Now and Zen

My girlfriend and I both got really sick after eating at Now & Zen last night for their Ramen night. I commented on their facebook event to warn others and it turns out we wernt the only ones. They quickly deleted my post. I would recommend avoiding Now and Zen if you were thinking of going.

I was so excited for the pop up Ramen night. We were one of the first couples seated and an hour later when we got our ramen. It was delicious! The bad news is that we both ended up with food poisoning. I noticed many people comment on Facebook that they had the same experience. I really liked this place, but they need to make some changes!

We came here purely for the sushi, so can’t comment on any other items on the menu. The first thing we noticed was that the sushi menu lacked creativity and originality with a lot of generic rolls that you are going to see at every sushi joint in America (Dragon Rolls, Spider Rolls, Volcano Rolls, etc). And to be clear, there is nothing wrong with being un-​original, as long as you do un-​original well. Unfortunately, none of our rolls really stood out — flavors and tastes overwhelmed instead of complimenting. We even ordered one of the only original rolls we saw on the menu, the Salmon Melt, which was a great concept and you could tell had potential (basically, apple, Salmon and masago) but once again, a small slice of apple was overwhelmed by a thick slab of salmon. I think they would benefit with a little more focus on substance over form. Might be a good place to fill your sushi fix (good prices, great portion size) but don’t expect to be blown away

Great sushi for C’ville but the service is horrible… Every time! No one tells you that you have to pay at the counter, after waiting for 15 minutes– we finally figured it out. Also, I got my appetizer before my beverage, which was annoying.

Joined a friend last night for dinner at Now and Zen. We each had the Sashimi dinner. We also had a side of sushi rice. All I can say is that it was superlative. If you read my reviews. You know I tell it like it is. Miso soup was made in house with red and white miso and its dashi base was delicious. Fish was fresh, well cut, and beautifully presented. We had a 700ml bottle of sake which was very reasonable and delicious. I will return 100%.
Service was attentive.
Let me note that the rolls (which we did not order) do look like they are overly large with a lot of rice.

OK food but horrible service. Portions are huge compared to the price. The sushi rice was not nicely done, since it fell apart as soon as I picked it up by chopsticks. Service was bad. The whole restaurant was understaffed. Our waitress never came to our table except when took orders/​brought food. When we asked her to take a few plates away, she said «you guys are killing me». That’s the most welcoming thing I’ve ever heard from a server. We wanted to order dessert, but then gave up because of the endlessly wait for our waitress. What made our impression even better was to discover that they automatically charged us 20% tips. Attentive service is an important component for most Japanese restaurants, but apparently the owner of Now and Zen cannot care less.

There is something for everyone here. I had given up on sushi in Charlottesville until I found this place. The volcano roll and the crunch rolls are a must. The food is fresh and delightful with a friendly waitstaff. They have a wide variety of sake, wine and local beer to choose from. I look forward to many more dinners there. The menu is extensive so be prepared to look at lots of selections. We took a friend of mine who doesn’t eat sushi but he was very happy with the beef kushiyaki, pork belly and the chicken ramen noodle dish called yakisoba.
They’d even put a seared beef and avocado roll on the menu! Each meal is always a treat. Don’t forget to look at the specials.

The best sushi for the best price. Amazing. Coming every time I am in the area. So many vegetarian and vegan options.
Came here once a few months ago and it was fabulous. Next time I was in town I for a second time and since the have spent the whole night with food poisoning. I didn’t even have any raw fish.
Not worth the risk of getting so sick.

Necer order ANY sashimi here, I ordered Otoro today and they tasted like ham. And the yellow tail was even sour.

Have been this place a couple of times. All for the dinner. The sushi is always fresh and tasty. The seaweed salad is a must try. The salmon roll is great. Always a long time waiting. But I think it is totally worth.

Solid sushi, but service left much to be desired. When we asked about sushi, the waitress acknowledged our inquiry but never followed up. We weren’t sure she even remembered we had asked until she appeared with sake at the table … But given they had six or seven selections and we had yet to specific, it was no surprise they brought us one we did not desire.
The «BIG» rolls are gratuitous and unpleasantly large to eat.
Miso soup is great and the tamago is perfect!

