Sushi Zen

Favorite sushi spot in El Paso. Lived here for a year now and their weekday special is where it’s at. 3 items for $ 10.50. For the appetizer I usually get the crab salad and it’s a good sized portion. Then you have two sushi rolls to pick from. The Las Vegas is my favorite (fried, of course). The crunchy crab roll would be next. The service is always great. It’s also BYOB. Can’t get enough of this place!

Sushi Zen is the one of the drastically few places in El Paso which offers everything from skillfully and carefully confectioned nigiri to modern fusion maki-​sushi. They offer a broad spectrum of sea food from Ika (squid) to Uni (sea urchin) including seasonal specialties like abalone. Sushi Zen’s chefs are very well trained and are prepared to satisfy your appetite, from everything to traditional Japanese Kyoto style sushi to modern rolls. Sushi Zen’s offers a fantastic lunch menu for around 11 dollars. For dinner the Chirashi Don is exquisite! I would recommend Sushi Zen to both the traditional-​sushi enthusiast and also those looking for a gourmet maki roll.

This was a great experience with delicious food. We had the Bunny Roll and the Mexican. I would recommend both but the Mexican was amazing — not too spicy and packed full of flavor. Service was perfect. We sat at the bar and were able to watch our sushi being prepared. Not too expensive either.

Excellent flavor! I had their bunny roll and it was delicious. Great customer service!

I was really happy to discover another sushi place around the area that isn’t The Sushi Place. This place is really good. Their sushi is very good and fresh. Even the breaded rolls are nice and hot and more importantly evenly breaded. I love their cucumber salad appetizer it is very refreshing and light. I usually go for a Vegas roll and a spicy tuna roll. Their lunch special is pretty crazy with a Pick 3 Items for $ 11 menu. There is a lot to choose from in the menu and it is usually pretty filling. I was more surprised to learn recently that the place is BYOB. Took a bottle of wine last time and had a grand old time. The one and only negative experience was on a night that i went with a group of 10 people to eat and watch a basketball game. Right when they closed at 10pm, even though there were still other people eating, they turned off the tv we were watching. Right in our faces. Cmon we were buying drinks and food they could’ve told us nicely they would be turning it off soon and closing but instead just turned the tv off and brought our checks. I understand the closing time but it could’ve been handled a lot more courteously. The other aspect this place lacks is the atmosphere. There are days when there is no music playing and there are days when its dead quiet with the tvs off. It rubs off on customers because i’ve been eating dinner there where everything is so scared to be loud cause the environment is so uptight. Make it a little more fun for customers and turn up the mood. The service is also very inconsistent. I won’t say they aren’t nice or attentive but they have 0 customer interactions. they take your order, refill your drinks, bring you the check and that’s it. I have said it before, really good food doesn’t make up for mediocre customer service.

Great sushi! They have a great lunch special! You get to choose 3 options off the menu, and it’s only $ 10.95! Love the service and ambiance. My go-​to place for sushi!

The Best sushi in town out of all the Sushi, very fresh and love the sunrise roll, super salmon roll, Bunny Roll, and of course their Sashimi Platter. Since they opened been going here always and it’s awesome that they tell you we just got a shipment of fish come on over

I sat at the sushi bar to eat but never made it to the meal before I left.
There were flys landing on the crab which was not in the cooler but was instead sitting in a small plastic bin in front of me next to the avocados. They were grabbing crab from this and making rolls. The girl behind the counter was using plastic gloves but the sushi chef near the cooler was not using any nor was he washing his hands. He kept wiping his hands on his apron repeatedly after making each roll and touching multiple utensils and the paper orders he was receiving.
I know they say you never want to see how the food is made but at most sushi bars the level of cleanliness is much higher.
I walked out without eating and went to another sushi bar that I know is clean.

Consistently pretty good. Have gone many times. Tempura and teriyaki chicken are very good. Sushi rolls are okay but not great.

The best thing this place has going for it are the cute servers (male)
The food was OK but unremarkable.
I’d go back but I’m not dying to

This place is conveniently located around Utep so it’s definitely an option when my office wants to go out to lunch. We tried going here one day during lunch and the line was out the door. The hostess told us he couldn’t seat anyone and they started a waiting list. The people in front of us were so annoyed, especially because there was about 4 tables open. Then the hostess said a server hadn’t shown up so he couldn’t seat anyone at those tables. I thought it was ridiculous, but remained calm I was in no hurry. Both parties in front of us left and we waited about 15 minutes to be seated and the guy sat us in one of the tables that had been empty the whole time. At this point I was so confused as to why we had been waiting then??!
Anyway, we forgot about it ordered the lunch special which is a great deal! 3 picks off the menu. One being salad, a sushi roll, and then a starter. I got the sticky gyoza, bunny roll, and a salad. The food took awhile, and what was suppose to be a break from the office turned into almost two hours.
I went again tonight with a friend and having eaten before I ordered just green tea ice cream, the waiter told me it had all melted in the fridge and so had the other two flavors. Bummer. My friend offered us a vegetable spring roll and it was good, just not amazing. Afterwards my boyfriend mentioned how they seemed frozen, which would make sense… maybe I’ve just been watching too many kitchen nightmares but they definitely have some kitchen/​preparation issues to sort out so they can get organized.

