Zen Sushi Lounge

After reading bad reviews about this place I decided to take a chance and try it out. Bad idea, should have taken the advice of my fellow Unilocalers! The food is just ok…
Gyoza– watery and slimy
Lettuce wraps– too much soy sauce
coconut soup– now this was my favorite of the night but have def had way better!
Rolls– ok nothing amazing (sticking to sushi sake)
Our waiter was very very friendly, we went on a Monday night so the place wasn’t to busy. He was the only waiter working and did a pretty good job of juggling the tables.

Great food, good price. Try the River Monster and the Poncho Villa but ask to hold the ponzu on the Poncho Villa sometimes they overdue it.
I must be lucky because every time I eat here the place is solid, always fast and most importantly the sushi is really, really, good. Besides the fact you’re trying to describe what you want in a Japanese sushi roll to servers who’s second or third language is English, the servers are good enough not to warrant a downgrade in the rating.
The price point is great too, and I always enjoy the random pop music video playing on the flat screen. Not sure I needed to be caught up on Lady Gaga’s latest video but I just did. The only confusing part is the music inside and out does not sync with the music video, for example Gaga’s video was playing while Katy Perry plays over the loud speakers. Random.

This is another one of my go to sushi places. I LOVE their Pancho Villa roll. I love most rolls with jalapeño. It comes with this tangy sauce (maybe ponzu?) but ask for it on the side because it can be overpowering. I’m also a fan of their salmon delight — its great when you are looking to try something different. Its raw salmon wrapped around shredded crab and rice.
It is a little on the pricey side but they have happy hour from 4 – 8 on weekdays — which is great since I often work late I can actually make it to happy hour. On weekends they have half off the whole menu from I think 1 – 4 or so, which is also a steal.

Zen Sushi Lounge’s website is now defunct, so I don’t know what their current specials are. It doesn’t look like their Facebook page is updated either.
In the past their old website said:
«Saturdays & Sundays, 50% off from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Dine-​In Only, ALL FOOD MENU.»
It might have changed since then, so call ahead.
If you’re willing to gamble and have lots of time to dine, then Zen is for you.
Pink Panther ($ 7.50) was my favorite. They deep fried the stick of imitation crab before putting it in the roll, adding a pleasant crunch and flavor to the roll. We also ordered two adorable River Monsters ($ 7.50 each). The second River Monster was smaller than the first. In general, the rolls are not fish-​heavy but Zen’s unique take on some rolls is commendable. They are going for fusion sushi.
It was about $ 40 (subtotal) before tax and tip. Total was $ 52+ for two people for lunch.
Despite the good value on weekend afternoons, why do you have so many one star reviews Zen? This is why:
We called the restaurant and confirmed that all food was 50% off before arriving. So we ordered «Tunamania» for $ 11.99 and were informed 15 minutes later that «there was confusion and Tunamania is not allowed in the 50% off promotion.» Luckily we didn’t receive it yet and ordered something else. How does a item under Cold Appetizers not count as food?
Service was incredibly and frustratingly slow as other Unilocalers noted. It took exactly two hours to get seven sushi rolls for two people. Three servers were clearly overwhelmed by the Saturday afternoon promotion/​rush. The two sushi chefs were working hard, but they made rolls very fast and seemed to keep up with orders. It was the servers that fell behind.
A huge problem for Zen Sushi is expediting orders. We saw completed sushi rolls sit at the chefs’ counter for ten to fifteen minutes before a server picked it up and brought it to the correct table. A few hot food items like gyoza and tempera shrimp & veggies also sat undelivered for fifteen to twenty minutes (we timed it). So we definitely avoided hot foods.
We also had to ask for chopsticks, plates, soy sauce, and dipping bowls when our first plate of sushi arrived. This is just one of the many instances why service was bad.
I felt bad for the servers at times because there is constant confusion on which rolls/​food belong to their tables. If the restaurant/​sushi chefs used a small printout from a receipt-​like printer that says the «server’s name, table, and name of the roll» for each roll it would solve a lot their service problems.
The wave of customer dissatisfaction was palpable in the air. Just glancing across the room, you could see that the packed house was also frustrated with the slow service. The female-​only hoochie music videos playing on the big screen TVs were hilarious and seem desperate.
I wish I could give them four stars to combat their pathetic Unilocal average, but our experience at Zen doesn’t make me want to revisit them anytime soon.
Tips: Don’t buy the
certificates, just come here on a weekend afternoon for their promotion. But call and make sure they are running the 50% promotion.

