Zen House Restaurant 臻 — Restaurant in Halifax

The reviews are incredibly misleading- people clearly just like free food to appease the quality.

We went here because the other sushi resto beside it was closed for the day. Wish I could go back in time and not go. I felt like I wasted a meal here on my short visit.

Sashimi is poor quality, lacks flavour and proper texture. It’s also so thin you can see through it. I wish the reviews reflected the quality of the fish rather than the menu items.

Tuna was firm and watery. Clam and white fish were dry and papery. Salmon was the only good one. Worst month ever spent- sad I ended up here instead of Sushi Nami Royal. An absolute disaster. But server is nice, doesn’t make up for the quality of fish served though.

I got the 12 pc sashimi (i think ruby it’s called?) and a side of rice. My friends ordered other items than the fish and they were better but at a sushi restaurant? C’mon. Please do better. Or at least advertise that the fish is poor quality, because I definitely didn’t expect it to be, given we are on a coast. Honestly even the AYCE place is better than here.

Edit: it was not hotategai i was referring to but hokkigai surf clam. I should have taken photos I guess. We were there on Thursday, February 20th and we finished our meal around 7:00pm. We had a male server and there was only one other table after the group of gentlemen left. My friend had the vegetarian udon, miso soup and A/C roll. My other friend had a nigiri combo, miso and shrimp 2pc tempura. They both had ginger ale. I’m sorry if my review came off abrasive but I was there and the 12pc does come with white fish, surf clam (red and white clam), tuna and salmon. I indicated in my star review breakdown that service was a 5 but food was a 1 and I feel like that was fair as my friend who also had the fish was dissatisfied. Especially given other options in the area. It seems you think I did not visit the restaurant and am trying to defame you, so I attached a copy of my statement. It simply shocked me as you have 4.7 stars for the fish to be the quality is was.

edit 2: ah! thank you for deleting your reply- totally what you...

While I won’t consider myself a big fan of sushi(seafood doesn’t suit me sadly) I accompanied my close friends to this restaurant.

I ordered a Ton Katsu Don (Deep-Fried Pork) while my friends got a Spicy Salmon Roll and Vegetable Dragon Roll. I must say the Don was absolutely perfect. This will be a guaranteed order from my end whenever I visit again. It honestly couldn’t be any better. My friend also liked their orders although they didn’t call it the best in Halifax so maybe that crown belongs to some other Sushi restaurant in their books.

We were also given free spring rolls and ice cream as there was some offer for dine-in during specific hours. There are extremely rare instances where the Service and Hospitality trumps the food quality of a place for me, but happily this was one. Thank you again to the entire staff of Zen House for your kindness and excellent service.

I can definitely recommend this place to anyone who wishes to try some authentic Japanese...

We went here with our family based on all the good reviews we saw. The wait staff are great - very friendly and smiling all the time. The food is another story. The tempura is light and well made. However, if you're used to the sushi scene in NYC, Boston, LA or any other major metro, the quality of their sushi leaves a lot to be desired. We ordered the largest sushi/sashimi/maki platter that they had thinking it would be a good sampling. The portions of fish that they served were super thin for the sashimi and the sushi. The maki rolls were one slice of avocado for 6 pieces and one quarter of cucumber for 6 pieces. I've never ever seen 1/2" to 3/4" diameter sushi rolls in any sushi restaurant, but there's a first time for everything, I guess. I definitely will not recommend this place if you want good sushi ... it's above supermarket grade, but not by much. Spend your money elsewhere, it's just not worth...