Zen Sushi & Grill

The sushi is really good, the atmosphere is very nice, the service is almost always very good and they have awesome specials!!! There is a small private room, can seat 10 – 12 comfortably. I’ve met with different groups of people in there and it is very nice. Check it out if you are a sushi fan and in Beloit.

Unless you really need sushi I’d wait to get to a real city. Came to town to visit our daughter and wanted to go out for something nice. The first clue was when I mentioned I wanted to get a bunch of sushi the waitress point us to the combo plates… watch out. I said I’d prefer to order a la carte to get what we like. They had a section with Nigiri and Sashimi listed along with a column for 2 pcs and 3 pcs pricing. When the waitress arrived I said I wanted all nigiri and three piece — we had 5 people so that way if I ordered two of everything we would have enough for everyone to try all. I also then ordered a few rolls to round out the order. When the order came we were presented with a plate of sashimi and the rolls — i looked puzzled and said I didn’t order sashimi and she said all the three piece prices were for sashimi. She said she knew I said nigiri, but the three piece was sashimi and asked if we would like a bowl of rice.
The rolls were fair at best — not presented all that nice and smothered in sauce… oh well we tried, but don’t need to try again.

Could not believe what a find!!! My wife asked me where I would like to have dinner for my birthday. I was driving in downtown Beloit a few weeks ago and I remembered seeing a sign «Zen Sushi » I went on Unilocal and read up on the restaurant. It was too good to be true. I am retired but when I was working I traveled all over the US and our main office was in Marin County outside of San Francisco. When I was there my friend Tom and I ate sushi as much as we could. I never thought I would find anything comparable in the Midwest, I was wrong!!!
We went this evening and the décor was great, and the sushi bar was humming with tasty treats being made for all to see. The menu was filled with all my favorites and some that I will definitely try next time. We had a great waitress named Jessica who was as excited about the menu as I was. The bottom line «Zen» is the real deal, I would put it up against any of the sushi places I have been in Milwaukee or Chicago and I would even say it would give many of the Sushi bars in San Francisco a run for their money. I am very pleased I have a place for good sushi, great service and ambience so near. I can’t wait to bring some of our out of town guests and watch their surprise with Midwest sushi ;-)

Apparently when you order carry out your portion size is cut in half but not your bill. Will never make that mistake happen again. These are three rolls we have ordered in the past dining in, but only the mango tango looks right.

I went to college in Milwaukee and loved the restaurant called «kan pai» there. I found out, the owner is the same as this place! The sushi is always great, whether I come for lunch or dinner. I prefer lunch however because they offer such a great lunch special. The owner is great, very nice and friendly. However, the staff can be a little rude and they have ridiculously tiny cups for water that they do not refill as often as they should.

This place is awesome!!! They serve genuine sushi in the small town of Beloit.
As far as ambiance, it is 5 stars almost transporting you to a city Asian restaurant with style and even a sushi bar so you can watch the chef.
The food is excellent. For being located in the Midwest, the food is ridiculously fresh. If you want to save some $$ go for lunch. The bento box if $ 9 is an awesome value. A ton of food that is very filling. Also for $ 13 you can get 3 types of sushi or $ 10 for 2 types.
As far as vegetarian selection, there is plenty. I LOVE the vegetable tempura sushi… the taste, texture, and overall flavor was sooooo unexpected, I loved it. Also my favorite is the bipnbop with tofu. The sauce and crispy rice is phenomenal.
Overall an excellent addition to the Beloit community. Awesome, flavorful, authentic Asian food that is a hell of a lot cheaper when you go for lunch.

