Garden Zen Restaurant and Bar

Came here for the first time and the food is absolutely horrible, I will definitely not recommend anyone to go here and after sending my food back the bartender was disrespectful and was basically doubting me. Opening up the food and putting it on a napkin to show me what was inside. Here I am thinking to myself, dude I tried to eat this and wouldn’t even feed it to my dog.

We expected it to be busy, but 2 hours and 45 minutes is beyond ridiculous! And luckily we checked the bag before walking out and half the order was missing, so once again we waited. I hoped that at least after the wait the food would be good, but the Kung Po chicken had not one piece of chicken and the fried dumplings were stone cold. Then once we got home and checked the order we placed on line to our actual receipt the prices didn’t match and we paid more than the total we were given.

I just ordered for the first time from Garden Zen. I had hibachi chicken delivered. Online it states that it comes with miso soup but that was not included in my order. When I called I was told that their menu had changed. Perhaps they should update their online ordering menu then.
The chicken is okay. Cooked very well but was not what I expected as a hibachi flavored dish. For $ 16.00 it is a very small container and I am a tad frustrated by that.
Not sure if I will order again. I don’t think it’s worth the money.

Not sure what happened, but the fare is dreadful now. Too bad, really. It started out great.

Went in today with my mom, asked to be seated outside and the bartender started an attitude. He gave us the menus and told us to seat ourselves. The menus were dirty and one was covered and sticky soy sauce. The table wasn’t very clean as well. After coming out to bring us utensils we were still given a bad attitude and when we told him about the menus and he was even more frustrated. After he went back in we both felt extremely uncomfortable and didn’t want to bother trying the food seeing how dirty everything was. So we brought the menus in and left. Never going back again.

Service was lightning fast with a smile, scorpion bowl was delicious and the food was good but unfortunately not great. Also they had a good band playing which was nice. I would return and give em another shot based on the service and the bowl alone.

Gross! I just had food delivered from this place: General Tso’s Chicken and their House Rice. The first bite of chicken was so tough I spit it out. Second bite tasted a little funny. The third bite was like chewing leather, and I thought again– this tastes weird. I opened the House Jasmine Rice, at $ 9.00 for a box of rice, it’s gotta be good, right? Wrong! First of all the carton it came in looked like it had been rubbed with a wet towel– the paper was peeling away. There were more chunks of — you guessed it — chicken inside. It was like foul rubber. There was also shrimp. It seemed like it wasn’t fully cooked– or cleaned. The rice was overcooked and mushy. I took another bite and had something crunch in my mouth. It was a fairly large piece of shrimp shell with a huge black vein thingy stuck to it. I almost threw up. I closed the containers and ate a fortune cookie. A few minutes later, a friend stopped by. She took 2 bites of the chicken, spit the 2^nd one out and shrieked at it– «It’s BAD!“I just called them and told them I want a refund. A girl took my number and said she would have someone — a manager I presume? — call me back. It has now been 20 minutes. I feel sick to my stomach.
Update: After waiting a half hour, I called again. Unbelievably, the man I spoke with tried to tell me I could get a credit for the next time I came in. I told him I would not be ordering from them again. EVER. Again, I told him I wanted a refund. He got rude with me. Since when does the manager of a restaurant yell at a customer? BAD FOOD AND BAD MANNERS. He hung up on me while I was talking. I called back and a young lady answered. I asked her to write down my name and the charges. She was polite, and offered an apology on the man’s behalf. I still feel sick to my stomach.

1. the website was subpar and gave me no option to pay with credit card for delivery.
So I had to pick it up, luckily is only less than a mile away from where I was working.
2. Upon entering, the server greeted me inititially. Had problems with payment, and immediately the man became very frustrated. I ended up having to do a partial payment with 2 separate cards to pay for part of my lunch and I ended up having to tell him I couldn’t pay for the shumai.
3. By this point, the server is visibly frustrated. And is muttering under his breath. I apologize and tell him im just trying to get my payment situation corrected. He then looks at me, throws his hands up in the air, and said, well Do you want me to cancel your order, that way you get NO food at all!
4. Tension rising. I told him he did NOT have to be rude, there was no reason for it at all. He said he had to fix my food order, but instead of just removing the 2 packages of shumai I couldn’t pay for in front of me, he took it into the back room to do it, and came back out with my food. Very suspicious. Honestly makes me wonder if he spit in it or did something to it…
5. Made my payments, left NO TIP bc he did not deserve one AT ALL for the way he reacted to my situation. And friggin left. Stormed out.
6. I hope EVERYONE in that building heard me say how shi*ty the service was.
I will NEVER go back there again. Not if someone paid me to do it.

This place wasn’t horrible but wasn’t great either. They deliver so that’s nice. Went inside to eat once, my party of three was served their meals at all different times. By the time I got my food, my cousin was almost done with hers.
I had egg foo young, it was good. Lo mein was also very good. The sushi was mediocre. Not to fond of the fried rice. I’d order delivery since not many places deliver Chinese or sushi, but probably wouldn’t dine in.

