Zen Japanese Restaurant

Have been ordering from Zen Japanese for years, absolutely delicious every time. My favorite Japanese restaurant in Melbourne

An authentic Japanese restaurant located very close to Swinburne University in Hawthorn. We enjoyed every dish offered here & its wonderful hospitality throughout our meal dining in even though it’s just a mini restaurant. Basically, our dining experience had been unforgettably pleasant & comfortable.

Not a pleasant experience at all. My partner and I each ordered an entree and a main, as well as an entree to share. For some reason, her entree and main came out in a reasonable time but my dishes only came out 20-25 minutes after. Even our steamed rice was extremely delayed, and she couldn’t eat her main until it came, so it went cold.

The food itself was very poor quality. The scotch fillet I ordered was worse in quality than you’d get in a kebab.

Wouldn’t visit again, and would absolutely not recommend to others.

Authentic Japanese cuisine, ambience, culture & politeness. Japanese food never disappoints me and this restaurant has kept the standards high.

My only concern was the lack of light on the first-floor dining area. It was dimly lit and appeared slightly depressing instead of romantic (of that was the idea to keep the lights dim).

After having had the most wonderful food in Japan just a few months ago the bar was set high. Zen did not disappoint. In fact all dishes were really good. Sushi with eel was nice. Kaseiki bentobox is filled with a great variety of tasty items for a really good price of just $32, including miso soup, rice and a scoop of ice cream. Sake Teriyaki (salmon) was perfectly cooked. They also have a wide range of sake available.

Beautiful Japanese restaurant, plenty space inner side, Japanese foods, very delicious.
Menu with qr code is not suitable for everyone, payment is terrible, split payments not accepted, not easy to pay and they refuse other types of payments.

I found the place when exploring my food map, and the reviews sounded quite promising, so I gave it a shot. When I went on a Friday lunch hour, the restaurant was packed.
I ordered their deluxe bento box from their lunch special menu, which includes a choice of two main courses. And wow, The bento box provided a wide range of delicious food selections. I appreciated how many various flavours and combinations I could enjoy in one dish. Definitely will return again!

A nice restaurant to go.
Service is amazing
I really like salmon bento, you can have a variety of food comes with a small portion, pretty enough for a lady and healthy choice

The food was absolutely fantastic it was flavourful and fresh and just outstandingly delicious. The meal was tremendous.

Had a wonderful wine dinner last night in one of Zen's private dining rooms. The food was amazing and Jake and the team where extremely accommodating and easy to deal with. Thank you

Didn't like being upstairs with the noisy Chinese family and undisciplined children. Spoilt our night. Nice food, good service but ask to sit downstairs if possible.

Absolutely wonderful food and excellent service. By far one of the friendliest and kindness restaurant I've ever been to.

Came here for dinner. The food was good and the Kaiseki Bento is decent value for money. Plenty of choices on the menu as well. The restaurant has plenty of space as it extends up another level. The service was good and attentive.

Chicken sushi rice bento was superb and for dessert green tea icecream.excellent dinner.easy on tummy

MISREPRESENTING CHEATS, THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY BUT DON’T DELIVER - Waited 30mins for the food to be prepared for takeaway, and an additional 40mins in store sitting around. Finally took the order home and realised that all of the desserts were missing in each of the dinner sets. Called and was told that they do not do takeaway desserts, but were just as happy to charge for them. This was not disclosed over the phone and would have changed my mind on the order. It was not written anywhere on the menu that desserts are not provided with takeaway, and the price should be reduced accordingly. Disappointingly, this was not the case. When queried, they said the prices are the same whether dine-in or takeaway but differing in inclusions. I was told that it was too bad, and they did not offer for me to come back to pickup the dessert items.

Been here twice already and the food is always very consistent, delicious and fresh. The staff were super friendly and even accommodated a birthday cake that we brought and gave us a free ice cream and candle for the birthday girl:)
Left a tip and will definitely be back again!

Great food, service, and ambiance.
Prices are a bit steep for us. Luckily, we used a discount voucher, otherwise we wouldn't dine here. However, we highly recommend it if it's within your budget.

A reliable Japanese local. Consistent in fresh, tasty Japanese fare. Well priced. Always busy but with chill vibe.

The food was great, serves were large and food tasty.
There was a surcharge on the bill which was not explained.
We were upstairs and the floor is very unsteady. The carpet in the hallway was sticky and dirty, as was the floor in the toilet.
Loved the food but you could do so much more to clean up your restaurant

We booked table at 7: 15 and arrived on time. I told the waiter the name of reservation, then the waiter arranged us a table. 30 mins later, our friend called and said they arrived long time. Then found out the waiter arranged my friends to another table, made us long waiting for friends. Stupid waiters: (
The food are big and nice.