Now and Zen… my absolute favorite place in Charlottesville, and I’m about to tell you why in a very long winded way. For a while, every time my sweetheart and I decided to spring for a night out, we would talk about all of our options and try to find a reason not to go to Now and Zen because we always end up there (… and because maybe we should try something new?). After an hour of debate and a pre-​dinner drink, we always find ourself cozied up at one of the intimate tables at Now and Zen, commending one another on a choice well made.
First off, why it only has a 3.5 star average rating is completely beyond me. I can only surmise that some folks are a bit frustrated with occasional long wait times for food… only in America would that be a problem. I have eaten at Now and Zen more times than I can possibly begin to count, and sometimes the food comes out faster than others, but never is it a problem in the slightest. For context, I never come to Now and Zen in a rush, or with a deadline of somewhere to be afterwards. I come there for a relaxed intimate experience where I can linger in wonderful conversation over a truly exquisite and fresh meal. The wait staff are EXTRAORDINARY — they are friendly and warm and always treat us like family. I would imagine that the reason the food occasionally takes a little bit of time is that Chef Toshi is really the only dude back there in the kitchen — he has some other small help, but he is really the driving force that prepares food for an entire packed dining room (or sometimes two). He’s incredibly committed to quality and tradition, and I’ve never had anything I haven’t felt was served with complete integrity and honor to the fine ingredients. Toshi uses organic and local when available, which makes a huge difference. The menu is SO comprehensive. Not only is there an entire 11/​17″ page of tightly packed sushi options, there is also an enormous section of delicious starters, incredible small plates, and an array of traditional Japanese comfort foods (amazing yakisoba, curry, udon).
What should you get? Well, I spent a while eating at Now and Zen and limiting myself only to their sushi roll selection. One year, however, on Valentine’s day, my love and I were seated next to a Japanese couple who kept receiving the most beautiful and delicious looking food. They were warm and receptive to our curious questioning, and they told us about each course. The next time we went to Now and Zen, we ordered that exact meal, and have been getting a facsimile ever since. The rolls are FANTASTIC. You can’t go wrong. As far as rolls go, my favorites are spicy yellowtail, spicy scallop (Toshi doesn’t screw around with that spicy mayo — the spice factor here is finely diced scallion and sriracha), eel avocado, salmon skin, maui, and yellowtail shiso (Toshi grows his own shisho). The other options, however, make it worth straying from the rolls.
Perfect Dinner?
Always start with the Tuna Avocado Carpaccio — it comes in a giant kayak of a dish, and is tons of fresh tuna, avocado, slivered almonds, and roe, on a bed of fresh spring greens with fantastic dressing wasabi and soy dressing. If you’re feeling like you want two starters, get either the panko oysters, aburi salmon, tuna tartar, OR the sashimi salad, if it’s in season. Follow up with the Chirashi Bowl — it’s a great way to sample a large quantity of the freshest cuts of fish, and also comes with a little bit of seaweed salad, egg nigiri, avocado, spicy tuna, and a pile of perfectly cooked sticky, slightly sweet, warm, fresh rice. If you’re feeling hungry and ambitious, you can also select a large roll — rainbow, hamachi, volcano, or tarantula (which, is the perfect counterpoint to the raw freshness of all of the other courses — it’s a fried softshell crab in a GIANT roll with cucumber, eel sauce, sriracha, and the spicy mayo — used properly this time — and is BRILLIANT). My sweetheart consistently wants a roll or two to go so we can have a second course of fish at two am… which, can’t hurt, right? Take a while to order, and drink lots of wine in between courses. Pepper your evening with deep and soulful conversation. Guaranteed recipe for a transcendental evening.
THANK YOU NOW AND ZEN!

We all know you don’t go to Now and Zen when you’re in a hurry but when you want to sit down to a nice sushi or Japanese dinner this is your place!
Food is great, chef is so nice, servers are very friendly. I’ve been going here since they opened and I love that they are keeping trying to create a nicer experience for people. The word has gotten out now thought so expect it to be busy during weekends and dinners.
Try everything but we love their yellowtail!