A small restaurant in Brickell with only a handful of seats inside and a couple outside. They had a nice dinner mood, but nothing too fancy.
We ordered the Curious George Roll, Rainbow Roll, Ceviche Roll, Pancho Villa, and had the Mochi ice cream for dessert.
My recommendations are definitely the Curious George for something out of the ordinary, Pancho Villa for a very good and unique taste to your classical tuna roll, and the Ceviche Roll’s octopus ceviche topping was just right. The mochi ice cream was standard and good. I personally liked the strawberry.
The service was on the slower side of things, but nothing not worth going here for.
In response to the overwhelming number of 1 star’s–
This place’s indeed a little slow on the service, but that’s because there was one sushi chef working. That is a managerial problem and not the waiter/​waitresses fault. I would say to come here on an off night and not on a busy friday night. The service for us was actually great! He was friendly and very personable.
Definitely high marks for the food, but a slight reduction in the POTENTIAL slow service if it’s a busy night.

The volcano roll is good as is tom ka gai soup but service is below average, ambiance is weak and all other rolls that I’ve trialed are subpar. The happy hour menu is also not worth the price and I don’t think I would recommend this establishment.

I’ve come here several times, mainly because I’d purchased online deals and the restaurant is in a convenient area. The sushi is good (I recommend the Matador roll — the spice and mushrooms really add something to the sushi), but it is a little on the expensive side. I’d recommend trying to come on a special deal day or using a coupon of some sort.

I love the Curious George Roll, Don Corleone (a bit spicy) & the Millionaire Roll :)
Pack a lot of patience because the food is good but the service is a bit lacking at times. The owners are always present which creates an awkward atmosphere amongst the staff.

This place was pretty good.
Appetizer: sweet&spicy edamame= DELICIOUS.
Meal: 4−−−2 platter. Sounds like a lot on the description. But it actually isn’t that much. It was 34.99. I mean its sushi so its not gonna be cheap but i think they could put on extra roll :). It tasted great. I didn’t like one of the fish rolls, but that is all personal taste. This platter didn’t really fill us up that much but it did taste great overall. It was well presented too.
Customer service: we had this really nice guy as our server. Very attentive and sweet. Doesn’t rush u at all, which is great especially being downtown. Our glasses never got empty.
We got there around 8:30. All the outside tables were taken. But it was empty inside. It has a lovely ambiance. I enjoyed my experience there.
For those saying it pricey i have 2 things to say: #1 its sushi & #2 you are in downtown Miami— nothing is cheap there

Wow… So We’ve dined here quite a few times and service has always been good. The girl who takes care of us always remembers and greets us with a smile! Well today we head over to zen for our weekly crave, it’s literally 12:23pm and they open at 1230pm.
The gentleman who greeted us was adamant about taking the next 7 minutes to finish «setting up the patio for the heat game.» seriously? I couldve understood if the dining room wasn’t setup, but chairs were down, a guy was just kicking it at the bar, and you couldve easily invited us to have a drink (spend the money that we wanted to at zen) while they completed
the patio. Just a poor business choice made by an employee when there are so many competitve sushi places in the area!
You need to stand out with customer service and invite a guest in and wait instead of allowing them to leave over 7 minutes!
For this particular experience I have to give zen one star for poor customer service and no food to even judge for the day. O well I’m not as cranky anymore now that we are sitting next door enjoying a couple of glasses of champagne and pizza!

