Zen Sushi

Delicious sushi — very fresh, big, interesting rolls. Great service and very friendly. This place is also very kid friendly — kid menu has several options, yummy plate of sushi, rice, chicken and teriyaki!. We’ll be back!

We can’t say enough about Zen Sushi in Dana! The sushi chefs are all awesome and the fish is super fresh. At least one of the owners, Jay or June are usually on site to make sure everything exceeds expectations! Step up to the sushi bar for personal treat and be amazed and entertained by the engaging sushi chefs. Although they are all great, Young stands figuratively and literally above the rest! His creativity is only matched by his kindness and humor. If we could give 10 stars, we would — they are certainly worth it.

Last night my friend and her 6 year old grandaughter and I sat at the sushi bar for dinner around 6pm. Everyone quickly greeted us and made us feel welcome. Jimmy, Sam and BK were the sushi chefs servings us! When I go to new places I like to try the signature rolls and got the Eri Roll and the Cowboy Roll. We also tried a Unagi hand roll a Protein Roll. Food, service, atmosphere along with fun factor were all amazing. For the 6 year old, this was her first time trying some new foods. She even learned some Japanese! I look forward to coming back!

What a great place. Always have a new exciting flavors and I personally call it the oyster place that serves sushi.
This place has become a steady spot for us and I am writing this to help them just don’t go when we go, so the lines don’t get too long!
I recommend the oysters and literally any of the rolls, seems like I forget the names after the sake

Horrible service. We call in take out all the time and every time the service is worse. Tonight we arrived to pick up our food 25 minutes after being quoted 20 minutes and were told they would «start making it now» and that it would be another 10 – 20 minutes– also the restaurant was more than half way empty. After expressing our disappointment NO APOLOGY was given, we asked for the manager but were told they «don’t have one,» were offered no remedy and treated rudely by the smug, unprofessional wait staff. There are too many other sushi choices in Dana Point to deal with such a poor level of service.

This is a rebuttal to Gia B
When I saw such rude display from these patrons I honestly thought it was an episode of What would you do and was looking for John Quiñones to pop out. I understand that the wait staff was late on an order but there obnoxiously loud behavior was unconscionable. Plus an apology was given but with all of their loud yelling they probably never heard it. After seeing their horrible & embarrassing OC display I would pose the question, Have you ever made a mistake? I guess some people get their way by being a bully.
Aside from that, they have quite the variety of sushi. Their items are tasty & unique. Sushi that you won’t find at many other sushi venues & a great staff to boot. My glass is always filled & they are very attentive.
Check it out for yourself…

The worst sushi experience I’ve ever had, here’s why. We came in about 8:00 p.m. looking for a quick bite. We were greeted by high decibel noise from the sushi bar where patrons must have had their fair share of saki. We were taken to a table in the back of the restaurant as the bar had no room and we thought it would be best to remove ourselves from the din. As it turned out, it was just as loud in the back because the whole place is an echo chamber. Nothing to soften the noise and no background music. The setting itself was very obnoxious. The waitress took an extremely long time to greet us, another long wait for a drink of water and tea. We sat and sat and sat with empty glasses of water and tea before she ever came back for our order. We eventually turned in an order and sat and waited. Our food finally arrived at about 8:50. We order two different rolls, asparagus rolled in bacon and an octopus salad. The rolls were definitely nothing to write home about; the fish looked kind of old. The asparagus had something wrong with it because there were long stringy things attached that we couldn’t identify. The octopus was nothing short of disgusting; it was mushy and seemed to have a whole bottle of chili as seasoning. There was no salad part of it. The three of us kind of lost our appetite and didn’t eat much. We waited another eon for our check, which was $ 75.00. Then my husband got diarrhea on the way home. So much for a «quick» bite. It was very unpleasant, a waste of time, and a waste of a perfectly good $ 75.00. Needless to say, we will never return.

We came here for our anniversary night, and it was a so so experience. There was a very loud group right behind us, they all night obnoxiously laughed and did shots. We could not even hear each other. I also told 2 different servers that the restaurant is cold, they should turn the a/​c off, by the time we finished, it was still freezing inside. Fish tasted a bit old, salmon and garlic edemame were good. It was 9:30, they started turning the lights of on the patio, and turning the lights all they way up in the restaurant, in a way of saying, leave.

This is the second and last time we will patronize Zen Sushi. The food is adequate but the service consistently unpleasant and responses to simple questions from now two different waitresses rude and unprofessional. Better off going to other restaurants for sushi. Don’t need to pay for unpleasant service.