Recommendation: For sushi outside a big city in the middle of the Midwest, it was okay. I’d say it was about average in quality across all the sushi I’ve had. Prices are extreme for the quality and amount of food you get.
Tip: Wait for Monday nights to get 50% off some rolls. That’s when the price starts to match the value.
Food:
The food was okay. Nothing more, nothing less. We ordered the Shu-​mai and the Avocado Ball appetizers to snack on while we perused the menu. The appetizers were good but small. The Avocado Ball was a more interesting culinary journey, with many different flavors throughout the ball. The Shu Mai was your typical shrimp dumpling and was warm and tasty. However, there were only three dumplings and the Avocado ball was about the size of two dumplings, so split between four people (as you might expect for $ 15 worth of appetizers) they hardly let us taste them. It would be great to receive a warning of some sort that the appetizers are intended to be one serving apiece.
Now, onto the sushi! We ordered six rolls:
California Masago (with crab inside) — Pretty good! Eight small pieces and the kitchen forgot the masago part so we got a little bowl of masago to dip the pieces in. The cream cheese wasn’t overpowering, so I can’t complain.
Spicy Tuna — Also pretty good. Not particularly flavorful and the same small eight pieces as the California, but this was more of a filler than anything else. Apart from the size, I can’t complain.
Spider Roll — Delicious! My favorite of the evening. The spicy aioli was delicious on top of the crab. Only five pieces though (Why so few???) so we couldn’t all enjoy more than one apiece.
Signature roll time!
Pepino — This was a weird one, being wrapped in a cucumber sheet and all. Again, it was only five pieces. The jalapeños on the top were delicious, but between those two elements it was hard to taste the tuna, salmon, and crab. Definitely a unique texture and taste though.
Green Bay Packers — As our waitress said, a somewhat refreshing roll. There were eight pieces, so more than enough to share. The asparagus was a large part of the roll and provided a lot of crunch and flavor, along with the crunch topping. But for $ 19, seriously?!
Shogun — Excellent! Also, it was 10 pieces, making it the largest roll of the evening. My second favorite roll of the night. The crispy crab was good and the creamy and aioli sauce on the outside added flavor. I didn’t really taste the eel sauce but I saw it there! The presentation was also wonderful, with the roll curving along the plate.
Service: The service was friendly and attentive. Our waitress was happy to let us keep a menu as we ate our appetizer, letting us pick out rolls to order after our initial platter. While taking the Pepino dish off the table though, she did spill a little of the sauce on one of our coats. I think I may have been the only one to notice though so she didn’t say anything. Apart from that, she was wonderful!
Atmosphere: The atmosphere was a little confusing. I feel as if the menu and the décor try to be traditional Japanese and slightly classy but the environment is quite loud, the music consists of Top-​40 picks, and every table is closely packed together. Not that I’m complaining, but I just wanted to make it clear that the restaurant doesn’t seem to understand its intentions.
Closing thoughts: Zen is an okay sushi restaurant before you look at the prices. When you look at the fact that they’re charging 16 dollars for a 5 piece roll and the fish doesn’t particularly stand out in most of these dishes, it becomes apparent that customers are being grossly overcharged for the portions and the quality of the food they’re getting. Regardless, there are few other options without going to Madison or Chicago, so people will likely return. I will probably return, although reluctant once I look at the bill. I’d say that if the prices more often followed the 50% off trend that Zen treats guests to on Monday nights, I might re-​evaluate this restaurant on a slightly more positive scale. But when two average rolls and an appetizer is a medium-​sized dinner for one person and costs almost $ 50, I just don’t know if I’d return. The rural Midwest is not a place for sushi, and neither is Zen.

The food is great. We’ve been twice and ordered a variety of items and everything has been yummy. I especially like the fried calamari appetizer and short ribs entrée. The décor is upscale and appropriate. My only complaint is the music is too loud and too techno! I wish they would play ‘Zen’ music to compliment my eating experience. While a bit pricey for a regular dining option, definitely worth the price.

