Zara's Restaurant — Restaurant in Lawrence Township

This is a poorly run business and the manager/owner is incredibly rude, to boot. We called on Saturday and asked whether they require a reservation or if walk-ins are fine, because we were deciding on a few options for Mother's Day. They said reservations are preferred but walking in is OK too. So today, we walked in with a group of 4. The restaurant was about 80% empty. We stood at the front for about 10 minutes before a woman finally came up to us and asked if we had a reservation. After we said no, she said it would be a 20 minute wait just to sit down, because they were busy with a catering order... which makes absolutely no sense. The restaurant was barren and there's no reason we couldn't at least sit down. We could at least get some water and put our orders in.

So we asked if we could at least be seated, understanding there would be a wait before our food could come out. The woman, clearly annoyed with us now for some reason, said she has to check. She came back in another few minutes and very rudely said "we can let you sit, but we don't want to hear any complaints if the food takes a while because we need to serve customers with reservations first." I've been to hundreds of restaurants over the years, and I have NEVER heard of a restaurant that accepts walk-ins but prioritizes orders from guests with reservations. That also makes absolutely no sense. We're sitting down at the same exact time as anyone who would walk in with a reservation. We confirmed that there was nothing wrong with walking in. I have no idea what kind of incompetence is involved when a restaurant can't handle a dining room that's about a fifth full. Luckily, the halal Thai restaurant a few doors down was able to seat us and serve us a fantastic meal.

Apparently this place is pretty new, so I understand a few hiccups. That doesn't give the owner/manager the right to get hostile with her own customers for asking a very basic question about at least taking a table. There's literally no reason you should have your guests stand in the front for 20 minutes when there's seating everywhere. Glad we didn't give this...

My experience was for take out. We came from a long drive and stopped here to make an order. It was a very busy night (eid) but we were tended to very quickly by the maitre d and made to feel welcome. We ordered several items and were given full disclosure that it would take about 40 minutes. Paid left and returned in exactly 40 minutes and the food was ready and packed and ready to go.

We enjoyed the variety we chose which comprised chicken kahari, chicken achari, chicken Tikka cheese rolls, chicken cheese kababs, chicken seekh kababs and lamb sirloin chops.

The food was very flavourful. It was a bit spicy but this is expected from this kind of dining.

The chicken Tikka cheese rolls were good. My only reservation was that it needed some more sauce to make it better.

The kababs were good and moist. I don't recall them coming with sauce but we had some condiments at our hotel and enjoyed dipping them in a garlic white sauce.

The lamb sirloin chops were also good. Was about medium well which was good for me. The cuts yielded one or two sharp ended bones so needed to check as i ate.

All in all the food was good. I rate it a high 3 to 4.

As for the service, it was stellar. A solid 5 in my opinion.. Despite being busy we were acknowledged and tended to very quickly. Also punctuality was spot on and the food was ready in the time they said it was. This was very important to us.

I would try the food again if I had the time and I would recommend the food. Note I didn't eat in so this review relates to a take...

I just left a birthday party at Zara’s Restaurant, and unfortunately, my experience was far from satisfactory. From the moment we were seated, it was clear that the evening would not go as planned. The space we were given was extremely tight, leaving us feeling cramped and uncomfortable.

On a humid, rainy day, one would expect the air conditioning to provide some relief. However, it was barely functioning, making the atmosphere stifling and unbearable. To make matters worse, the food took an exceptionally long to get refilled leaving us frustrated and upset.

Adding to the discomfort, there was another party in the restaurant that was separated from us only by flimsy dividers. The noise from this group was overwhelming, making it difficult to hear our own conversations. The atmosphere was made worse by speakers that didn't work properly, which meant we couldn't enjoy the background music that was meant to enhance the birthday experience. Additionally, the WiFi was so weak that it was essentially unusable, adding to our overall disappointment.

Given the high prices that my friend paid for her daughter’s first birthday party we expected a much better experience. Unfortunately, Zara’s Restaurant failed to deliver on multiple fronts, making it a night to forget. I hope they take these issues seriously and make the necessary...