Zen 32

Did I hear correctly? Are you closing? Lennnnnyyyy! Why!
The rumor is the owner Lenny Rosenberg is not renewing the lease to focus on his other restaurants, Deluxe and Revo Burrito.
I will miss this place. I have spent many a night at the beautiful bar and drank more saki than should have been legal in my early twenties. I was also able to extended my dollar when I was a broke college student thanks to the happy hour.
Kanpai Zen, you had a great fifteen years!

I don’t think there’s much to Zen 32 besides looking trendy.
Something seemed strange about the place when I walked in, and after reading other reviews it’s been pointed out – the waitresses are wearing Chinese attire with Mandarin collars. I won’t hold the lack of authenticity against them. Also, the music is soft and the seating kind of cramped, making for an awkward dining experience.
I’ll get the good thing out of the way – the reverse happy hour. The hot ginger sake was overpowering, but for $ 1 there’s no way I can complain. Also, they had a few basic rolls for $ 3, and that’s not too bad.
Everything else sucks! The specialty rolls are all stuffed with krab, so what hope do you have of ever getting quality sushi? My tootsie roll was garbage, I couldn’t taste anything beside the krab inside. The caterpillar roll looked nice, but I could only taste krab and eel sauce. Even the rainbow roll looked promising, and THAT was drenched in sriracha.
I also had some of this teriyaki chicken entrée, and it was rough and a bit dry. The edamame had way too much salt, and I began noticing a pattern to this place. Take crap and season it as much as you can.
I’d like to give this place a second chance for a cheap date or something, but I’m still a little angry at this place (and their sketchy waitress!), for being the first to make me tired of sushi. A friend bought me this meal and I still regret it. It’s that bad.

Two recent visits for reverse happy hour.
A dining buddy of mine gets off work at 9pm. We’ve been trying various places in Central Phoenix for late food.
Zen 32 was chosen as a plan B a few weeks ago. We were aiming for Postino on Central… but it was a 45 minute wait when I got there at 9. Neither of us wanted to stand in the parking lot that long. So I suggested Zen as an alternative. I think it may be one of the frequent choices from here on out!
Both visits, Kara was our bartender/​server. Friendly, fast, outgoing, an absolute doll!
Reverse Happy Hour starts at 10 — when prices drop from «Holy High, Batman!» to the perfect place to eat, drink and be whoever you care to be for around $ 20.
Well and Draft for $ 3! (Draft includes Stella — which makes my dining buddy a very happy camper.)
Edamame and Miso for $ 2, Seaweed or Squid salads for $ 3. Basic nigiri for $ 2 – 4, Some sashimi $ 5 – 6, Select rolls for $ 3. Special rolls for $ 8.
Where most places have long forgotten about gratis happy hour munchies — Zen 32 still provides them!
On the first visit, hot offerings were crab puffs (okay, Krab puffs) and onion tempura. A huge platter or California roll also out for the grazing… oops, I mean taking.
Last night, the crab puffs had been replaced with spring rolls.
Two drinks, two rolls and a couple of trips to the buffet table… I was stuffed and my budget was not shattered. Thank you Kara, and thank you Zen 32! Reverse happy hour here is the perfect place for those of us who love sushi, but can’t afford a real sushi dinner on a regular basis.

Went here last night with my wife and with a business associate of mine who was craving sushi for dinner. Its a nice place, food comes out very fast, and it was packed by 7pm. We were there from about 530 to 830. Everyone was in agreement that the zen32 citrus thing was the best. It had great flavor. However, the rest of the items we got, like the dragon roll, tiger roll, spider roll, spicy tuna roll, spicy salmon roll were just ok. Nothing really stood out and made us say wow this is good stuff. We did find it interesting that they had low carb rolls and we tried an order of that too. It was a little too «squishy». We also tried the some octopus nigiri, and a handfull of other things. It was easily over a 200 $ bill for the night.
I might look elsewhere for finding sushi downtown. Nakama is still by far my favorite place.

I’m really surprised that this place doesn’t have that many good reviews… we love it!
Well, we love the prices at Happy Hour! And Happy Hour til 6:30pm… awesome! And then a reverse Happy Hour for later folks. Why wouldn’t you like that?
Everytime we’ve been here we’ve had good to great service. The sushi has always tasted awesome!
One time a friend from Chicago was visiting, and I brought her here for lunch. She loved it! Plus we had some awesome, awesome low carb rolls (soy paper, no rice).
There’s a large patio area outside (for when the weather’s cooler). And plenty of seats inside. Yes, the bar area is in the back… which does seem odd. But they still have your traditional sushi bar to sit at as well.
We’ll keep going and going… and going!