Yeah, I keep going here because it’s close, but not sure why. The lunch deal sounds amazing. But is it really, or is it just marketing?
You can choose three items with a maximum of two sushi rolls for about 11 USD. (A regular roll is about 5 USD, so normally two rolls would cost you like 10 USD). The items you can choose from — besides the two rolls — from the lunch menu are appetizers, like seaweed salad, which cost like 3 USD. So if you pick these items then you save about 2 USD in total… But you can also choose a kitchen (warm) dish, like salmon, which costs about 6 USD (according to the menu). But the piece of salmon you get is 2 inch by 1 inch or something, or in other words: very small. And not really worth 6 USD. It’s good though. But small.
And now here’s the trick: when you order lunch you do not get the free miso soup you would ordinarily get and also the rolls you order from the lunch menu do not contain the same ingredients as the rolls from the dinner menu! I ordered a salmon roll and I would say if the filling was 1 part salmon, there were 6 parts avocado + cucumber. The waitress tried to blame the customer (me) for being crazy to expect more fish for this ‘amazing’ deal. She said I should order the regular dinner roll and not the lunch roll to get more fish in my roll. If I am too lazy to go elsewhere, and I decide to go back to that place, I will do that.
The problem I see here is that this place acts as if you’re getting a salmon roll, but in reality you’re getting something that I wouldn’t even call a salmon roll. It would be more honest if this Sushi Zen restaurant would give you 3 pieces of the roll instead of 6 pieces that barely contain any salmon. Of course customers would get angry if you would do that, but at least the customer would not get tricked into ordering sub-​standard rolls. I just don’t like to be tricked into stuff like this.
Needless to say, the staff did not handle my complaint very well. Instead of appologizing and offering me a better roll this time, so I can buy the regular roll next time, they basically blamed me. And there’s always something wrong with the service here, by the way, which is something I saw mentioned in the other reviews, too. The people are not friendly and about 50% of the time they forget to bring wasabi and ginger. It’s comparable to my experience at El Paso’s Panda Express where you have to beg for the chopsticks — and then beg a little more for soy sauce. There’s just something weird about eating Asian food in El Paso…
Let’s end with the good stuff: the food is fresh and some of their dishes are great. I like the spicy tuna, the seaweed salad (although they can stop filling the bowl with lettuce and then covering the lettuce with seaweed, that’s cheating), and they have some deep fried rolls that are good. But nowhere near as good as the Sushi Zen place on the Westside of town. That place is amazing. They also don’t do the weird rolls where pieces of vegetable are sticking out of my sushi roll. I am all for not wasting food, but come on, the eye wants something, too.

First time at this place. I’ve been looking for a good place for sushi and there have been some really stellar spots and there have been some places that just didn’t quite hit the mark. I’d have to place this as the latter. It’s a nice restaurant. Quiet, cozy, and clean.
I don’t think they serve alcohol here. My friend and I wanted a glass of wine and didn’t see a selection to choose from. We noticed a table of women, who brought their own bottle to enjoy with their friends. You’d have to go next door to the liquor store to pick up your own bottle.
The items on the menu are similar to what you’d find at other places around town. I think this is the third sushi spot that I’ve seen the UTEP roll. The only thing I didn’t see on this menu was the rainbow roll. Disappointed. I looked the menu over quite a bit trying to spot it. Wanted a bit of variety with the fish on the roll. Not there. So I went with something similar. It had spicy tuna, salmon, crab (imitation), and white tuna. And it was spicy. That was fine as I was looking for something with some spice to it. My friend ordered the salad and it too was spicy. She also ordered something called the Bunny (roll). Couldn’t tell if it was spicy as well, as her mouth was still stinging from the salad. We came the conclusion that the common theme of the food was spicy. Not lava being poured into your mouth spicy, but there was a kick to the dishes. I ordered the Ikura nigiri and it wasn’t visually appealing at all. The salmon roe looked as if it was poured on top of the rice and the seaweed was pulling away from itself.
So, no alcohol, the food wasn’t terrible and the restaurant was nice but I don’t think I’ll frequent this place all too much.

Everything was delicious and the presentation was beautiful. The sashimi was very fresh. Preparation was a little slow and, honestly we were getting impatient until… we had the first bite. It was worth the wait. For a super hard to please sushi loving family from S Florida, I was certainly happy. Highly recommend this place!!!

