Zen Palate

It is now out of business. It used to be one of the best in the city, but it was declining in recent years & now it is only an empty storefront. Sad to see it go…

Um… well… yea… sorta mushy and bland. Not sure if claiming to be near or a part of the «Hell’s Kitchen» name is supposed to make a food joint «good» or «hip» or whatever, but this place was… not good.
The sticky rice was far from it and tasted like it was burnt in some weird oil. The brown rice was good but yea… um… not good. Rubbery… aweful… Nothing like it sounded. Don’t do it. Sorry… but it was bad.

Delicious veggie food.

I’ve wanted to try its food for a long time; finally, I ordered a lunch special Shredded Melody (pick-​up) today.
However, when I walked in to pick up my order, I found the server looked sullen and impatient. Well, I know that it was a pick-​up and I shouldn’t expect any service, but his bad attitude really annoyed me. After I paid, he didn’t even get my food for me: it was put on a dinning table, and he used his head to point out where the food was and let me to get it by myself! Oh! Did this person ever get any training? If he didn’t, he should not act like that, it was so impolite!
Now let’s talk about the food~
It’s OK, just Ok~ didn’t taste delicious, and most of the taste came from the garlic sauce, which people can buy at any grocery store where has international food section.
The Spring Rolls were too oily.
I won’t come to the Zen Palate again!

I went in on a busy Friday. When I walked through the doors, there was no acknowledgment of us being there. We just waited and hoped for the best. When we finally sat, we noticed they had happy hour, except their happy hour was just for their wines. Upon further inspection, we realize that it’s always happy hour (AKA cheap wine).
We got the appetizer combo, which was tasteless. My friend got a mushroom dish, which was pretty flavorful. I got the tempeh, ugh. It still had the packaged frozen taste to it.

This is so-​so vegetarian food. Nothing was great, just OK. Things were mostly bland and rubbery if I had to describe. Tried the wonton soup, spring rolls, grilled marinated seitan (this was pretty good — best out of everything) and the peking style zen duck wrap. The duck wrap sounded fancy but it was really bland — all you could taste was the bean sprouts inside — the duck itself lacked the necessary flavor and texture.
I also tried some of my friends sesame medallions — decent taste but pretty rubbery. Oh and desserts were pretty bland too — tried the blueberry cheesecake and key lime pie.
Service was also just OK — not unfriendly but not exactly friendly and accommodating. It wasn’t a bad experience but not a particularly great one either. Had to flag down for drink order.
They do serve alcohol here — hot sake; plum wine; regular wine; and beer (Corona, Heineken and Tsing Tao)
I wouldn’t come here again — way better vegetarian food in NYC.

Three words ! Horrible ! Tasteless ! Bad !
I am a vegan and have been to almost every vegan place in NY. I tried this place today and it was BAD! Food was bland and served lukewarm ! Not going back ever

This place is excellent. The prices are excellent and the food outstanding. I have eaten at higher end vegetarian restaurants that were not as tasty as this… Aside from being tasty… everything about the food was great… texture, presentation etc…
Another plus was that the alcohol was cheap. I will be returning here again.

Food was pretty on the plate, but cold and tasted microwaved. We were the only people in the restaurant and it took 10 minutes to even get our drink order since the waiter was too busy on his iPhone. Not the Zen Palate I remember and I’ll never return.

I used to really like this place; it was once a Vegetarian restaurant you could count on in Hell’s Kitchen. But the last few times I’ve gone, the quality of the food has been lacking. There are some dishes on the menu that are still quite tasty (the yam fries and the Mango Halo, for example), but their veggie burger is a travesty, and like a previous reviewer mentioned, the food comes out almost TOO fast, and is often not at an acceptable temperature, leading one to believe that they pre-​prep and then let food items sit for an indeterminate amount of time until some poor sap orders them.
My last two meals here have been during the lunch hour, so perhaps they’re a little more on the ball during dinner, but that’s no excuse. A good restaurant would be on point throughout the day. So, I’ll probably avoid these guys from now on. There are plenty of Thai places in the neighbourhood that offer Vegetarian options.

Setting: Hells Kitchen on a Saturday night. The first snowy winter day in the middle of the city.
We made reservations for us and a friends at 6pm and it was not packed. There were patrons and it was filling up as we left but I still expected more of a crowd.
We ordered Sweet and Sour Sensation, Wheel of Dharma, Salad, Miso Soup, and Scallion pancakes.
The food came out so fast. maybe a little too fast. But the service was good.
I wish that my food would have been a little hotter. The taste was good (but how could it not be considering it was smothered in Sweet and Sour sauce) and the quality of the protein was great but it did not seem very adventurous.
I am a fan of any Veggie place because they are not everywhere but for Hells Kitchen, this should be more of a Vegetarian staple.