My first and only visit so far to Zen32 was a comedy of errors. It happened to chance that three friends were in an impromptu mood for sushi and decided this is where we shall meet for this sushi eating experience we were about to have.
The bar I have to admit is a little hard to find at first, but all in all I love that it’s hidden way in the back. The bar service was also fantastic. Very prompt and not pushy. The polka dot Riesling I first discovered at Fry’s because of its name greeted me at the bar and we had a very happy gathering. The animé movies playing quietly off to the side. What a great touch!
The food was pretty on point. I had some of the best sashimi I had ever had and some great rolls and nigiri also. I left the right amount of full (not overfull) and happy. Speaking of happy, happy hour prices started a little after we were seated and were accounted for as so on our bill.
Why the comedy of errors then? The first error was the staff completely ignoring us back in our little spot in the bar waiting to be seated. It took nearly an hour and us reminding them in order to get a table.
Second was the wine incident which was hilarious. I ordered a second glass of polka dot while we were at the table. Our waitress comes back with the Riesling and instead of starting to pour some in my empty wine glass, she adds a bit to my water. We thought it was super funny and were not really upset. I think a joke was even made about turning water into wine! :) Needless to say, she was embarrassed and promptly brought me back enough wine four twice the number of pours you usually get.
It’s a little out of the way, but I’ll be back. It’s nice to know it’s an option of Delux has a long line :)
Slight recommendation though. if you have white paper tablecloths that are disposable, offer crayons. Our unicorn drawings would’ve been much better had we had more colors than our blue pen.

Sushi has always been a safe option for me as a veggie. Even though I’m not crazy about sushi itself, I can always have delicious sides like tempura vegetables, (some) miso soup, etc. Zen 32 totally came through in that department, and I was even impressed with the sushi I did try. I had a veggie roll with soy paper, and it was actually really delicious. I probably would have ate it all if I hadn’t already stuffed myself with the spring rolls, miso soup, edamame and a sake bomber!
The atmosphere was really chill and the outdoor seating was really nice– I loved the color change pillars.
Everything I had was tasty, and the service was friendly and prompt. I’m absolutely looking forward to coming back!

I would never return to this place. Food is mediocre at best. The interior is sooo small. The patio is about your only option.
Please go else where for your sushi and Japanese needs. The cloth napkins alone is a total turnoff. It leaves lint all over your pants! So cheap!!!
If you want to get a cheap eat, by all means, go there, but don’t expect a top notch experience being that it’s near the Biltmore.

This place is by far one of the nicest sushi bars I have visited. It’s in a great location (love the Biltmore!) and it’s seating outdoors is unbeatable. The staff is also dressed up in Japanese clothing. I love Zen32 for having a wonderful and peaceful ambiance.
However, I am a sushiholic and while I do love a great place to enjoy my food, I value the quality of the food a bit more.
Zen32 sushi was just mediocre sushi. Not good, not bad, just okay. It wasn’t enough to make me want to return for more :(
Sorry Zen32, you are gorgeous, just not the total package :(

I’m a bonafide OC gal where sushi joints are like Mickey D’s and Starbucks — one on every corner. Because of this, I figured my sushi expectations are not that high to begin with since I’ve seen and tasted so many places and I’m usually just happy to be indulging in my love affair with sush! However, I have to admit that this place did not leave me with the best impression and leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe sush is done differently in Arizona but it just felt wrong on so many levels.
My boyfriend and I ordered 4 different rolls including one of their «special» rolls of the day. Again, I can put it out there that maybe I’m just a sushi snob and this place actually will taste quite good to everyone else BUT in any case… here were my major no no’s of the night:
–My sushi staple is spicy tuna anything and I use this as my measurement for any sushi place. Zen 32’s spicy tuna was not spicy at all and seemed to lack the use of siracha (chili sauce) that I have come to know and love.
–The rice in each roll lacked the traditional sweetness and stickiness that makes sushi rice different from just plain white rice.
–Each roll seemed to lack any flavor of fish whatsoever because everything was overpowered with ridiculous amounts of cream cheese and sauces. Makes me wonder what kind of fish no no’s they’re trying to cover up but bottom line is that I eat sushi to enjoy the flavor of the fish and there was none of that to be had here.
On the bright side, this place apparently has a great happy hour and serves sushi until midnight which is great when you’re craving late night sush. Would I go back and eat here again? I would… but only if I really had to.

