Zukoa Chelmsford — Restaurant in Chelmsford

In short- the food was the highlight of this restaurant! the T-bone steak was cooked to perfection & the peppercorn sauce was amazing! Cannot fault the food! The decor is beautiful and very instagramable. VERY loud and noisy brunch on Saturday afternoons- you cannot hear yourselves without screaming. One waitress not very friendly- the others were very nice. Would only return on a day where there is not a dj or loud music or the brunch event.

In long; Staff- the waitress we had was not friendly and she was only helpful when prompted by the bar man. Others were smiley it just happened our particular waitress was not. My husband and I arrived early at 1:45pm- our reservation was at 2:00PM and were told our table wasn’t ready so we were seated at the bar for a drink- this is fairs! The bar man was friendlier. Within 5 mins the waitress came back and said the table was ready. We were seated upstairs during a ‘bottomless brunch’ event with a live dj- upon booking via email I was not informed that there would be a dj blasting music at 2pm in the afternoon. Now, if I was with my girls- no issue there but this was a lunch date with my husband where we wanted a chatty catch up. We booked via email as a regular Groupon reservation table for 2.

I kindly asked the waitress if we could possibly be moved due to the noise upstairs- we could not hear each other and were literally shouting across the table (as was everyone else due to their drunkenness). The waitress explained there were no tables available despite there being multiple free tables- I was told these were reserved and if I wanted a table downstairs I would have to come back later (45-50 mins). I accepted this as there was no way we could sit in such a loud environment and enjoy a catch up! Just as I was about to leave my telephone number with the waitress to inform me when there was an available table, the bar man jumped in and whispered to the waitress to kindly ask one of the ladies seated at a table for 2 (who was there for brunch) to move upstairs. The lovely lady agreed and we were seated downstairs.

We waited a while for our food and slowly the downstairs was also filling up with people who came after us, their food arriving before ours. When our food finally arrived it was delicious! I literally cannot fault it, even the veg was lovely but the t-bone steak was the star! At this point the environment downstairs was the same as upstairs, people screaming talking to each other on tables next to us and super loud music! My husband and I could barely hear each other and although the food was amazing we couldn’t wait to just get out of there.

I would only come back here on a non-brunch event the environment is way too intense and noisy which is a real shame because the food was amazing. The atmosphere ruined the food experience but damn it I can’t stop thinking about...

Absolutely awful experience & awful staff. Went in December using 2 groupons for the roast dinner & had a lovely meal. The only issue was the cramped table they expected the 6 of us to sit on but they did move us partway through. Before I left the restaurant I booked a table for 6 for January & did request that we didnt have a cramped table. I told them at the time I had 2 groupons & asked if they wanted the codes but they said no they would scan them on the night. We returned in January to use 2 groupons for the £120 worth of food for a party of 4 & £60 worth of food for a party of 2. We arrived ready for our seating time of 7pm & the table wasn't ready. The music was really loud it was more like a nightclub but barely room to swing a cat so although there was a DJ there was no dance floor as no room. They then put a mish mash of a table in the corner and it clearly was an after thought. I felt because we had groupons we weren't worthy of good service & how right I was. We complained about the seating & they did move us to a better table. We ordered drinks & then went to order our food but would only accept 1 of the groupons. We did point out that we had 2 groupons in December & they accepted them then. They said it says in the small print its one per table but i couldnt find this on the groupon listing. They said that was a Sunday if you had come on a different night we'd take them. Unfortunately that was too much for my husband & was a red rag to a bull and he reacted in the worst way, why didnt they tell us that when we booked it. They then refused to serve us and told us to leave. The whole team seriously need some customer service training & like I've seen on other reviews especially on trip advisor if you don't want to serve people with groupons or at least treat them properly then don't sign up to the groupon service. They scanned the £120 groupon so they has been marked as used on Groupon and although I have appealed i am not holding my breath for any refund. Unfortunately the other groupon is not eligible for a refund as its outside the refund period. I would warn people to be wary of the groupon deals with this restaurant & if you want to use it on a busy weekend night then good luck with that. My son was over from America & we wanted to treat him & he was appalled by the staff & terrible service as this wouldn't happen in the states or people would boycott the restaurant. I will never go back & will not recommend this...

They say there are three ways something can be; fast, good, and cheap. You can be two, but you can never be all three.

Went as a group of 7, which I would consider to be a medium sized table, if I'm incorrect on that then fair enough. I cant say any of us will be going back or recommending it to anyone.

Food took 2.5 hours to come out. We are lucky no one ordered dessert. By the time the birthday cake came we had been there for so long that that we had to pack up and leave for a bunch of reasons: they were closing, our parking fees were insane, I personally didnt get home until 11:30pm which is mental when we got there at 7:30pm. We were trapped in this place for 4 hours. I think the longest birthday meal I've ever been to was maybe 2, maximum 3, hours. I like my friends but christ, it's not like we could talk to each other because...

The music in the eating area was maybe 1 or 2 volume settings down from a nightclub at 2am. I literally sound like Jojo Siwa in her Betty Davies Eyes era from having to shout over the speakers. There wasn't a single full table conversation because anything being said from more than 2 seats away way lost to the music. The only real conversation I had was outside having a smoke because it was the only place you could hear anything.

Had to keep getting up to ask for drinks.

The tables are so cramped together that anytime someone wanted to go out for smoke or go to the toilet we had to make the strangers next to us move their whole table while they were trying to eat which was just shitty for everyone involved.

When the food finally came out, one person had the wrong meal but the server couldn't decide if it was because he forgot or because they didnt have what he wanted so they just made something similar and I guess hoping it wouldn't be noticed? At that point it had been 2.5 hours since we placed our orders though so no way we were waiting for another meal to be made. The steaks were ordered medium rare and came out extra rare, practically mooing. My food was so over seasoned that I could only eat a small bit of it before it started turning my stomach. It was like mixing a pot of seasoning into damp noodles with no water to dilute it appropriately.

So it's not fast, it's not good, it must be cheap...