Noodle Cafe Zen

Felt scammed here. I went here last night with a few friends and the waitress made eye contact with THE ENTIRE GROUP and told us if we all spent over $ 13 the bill would be 50% off. So, we all ordered an entrée and a drink and a side. However, when the bill came it was a whopping $ 85 for some $ 8 ramen burgers, chicken, and gyoza. When we questioned the waitress, she explained that the discount was actually only for my friend’s sushi, which she did not make clear at ALL while we were ordering. The manager simply told us «I don’t know what to tell you,» and my friends had to run up and down St. Marks trying to find a working ATM because they never told us they were cash only and their ATM didn’t work. The gyoza was bland and possibly the worst I’ve had. The chicken was okay and my friends said the ramen burger was mediocre (just get it from Smorgasburg).

I’ve been coming here repeatedly for about 2 years. They always seat me right away. I am so in love with their spicy tuna. I seriously think it’s the best ever. I always go for the miso Tuna and the spicy thing on the side. It’s soooo good. The servers are always on top of everything. The only bad thing about this place is that they don’t accept card so be prepared to pay only in cash.

This place wasn’t that great… I ordered a miso ramen and an ika butter (broiled squid w/​butter). The miso ramen was a big disappointment. I ended up leaving more than half of it in the bowl. The ika butter was actually good, but reallyyyy salty. The ramen burgers are also a lot tinier than I thought they would be.

Omg! What just happened? An small advice DO NOT order their ramen with seafood soup. It was disgusting and slimy. They put so much scallion I couldn’t even have a sip of the broth. This is a no no no for me.

A friend and I ordered two ramen burgers. We would have ordered more but when asking about a menu item, the waitress admitted they were just frozen items bought elsewhere.
Service is maybe the worst I have ever seen. I ordered a ramen burger with a friend, it came with mayo on it. I said I did not want mayo, normally no matter what they would take it back now, instead the waitress says it’s on the menu. She gets a menu to show me, of course it isn’t on the menu that way, (it does say a special sauce which I assume means the teriyaki or soy they put on) so she just walks away. I ask again and they just ignore me.
Don’t believe any of the high ratings on this one, they buy them through a freebie to people who check in on Unilocal

This place is cozy and lovely. The Ramen noodle dishes we ordered were amazing and had great flavor. The cold noodle dish was amazing, the 3 different soups we ordered were out of this world, the ramen burger was delicious, and the pork belly buns were perfect. I was there with 8 people for the new year so we were able to order a lot and try different dishes.

FAKE PRICES.
I ordered a sake that clearly said that cost about $ 10 and was the only price listed. When the bill came, I was charged 3x that. When I went to dispute it and showed the menu to the manager she kept on saying «you never had this _​_​_​_​sake?» and repeated that several times as if it were a Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac and wanted to charge me over 3x the price listed.
I was embarrassed in front of my date because I am a defender of HONESTY and not «cheap» like this Chinese manager was portraying me to be. No, I don’t want you to love me long time and it’s not because I am cheap!
FALSE ADVERTISEMENT. Even when the menu CLEARLY states the price (and is the ONLY price listed).
I felt sick after eating the sushi (probably food poisoning).
There are TONS of other Japanese places on that block that are great. I discourage you from going here.
I prefer spending 3x what I spent there if I were at least told before I order the food.

