Zen — Restaurant in City of Durham

An all-round phenomenal meal tonight at Zen.

I came here for my 30th birthday with my fiance and from start to finish it was outstanding.

Parking in limited inside but us ample in the surrounding although it will get busy from 6:30pm onwards.

The restaurant decor is stunning and sets a fabulous "wow-factor" atmosphere, cleanliness was at a high standard and the tables are well spaced so you're not rubbing shoulders with the people next to you (although we were in a booth so this wasn't an issue anyways).

The service we received was easily some of the best I've had at a restaurant in a long time. Greeted with a smile, sat and drinks order was taken within a few minutes, several waitresses passed and asked us if we need to order drinks while we waited also.

Drinks arrived within a few minutes, cocktail and Japanese pale larger which were both amazing! There is a large selection of your typical and untypical drinks so it will suit everyone.

After putting in our food order, we were asked if we would like some prawn crackers, we thought these might have been free as you typically get at an Asian resturants, however these are tacked onto your bill.

We easily ordered enough for 3/4 people but everything sounded delicious so we wanted to try as much as we could. Started with the Taste of Bangkok and Sweetcorn Fritters. Portion sizes were large and the food was stunning. The fritters weren't the stodgy, oily type I've eaten before.

We were asked if we were ready for our mains or if we would like a little time, i really wish this was the norm in restaurants!

Mains came shortly after our 5 minute food coma break and once again, visually beautiful and tasted amazing. Unfortunately we couldn't finish as much as we wanted to! We wernt offered a box to take home, however other eaters were given one (must have to request this).

Overall this was a great experience, slightly more pricey than your average meal out but you get what you pay for, phenomenal service and food.

10% gratuity is added onto the bill, however this would have been tipped regardless for the service...

Booked a table for 4 at 3.15pm. Turned up at 3 to listen to front of house manager telling a family of 4 infront of us, that they didnt have a reservation. After a long conversation the family left.

We then approached the manager I told him my name and time of reservation. The manager stunk of alcohol and his eyes were glazed over. After a cursory glance at the screen he told me i had no reservation. Unfortunately i do not have access to the email account on my phone that received the confirmation email. I did however have the pre authorisation confirmation on my banking app which is set up by designmynight the booking system used by Zen Group.

I explained to the manager that i had used their system to book a table for 4 and had made a note in the special comments section that it was my daughters 18th birthday celebration.

The manager then took a step forward into my personal space and stated i hadnt made a reservation.

I said to the manager are you calling me a liar?

The manager continued that there was no reservation using a confrontational manner. Totally unprofessional and way below the standards set by the Zen Group.

For 2 families of 4 to turn up, well dressed and ready to eat in an establishment where it is widely known that you need a reservation, only to be told by an inebriated employee that there was no reservation in their name suggests that the restaurant or its employee was the issue, not the prospective guests!

As we were leaving the restaurant the front of house manager puts his hand on my 22 year old son, which could have quite easily provoked, a more serious reaction than he got. I would urge the business owners to review their CCTV on front of house from 2.55pm on Ssturday and review the actions of their staff member.

Unprofessional, not the standards usually offered by this restaurant and customers of over 10 years will...

We visited Zen two nights ago arriving just before 20:50. Having checked that the restaurant closes at 21:30, we thought we would ask if it is still okay for us to dine there. As restaurant owners ourselves, we were fully aware that they may say it's too late and had they said that, we would have been absolutely okay. The waitress (who appeared to be the floor manager) seemed hesitant and was not really welcoming, so when she told us to come in, I asked again "is it okay?" And she said yes and walked us to a table in a corner. We sat down at exactly 20:51 where she told us we need to be quick and order by 21:00. She then came back at 20:54 and asked us to place our order. Luckily we had looked over the menu before so we managed to order in the 3 minutes that they allowed. We were served the wrong drink initially. No one asked us if the food was okay. No one asked us if we wanted dessert. We rushed with our food because of the reactions we had received thinking it's late, only to see that the table next to us got their main course at 21:30 (closing time) and had just ordered a new round of drinks. Fortunately for them, the staff were doing a lovely job with their service. Was it because there was 5 of them? Was it because they looked more well off? Was it because they came into the restaurant before us? Who knows! To top it all off, the bill came with an automatic 10% tip... for the lovely lovely service that we did not get. It's such a shame because this could've been a...