This is a review of our NYE night experience.
My husband and I had tried the place before right after it opened and it was pretty good. The whole «a new broom sweeps clean» aspect… everyone was on their game trying to impress.
We wanted to go there for NYE so he called 2 weeks in advance for a reservation, knowing they would be busy. We were told that they were not taking reservations for NYE for parties less than 6. Okie dokie. We were okay with coming and waiting, not a problem.
We showed up on NYE night at 5:30. We were immediately asked by the girl at the front if we had a reservation. We told her that WE were told they didn’t accept reservations for just 2. Oh no, not the case. Hmmm… interesting. Great, so we had no table.
We decided we were okay with sitting at the bar. Not terribly happy about the screw up but oh well.
The next disappointment came when we were told there was a special «holiday menu». This special menu was NOT advertised on their Facebook and we were handed the limited menu when we sat down. It didn’t have any of the items we had been looking forward to. Honestly, had we been told ahead of time of the special menu, either when we called before or via Facebook, we probably wouldn’t have come for NYE.
We chose off the menu and it was lackluster to say the least. The sushi was being pre-​rolled and was cold (should be room temp typically). Our waitress was obviously new, very unsure of herself, flustered, and didn’t know the menu at all. There were SO many people standing around doing nothing, it just looked bad.
The kicker was the big hand-​written sign on the door that USED to say 50% all Sushi on Mondays, but now it said «EVERY» day. All that says to me is desperation. That is not high end at all and makes me think they are losing $$.
Here’s the thing guys… we KNOW you have a good product… we had it before. You need to concentrate on your SERVICE (it was obvious there was no big pow-​wow before the doors opened on NYE to go over the specifics of the night and the menu). You need to work on informing your potential customers via social media of special changes. And for GOD’s SAKE get the 50% off sushi EVERY DAY off your door… it looks bargain basement. You just opened, why are you discounting at 50% already?!?

We were very excited to try Zen as any new restaurant is welcome so close to home. We were very disappointed. The sushi was not bad, but it wasn’t anything special. The rolls were small for the price. It would be okay to take care of a quick sushi craving if you don’t feel like driving far. Our entrees, however, were awful. My husband ordered the chicken fried rice and it was very bland. I ordered the New York strip. At least a third of the steak was fat. The steak was supposed to come with grilled asparagus and instead they gave me stir fry veggies. Lastly, the steak was supposed to have a teriyaki glaze. I don’t know what their definition of teriyaki is but there was absolutely no flavor. None. The steak was dry and tough. We will not be returning anytime soon.

First couple of times everything was great. Last time (about three weeks ago or so) our waitress quit in the middle of service and asked if would settle the bill before she left. My friend and I eat slow and order as we go and weren’t done but we went ahead and paid. We were right by the hostess station and they were aware of what happened.
No one checked on us or apologized for what had happened so I finally asked if they send someone over. Dirty dishes were not removed as we progressed through the night and overall it was not a good experience.
When we left I took one of the paper menus and today tried calling in an order to take out — no one answers and eventually you get very generic VM greeting telling you to leave your name and number. I then noticed online ordering and found the website is full of non-​responsive or broken links and there is no way order.
As excited as I was when the restaurant opened I think they are already on their way out.

Visited a few nights ago and overall impression was not good. Didn’t have anywhere near the same experience as the bulk of reviews here. First off was the food: it was ok at best. I tried the yakisoba with shrimp and it was really bad, tiny salad mushy shrimp. I also had a roll which was fine I suppose. SO is more of a sushi person and had both cooked and raw; he said it was middle of the road. The best roll we had was the cheapest. It was advertised as up to 50% off, which applied to precisely zero to the 5 we ordered. Our bad because we didn’t ask.
Next, the service. This is what knocked off the stars. Definitely terrible! First they stuck us behind the hostess area. Not good. Slow slow slow. We saw 2 other parties come and go while we were there. We had to ask twice for our water to be refilled. At the end we had to ask for our check and no one ever asked if liked our food.
Unlikely we will ever return.