Not bad.
Checked out this place recently and think its a good addition to the Brickell sushi scene; however, the market already is saturated enough with these places. (Planet Sushi, Sushi Maki, Mai-​kan, SuViche, etc etc); I’d say its a little nicer than Sushi Maki but not by much.
Pros:
–Food: well presented and good
–Price: Reasonable
–Atmosphere: Cool, but kind of dark inside… limited seating inside and out
–Friendly staff
Cons:
–Service was a litle slow, but other than that, no problems.

Let me just start by saying, that I don’t think I’ve had worse service in my life. I think I’ve had better service with a waiter that speaks a different language than I do.
The food took so long to get to us, it’s like they were fishing in the Atlantic when we sat down. It took an hour and a half to get our food, which is raw and requires no cooking what-​so-​ever. It’s not like this place is large either, it consists of maybe about 20 tables. The waitresses wear these ridiculous kimonos and are dumber than a box of rocks.
On Sunday, they have 50% off the entire menu… enticing right? How could it not be? However, it’s the only thing that could even make me consider coming back here. On any other day the food is just over priced and on any given day it’s just okay. But the service is so bad, that I don’t even want to go back on Sunday’s for the deal.
The atmosphere is okay, nothing special. The food is okay but only for the 50% off price. And the service is HORRIBLE. I live around the corner and I still would rather go ANYWHERE else than go back.
If you decide to take a shot and go… plan on canceling all of your Sunday night plans because by the time you leave, you’ll have eaten only half of what you ordered and it will be time for bed.

Visited again… great experience.
The chicken lettuce wraps were «ok» BUT the curious george roll and the spicy tuna (I added avocado) were both the bomb!
great service, good prices, good times!

Yes the Sunday All Day 50% off Promotion is a great deal. Other than that don’t come to this place. It’s expensive and the sushi is good only for their rolls. And when I say rolls. that’s not real authentic sushi.
Sushi is a little ball of rice with the slice of fish over it. (Not a roll stuffed with cream cheese, and seaweed covered in chipotle or mayo sauce with an occasional slice of fish over it). Sashimi is the slices of fish w/​o the ball of rice. Authentic sushi is good sushi b/​c you don’t need all that cream cheese and sauces to make the ROLL taste good. Although the Spider Roll didn’t taste good at all. I only liked the Millionaire eel roll.
Ergo, I only come here to fill my tommy on a Sunday night. Would never come here on a normal day for some expensive roll that’s not even real sushi.
Interior design: I have to admit the décor of this place is cool. I love the green and magenta mix as well as the beige colors of the sofas. Whoever did the interior design knew what he/​she was doing. Too bad the food doesn’t live up to its par.
Sorry Zen. You’re not authentic enough for the Asian inside of me, but you’ll probably do well for those dupes who think california rolls are real sushi…

I’m not a fan of Zen Sushi. Although the décor is cool. the food was bad, and the menu was crazy weird.
We actually ordered one decent thing, the spicy tuna roll, the tuna was fresh and it was rolled nicely. I wish we had ordered more sushi, but it was a cold night so we ordered some hot dishes, all were terrible.
The pad Thai was orange mush that didn’t taste anything like it supposed to taste. I really wasn’t expecting stellar since this was supposed to be a sushi place, but it was so bad that the bf actually spit out the chicken. It also didn’t come with any standard pad Thai fare such as: peanuts, sprouts, tofu or lime. We also got a mixed tempura, the shrimp was good, but the veggies were raw, bland, cold and not crispy. Again pretty terrible. We also got a bizarre breaded cheese appetizer on a skewer that had dipping sauce… it was weird, but the bf said it was the best thing he ate there. I think that really sums up how bad the food here is.
We had a coupon from
so while we got a good deal on the food, it would have been much better if the food was good. I would not come back here again.