This was a mediocre experience for me. The small restaurant is located in the heart of UTEP. It was busy for lunch and the business needs more waiters. This is the first time I’ve been to a sushi place that doesn’t sell alcohol. You’re more than welcome to walk next door and BYOB though.
The lunch special for $ 10.95 was a good deal. I got 4 pieces of gyoza (pork/​veg filling), chicken teriyaki, and 8 pieces of a shrimp tempura roll. The gyoza and teriyaki chicken was very flavorful, but who serves teriyaki chicken with NO rice?! That’s like serving carne asada with no tortillas. And usually sushi comes with ginger/wasabi…you might have to ask for it though.
My spouse ordered a steak roll which he was impressed with, but the spicy tuna sashami not so much. We were laughing because it was grounded up sashami and not filleted. I told him maybe the chef cut it up wrong and decided to mush it all up instead.
This place isn’t too kid friendly as the booths are small. They do provide high chairs and the only drinks available besides sodas is OJ.
Wait staff could be quicker!

I really don’t know where to start with this one. On one hand, finding good sushi in El Paso is HARRRRD.
Two, everyone raves about Sushi Zen.
Three… well let’s just say I’ve experienced better.
I don’t know if I came in at the wrong time, or with old product but it just wasn’t up to standard for me.
Don’t get me wrong it was good where it was good but a few key things I had to note.
First and for most, when I come into a restaurant and things are ALL OVER THE PLACE messy, I’m a little turned off.
The coolers were unhooked and completely disassembled, things were a mess in the kitchen, and behind the bar was rather… eh… dirty.
It just looked like they were getting ready for a re haul or something.
But I can forgive that as long as the food is great.
Well… it wasn’t amazing, it was just mediocre. My waitress was very nice and attentive though, and the sushi chef was a nice guy too, but the fish was still frozen.
I got a sushi sampler and the white tuna had ice crystals in it. I literally crunched down on some ice. little off putting, but the flavor of this fish was good, so points for that.
Got the OMG roll because I really wasn’t feeling rice that day and well who doesn’t like tempura softshell crab? Tempura tasted burnt and somewhat chemically, like they hadn’t changed the fryer in a week. kind of ruined the whole roll itself, but it was manageable.
I ate it all because while I wasn’t amazed with it, it was still good enough to eat and I did enjoy it, just I’ve had way better so I was rather disappointed.
Still left a nice tip for the waitress and sushi chef but I probably won’t go back to that location, not really worth the $ 35 I spent.

This one is a tough place to review: I’m convinced this place is quite a bargain and the food of good quality. However, I can’t recommend this place if you have to be in and out in a fairly reasonable time.
The lunch special is great: you can choose three dishes for the price of $ 10.95. The bulgogi is flavorful, and the sushi is good. My coworker enjoyed the teriyaki wings, but felt they were a bit small.
I’ve had mixed experiences with service. Last time I was there, it felt like it took too long to get all our food. It got to the point I worried we’d have to leave before the food was ready.
Overall, I’d say this place is a great deal, but consider time when you stop by.

My good friend recommended this place for sushi and I must say — Sushi Zen did not disappoint! I had the best sushi at a reasonable price! The service is great and you are greeted with smiles! The restaurant staff was courteous and on top of it!
I had 3 different types; a Philadelphia roll, Fried Calamari roll and a jalapeño type roll… all were hella good! Their sushi hit the spot! I must say the protons were plentiful and for the price — you just can’t beat it!
The ambiance is classy and they play good music while having sports on two televisions! There is a good vibe there and can’t wait to go back!

I showed up at lunch on a Thursday with my best friend and really did not know what to expect when we pulled up to the strip mall façade. Not having any expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by the décor and the vibe that I was experiencing in the middle of the day. An immediate sincere greeting and lots of smiles (staff and customers alike), my interest was now piqued. The restaurant was clean and the staff professional and proficient.
Our server was solid and was on point during his rounds to our table. Ordering from the menu was simple and easy, yet there were plenty of options. The food came out within ten minutes. If you have any other experience at a sushi joint, generally you are going to have to wait for a bit (the price of sushi — so to speak).
Your lunch choice of three sushi rolls for $ 10 at a sit down restaurant is a rarity in El Paso. With every morsel of sushi I consumed, the more I began to enjoy my eating experience. I am definitely coming back!

The lunch special is perfect for the college students (located right next to UTEP and all…). Just $ 10 for three items from their lunch menu– oh, you’ll definitely be stuffed.
Out of all the sushi restaurants I’ve tried in El Paso, this one is probably the most decent. The sushi is well made with good ingredients for a reasonable price.
I had the shrimp tempura appetizer, storm roll, and amigo roll. Everything was pretty good and I left full and satisfied. I just wasn’t ‘wow’ed by the sushi; its presentation nor the taste.
The service was fine and the restaurant’s décor is modern and comfortable.
I would probably return and try the dinner menu with different types of sushi.