Zest Sushi and Tapas

Food was great but I truly believe we had a server that was having a bad night! Either we were extremely irritating (I don’t think so… Low key… asked for no more than any other table asked for) or he was just miserable. I’m not sure what this guy’s problem was but he was not pleasant to deal with. I hope you find a job that makes you happier, Steven! Thanks!

Zest is really amazing. I had chicken lettuce wraps and truffle oil, parmesan fries. The lettuce wraps are pieces of chicken, waterchestnuts, and red bell peppers. So good! The lettuce wraps and the fries with a glass of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc was perfect for a relaxing lunch on a hot day. The service Zest is extremely friendly and professional. It’s very rare for a server to address customers as sir and mam. Very well done.

You can find Zest Tapas Sushi and Tapas Restaurant at 957 Canton St, Roswell, GA 30 075, your basic main-​drag in downtown Roswell. Parking can be found in pay lot across the street or along some of the side streets — during prime time (weekends and Friday evening) you may need to walk a bit as this area gets packed, for good reason as there are lots of good restaurants congregated along this short strip (about three blocks or so).
I’ve been wanting to try Zest for some time, having spotted it during a pub crawl I did in Roswell a few months earlier. This mid-​week night seemed like a good time to check things out. We parked int he pay lot across the street in front of Canton Street Antiques Market. Zest is the low building with an awning across the street — it’s actually two sister restaurants, Zest Tapas and Sushi on the right and Pearl Seafood on the left — once you enter you can sit on either side and enjoy both menus — as the Zest side was packed to overflow, we found a high table in Pearl. The interior has brick and contemporary finishes and concrete floors with wood table tops and an open kitchen. The bar extends along the demising wall between the two concepts.
You’re given both menus if you ask for them — the Pearl menu features seafood combinations with a lunch menu (with bento boxes and sushi) on the back; while the Zest menu features tapas and sushi on the front with wines and drink selections on the back. I liked that there were many «stacked» options for oysters and shellfish available on the Pearl menu — at some point I’ll return and gorge myself of those but for tonight we were looking for things to share — also my friends Sangam and Apoova weren’t too familiar with the shelfish options for the most part although we made some exceptions (Apoorva is mostly vegetarian).
For drink, I went with the Terrapin Hopsecutioner IPA — one of my favorite locals, on draft. I find IPAs work well with just about anything and in particular a wide variety of food types, which we were planing to order. In total we ordered the following:
Seared Diver Scallops — This was a small plat of large seared scallops spiked to a small pile of cheese grits. Delicious
Asian Chopped Salad — napa cabbage, cucumber, edamame, carrot, scallions, cilantro vinaigrette, wonton strips — sort of your basic slaw-​style salad
Lamb Lollipops — three grilled lamb chops stood up on a small pile of mashed potato — delicious!
Fried Calamari — a basic slightly salty/​spicy fried calamari dish served with thai chili sauce
Hush Puppies — Good roasted jalapeño and corn hush puppies but nothing to write home about — still very filling and served with a remoulade
PEI Mussels — The classic from Prince Edward Island cooked in white wine, garlic, shallots, herbs, cream, and served with a rustic bread
Rainbow Roll — California roll topped with tuna, salmon, red snapper, yellowtail, avocado
Dynomite Roll — tuna, yellowtail, red snapper, asparagus, topped w/​masago & crunchy flakes
Other Roll — don’t remember the name but it was quite good.
Overall all the food we tried was above average. The sushi was also above average — better than what you would find in most of the larger buffets but not quite the quality of the air-​dropped fish at Nakato — still very good. The service was a bit hit-​or-​miss, mainly due to how busy the restaurant was when we arrived and how quickly it filled up. We shared a tall bench-​style table with another group who were more interested in drinking (they were going to a show nearby). Still a good overall experience and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this place to friends. We ended up at Roswell Provisions for coffee and dessert.
(also posted to my food blog)

It was kinda windy this day so did not enjoy the patio. Have to find parking next time. Had to pay. But was too hungry to look around for free parking. Service was great! Lunch menu was selective. Great lunch sushi menu. The soup was awesome as well.