Update: ³⁄₂₀₁₁ — The Sunday All Day 50% is now 30%. It’s still a great deal on Sundays.
The Sunday All Day 50% Off Promotion has got to be the best Sushi or Japanese/​Asian Food deal on Brickell. We arrived at Zen for an early Sunday dinner and it was empty. I quickly glanced at the Unilocal reviews while I looked at the menu. I was disappointed to see the low ratings. Nevertheless, the W ordered the Sweet and Spicy Edamame (one of the best according to her), my daughter ordered the Dragon Roll, the W a Spider Roll (delicious) and I ordered a Zen California/​Salmon roll. They were all fantastic! I ordered the Vegetable Tempura (just okay, the vegetables were too large!)
For dessert, we split one order of the Mochi Ice Cream (Mango, Green Tea and Strawberry). So few places have Mochi Ice Cream and I would come back just for dessert.
When we received the bill, we played the guess the bill game. I usually win but I was way over… by over $ 75. That’s because on Sundays, Zen Sushi offers a 50% off promotion. This was a fantastic deal!

This place was ok. not something I would recommend to friends they had drink specials and roll specials which is always a plus in my book. However the service was HORRIBLE! The waitress was very dry and lacked a sense of humor. The service was super slow. Don’t order the Rainbow roll it was ridiculously bland. I really thought I couldn’t go wrong ordering a classic roll, I was WRONG… I gave it two stars for the Décor and some of the other items ordered were ok!

I try really hard never to give a one star but alas this place well deserves it. Slightly hungry was in the mood for some good sushi. As we drove past this place caught my eye. I did read some previous reviewers but thought let’s give it a try. Giovanny, hit it right on the head. The place is small and so pretty inside, very zen with such a pretty fountain. The waitress had on a gorgeous outfit but she had no personality at all.
The menu was fairly large with your typical rolls like California, etc… and then they had specialty rolls, rice dishes, sashimi, bowls, soup, and salads. Prices were average to slightly higher than other places.
We started with Edamame, no real complaints, steamed good, be prepared they put a ton of sea salt. Hubby ordered the Dragon Roll and specified to our waitress to put sauce on the side. I chose a soy wrapped shrimp, cucumber, cream cheese roll. Both rolls came out in a timely manner. The entire time we were sitting a lady manager kept walking around. She never once said hello, how are thing’s, nothing. She just kept walking around as if she was of higher power.
So our waitress brings out our food. My dish consisted of six small pieces of sushi, check out pics. So I take the first bite and thought instead of where’s the beef? Where the heck is the shrimp? All rice with chunks of cucumber in it. So yeah now I realize I am paying $ 10 for a roll with rice and cucumber. And do you think there was any kind of flavor to it? Um NO. Hubby’s roll was not much better, no flavor, no sauce on the side, boring, no fish all rice. And his roll was like $ 13. I could not eat my skimpy ass roll, because I was pist.
Manager still strolling through as I sat waiting, hoping she would come over and realize I am not eating my dish. Nope would not even make eye contact. We finally get the waitress and ask for our check. $ 48 of rice, oh yeah, this place needs to get a clue. Sad that it is just so pretty with no idea as to how to make sushi nor touch the tables to find out how you are doing. Also, there was only one other table in the place so it’s not like they were busy. A real shame because they will not be around for long, way to much competition that blows this place away in the same vicinity.
As we were leaving the manager finally say’s goodbye. I could not even turn around. Chick where the hell did you come from? From your attire, looked like a dance club to me. On a good note, there is a new Lebanese restaurant next door that looked quite good with all kinds of weekly specials. Looking forward to checking them out.
Skip this place… what a complete waste of money.