My friend, girlfriend and I all decided to come here because it was quite cold out that night… shockingly and my girlfriend suggested it. A nice bowl of ramen will do the trick on a cold night.
The restaurant is quite tight on space, but the interior is decent looking.
For starters,
We ordered the 2 Ramen Burgers between 3 of us. The ramen burger was juicy, tender, and so flavorful. The sauce really had me sold. I wish I didn’t share with my girlfriend. LoL.
My girlfriend and I also got the Mini Beef Don– Meats vegetables and sauces topped over bowls of rice. Really flavorful dish. Each bite of it was delicious.
I ordered the Tan Tan 6– Zen 6 Original Ramen. With spicy ground meat, bean sprouts, fried garlic and boiled egg.
I liked my ramen dish. I had mine with a thick strand of noodles. There was a lot of stuff in this bowl which is always a plus. The broth was nice and spicy but not too spicy. Noodles was cooked right. A very filling bowl of ramen with good flavors.
I had some of my girlfriends, Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen– Mild silky «tonkotsu» soup with «umamidama» on top. This ramen was good option as well.
My friend also had ramen with some chicken in it and she approved as well.
I like this place. I will go again for ramen burger and mini beef don. Try a different noodle soup.
The location is convenient too. Smacked in the middle of the East Village.

I came here for their infamous ramen burger. Notice how I used infamous because it really wasn’t that great. I was seated the second I walked in. The ramen was really stiff and the only decent part of the burger was the meat. It came with a side of nachos but definitely wasn’t worth the hype and the $ 10 I paid.
I’d rather spend that $ 10 at shake shack that can get me a burger and a shake. The burger tastes 10x better than this!

We waited 15 minutes to be seated. We didn’t care.
We waited 20 minutes to order food. Not really a big deal.
We waited 45 minutes to get our food after inquiring about our order.
The tables around us who were seated after us received their meal and had prepared to pay their tab.
After telling the waitress. We got 3 of 4 ramen orders. One of which was supposed to be a vegetarian dish. It came with meat and the waiter insisted that it was vegetarian. LOL.
the last ramen was not brought out until after 15 minutes and after we told them again.
I’ve been here twice. Ramen is mediocre. And the sushi is close to gas station standards.
Don’t get sucked in to the «50%» off sushi. You are better off walking 4 blocks to Iron Sushi

I’ve been here twice & both times I had amazing service. The staff were all very friendly & helpful. I actually really enjoyed my ramen, but my sister wasn’t too fond of the taste. I think that it’s just something you either love or hate. On the other hand the sushi that I had was pretty good, not amazing but good, & pretty affordable. I do not like that you can only pay in cash, I think it throws some people for a loop when they come in & then they are tricked into using the ATM. Overall I would eat here again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here.

This place used to be a staple of mine for years, but I haven’t been here in a while (after an expat stint abroad) and was sorely disappointed at what they’ve become.
I used to be able to deal with their deceptive marketing (e.g. 50% off expensive prices ALL THE TIME– or do they just list a high vs. low number to prompt us into think it’s cheaper?), roachey bathrooms with random flies drifting around– it was part of the charm to be in a run-​down cheapo sushi place.
BUT, I recently saw that they’ve resorted to even more underhanded tactics to weasel money from their customers and I’m no longer patronizing this place.
Specifically, I saw that they’ve decided to stop accepting credit cards (with no signs indicating cash only– aside from a clumsily taped handwritten piece of paper on the *credit card holder* that you get with your bill) and decided to install an ATM that charges $ 3 per transaction just inside the vestibule.
Really shady, in my opinion.
In general, their sushi is OK, but the quality was never great and this new development is just one deceptive technique too many.
Not to mention that my sake kama (broiled salmon neck) was overcooked and dry.
Thumbs down…

Should’ve trusted others and stuck to the sushi, or the unavailable-​via-​online-​orders ramen burger, but went for the Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen 110.95 Choice of Noodle: Thin.
Arrived to pick it up and was greeted with the strong scent of cleaning products, and the order not being ready, but they quickly remedied that and handed off a huge mass of clumped-​up noodles (even after adding broth and mixing). FYI stacking Unilocal checkin special wasn’t tried, and there was/​is a seamless 20% off
PS not to be confused w/​Zen6 on E6th

