impression here was akward. This is the first time i’ve ever seen a place with a B (health code). Also, it’s more like a goth bar than anything. The ambience did not make me feel like staying there long at all. It was a bit too dark in there so I couldn’t really see anything there. The bouncer asked us if sushi was the only thing we were looking for. if we wanted to have any «fun»… at first I thought he meant something else! but afterwards, i found out this wasn’t only a resturant. It was roughly about $ 5 – 6 for 2 pieces of tuna nigiri. Pretty good, kind of pricey though.

I’m thinking if they got rid of the sushi and just made it a bar/​music venue it might be okay.
First off there was a B health code grade so there was no sushi to be had by me. No way man! B sushi? No thank you.
Now as a music venue the stage and sound system were very good. And the lighting swirly theme downstairs was cool. But the whole place was just disorganized, the bands I went to see were supposed to be upstairs and they were downstairs. They were supposed to go on about 1.5 hours before they actually did because there was another band booked that I overheard someone say management had forgotten about!
And then the second the last band finished they were like GET OUT. No more drinks or anything… LAME. I think it was way before 1am too!
The bathrooms were NASTY. NASTY NASTY NASTY. No real stalls just half assed curtains and it kinda was raunchy and stinky. They did have a nice little smoking patio but smoking is bad for you so we really shouldn’t count that as a positive: P
My friend did try the potato salad and said it was the bomb but potato salad at a sushi joint? That alone worried me.
The bands I went to see rocked though so it was all worth it in the end. Next time (if there is a next time) I will know I’m not eating there and can plan ahead!

Oy, I’m torn. The place has an amazing happy hour (6 – 9 pm, 2 for 1 beers, 50% off well drinks and meals) and I’m all for cheapness. The food was all right, though my friends complained that some chicken entrée was too tough. Prices seemed steep if you weren’t taking part in happy hour.
But if you are coming here to see a friend’s band perform, or a friend of a friend’s band perform, or… whichever seems to be the case, BEWARE of the bouncer! He is not your friend. He will ruin your perfectly good happy hour outing with his delusions of whatever. I’ve heard some bad rumors, so if he gets weird and accuses you of some random offense, hide in the restroom or something.
Oh, and the restrooms are weird. Curtains over the stalls? The hell.

Literally ran over here from dinner last night to catch our friend’s band play in the Red Room at Zen Sushi. It was a Sunday, mind you… and the bouncer was taking FOREVER to let people in. He was on his cell phone and on a power trip.
When we got in, we had to trek over to to the Red Room through people having dinner and listening to a Jazz Singer/​Band to only open the doors up and have the loud «Linkin’ Park-​esque» music from our friends’ band spill through.
It wasn’t too crowded or too hot. It was a very small stage and area (nothing compared to the Whiskey or the Roxy, etc…) but I like that… it was intimate.
I didn’t have anything to drink so I can’t comment there… I do know that those cheesy dating shows tend to film here (ie 5^th wheel and blindate type stuff)…