I wish we had a happy hour sushi bar that started at 10pm for the night lovers in all of us in Charlotte, NC! Zen 32 offers $ 3-​$ 6 happy hour sushi rolls, appetizers, and some drinks from 10pm-​2am.
The quality of the sushi was very good! I wish at the time I would have been more hungry, I could have eaten it up! The spicy tuna and vegetable rolls were great… I can’t remember the other rolls we ordered, but just as delicious.
The downfall was the service. Initially we were greeted by the hostess, but it took approximately 18 minutes for a server to show up. Typically that would have been unacceptable and I would have said something or just left, but it was on New Year’s Eve and was a reunion with friends that I had not seen in a long time so we were just chatting. However, I think the hostess caught on to how long it had been because when we eventually started looking around we caught her eye and within another minute, our server showed.
The atmosphere is dim and intimate. They also have a patio (with heat lamps). Overall, I enjoyed my experience and the food was delicious! Next time I’m in town, I’ll visit you again Zen 32!

Like most of the rest of the people who have reviewed this place I’d say it’s right in line with A-​Ok. Really nothing special to write home about. Not great, not bad, just another sushi place to eat at.
Location is great on Camelback and 32^nd St, sushi just ok, ambiance is not so bad. This is another place that the pretty people go to. When I think of great sushi I’m looking for an authenic family run restaurant with some flair. Still I keep coming back here every so often, I guess I want to feel cool every once in a while. Well I have to admit Zen 32 is doing something right.

I’m bumping it up to 5 stars.
My new favorite sushi place in the valley.

I should have went to the Safeway next door for sushi.
This was the first time I went to sushi joint, looked at the menu and decided that the best sounding thing was the steak. I opted for the grilled salmon and wasabi mash. While I am a huge sushi fan, the price of the rolls were a wee bit more expensive than some GOOD sushi places I went to. My friend opted for a bento box that had a crab nigiri (which was simply a half a stick of imitation Krab on top of rice). So sad.
My plate arrived and looked like a garden threw up on my plate. The steamed veggies were scattered around my plate like the salad shooter malfunctioned. The grilled salmon was just okay, served on top of wasabi mash that was also just okay.
The server was also very clueless. She brought over a bowl of miso soup and sat the soup between my friend and I. I wasn’t sure who it belonged to so I asked for straws so we could share. =) She didn’t think it was too funny. She said she wasn’t sure whose meal it came with so she just left in the middle so we can figure it out. (THANKS!)
By the way, the waitresses were wearing traditional Chinese dresses. Shouldn’t they be in a kimono or something? Who is the smart white guy that owns this place?!
I walked away from Zen 32 and I won’t be back.

This was my first time here. We sat in the bar and caught the tail end of happy hour.
Apparently that have complementary hors d’oeuvres, although I did not have any.
We had a few cocktails and ordered some Salmon and Yellow tail sashimi and nigri. I love good salmon and I must say their salmon is pretty good. The Yellow tail sashimi was cut too thick for my liking.
My biggest complaint was the smell of the restaurant. It smelled like a mix of disinfectant and cheap cologne. It was really strong and made me a little sick to my stomach…

Thank you, Gabi K, for feeding my seared ahi tuna craving!
Zen Sushi offers a lot of perks that one could enjoy: Trendy yet relaxed atmosphere, outdoor seating with misters, happy hour – and reverse happy hour, friendly hostess, servers and management, and plentiful portions. The only thing lacking for me was escolar on the menu.
Our server also forgot my order of miso soup, which was on the ticket but later removed, and accidentally switched out a roll for a hand roll, but that too was fixed. A few hiccups in the meal, but nothing to complain about. Why would we anyway? We’re eating sushi, and sushi makes miso happy.
Tuna fans will enjoy the tuna tataki (a bit heavy on the sauce though), spicy scallop roll, and steamed veggies. And the seaweed salad is enough to feed two peeps. A filling meal for not much dough.