The patio sells it! Loved the ambiance. Lunch service was just a little sluggish at more than an hour but we were in no rush. But the rolls we had were great. I think they were the Canton Street and the Yin Yang (day special). Our server was great. Like I said — lots of comfortable dining space on that outdoor patio. Bring cash for parking $ 3.

We enjoy sitting on the patio the best! It’s worth the wait.
We always like to start out with the oysters. I like to order the east coast, because they are smaller than all the others.
The sushi is good too! I like the Allison roll. We like all the tapas, as well. My favorite would be the short ribs!

Came for my cousins birthday on a Saturday night and we had terrible service. The waiter was rude and already annoyed before we even ordered. We didn’t get water until half way into dinner and when we talked to the manager he told us they are busy! The food was OK not good enough to make up for the attitude. Will not be coming back.

Came here with some family and was surprised by the terrible service. I heard a lot of good reviews about this place but seems they are too comfortable. Waiter was irritate with us and he forgot to put in our sushi orders. When he brought out the wrong order he continued to argue with us that we told him the wrong order. When we talked to the manager he told us they are busy. He was also extremely dismissive of our concerns. If the food was good I would probably bump them up to a 3 but even the food was subpar.

Had an exceptionally bad experience here. As a group of ten, we were not well taken care of. The server was frazzled and short with us. I believe it was the managers fault because when we tried to talk to him, he was very dismissive. We did not get any waters on the table. Three sushi orders were forgotten. One sushi order was brought out as sashimi and then when my cousins said they ordered sushi the waiter argued saying «I wore down sashimi, at you sure you didn’t order that?»
The sushi that never showed up was on the bill!!!
On the plus side, they are generally fast with the food coming out and the food is nothing exceptional.
It was a typical Saturday dinner rush, im sure it happens every weekend. If they were kind, we would have been understanding! The attitude just pushed me over.

Came back for tapas and sushi roll.
We ordered the mini-​burgers and a sushi roll.
Everything was very good. Service was un-​remarkable.
Bumping up the rating.

Great food. The short ribs and lamb lollipops are amazing. Can’t go wrong with the sushi.

Finally made it here last night. I was pleasantly surprised by how extremely fresh their sushi was. I would say even better quality than a lot of the Japanese restaurants in the area. Their roll creations were exceptional. Our service was kind and attentive even though we arrived 30 minutes prior to close. Finished the dinner off with a perfect crème Brule. Never went to a bar for sushi before. I will definitely be back for more! I didn’t give it 5 stars only because the noise level was to the point where everyone had to shout to hear each other. But I think that was mainly because of a large birthday table beside us. The noise level seemed much more tolerable after they left but it was also near closing. Other than that, you won’t be disappointed with their sushi.

Okay food and okay service. My friends and I came here for lunch and it was pretty empty. However the waiter still took a while to refill our water and to get another thing of ketchup for my friend. The food was good but not amazing given the price.

Salt Factory had an hour and a half wait. Ain’t nobody got time for that. It was 8pm on a Saturday night. We were hungry and ready for food, and needed to be home by 9:30. So our options were limited and Salt Factory was not one of them. After several failed attempts to be seated immediately, we stumbled upon Zest.
There was no wait for a table inside or out, which is always a little suspect, especially when all the other restaurants around have no problem filling up their dining rooms. Let’s just say, I had no expectations about a place that serves both sushi and tapas. Not too pleased about the cockroach we saw crawl up the wall (we were sitting outside). It didn’t bother our meal though.
Our server was very nice, although it seemed like he was a bit scarce when we needed him. We ended up just ordering from the tapas menu and completely ignored the sushi. I’m not much for American sushi, no thank you. The tapas all came out at one time, which was a pleasant surprise.
Parmesan Truffle Fries — don’t. Just don’t. They just taste like normal fries… Not worth it. Probably our worst decision of the night.
Braised Beef Short Rib — tender meat, atop a bed of tasty mashed potatoes, mushrooms and onions. Not bad. My friend is who many would refer to as a «grillmaster» and he delighted in this dish.
Mac and Cheese — truffle Mac and cheese. This was my other dining companion’s favorite dish. Nicely cooked, can’t mess up this one.
Steak Quesadilla — a pleasant surprise. Was expecting some crappy Tex-​Mex quesadilla sloppily thrown together. They were the cutest mini tortillas chock full of ground steak. Probably my favorite surprise dish of the night.
Chicken Lettuce Wrap — crisp wraps full of the chicken filling. A little too full, since the chicken mixture kept falling out of the lettuce wrap. The hoisin dip was a nice touch.
Shrimp and grits — this took a little longer to get to our table. It was a different approach to the popular concept of shrimp and grits. The grits were smothered in a beurre blanc sauce, giving it an almost soupy appearance. The shrimps were nice and succulent.
Overall, this was one hell of a surprise. While I can’t say much for the sushi, I can say these are some pretty tasty American tapas.