Konnichiwa!
The best and most authentic Japanese food I’ve had since I moved back to the states from Japan in 2006.
Enough has been said about the sushi rolls. They’re amazing, yes we get it :)
My favorite dishes are the Inari Rice Balls (warm rice wrapped in a semi-​sweet tofu wrapper), Chicken Curry (Katsu-​Curry), Peanut Lime Noodles, the elusive and majestic Nabeyaki Udon, Nagasaki Dumplings (vegetable), and the Crunch Roll.
The wait for a table can be long on week nights (avoid going from 7 — 8:30p), the food sometimes comes out at unexpected times (I experienced this in Japan as well), and some of the seating is a bit rigid. But…
:) Don’t let this deter you from eating here. The food is simply amazing. The sushi rice is warm (as it should be), the fish is fresh, the portions are large (see the pictures), and the presentation is above what is expected from a modestly priced restaurant.
I unequivocally recommend this place to friends looking for the best asian food in town.
Oh, and don’t forget to say hello to Toshi (the chef/​owner) when you walk in! Oishii né!

The best sushi in town — wait, I haven’t tried the sushi place on the corner, so there is still a chance that place may be as good.
My only very minor complaint is that they like putting a really thick piece of cucumber and cream cheese in many of their rolls — i wasn’t really keen on those…
I don’t agree with some reviewers’ comments about bad rice. I think they may actually use exceptionally high quality Japanese rice. I noticed the rice tasted almost like Mochi rice– some people with not much experience with Japanese food may not appreciate that.

Just amazing. Best place in cville but be prepared to wait. If you are in a rush don’t come here.
You need to mix it up get some apps, chill and have a few drinks go come here.

Holy smokes probably one of the best sushi meals I’ve ever had. Everything about slow service is spot on, but this is definitely a place to enjoy the company of your friends over great food.
We started with the shrimp dumplings and the spicy dumplings.
We had the crunch and volcano rolls which were humongous and delicious. We also had the deluxe sashimi sampler which was also great. The sushi total was only $ 41 which was so incredibly cheap for what we got.
We there for two hours but it was such a great meal I can’t wait to come back!

I’ve finally tried the food here… Wish I just went to Monsoon Siam again instead.
I’ve tried three dishes with rice in it and the rice was bad /​off /​not cooked right /​old whatever it was. Which really ruined the dishes. The sushi roll I got was big but it was just a ton of bad tasting rice and very little fish and avocado.
The curry barely had any curry in it and had just a ton of icky rice. The chicken in the curry was bottom quality, hard to eat, and barely edible. The fish was good but it was a small portion. I will never come here again, I think Tokyo Rose was more edible, and I hate that place.
If you like sushi at all and know even the slightest bit of good v bad you will stay as far away from this place as possible. Worst $ 30 I’ve ever spent on tasteless and disgusting food.
The wait time for the food was super long. It was about 40 – 50 minutes or more and I got beyond tired of waiting for it. There were a lot of people sitting down before me and none of them have gotten their food yet, so I had to wait for all of them to get it first then for me to get it.

Fantastic sushi! All the rolls we ordered were delicious and well-​made. The ambiance was a little loud/​collegey for our taste, but the food made it worthwhile. This will be our new regular sushi joint!

I’ve been here a number of times and, although it’s often very busy and you really shouldn’t go at peak times expecting a fast meal, the food quality is always superb and the wait staff is always very attentive. You can see some of my pictures of the food here… it’s awesome! Everything is super fresh and tasty. If you don’t believe in waiting for a good (great) thing then come here for lunch. It’s much faster.
I think my favourite thing is the Aburi salmon which is partially cooked. I adore raw fish but this semi cooked thing is really a treat of a dish.
I tend to get the Chirashi when I come here and it’s nice that it’s always different, I presume based on the available ingredients because it’s also always really fresh and yummy.
Check this place out. It’s a good bet.