Been to this place for cheap booze with a few friends in the past. Decided to come back here to give its food a try after my friend and I couldn’t decide on what to eat in the St. Marks area, so this was our last resort.
Upon walking in and getting settled down, I went to the restroom and the only way there was down these narrow, steep and uneven steps. The basement was no higher than 6 feet so I had to somewhat duck down while waking around down there.
I ordered the chicken teriyaki bento box and that came with sushi/​sashimi, salad, 2 pieces of shumai and 5 – 6 pieces of grilled chicken smothered in teriyaki sauce. I also checked in on Unilocal to receive an addition complementary salad on the side. The sauce for the chicken was somewhat solidifying when I got it and that gave me reason to believe that my dish has been sitting around for a while. My friend had the Zen ramen which consisted of pork belly and vegetables. We also had a ramen burger that looked unappetizing but tasted somewhat decent.
All our orders had one thing in common. They were unnecessarily salty. It was salty enough for your tongue to lose feeling and wanting a lot of water (which our waitress only refilled once the whole time we were there).
Would I come back? Probably not.

Noodle Café Zen (and/​or whatever it was named in the past) has never been cool or sexy, but it’s always been a reliable purveyor of 50% off sushi rolls in a borough where such Brooklyn pleasures are rarely afforded.
I first started coming to Zen a decade ago, a nice Japantown refuge for a low-​wage desk jockey. They’re still true to form, offering happy hours and 50% off regular rolls and sushi, provided your order exceeds $ 10. For the price, it is pretty good sushi too, and, I believe, served by actual Japanese people (also a rarity in this town).
After a decade-​long hiatus, I returned triumphantly after a long run at Central Park (and on Japan Day, appropriately enough) to partake in some nibbles. I wasn’t terribly hungry, but still able to scarf down the ramen burger (yes, they offer one), which was both inexpensive, delicious, and delivered upon request, bypassing the hour-​long existential misery of Smorgasburg.
We also enjoyed some sparkling sake, which was served in a fancy ice bucket we all associate with fine Champagne. It was a bit rosy but tasty and crisp.
Atmosphere is pretty sparse with bare tables and minimalist décor. Service is decent enough (there are some English gaps), and you will be surrounded, based on the time of your visit, either by broke students or random families, but if you’re a bargain-​hunter for raw fish, give Zen a try.

Zen 6
NY Manhattan St Marks
2:30pm Thursday 14^th May 2015
Three Stars
Would this be the place that I recommend if you had one meal in NYC? Absolutely not, but this place is much better than its two star rating. I walked in and there was nobody inside this 50 person ramen and sushi place which was a disheartening sign but I wouldn’t let that stop me from eating here. I have heard good things about this place but I realized that this is a satellite restaurant to the one on 6^th when I checked in on Unilocal.You do get a free salad. It had mixed greens, tomato, corn, avocado, carrots, and onion with a ponzu dressing. *If you check in at the other place you get a dessert bar.
There are way too many menus. There is main menu with the ramen and 50% off sushi (which is just priced ridiculously). There are three special inserts: 1. Ramen Burger 2. Super Spicy Ramen. 3. Tsukemen /​Cold ramen. There is also a Sake-​Tini menu and a separate beverage menu. Lastly there is a lunch special which I ordered off of. I had the hakata ramen with 3 pieces of a California Roll. The ramen had a nice salty unctuous broth. The thin noodles were a bit over cooked but were still tasty. The two pieces of pork were not very fatty and a touch dry. You get a whole egg but the yolk was more medium. The person who shelled the egg mutilated it. The bamboo shoots were surprisingly sweet. There was also micro greens, nori, scallion, red ginger, sesame seeds, chili oil. The California roll had Krab meat, cucumber, and avocado but was rather mediocre.
Overall, it was a filling $ 12 dollar meal.

