Zen Gardens exists to make healthy, vegetarian food accessible to people who choose to have them, giving them the option to live a healthier life! Zen's creative kitchen brings you the best vegetarian meals you can ever imagine! Even meat substitutes are made from natural ingredients and spices-absolutely no Chemicals and preservatives. We even inform you of the health benefits you can gain from the entrees you order! That's what Zen's Group is all about - it's creating options for a healthy diet, a healthy lifestyle, and living life at its best. After all, we are what we eat and our life is what we make of it.more...See more text
I'm not sure what happend, I'd been here twice before and it was great. Upon visiting today, I noticed that the staff was different and the food tasted quite a bit different. Perhaps new management?
I ordered the Curry Vermicelli which I have had before (excellent) but not this time. When I recieved my order it looked a bit different from my friends. The waitress told me to let her know if it tasted funny. I started eating and realized my dish was totally charred on the bottom which gave it a weird powdery texture complete with burnt-wok flavour. I let the waitress know and she was very nice about it and told me she would get me a new plate. When I received my new meal, the waitress told me that when she picked up my first dish she "thought it looked gross". Well, why would you serve it in the first place? My new dish tasted much better than the first one, but still not that great, especially in comparison to the other times I'd had the same thing.
The other thing I thought was strange - after another customer had finished her meal, the waitress approached her and said, "Ohh are you vegan? Becuase if you are what you just ate had whey protien in it. I just found out"
I'm not vegan but if I was I'd be pretty upset about that!
I feel bad for writing such a terrbile review, but this was a terrible experience. The waitress was very nice, just seemed to lack knowledge of the food service industry. I will not return.
I'm from Toronto and used to the selection and business up there - maybe that's why I feel the way I do, but this place was awkward and uncomfortable. We came around 7pm and no one was there (a Thurs. night); while we were there, three other parties arrived, one already left even before we did. The music they played was kitsch Pachelbel's canon; definitely not what I would call "smooth" or relaxing. The waitresses had nothing else to do and I felt I was being stared at the whole time and "over-waited" on. Also, because sometimes there was no music I felt I had to whisper or they would just sit and listen to us. Call me obsessive, paranoid, whatever, I just felt it was a very awkward energy in there.
**ALSO: We came to this place about two years ago or whenever it opened, and it was the same. We came again because we read these reviews (raving!) and we thought, "wow, maybe they've really improved things" - so we thought we'd try them out again. All in all, I would say I had about the same experience as last time. I think that if you're from London and you've never tried plain rice and veggies dishes before, you might find this place quaint and fascinating. They DO have extremely nice, clean visual decor. But if you've ever eaten in Kensington or Chinatown in Toronto, this is WAY different.
***FYI: they do not cook with onions or garlic (because they're Buddhist owners, I was told). So if you like Chinese dishes with garlic, or onions in your stir-frye, you won't get that here. Instead, common vegetables are:
-mushrooms
-black fungus
-seaweed
-bamboo shoots
-taro
(and then all other usual Chinese vegetables like baby corn, etc.)
The owners do the cooking and seemed very nice. The veggies themselves were steamed well and it was all clean and prepared fresh. I think it's just the overall atmosphere/energy that I didn't like, and the fact that the food seemed a tad plain for my current tastes. But if you're in the mood for mild-tasting, steamed veggies, this could be a good place for you. For me, the energy totally weighted the experience
My friend’s BBQ-pork bun came out fantastic, with a perfectly soft and fragrant bun (the bun is actually where the skill-level of the chef is deduced) that I never in a million years thought I’d find in London. The filling was sweet and saucy, and although not real pork, tasted incredibly similar.
My sticky rice wrap was also incredibly authentic. It had a savoury mushroom filling, but the real treat was the sticky rice, which was cooked to perfection.
For the entree, I ordered a curry vegetable dish and my friend ordered a fried rice (what kind exactly I forget). Both our dishes had a surprising taste, the kind of surprise that makes your eyes go wide with delight as your taste buds start to react to the first spoonful. For her, it was the sweet pineapple, for me it was the curry sauce. I didn’t expect my dish to come out looking like it did. I thought it would be a curry vegetable stir-fry or something, but it came out looking more like a stew, in a heavy pot with a thick sauce. The sauce was an absolute delight, and I have no idea what kind of curry they used. The mushrooms made it especially savoury, and I loved the subtle spicy taste that developed over time as I consumed more of the dish. One of the ingredients that also surprised me was okra, something I’ve never had before but found quite interesting.
The dessert menu was disappointingly short, so we decided to go elsewhere for dessert, but the tea menu was was quite varied and extensive.
The whole experience was a pleasant surprise, and I made it a point to meet the chef(s) after our meal.
Both my friend and I will definitely be back!
This was our first visit to Zen Gardens, we were...
This was our first visit to Zen Gardens, we were in awe of the selection, presentation, service and most important taste. Would recommend Zen to anyone.