I think Urban Daddy needs to b**** slapped for their review of this restaurant. UD quoted the place as «If a chic and minimal Tokyo sushi den ever got down and dirty with a sexy tapas joint in Rio, you’d end up with something like this.» I’d say this place is more like this: take 5 gallons of pea soup, feed it to a bulimic Venezuelan model, spin her around 25 times in a shopping cart, and have her puke all over the inside of a tiny hole on the ground floor of a nameless building in Brickell.
UD also said you’ll want to «order up some East-​meets-​Southwest curios like Japanese Tostones (spicy tuna and guacamole on fried plantains).» So we did. Sushi Tartare, first brought to American Shores by famed San Francisco eatery Trader Joes as derived from Japanese Sashimi and Hawaiian poke, and the citrusy guacamole goes well together. However, the tostones were flimsy (as thin as a potato chip) — a thicker, more authentic tostone would have given the dish a much more interesting textural contrast. With that said, I don’t get the appeal: I honestly can’t see how a tostone pairs well with raw fish. Oily, fried, crispy + cool, slimy, acidic.
What else did we eat? The recommended riceless Paperwork sushi (with crab, cream cheese and avocado) for $ 9.95 was a ripoff. I was very pissed. The size of my thumb ‘without the rice’ didn’t fly with me. The sushi was served with the restaurant’s signature ‘Zen’ sauce which is NOT a sauce — its some kind of crab-​cream cheese mixture. I don’t recommend this dish, but our waitress did.
The Go Green roll for $ 12.99 with Mozarrella cheese, carrots, avocado, asparagus, in rice and fried in tempura batter was also bleh. Not an instant hit.
The only OK thing we had that wasn’t disappointing was the Yakitori skewers — also, not authentic, had no ‘latino spin’, was too saucy but ultimately OK.
You know what, I’m so tired of all the ‘Latin-​Japanese’ restaurants. Latin Chinese works much better in my mind, specifically spicy yucatan flavors with sichuan foods or even SE Asian foods. Look at Asia de Cuba — its a success! However, I have yet to see a Latin-​Japanese restaurant that works, and I’m tired of the damn trend. Think about it. raw fish, cool miso, and delicate light fried tempura coupled with with meats (bistec) and fried foods, spices, oily-​ness… it just doesn’t work out. I’m not against latin american cuisine, rather, I’m really angry at the restauranteurs who create these restaurants. Its cool, trendy, but its very, very strange.
One last hoorah: the flat screens in the restaurant. WTF is up with the ‘Women Video Hits’ videos that are playing on the flatscreens… so annoying and cliché! A bunch of scantily clad women, walking around clubs as if they are Beyonce. Its faux trendy and faux cool — a theme shared by the entirety of this establishment.

Being a big fan of sushi and living in Brickell, I was excited to see yet another Sushi Restaurant in our neighborhood.
So Zen is absolutely beautiful. Definitely the nicest and well decorated spot in the area from the indoor rock wall water fountain to the friendly waitresses in fancy geisha outfits. Zen lives up to its name when it comes to this.
Menu is quite expansive with great and clever names, the food comes out and is presented very nicely however the taste was just OK. Let me be more specific — every plate that was NOT sushi was good and overall nothing I would HAVE to go back for but these were probably my favorite:
* The hamachi with Tiger milk
* Jalapeño Cheese Poppers
* A spring-​like roll with sticky paper outside filled with crab and a mixed tuna topping on the side was great
The problem was the sushi rolls. They suffered — really bad. Most had little flavor and way too much rice. Look at the pics I uploaded and you’ll see what I mean. Needless to say we didn’t care to finish any of them. I think there was only one roll I enjoyed that had Fried Plantains on top (like Yum’s Ño Roll) with added chipotle sauce (pics to come).
If they didn’t have the competition of 8 others within a mile radius, it would probably do a lot better but it’s a though battle to win (sumo challenege?). If I had to walk, I would go a block further to SuViche (a block away) for better tasting sushi which is all that matters in the end.
PS: Here are my favorites in order from best to worst tasting sushi:
Mr. Yum
2B
SuViche
Abokado
Indochine
Zen Sushi Lounge
Saki Sushi
Mikan