Zest — Restaurant in Bali

We came away from our dining experience with mixed feelings, and reading through other reviews realised that we are not the only ones. We were excited to go to Zest and do now wonder if it's a bit overrated? It's wonderful to see the proliferation of vegan and vegetarian cafes and restaurants in Ubud and the commitment to source ingredients for this type of cuisine. In terms of price point, value, ambience and service we have had more pleasurable experiences at other vegan restaurants in Ubud. It was super noisy, also from traffic noise, which is a pity when sitting in spaces that did have interesting elevated views. We appreciate attentive good level of service, however we felt very watched (there is a difference between being watched all the time as opposed to an attentive level of service), found the waitresses quite over- pushy to make extra sales, over zealous in their approaches, one waiter literally dumped our main, which came far too early, at the corner of our table, and walked away. We chose the expensive main and were disappointed with the food quality, presentation and flavours. For us we must say the Cheese share platter was delicious, so can recommend that, however it stated it comes with crackers. No crackers but 3 very small pieces of quite dry sourdough bread, not enough to enjoy with the different cheeses. So we asked if we could just have one more slice of bread or crackers, the waitress told us that would be an extra 25,000! there was rocket salad on the board zero salad dressing and was quite mature peppery salad and needed something over it, we asked for just a slice of lime and a small amount of olive oil as the waitress agreed it needed something, but that would have cost us an extra 25,000? Hey it's the principle here, not complaining about money, but a bit of generosity goes a long way, and we have not experienced so many add on's costs in other such restaurants in Bali. The platter itself was priced reasonably high, do however also understand the work that goes into creating vegan cheeses etc. The cheeses were tasty and our favourite was the vegan brie, and the platter does work well for 2 people share as long as there are adequate crackers (eg flaxseed crackers would have been awesome !). Coffees were not impressive in our experience. Did appreciate the complimentary glass of spring water on arrival, that was a nice touch.

Ok, we were not here when live music was on, we haven't tried the other dishes, we were keen on one breakfast dish reading 'all day breakfasts' then found out that stops at 5pm (: My husband has had sore stomach during the night, in and out of the bathroom, and still this morning, so we are not feeling that great.

We would return to experience an evening of live music as the lounging area looks inviting and we do love the interiors of Zest, and would like to try their chicken main and give it all another go X Their smoothie bowls...

A friend brought me here as she was impressed by the bbq cauliflower & sushi she had before. Before arriving I was looking through the instagram checking out the menus and I was attracted by the peking duck menu. I went with high hopes and expectation after looking at everyone's review!

First of all, NONE of the staff was wearing the mask!

we ordered: -BBQ Cauliflower -Cheeze balls -Peking Duck Platter. Kombucha (Ginger & Lemongrass) -warm fruit crumble

When the food came... the table was so small, it couldnt fit all the plates but the waitress despite me telling her it doesnt fit, kept on trying to play puzzle with the plates! I had to insist for 3 more times before she brings us another table.

BBQ cauliflower was good. The cheeze balls was alright. But the Kombucha & Peking duck platter were a total nightmare!

The kombucha, tasted nothing close to kombucha but concentrated vinaigrette drink.

The Peking duck... Not so peking after all. it shouldn't even be on the menu! The texture of the "duck" was mushy and gooey. I had no idea what was I putting into my mouth! You called it peking duck but it was not even 10% close to what the original thing is... The wrapping is was too thick, the vegetables... It was very confusing.

The staff kept on coming and ask 'how was the food?' every 15 min, on the 4th time, we decided to be honest and complained about the duck. We gave them our honest opinion, but he became very defensive and kept on trying to push the blame to the head chef not wanting to take other opinions and its from vegetables, so we can't expect it to be the same as the duck. and how its is challenging to mix different ingredient and make it into yummy food...

I came in to this restaurant knowing that this is a vegan place. I am not a first timer vegan, and I know what I am doing. I guess, if you are charging a plate of vegetables for IDR 130K ++, then it is not me as a consumer's challenge to solve this problem but the restaurant's! When I told him it's not my first time doing vegan food, he even challenged me asking me where had I eaten before! How RUDE!

When we dont need the service, the staff kept on coming to ask how was the food ... and when we do need their attention to serve our dessert.... It took them at least a good 5-8 min of us waving to passing by waitresses before one of them finally saw us waving. It was quite frustrating.

Lastly, when we were making the payment, the staff mentioned that credit card payment requires additional 2%. And when I asked why, the reply was: a foreign card has got an extra charge. Mine is a local card! If we did not clarified, we would have been blindly charged!!!

I do not usually leave a comment but this experience was so horrible that I had to put this down in words!

Owner, please. Have the decency to...

Been here multiple times over the past years. Keep coming back to one of the best vegetarian restaurants in Ubud, but the service is so below par, that while my company is still enjoying the last bites I am taking my time to address it. Staff here is absolutely clueless on how to serve a customer.

While eating our starter, half way down, we where asked "How was your starter?" Which I replied to with a language joke. "Well we are still eating it" the waitress fround upon us and clearly took it as an very much unintended insult, while I said it as a joke with a big smile on my face.

At the moment we are also not enjoying the calm and usually surrene ambience because there is a loud life festival right next door also organized by Zest.

If this is not enough and has already lead to total disappointment. Short after the question whether we liked our unfinished starter, the main course was served still while eating it. Which let me to correct a thing or two and the kind question not to provide us a pushy service for the rest of the night. Apologies were given and that was that.

But no, the waitress, also needed to appologize too disturbing us again during the main course. And a discount does not take away the discomfort.

You think well now it should go better next time. But no. We had unfinished our starter to ensure our main would not get cold. So a few moments later we where again disrupted with the question wether we finished our starter. Which led me to say, can we get a break?

No breaks given. As soon as I finished my main course, faster then my entourage, it was taken, when another main was just going down our troaths, again "Are you finished?" And when the very last bite was taken again swiftly the plate was removed.

I swear never to come back again. I come to dine in peace, with relaxation and taking time to enjoy, discuss and digest. Not to be constantly be pushed to eat faster or to be interrupted...