Ok, I am not one that knows her sushi well, but when I order a roll that said that is comes with crab, cream cheese, cucumber, and avocado, why am I getting a roll with just whitefish?
I have been here twice and each time I have had the worst service! This time around was the most interesting. Twice, bussers came to our table and just tried to take our chairs. Did they ask? NO. Did they notice that my friend’s purse was on one of them? NO. Did they ever come back when we said that we actually needed one more chair? NO.
Also, when it was time to pay the bill… all of us (6 people total) decided to make the server’s job easier by writing on the back of the check on how much each of us was going to pay. My one friend wrote $ 40 and I wrote $ 15 (I didn’t eat much and I didn’t get anything to drink) This was with tip included. Server comes back and charges my friend $ 15 and me $ 21.98. (HUH!) Then she told us that she couldn’t add the tip with it. Couldn’t she have told us that first? Especially when a sharp person could see that we were giving her way more than what the bill stated.
The food both times I was there was bleh. Even the temperature of the food wasn’t right. I kept on thinking to myself this is how one gets food poisoned. (I did not) They turned off the heaters outside when there were still a bunch of people enjoying happy hour. (It wasn’t very warm out there!)
Next time… we are going to meet somewhere in Tempe for sushi happy hour.

I’ve been to Zen 32 more times than I can count… and for the most part, I’ve been extremely satisfied with each visit. I was there for happy hour last night which is what is sparking this review, and it was perfect… we sat outside, enjoyed a couple of beers, and some very reasonably priced sushi. At $ 3 a roll, you really cannot complain!
I will agree with some of the pluses and minuses that Jenn H wrote about previously, such as:
+ A great location
+ Very fresh fish
+ Low carb rolls
+ Good sushi selection
+ Neat little complimentary sunomono type appetizer (although we didn’t receive ours last night… what’s up with that?)
+ A really good drink menu
+ A great happy hour
+ Great atmosphere
— Long wait for a table, even when several tables are empty (this has been the case for me on several occasions but luckily, not last night)
Wait staff is hit or miss — (luckily our server last night was fine although he didn’t have much personality)
— Tables really close together (both inside and out)
In my case, the positives really outweigh the negatives. In addition to above, they have a divine bamboo basket of steamed veggies — it includes broccoli, asparagus, sweet potato, carrot, and more. It’s served with a light sweet sauce on the side and is the best if you feel like fresh yummy veggies, if you’re on a diet, or just want some color to add to the mix of sushi!
Lastly, I left my long sleeve shirt there last night by accident, and luckily the hostess found it no problem when I called. She was sweet as can be and is holding it for me to pick up today — it sounds like a no brainer, but I’m sure there are plenty of establishments that could F something so simple as that up!
I’ll be back today to pick up my shirt, but for sure in the future too!

Happy hour prices seemed decent, but the selections I tried (spicy tuna roll and salmon roll) were lackluster in taste and quality. I do have to recommend the soft-​shelled crab appetizer… oh my!
While the prices beg for another try, it’s going to be awhile till I visit again– so many restaurants to try first!
If you want great sushi, try Sakana on Elliot and I-​10, or Old Town Scottsdale’s Kyoto. I definitely am not a fan of Ra.

I suppose I never reviewed this place because there were already so many reviews. I’ll start by saying that this place hovers between 3 and 4 stars for me. The food is good for the most part… I did have a bad this or that once or twice. Otherwise though, good fresh ingredients.
If you walk by a fish restaurant and it smells like fish, run away or you’ll be doubled over the toilet that night or the following morning. The stronger the smell, the sicker you’ll be. Zen hasn’t ever smelled fishy when I’ve been there. A definite plus for me.
While they use good ingredients, I find they don’t roll their sushi very tightly and it tends to fall apart on me. This probably depends on the chef that day/​night. And speaking of that — this place depends entirely on when you go and what you’re in to… At night and especially on weekends, this place is buzzing and it’s difficult to get seated or move around. It’s a popular spot. During the day, especially during the week, it’s pretty chill and a solid choice for a good quiet lunch.
People come here at night for the bar atmosphere behind the partition… it often bleeds into the main dining room — and this place isn’t that large. This sort of thing can ruin a quiet evening. Good suishi places tend to have a busy bar though, so you probably have come to expect such things.
I have to note that the bathroom is great — classy and clean. The whole place is clean and well decked out. The biggest complaint with this place really should be the space — it’s very cramped. Even when it’s empty, it feels small… not really a problem though unless it’s full of people — at this point you’ll feel right at home with the sushi as you’ll be a little packed sardine.
The last time I ate here was a few days ago and I noticed the little specials card in that plastic stand that sits at every table smelled like a construction worker’s arm pit. Don’t ask me how I know what a construction worker’s arm pit smells like or why I smelled the card — just know that it was totally rank. I had the waitress smell it and she agreed and promptly took it away for disposal.
My advice is to go here when it’s not so busy and have your night out somewhere else.