About the worst lunch I have EVER had. I am one of two customers. There are two chefs and a server, and I can’t get anyone’s attention. The chef directly in front of me, his name is Young, completed a to go order, never looking at me, then started preparing the editables for that evening. I am 6′ tall and 190lbs. I am not invisible. But it was 2.30pm and I guess he was annoyed that I was pushing into their close down time. The other chef came over, looked at Young who tried to pushed him off, but I finally got salmon sushi.
The fish sucked, and so does this place. AVOID. They are rude and serve crappy fish.

The sushi here is one of the best I’ve had. I got the baked lobster roll, baked scallop roll, and something else i forgot but it was bomb. My friend also ordered different sushi and I tried a little of hers and hers was bomb too. I’m gonna come here after I do the thousand steps as a tradition lol.

Zen is the best sushi in Dana Point! We have been coming here for 3 years, and it is unquestionably the highest quality sushi with the greatest variety for the true sushi lover In Orange County. The owner June is a true gem, and all of the staff is terrific, including our personal favorite, Nikki. They have given us terrific, personal service that had kept us coming back again and again. The restaurant is aesthetically beautiful, and is perfect date night place, for a quiet evening. Our favorite dishes are yellowtail carpaccio, baja roll, salmon roe, uni, protein roll and the the mu sake. Don’t miss it!

Bravo and five stars worthy! Came in tonight for dinner and this being my second time here, i needed a reminder as to why I always wanted to come back
The restaurant is nice inside with plenty of patio seating for those nights you want fresh air with the right amount of heat from the heaters.
Service was fast and friendly and we were seated Immediately. Great service and as we walked in, the traditional hello was shouted to us by the sushi chefs behind the counter.
We ordered the 911, the Caliente roll, the zen special sushi and more. Amazing amazing amazing. You might say ok the prices are top tier for sushi but when you see and taste what you get you’ll see the value and understand.
We love spicy and so my recommendation is good with the jalapeño type rolls and tuna of course is a must. For 3 people with dishes, the bill was about 100.00 which included tax. Not bad for quality and quantity.
Time for a 3^rd visit soon!

The sushi here was truly underwhelming — the fish was old and should not have been served. It was a disappointing experience.
That said, the garlic edamame was excellent, the staff were friendly and it was a nice ambiance. Because there are so many other positive reviews, I would be willing to try it again in case they were just having an off day.

Run don’t walk here! Sit at the bar, buy the staff sake, thoroughly enjoy the amazing creations that will tantalize your tastebuds!

Jay is the best! We came in around 4pm today starving. He greeted us immediately and we sat down at the sushi bar.
He treated us to pickled octopus while we waited. He made sure to ask about any allergies. Then he started making our nigiri. The fish was the freshest we’ve had and we have eaten sushi every day this week. The thick cuts are perfectly seasoned and served. There wasn’t a single fish I didn’t enjoy and we literally had every type of fish. The Ono and albacore were the best. We stay away from rolls but we got the No Kiss roll. The No Kiss roll is so creative and delicious!
Jay treated us to an amazing dish that had uni on top of scallop. He also treated us to amazing engawa (halibut fin)!
Overall, an amazing experience. We stopped here on our way up from San Diego to Los Angeles. We wish we lived close so we could come all the time. This is a must visit!

Took the family here. Sat on the patio which was a bit cold. Food and service was excellent we will be back

Hm… the sushi (salmon and yellowtail) was fresh, but the service received tonight was deplorable. We were never checked on and out of 5 people, 4 of us had at least one part of our order screwed up or forgotten completely. Getting anyone to acknowledge us, took so long, we ended up losing our interest in the items.
The soft shell crab roll ordered looked good, but was so mushy, it was almost inedible. My son’s udon arrived cold.
Based on tonight’s service, I doubt I will ever be back.

Just had dinner here and the service was very lacking. We had to get up couple times to walk over to ask for service. Food was okay. Had Korean short ribs (I know ribs at a sushi joint but this the closest place to my house that has Korean short ribs) but the meat was dry and nothing to write home about.
We have been to this location couple times before and the sushi rolls were decent but with a nice interior and a decent location, food and service in particular were lacking so I won’t be back.
Why is it so hard to find a restaurant that has great service and decent food? I will be driving 10 more mins to go to the other zen location on La Paz. La Paz location is like family. We are greeted warmly, service is much faster and food is decent.
Maybe I should open a friendly Asian restaurant in Dana Point. Can an Asian guy just get some decent Asian food at a friendly joint in DP? Agh!!!

Everything rocked from the food to the service. Even the live shrimp was delicious!
Loved the sushi chefs! Fun, delicious, fresh and entertaining!