Came here while on a business trip. The food was okay. Not the most flavorful sweet and sour sauce I’ve ever had. It was rather bland. The spring rolls were fantastic though. I actually ended up asking for two more.
The place is tiny, but the décor is cool and modern. The waiters were polite and sufficiently attentive.
All in all, decent vegetarian fare, but I’ve had waaaay better soy protein fake meat stuff before. They need to add some kick to their sauces. Pretty underwhelming, but you could do a lot worse for $ 12, especially in NYC.

Came here last night for dinner with a few friends because it’s down the street from my apartment. I’m vegetarian and love trying new veggie restaurants and Zen was really good. The ambiance is nice, and there weren’t many people because it was a Sunday night.
For appetizers, we got the Basil Peanut Moo Shu Rolls and the Grilled Marinated Seitan. The Moo Shu rolls weren’t that good, but the seitan was excellent. I’m a big fan of seitan and they cook it well.
We all shared three courses:
Temple of Zen — wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great either… your typical tofu w/​veggies type of dish. I just wish it had more flavor to it, but the kale was a nice touch.
E.T. — this was amazing… it was grilled eggplant and tofu with other veggies that came out sizzling on a platter.
Sesame Medallions — between this and the E.T., dinner was great. The sesame medallions were essentially sesame chicken (the gluten kind) that you would get at any other Asian-​style restaurant, but it was cooked nicely, and came with two spring rolls also.
I definitely will come back here again, although it is quite expensive too.

We really need to think of this place as a restaurant that has a nice sit down area but operates more like more basic Chinese restaurants. They cook and serve with a lightening speed that happens to specialize in non meat ingredients. You wouldn’t be surprised if these Chinese take out places bring food out in 5 minutes, right?
I appreciate their serving variety of dishes including desserts. Whenever you are on certain type of diet, it is really the key — how we can get variety of food so it doesn’t get boring and thus you can stick with it (if you choose to do so).
Cooking seitan/​soy protein can be really tricky. Since the ingredients are what they are, a bit too much sauce and it becomes too much. A bit too much water and it becomes rubbery. Too much heat/​not enough heat and they become not-​so-​pleasant food. So I really appreciate a restaurant like Zen Palate to tackle the dishes like sesame medallions and make them what they are.
Do they have a room for an improvement? Certainly. And some of the issues have been raised in some of the reviews posted. I hope they are paying attention to these constructive criticism.

Saw in the kitchen.
Not a good idea.
Big restaurant w/​a lot of tables.
Service wasn’t good. A lot of flagging was necessary but they came. The woman wasn’t particularly nice and was constantly rushed. This woman was the server for nearly the whole place it looked so I cannot blame her much but then lower your prices if ur cutting down on staff!
We had some ordering issues when I asked about some dishes but I think there was a language barrier which is cool but then maybe have someone explain the menu for you…
Portions were reasonable. Food came out fast. Had vegetable dumplings and Thai Salad. Friend had a curry tofu dish that she didn’t care for. I liked her vegetables. My food was really tasty but I had to use all of my dressings. HH wines 5 $. HH Sake 4 $ Not a full pour (on mine). Good deal though. BTW, I think it is always HH since there are no regular prices listed. Prices for entrees inflated. Some were ridiculous.
I don’t find most vegetarian places «healthy.» They cover the blandness with a lot of sauces and you end up w/​a lot of sugar and salt. Protein is limited and not unadulterated as it requires more of the above to make it flavorful. The vegetables are not organic so whats the point of vegetarian. But, nobody asked me so I’ll stop.
Bathroom not bad. Pretty clean
If someone wanted to come here, I would. It would not be on the top of my list nor would I suggest it but I would go and I know what I would order.

As a vegan I just love this place. It’s great to be able to order almost anything on the menu without having to ask the server to check with the chef about ingredients. It’s also a great place to bring your omnivore friends and family members because the food is just plain good. Not everything on the menu is amazing but they have enough hits to keep me coming back on a regular basis and the prices are very reasonable.
My personal favorites: spring rolls, autumn rolls, scallion pancakes, vegetable dumplings, yam fries and pan fried noodles. Also worth trying: seaweed & kale salad, pineapple fried rice, and wheel of dharma. Haven’t tried yet but I have high hopes for: the burgers, taste of curry and the desserts.

