Zanzabar — Restaurant in Louisville

Food is above average, though somewhat pricey if you are just looking to eat a meal as a regular dinner affair. Z-bar seemingly charges a premium for the atmosphere and additional amenities like the scheduled live music/concerts, among other entertaining options like the games. The food prices are more fair if you take the time to play on the pinball machines and arcade cabinets available (make sure to bring $1 or $5 bills for the change machine as otherwise you may need to use the ATM near the entrance or end up relying on the kindness of an employee to hopefully break a larger bill into $1s and $5s). The way I think about it, if you consider all the floor space the gaming machines take up, and how many paying customers and tables that space could have otherwise supported if the pinball machines weren't taking up space, it makes sense that there would be a slight price premium to make up for the lost revenue from those missing tables/customers. That said, the prices aren't so high that I have ever felt that I wasn't getting my money's worth. Every time I go to Zanzabar I feel like I have a great time.

Z-bar has a great variety of games, including both pinball tables and arcade cabinets, and they are all periodically rotated into and out of the bar's current selection of available games. These refreshes provide a fun and affordable way to access a huge catalog of new and classic games you otherwise might have never been able to enjoy. Refreshing also helps avoid regular customers losing interest in the current games by rotating games out before they lose too much novelty and appeal.

This bar has an acceptable selection of beers, some of which are bottled and some of which are available as draft. Though, to be clear, I'm personally someone who prefers cocktails to most beer, so I'm not a great person to review the beer selection. However, regarding the mixed drinks, they have a competent selection of liquors for making most of the drinks you are likely to be familiar with, including premium brands for people who are picky about their preferred bourbon, whiskey, et cetera. Though I do want to note that they don't, at least currently, offer any drinks commonly served frozen, like a Daiquiri or a Pina Colada. So, if you order a Margarita at Zanzabar then it will definitely be of the non-frozen variety, but you'll be having so much fun with the pinball machines, mixed drinks and comfort-food style menu that you won't miss that "Margarita slushie" anyways!

I can personally recommend the Pterodactyl Chicken Wings (though I may have accidentally left off/misremembered part of the item's name) as a pretty good deal for the satisfying quantity of wings you get. The Buffalo sauce is butter-forward, not too spicy, and delicious for those who want this classic sauce. Alternatively, the sweet chili sauce is what I get on the wings if I want a less-traditional sauce than the Buffalo sauce.

If you are not a fan of strong garlic flavor, then you should avoid some of the seasoning they use on certain food items, such as the tater tots. The seasoning is added to the food after cooking, not during, so you can simply request it not be added to totally avoid that garlic flavor while still getting your tater tots made otherwise normally. If you are unsure if your order will have seasoning added, then asking the waitstaff is never a problem in my experience. In fact, the one time I was not in the mood for that garlic seasoning, I was able to ask them to withhold it and it was withheld without any difficulties. The waitstaff here do a good job and I believe there were not any major mistakes with my service or food over the dozen or so times I've eaten at Z-bar. If I'm intentionally nitpicky then I could cite a few minor issues, but those were always immediately addressed to my satisfaction.

I've had nothing but good things to say about Z-bar since my first visit. They have excellent service (especially for a bar), above-average bar food and a curated selection of classic gaming cabinets and pinball tables. Check...

My boyfriend and I visited the Zanzabar for the first time this past Saturday. We both paid with card. I did not open a tab but he did. I had ordered two drinks. On the third, I did not tip. That was one drink I ordered that I didn’t tip on. After that, I was continuously antagonized and alienated. The bartenders stated “Oh, you’re back. We work for tips and you don’t tip,” and continued to walk away. My boyfriend and I were taken aback and thought he was joking at first. The bartender continued to ignore us and proceeded to take orders from people behind us. I had to have my boyfriend order my drink. The next time we went up to the bar after waiting in line, I was ignored again. Eventually my boyfriend said “Hey man, why are you ignoring us?” The bartender stated “Because you don’t tip”. My boyfriend was on an open tab and hadn’t had the chance to even tip yet. He explained this to the bartender who still refused to take our order. Our friend, who had came with us, was at the bar with us this time. The bartender did not know this and bypassed us and asked for his order. My boyfriend had asked his friend to order for me, when the bartender saw this he rolled his eyes and shook his head. Then, we were accused of being rude after talking to the bartender. When we finally grabbed the attention of a female bartender, I asked why we were continuing to be ignored by all bartenders. She stated that it was because we were rude and don’t tip. We explained to her the conversation we had with the other bartender and how my boyfriend hadn’t even paid yet. I told her I was just trying to order my drink. She finally made my drink but wasn’t very nice while she did it. We will not go back to this bar. I understand that the bartenders work for tips but they are in a profession where people will not tip on every single drink. That is part of the job. They did not have to antagonize us, make it a point to ignore us, and take the orders of people behind us. If this is a common issue at the Zanzabar, they are costing the bar a lot of money and turning...

I'm unlucky enough to live nearby the Zanzabar, and can honestly say that this bar is one of the reasons the St. Joseph's neighborhood has to deal with vandalism, inconvenience and downright debauchery multiple nights a week. From finding broken beer bottles, cigarette butts, trash and cans strewn about my yard every weekend morning, to inebriated hipsters vomiting and urinating in the street and on my house, vehicles sideswiped by drunk drivers and the party spilling into the neighborhood, this bar is quickly becoming an absolute nuisance for residents.

As another reviewer mentioned, the Zanzabar's parking lot is grossly inadequate for the number of patrons who frequent it during the weekend, so the nearby streets become en-masse parking. We can't go out on Friday or Saturday night, because we know we won't be able to park our vehicle within a half-mile of our home, and with the recent rash of vehicle break-ins in the St. Joseph and Germantown neighborhoods, we don't want our only means of transportation parked out of our sight.

No one should be forced to stay up all night every weekend just to guard their property from damage by...