Wow! Yes, it doesn’t get better. This is a gem of a place. Creative, fresh, imaginative. Did I say great! Yes, don’t miss this place.
For the best experience sit at the sushi bar and ask the chef to make whatever they think is best. You won’t be disappointed every dish was a surprise! I have been eating sushi for 30 years including Japan… this place is a must.

Absolutely amazing food! I am a very picky eater and the cooks were kind enough to make a dish exactly how I specified! And the Green tea ice cream, WOW…

Finally tried Zen last night and we are so excited to have this in Beloit. Overall, this is the best and most creative sushi in the area (Rockford/​Beloit). We loved the crunchy tuna appetizer so much that my husband had to order a second. And ZOMG, try the Oh My God roll — it’s one of two rolls that come to the table flaming. It was ridiculously good. Can wait to go back and explore the menu.

Tried Zen tonite– really enjoyed it– had Gyoza appetizer and 3 rolls. Great green tea. Loved the décor, music. Wait staff was courteous and kept checking back with us. We will be back again and try the entrees.
As said in earlier review– wanted to come back for entrees– I had the shrimp yakisoba– came with salad and miso soup for decent price– soup was some of the best I have had and the ginger dressing on the salad was really tasty. We were there early so it wasn’t super busy– the shrimp in the yakisoba were really small– would prefer larger and less. Flavor of entrée was full bodied and very good. Had strawberry Mochi for dessert– was presented beautifully and tasted great. Could have fed both my husband and I .
This is fast becoming one of my favs.

Oh. Emmm…Geeeeee! This place is phenomenal! The décor is simple but classy. I thought this was an upscale sushi restaurant. They pulled out my chair for me and were very attentive. We ordered the green tea and it had a delicious flavor. The lobster cigars are to die for! Then we ordered the lollipop roll. This roll was good but too big to enjoy in one bite but too messy to bite into. The zen roll was our favorite. My sister and I said when we come back we will order some new things and of course repeat the lobster cigars. Zen is now my favorite sushi restaurant in the area! Can’t wait to get back there again!

10÷8÷15 I had the lunch special. Good price. I eat a lot of sushi (as you can see by the number of sushi reviews I’ve written). I had some sushi here that was not quite as fresh as it should have been. I suppose that’s going to happen from time to time based on my sushi volume — but so far I’ve been lucky. They handled my feedback gracefully. Now let’s just hope I don’t pay for it — gastrically. For now they get 4 stars though. I’ll update this in a few days.
UPDATE: No problems. But I did only ingest one piece of the questionable maki.

My wife and i went to Zen over the weekend and were impressed. They were definitely busy and our server did take awhile to get to us a few times but she was very polite and apologetic. Being a new restaurant this can be expected.
The décor and ambience is nice but definitely make reservations, especially now that it’s getting cold as there really isn’t a bar area and the front entrance isn’t very big for people to stand and wait around. It does conjoin with Lucys #7 in the back, so that’s an option too.
We started off with the calamari which was cooked to perfection. Not overly battered and not overly fried. Perfect. I had some sake with my meal and my wife ordered a cosmo. The wife wasn’t too impressed with the cosmo but it’s a sushi bar and not known for their drinks.
We ordered the Volcano Roll, Spider Roll and i had the salmon teriyaki. Everything was perfect. presentation was great and the food was delicious.
We ended the meal with a chocolate soufflé w/​green tea ice cream. The soufflé was decent but the green tea ice cream was amazing. Next time we’ll try the mochi.

We drove up from Rockford to try out this new restaurant on Saturday during the Oktoberfest. We had some initial service issues, but I’m sure they are just trying to iron out the kinks. Sat on the patio to listen to the music and had a very wonderful dinner. The food was much better than what I’ve had locally and will be making return visits back up to Beloit just to eat at Zen Sushi. The vegetable tempura was very light, flavorful, and not oily at all. The nigiri was fresh and delicious. I also had the chance to try the Zen roll with black rice, which was fantastic. Looking forward to getting back.