Zambra — Restaurant in Asheville

Overall we had a great experience ar Zambra this last time. We have previously eaten here to celebrate our anniversary, and this trip was to celebrate my birthday.

One great thing that they did is work is in so that we could be seated, although when we got there, only a handful of tables were sat. It was a nice, but probably unnecessary gesture.

Really the only challenging part of our experience was some service snafus and some bad seafood.

We were sat and waited over ten minutes for a server to greet us. I had to get up from the table and ask another server to help us find ours.

Our server was then acting rushed and pushed us through service. No specials were explained, he just jumped into what do you want to drink.

The rushed / short service continued throughout the meal but I'll give credit: he paced the meal nicely even though interactions at the table were very short. It just made us feel like we weren't a priority.

The only other issue was that the scallops dish really upset my wife's stomach. By dessert, she was rushing me out the door because she felt ill. We both assumed it was just bad timing, but when she ate the rest of that dish the next day she again felt very I'll within a short time. I don't know what the issue was to be honest, only that the scallops really bugged her stomach both times.

Now look, I know this all seems pretty negative but man did the food save the day.

I started with crispy brussel sprouts and the chickpea dish. Both were fantastic, although the description of the brussel sprouts dish was VERY different then what was brought out. Don't get me wrong, they were delicious but there were several ingredients in the dish that weren't mentioned on the menu and several ingredients that were mentioned, and just weren't in the dish.

Maybe a menu update is in order???

My final dish was pork belly over sweet potato puree and again - fantastic. The pork belly was crispy, smokey and tender and it married perfectly with the supporting ingredients. A masterful dish.

The cocktails were also top notch. My only criticism there is to suggest you serve a cocktail name Jesus Is My Hotrod in something other than a martini glass lol!

Zambra is a fantastic experience and meal, we just had a couple small hiccups this time around....

I really want to like this place but the food is sub par. Cute concept and ambience, ok service, seemed pretty dirty inside and in bathrooms, but the food....Lots of technical flaws, flavor was not good, and difficult to even get recommendations from staff as it felt like they knew. Gave it a couple chances but every visit was worse than the previous one. Had previously been disappointed with the pork belly on another occasion and asked about the new set up and was told not to order it by staff. Cool--thanks for looking out but very concerning! Some comments regarding specifics for management: Brussels were really greasy and the oil tasted old (maybe your fryers need new oil and aren't holding temp?), the sweet breads sauce really tasted like ketchup, and the trout crudo was tough/chewy and needed to be sliced thin plus it needed more acid than the kumquats provided. Not pictured was the chicken liver mousse which was the most disappointing dish of them all- super gelatinous and hard, so much so that I could barely get out out of the ramekin, let alone spread it on anything. The crostini served with it was stale and then toasted so it was hard as a rock. I asked for new bread and got some type of lightly warmed, par-sliced wheat loaf that didn't go with the dish. It was honestly the worse liver mousse I've ever seen or tasted. Luckily my friend doesn't really care about food quality and she ate everything so I didn't have to feel bad for not eating more than 1 bite of anything. Was so hungry I asked for some butter and ate a piece of the wheat bread while I waited for my friend. Left hungry and thankfully went for a slice after we left. Definitely not the post birthday meal I was hoping for while my friend was in town visiting. We bounced back the next day at Nine Mile though, that place is legit! I realize the impact Covid has had on the hospitality industry as a whole and staffing is a big problem, however, it's important to make the necessary changes to adapt. Cut your menu down and do half the dishes but do them well. Taste the food on your menu regularly and check the quality before service starts. Good luck guys, I know this...

I have always loved Zambra and come here to celebrate special occasions. Last night my husband and I came here to celebrate our 5th year anniversary. It was my husbands first time coming. Our experience here was disappointing from the beginning.

We had a reservation and was seated almost 40 minutes later. By the time we got our food it was 9. The food combinations were awful. All the tables around us received bread and we did not. I asked for a gluten free menu which they provided. I ordered yellow tuna crudo and it was so awful. It was drenched in pepper and couldn’t taste fish. I also ordered chicken liver mousse, they said could be made gluten free. All they did was give me the mousse with nothing to put the mousse on! They expected me to eat straight with a spoon. Then we also ordered sautéed mushrooms which came with a very under cooked egg. If was supposed to be that the yolk would just pour out in the food but also lots of raw egg white oozed out with it. My husband ordered a tapa with beef and that was okay. But all and all we spent over $100 on food that was garbage. I’m honestly very disappointed. So much that I’m writing this review. I never write bad reviews. Literally the only good thing that came from last night was our bartender Janae when we were waiting for our table and the drinks. So incredibly disappointed in everything else.

Update; the owner reached out to me personally and sincerely apologized for our experience. Validated it and made no excuse. She offered a refund or free meal on then. My husband I will go again in a couple weeks and update this experience and review.

Recent update: I went back last night with my husband and my experience was very different. The owner had wanted to make things right and had offered us a refund or a meal on them. I had always loved Zambras so we went back there yesterday for my husband's birthday. We were immediately seated, the service was great, and the food was the best. Im really thankful for a wonderful meal last night with my husband and how serious the owner took my experience and made an intention to keep us customers. We will be back. The swordfish and lamb were...