Zen Japanese Food Fast

Decent food, nothing particularly special especially compared to japanese food in LA. I’m probably biased because I’ve been exposed to great asian food on the west coast all my life

Sigh — One of the many places I miss in Austin!
This place has great cheap food. The sushi is alright, nothing special. The noodle and rice bowls are completely customizable, quick, and delicious. I always get the Hibachi bowl with udon noodles and a miso soup, so yum. Everyone here is laid back and lots of fun. Love this place — would recommend it to anyone and everyone in Austin. Memories are made at Zen on S. Congress.
Once while getting a tattoo at Southside nextdoor, I almost passed out from pain and low blood sugar levels. The point of the story is, I went nextdoor and ate at Zen, then stepped back into the ring to tackle the tattoo. Zen saved my life I think.

I’ve been a Zenaholic for several years now, and don’t know why it’s taken me this long to Unilocal them, but as Butch Hancock sez, «My mind’s got a mind of its own.» That aside, I can always count on a yummy, healthy, inexpensive, convenient bowl of goodness when ordering from Zen. My fave dish is the Dashi Bowl (large chunks of grilled salmon, brown rice, add veggies), which was so fresh and delish yesterday that it killed my not-​so-​healthy craving for cheesy, greasy enchiladas. That’s saying a lot, because I loves me some greasy tex-​mex, especially after a Chelsea Fun Saturday. Sigh.
This location has had its ups and downs, but the ups are winning over the downs in my book.

Zen… ahhhhhh…what a pretty place…
The teriyaki dishes have consistently been edible…
The sushi is wonderful, too! The prices again, are very comparable to food of this nature…
When this Zen first opened, it was top notch… yet there is some deterioration going on… I cannot put my chop stick on what it is, but I fear that the honeymoon is over…
The staff is incredible! When we first came here, they used to actually give us complimentary sushi (totally not expected) and we really thought this would be the new «it» place but alas, no such luck…
There is a lot of potential here, though… so I will give it time and try it all over again later… I will have to give peace a chance on this Zen… everything Zen, everything Zen, I don’t think so??? :]

Zen is your typical noodle and rice bowl joint, it reminds me of the Firebowl only not nearly as good. I was disappointed by the portion size. The price also seemed to be a bit steep for this type of «fast food». The only thing good I can say about the place is that the quality of beef in the noodle bowls is excellent. I also sampled the Sushi and found it HEB quality which isn’t saying much. Sushi is edible but hardly worth the purchase price. Overall I would not go back her when the firebowl café is so close and so much better!

Zen is pretty good for reasonably healthy fast food (rice bowls, sushi and salads) at a decent price. The atmosphere at the Brodie location is my favorite — modern, cool and quiet. The sushi is pretty dreadful other than the peppered ahi tuna slices which comes with a wasabi sauce that’s tasty. Those slices are good.
I like the chicken and veggie rice bowl a lot and the spicy chicken bowl ain’t too bad, either. Not a bad place at all — they have even calculated points for the Weight Watcher program for their menu and diabetic information on it, too.

My disdain for Zen has leaked out into several of my reviews. But the other day I found myself craving some chicken teri on brown rice and decided to give the new outlet in my neighborhood a try.
So here’s my overall beef with Zen. It unabashedly co-​opts bits of Japanese design and culture for some very exoticist, American-​style marketing. Dressing up some bald dude like a Buddhist monk, like he’s a mascot or something, for example. I find this a bit tasteless. This particular store shows fake manga animation on big screens. I’m not saying that exoticism is innately bad, mind you, every culture indulges in it. But what Zen misses is what I think of as the core of Japanese food, which is refinement. Even the most humble bowl of rice and meat at an authentic restaurant has an aesthetically pleasing quality, the flavors are deliberate and clean and distinct, and there is rarely too much of anything.
Zen, on the other hand, excels at good old fashioned American «if some is good, more is better.» So the sauces are too sweet, too gummy, too much. It’s not that the food is bad, it just misses the whole point of Japanese food, as I see it.
So after all that ranting, why four stars? Because they offer a large menu of relatively healthy, reasonably tasty food. But here’s the kicker — they give you a complete menu that on the back contains weight watchers points values, diabetic shares, wheat free info, gluten free info, calories, fat, and other content. This is actually pretty cool. It was also depressing to find out that a bowl of brown rice and chicken was over 600 calories. But I think most restaurants would be terrified to let people know the actual nutrition content of their food, and it’s mostly large chains like McDonalds, Chili’s, or Cheddars that are starting to provide this kind of information to their customers.
So I applaud Zen, a local chain, for having the foresight to capitalize on this market. I only wish that they had more respect for the spirit of the cultural culinary tradition that they borrow from.

Whoa, Zen, whoa. Ok, now I’m no Feng Shui expert, and who am I to say that there isn’t some sort of grand scheme at play here, but what in the name of running into people with my food were you thinking? The lunch I had was consistent with other locations, but you get the impression that the door to the outside is simply located in the wrong spot, causing people entering to collide with those in line, those getting a soft drink, those trying to find their way to a seat.
Unlike other Zen locations, there isn’t a posted menu (at least there wasn’t this week). Maybe the answer is to rearrange a few things, post a clear set of instructions for first time visitors, or to verbally point folks in the right direction. This week, everyone pretty much looked as confused as I was, and short of moving the door (not an option), there has to be a way to improve the flow here. And to let us get to our lunch without the colossal hassle.