Went to this place for the music. Ordered some food while we were there. SKIP, I repeat, SKIP the food … I got a mix platter … the crab rangoon was basically scream cheese, yuck! … the rice was old for sure. stale and tasted odd. the chicken didn’t sit well with me at all … the steak was okay but wouldn’t get it again … whatever you people are doing to the food — stop, please STOP!
2 stars for the enjoyable music — not the service or the food!

I booked a party here and had a wonderful experience. Gary was very kind and patient. He was very helpful and offered suggestions to make the night easier. The room upstairs is beautiful, with a full bar. We were able to bring a karaōke machine and sing and dance all night. The food was great & I highly recommend this very affordable restaurant for a party! It only costs $ 10 per person (tax and gratuity separate) so for 30 people the party was just $ 300!!!

We thought everything would be open on Christmas Day but happily this joint was open!
Excellent sushi! And the lo mein was good, not great but really good! Great service and nice little bar area!
Has a patio and looks like it jams in summer !!

The food was bland and tasteless not to mention the horrible customer service. Ordered food to go and was told it would be ready in 15 minutes it was not ready for over 45 minutes! not to mention when we went in to pick it up the man at the counter went to go check on it and did not come back for ten minutes. Needless to say we will not be going back.

Great local place for Chinese and entertainment… the food has always been good when I have gone, great bar area that always has a lively crowd and a lot of great entertainment on the weekends… Great stop for a bite to eat, some drinks and some music in the bar area. Two Thumbs Up !!

My favorite Chinese in the state love the general tao’s, rice noodles and the hibachi chicken! The sushi is delicious the staff and customers are all so nice. Even going in alone you feel comfortable! Have to try everything!

The food was good and the sauce on the. Boneless spare ribs was awesome and a must try !

Garden Zen… WHY???
My husband and I have been eating at Garden Zen since it opened. We live down the street and the quality was, in the past, amazing. Sure, it was your standard Americanized Chinese food, but it was well made and flavorful.
I am not sure what has happened in the past few months, but the flavor and quality of their dishes are slipping.
Our last visit my husband ordered his standard crab Rangoon and General Taos chicken, and I, based on another Unilocaler’s review, ordered the Kung Pao chicken.
The crab Rangoon was overlooked and tasted like straight cream cheese, versus the previously light and flavorful variety of months ago.
The General Taos chicken was good, this is the one dish that has remained fairly consistent and good.
But the Kung Pao chicken… What. The. Hell. It was disgusting. The sauce had no spice or flavor to it, just a bland brownish gravy. The ratio of chicken to filler veggies was embarrassing. The chicken bits that were in there were mainly gristle and clearly precooked days before. And the veggies, only in egg and chicken salad should you experience that much celery, really.
With our meals we each had fried rice, which was stale and had only a few bits of pork in it. In the past there have been egg, veggies, and fresh rice used. But maybe they ran out of vegetables when putting together my dish, and figured I could just mix it at home? We also received egg rolls, but neither of those were eaten. In fact, I just finished tossing our leftovers since we weren’t going to eat them.
The only thing that saves this review from receiving only one star is nostalgia and great music on the weekends. Seriously, the band is great and provides a good source of entertainment and fun in an otherwise boring neighborhood.
In terms of nostalgia… We will always have our memories of the delicious food we used to receive here. But memories only get you so far, and unfortunately it is not far enough to encourage us to return.
Please please please, if the owners read this review, return to your standards and don’t skimp on quality. It kills your business and you are capable of better!

Nothing to compliment about, menu is a straight up Cantonese, Polynesian
menu.
Ordered 10 different dishes to try and waitress could not answer questions on items on menu.
Got 9 of my dishes but my bill had was for 10.
Owner came by to check on the dishes and I indicated my teriyaki beef was questionable for freshness and all I got was a «okay» from her.
Not even a let me take it away and make you another order.
The dishes was okay at best.

Went here for the first time tonight. We were seated right away which was a good thing because the bar are was packed. 5 2 – 4 tops came in right after us. Drink order was taken immediately. No waitress for 15 minutes. Finally order was taken. 25 minutes later the waitress came back and informed us that our order was almost ready. Asked for a soda refill. 15 minutes later the food came out. Now 2 4 tops and a 2 top have already been served their food) 1 combo plate. 5 minutes later the next dish came out, house wings (the appetizer order). Rice was luke warm, boneless pork was very fatty, and the sauce on the combo order of wings was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to sugary (diabetic coma status). The other order of wings were Luke warm and barely any sauce. 10 minutes later (30 minutes since the refill suggestion) I received my soda. Not happy with the service at all!
The atmosphere in the restaurant was very well done. That alone gets 5 stars. But the service was terrible. The host had to apologize to 2 other tables and brought out toys for one little boy to play with.
Sorry but we will not be returning.

Who’d have thought Coventry, RI would become a Chinese food Mecca. Garden Zen is the latest in a new crop of Asian cuisine in the area. Dare I say some of the tastiest lo mein in Rhode Island? Can’t wait to try the rest of the menu!