How oh how does This place survive in NY.
They expect tips for sub par service
And equally horrid food
The dumpling soup is basically boil water with drops of soy sauce n sub par dumplings. It tasted argh. Suffice to say I did not finish it.
Sesame medallion is basically rubber seitan flavored with bar b que sauce. I had to ask them to recoil beca it was cold
The spring rolls were oily n limpy n tasted like yesterday’s cabbage coated with oil.
Not the Zen I knew 7 yrs ago. Sorry to say not coming back.
Yucks yucks n double youcks.

I went here for lunch for the first time the other day, and it was great! Located in the sometimes chaotic district of Hell’s Kitchen, the restaurant was a nice escape, even with the full length floor to ceiling windows facing 9^th Avenue!
For lunch, they have a nice prix fix menu that my friend and I both ordered from. You can get a main dish that comes with sides (rice, spring rolls, broccoli, etc — sounds simple but are all done very well!) for $ 10 – 13, depending what you choose. The portions are sized perfectly and are filling and satisfying but aren’t too much to where you feel guilty and can’t eat the rest of the day! They have Japanese alchohol, including plum wine! During lunch these are like $ 4 – 5, not bad at all! During lunch there is also a full menu of non prix fix more expensive dishes, which we didn’t try, but sounded seriously amazing!
I am a vegetarian and this place is a real gem for me. I will definitely be back, I want to try everything on the menu! The service was good too, they don’t bug you but are helpful and attentive, I will definitely be back!

Nous voici dans un restaurant qui défend les valeurs du zen et du végétarisme, sur le papier ça part plutôt bien un soir où on a envie de manger tranquillement et sainement
Finalement l’ambiance est semblable à celle d’un petit restaurant de quartier, pas désagréable mais rien de spécialement zen né se dégage
Au menu pour nous ce soir là :
— Vegetable steam dumplings 6 $ les 6, pas mauvais mais à part le chou on né sent pas grand chose
— Sweet and Sour 10,50 $, texture particulière mais pas si «sweet and sour» que ça, il manqué quelque chose
— Tapestry Embrace 20 $, là vu le prix on peut s’attendre à quelque chose de vraiment bon quand même non … soyons honnêtes le champignon était vraiment très bon, mais le reste né nous laissera aucun souvenir…
A vous de voir, c’est éventuellement bien avec les formules lunch, mais le soir c’est bien trop cher pour ce que c’est…

I was wandering around looking for food in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood and noticed this vegetarian place was nearby that appeared to get good reviews on Unilocal,hence my choice. However, it appears the quality may be going downhill.
Based on recommendations, I got the sweet and sour sensation. But… I wasn’t a fan. It was far too sour with only flavorless rice and vegetables to balance it out. The service was okay, but I just felt kind of «meh» about the whole thing.

Went there with a
coupon on a sunday night.
There weren’t many people so we got seated right away. There was only one waiter (I’m guessing there might be another one further inside?). But anyway, my roommate and i ordered the sesame medallion since it was recommended a lot on Unilocal.Then we asked the waiter (the chinese guy) for any other recommendation, he suggested the stir fried soy soba noodle but we insisted to ask him what the red mist was (it was written on the chalk board in the restaurant) and he told us it was good too. So we ended up ordering the red mist and sesame medallion.
the dishes arrived within 10 mins of ordering! perfect! lots of broccoli and the waiter was super nice and gave us an extra bowl of brown rice and 2 extra taro spring roll for free!
the red mist was interesting in texture, tofu crêpe with mushrooms wrapped inside. on the side, the sauce is sorta thai flavored sweet and sour sauce (it said there was satay.) topped with onion and red pepper + rice noodles. the sesame medallion was great too! the only thing i would do the next time i order is to ask for more sauce for both the dishes.
for dessert, we ordered the hot melt chocolate cake. bad choice. sorry, it was pretty bad: soggy, mild warm (the chocolate inside wasn’t hot enough to melt out when we poked through the chocolate cake). it was floury and the texture just wasn’t great. the couple next to us ordered the banana bliss, and it looks far better than what we got for $ 4.50. anyway the bill came up to be $ 38 with 2 HUGE dishes + dessert (okay i bet that could feed 2 or 3 people) but with $ 25 off the bill came up to $ 11!
worth a try since it’s a good deal for vegetarian food!