Zen Astoria — Restaurant in New York

*Worst experience * I had spoken to Jessica for the agreement that I would rent out their back room for a private celebration for a sum of $500 for 4 hours and the $500 would go towards the bill at the end, keep in mind the agreement was done through a phone call no contact was ever given to me or required to sign. We agreed to have each of my guest would have to pay $95 per person individually for their own meal which they would be able to choose and it would be 1 plate per person for the entree, main, side and the dessert would be up to the chefs discretion. The drinks would be charged on a separate tab for every person, and at the end the $500 deposit would be refunded. The first issue was the set up of the room because it was done differently than I had agreed to which was an easy fix and attitude was given to me for having ask if I can move the chair around to have more free pace to walk.

The second issue was the manner in which the food was distributed small portions of each an entree, main, and side was given to us with just three plates for 11 people, the food was not enough and the food had to be rationed like we were in an apocalypse. Four more people came after the food was served to pay their respects and congratulate my husband and I.

At the end I had asked the waitress who was very sweet throughout the entirety of the night for the bill, when she had came back the manager named Mike came in with her demanding to change the bill to a higher amount because it was 15 people in the room and not 11, and they needed to be charged for the food which was insane given that they came after we had already ate and the last 30 mins of the event. Three tabs were given to me, one which was a total of $3000 something which did not belong to me and they apologized saying it was an error. Then the second bill was given to me for a total of about $1500, that included a 20% service fee, $95 per 15 people, taxes, and $200 extra for the l “ extra hour”. The third bill was of about $507 for drinks, which they was also a service fee of 20%, and extra drinks were 4 extra added to my tab. When I brought it up to the manager he started getting aggressive, loud, and disrespectful about the issues that were brought up, he said the contract was stated $800 for three hours and that the food was given to 15 people and he did not let me speak, just demanded to get paid. I said there was no contract and his response was “well if you would have made the agreement with me there would have been no issue but you choose to speak with Jessica”. He called Jessica and they reduced the food to only 11 people, but refused to take out the drinks that were never given to us and were just added because they thought we wouldn’t notice.

Paying was another issue they refused to let us pay with Apple Pay, and that they needed the physical card, and I said it’s either this or there is no way to pay, they agreed to let us pay this way but they would surcharge 4% per transaction and they did not want to put both check together leaving us to pay 8% surcharge. Upon paying we saw that the manager was arguing with two separate parties regarding their bill as well which seems to be because they add extra drinks or food that was not ordered thinking that the clients...

I’ll start off with the positives, the parking lot is across the street but is extremely cramped and narrow with limited spaces. The aesthetic is very nice. Now onto the negatives. The music is loud as hell, you cannot hear the other person talking, the DJ was also trash. We were listening to Nicki Minaj’s 2011-14 as if there’s nothing better to play. The DJ may also be the social media manager as well because he was making videos and walking around as he left terrible music spinning. Now the food is tasteless and honestly an overpriced boring tv meal. I had the sweet and sour chicken that was bland asf with jasmine rice that was warmed up refrigerated rice. The refrigerated aroma of the rice hit the ceiling of my mouth immediately and was consistent with the 3 bites I tolerated. The vegetable spring role with duck sauce was the best thing on the menu. My husband had what was supposed to be general tsu mushroom with kichee rice but was served lions mane mushroom with jasmine rice. This was after the server confirmed our order several times. He also ordered a Caesar salad that tasted like packaged air and then was given honey mustard dressing after asking several times for Caesar dressing. I had zenchini which was okay and a virgin passion fruit type of drink which was underwhelming. The service here is awful. We were seated and then not attended too for 30 mins after chasing down a random server. Being that the food was horrible we had pretty full plates but we’re consistently approached by the waiters who kept soliciting to take our plates which began maybe 10 mins after receiving our food. Our food was delayed because the kitchen was backed up. Which btw, I was really looking forward to this food but unfortunately was served air and cardboards in taste. We were so livid and unhappy we had to hunt down another tables waiter to share our experience and ask for our bill because not once did our waiter care to see why our plates were untouched and why we were so unhappy. We then approached the hostess who then found someone to take our payment and ofcoarse I gave her an earful. She offered to remove the sweet and sour dish, which was not inclusive of my jasmine rice that was untouched and paid for separately since meals do not come with sides. This is one of the worst restaurants I’ve tried in a minute. I was deeply frustrated as this was my husband and I’s first date night in 2 months and a huge waste of $121. This place is cute for pics but that’s it and honestly I feel that this place is set up in a way that attracts a crowd who only cares about aesthetics and nothing else. The menu needs to be reworked as well. They only offered two non-alcoholic beverages which I found to be ridiculous. The menu is more 80% Asian and 20% Latin/Hispanic but is marketed as an Asian-Hispanic infused restaurant and I would just classify this as an Asian restaurant. There’s no Latin/hispanic...

I visited this restaurant on February 15 post Valentine’s Day due to the high demand of the 14. This place had cool vibes based on the photos/videos and decided to check it out with my fiancé. My experience was as follows:

Atmosphere/Vibe: 2/10 We had a reservation for 6:30pm. We sat in the back of the restaurant and it was not busy when we got there. After about 30 minutes the hostess sat a couple next to us. The hostess had to divide a 4-top in order to seat them which forced their table to be moved 4 inches away from us. It was extremely close and we were all uncomfortable. I don’t understand why they needed to be seated so close to us when the restaurant had a lot of other tables available. Also, the overhead lighting in our section was very bright. I had seen photos online and I thought Zen was going to have a chill, moody vibe but the lighting in our section was like we were sitting in an AppleBees. This added to the discomfort of the extremely intimate seating arrangement.

Food: 3/10 We ordered general tso cauliflower wings for our appetizer which were delicious. Our entrees were lo mein, filet mignon & broccoli, chicken katsu and egg fried rice. Absolutely everything except the appetizer, tasted as if it was sitting in the kitchen for some time before it got to our table; it was barely warm. This was a huge disappointment. People take time to eat their food so by the time that we were half way through our food everything was very cold. The food tasted very bland as well. I wish it had flavor since it was cold.

Service: 8/10 Our waitress definitely checked in on us from time to time and informed us that a non-alcoholic drink that we ordered was made entirely from scratch in house, I appreciated that and it definitely tasted like it.

In conclusion, with our entrees being cold and bland, combined with the encroachment of the seating arrangement, I won’t waste my time at this place ever again. It was entirely inconsistent to the photos and reviews we initially saw online. So our expectations were completely unmet. Maybe someone else might have a better experience but...