The ramen here is darn good. The service, not so much. This three star rating is solely for the food.
Planned to grab a quick bite after a mini spring shopping session, but the ramen shop I was originally headed to only accepts cash. When we found Zen, we walked in and saw the hostess dealing with customers. We knew she couldn’t tend to us right away, but we didn’t appreciate the lack of acknowledgement. We were awkwardly standing at the front of the shop for a few minutes. When we were getting ready to sit at any table, that is when the hostess decided to hand us menus — so weird.
The menu has a variety of options, which is always a good thing. I went with Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen and he went with Zen Ramen, both thick wavy noodles. Their ramen is definitely up there so I’ll give them that, bonus points for pretty plating. We wanted to try the sushi so we asked the hostess to put in our order because our waiter wasn’t around. Our sushi never came.
While we were eating we noticed one group decided to leave because they were waiting too long. It wasn’t busy at all, so I’m not sure why there was a lack of attentiveness.
Eh.

1.5 stars.
DON’T CONFUSE THIS PLACE WITH THE MORE POPULAR ZEN 6 a few blocks down.
–Tan tan ramen — spicy, decent, the fried garlic is overpowering.
–Ramen burger — GROSS, bland, unoriginal (really, it’s just two ramen burger buns stacked with a patty with no flavor). Does not at all compare to original Smorgasburg ramen burger (which I would wholeheartedly wait an hour to have).
Service was poor — waitress never updated us on the wait time when we arrived, couldn’t get a hold of anyone to pick up our bill. Also, they stated they «prefer CASH» but no where in the store do they have signs stating this.
Floor were creaky. I felt every step as the waiters walked by.
I was very surprised to see this place nearly packed on a Friday night, but probably because of the 50% off happy hour special and sushi. Is it worth it? Methinksnot.

Even with how nice the staff were… I just can’t round this 2.5 review up. My experience left me so wanting for quality dining in this food genre that I had to order ramen and apps the next night… because 24-​hours later Zen 6 STILL left me wanting that badly.
I’ve walked past this place a ton of times. never noticed it. Now I know why: nothing really noteworthy to draw attention.
I mean, it’s fine. But you can easily walk to other places in Chinatown and throughout LES that are tremendously better. I was all set on the Ramen Burger… but my gut just told me not to… and, the server was awesome enough to say that he himself has never tried it… and that about 30% of customers don’t seem to like it.
No, thank you, Sir.
Got the Tan Tan 6 and the octopus balls. The balls were gross. Ate three just because I was paying for them. Couldn’t pawn off more than two to the table. Tan Tan 6 was fine. But no finesse in the heat… they forgot my extra charsiu (though didn’t give me a hassle about taking it from the bill, and did apologize)…the eggs were cooked too hard. Broth was fine… but I didn’t want to slurp down the broth when done (bad ramen sign, IMO).
The sushi one friend ordered looked fine… though just like taking grocery store stuff out of the container. The Chu Hi was fine. Though couldn’t really detect any hootch.
The warm sake was lovely, though.
My friend said the crab rice was off the chain. So there’s that.
But all that, AND they’re only cash, AND none of us saw any signs saying as much until the huge note on the check holder? Not cool. But such is the LES.
Lastly, my other friend said the bathroom was half broken, with string holding the door shut.
Won’t be back on my own accord.

It took awhile for the food to come, but it was well worth the wait. The Ramen Burger came with tortilla chips and a light green hummus-​y dip. I thought the tortilla chips were cute, if a bit unorthodox in a Japanese restaurant. Though, it did look like the main chef was Mexican so he probably just wanted to add a bit of that flavor into the meal. We also tried a side of charsiu pork, which was way too fatty for me. I am used to the Chinese version which is bright red, lean BBQ pork so could not fully enjoy the Japanese version of the pork.
I did, however thoroughly relished The Ramen Burger. The ramen itself was fried and the meat patty was a blend of beef and pork. The meat was incredibly juicy, savory, flavorful and delicious. There was also tomato, green onion, Asian mayonnaise and a sweet dark brown sauce that worked well together. It was pretty messy, but definitely worth it to try to get a bit of everything in one bite. It was also very filling and satisfying.