It was a one hot Summer day, I’ve ordered sushi from a food truck at Roswell food truck park, during the short walk from the truck to the table I was sitting, the raw fish had turned bad, but I didn’t want to go home with a bad sushi, I remembered my co-​worker telling me about Zest Sushi where she goes often. it was only about 5 blocks from the food truck park. I’ve ordered a yellow tail roll and sashimi deluxe, it took a long time to get my order though there were hardly any customers. Sashimi was cut as a typical Japanese thickness, the fish was fresh and the presentation was very artistic.
Well it has been couple of months, I’ve met my friend there for dinner, I’ve ordered sashimi deluxe again but this time all the fish was cut sushi thickness, felt like I was getting ripped off. Sashimi is not «sushi without rice»

Zest is a people-​watchers dream restaurant, serving sushi. My college friend took me here one lovely Fall night when we could sit outside and catchup. Our server, «Awesome Jess» named me «Marvelous Marc» and my friend «Magnficent Matt» — thumbs up for Jess’ enthusiasm.
The menu is pretty straight-​forward sushi — we didn’t try anything buy nigri and sashimi. It’s not very Unilocal-​helpful for me to tell you anything about it because, although it was good, it’s hard to screw up nigri or especially sashimi. I CAN recommend the unagi and hamachi — we ordered a second round of it.
Zest is a great choice in an area with many other great choices. If you’re in the mood for sushi, or perhaps to get a nickname from Jess, stop in and enjoy the people and food!

My friend and I shared the smoked salmon chips and lobster roll with a Lazy Afternoon cocktail… Loved It‼We also got the chicken satay which we weren’t very impressed with because it didn’t come with peanut sauce… but my dog loved it.
The food was delicious and service was excellent. I wish they took reservations but we got right in with no wait. Parking is $ 3…$ 6 if you tip or you can try your luck at parking on the street.

This place is awesome! Good sushi, relaxed atmosphere, and I loved the music, too! Check it out Sushi Lovers! Best way to spend rainy Saturday morning

Really enjoyed having dinner at this restaurant. The atmosphere is really fun and modern. The service was very fast even for our large group of about 10. The server was very attentive and made sure we had everything we need.
One thing that makes this place really nice in my opinion is even though it’s a sushi restaurant they have lots of small plate options for those of us who don’t love sushi. From quesadillas to burgers to lamb they have it all! I went with the lamb lollipops that which came with mashed potatoes. Both things had excellent flavor and the lamb was very tender. The small plate servings are definitely smaller than a standard serving but really the amount of food was perfect. I left full but not stuffed.
A girl in my group for Mac and cheese and it looked divine! This portion was large and it came out in a cast iron skillet. I would definitely try this next time I go
Definitely a great restaurant to check out!!!

I’ve been to Zest at least 5 times in the last year but they opened up the wall and now you can order from Pearl too! I just ordered the PEI mussels tapas and they are fantastic!
Large mussels and the sauce… Are you kidding me! As they say down in the south «you’ll want to smack yo mamma!»
Perfect pairing — dirty Vodka infused martini.
Perfected by the awesome bartenders here at Zest!