The Zen

5 Stai Anatra - 3 weeks ago

Nice atmosphere, excellent food but the hidden pearl is Nobu, the owner.
Thank you for this lovely Japanese experience!

5 Ros C. - 7 months ago

Great food here, udon curry, tonkotsu, katsudon and ramen are all great. Curry is cooked for long, heavy soup so filling!
This the best Japanese food in town.
They open now for lunch.

4 kevin jung - a month ago

Friendly owner, good view, good food.

The selection on the menu is varied and the food is rather authentic. A piece of Japan on Koh Phangan.

5 marine anoma arpaia - 2 months ago

Very good food and nice atmosphere, the owner is really nice and caring for his costumers. Would definitely go back .

5 Olivia Hara - 4 months ago

Wow wow wow! The food here reminded me so much of home. The udon brought me back to memories of sitting around the dinner table with my grandma and was exactly what I didn't know I needed. The family that owns this shop is so kind and made me feel right at home as well. Thank you for such a good experience!

4 Citizen Ko (h) - a month ago

Great owners. One of the very few places where you can get sake. Sushis are good, but really, the high point is the male owner and his 'so Japanese' vibe...

Always a treat when I'm nostalgic about Japan

1 Maxim Titov - 3 months ago

Well that’s a first. First time to have food poisoning on Koh Phangan, where quality of food is great in general across the island. And first time getting poisoned in a Japanese place.

This was actually my second time visiting the Zen, and the first time was great, so I came again. I have big respect for the chef, a very modest guy, who does all the cooking, and yes, while you have to wait for quite some time for food to be ready, it would have been worthwhile (just like the first time), if proper hygiene was respected. But unfortunately it wasn’t, the food tasted somewhat funny, but we didn’t give it much attention as we expected the quality to be on par with reviews. Unfortunately ended up with diarrhea and stomach pains for 2 days already. And what is with the price hike, what’s the reason for that? In general I’m writing it down as poorest quality sushi at incredibly expensive prices, much more expensive that at some really high quality places in Thailand. So lesson here: take other reviews especially if they’re few months old with a grain of salt. Some places just struggle to keep up with the standards they set up before and start compromising.