Zzaam Korean Restaurant

It’s not the most authentic Korean food in Richmond but the modern chipotle-​like concept is smart. Bibimbap can conceptually be made with whatever the heck you want and I appreciate that along with traditional toppings (bean sprouts, carrots, and kimchi) Zzaam also offers some toppings, like edamame, that I wouldn’t have originally thought about. I also think the price is great for the portion size (at least for the rice bowl). I really dislike being charged $ 1 for an egg but I understand business is business. If a fried egg was offered as one of the topping options I think that would be a positive change.

Tasty choices. I had:
1. Chicken taco with kimchi, corn & Korean taco sauce,
1. Beef taco with pickled radish, corn & Korean taco sauce,
1. Pork taco with cucumber salad, corn & Korean taco sauce.
All were tasty, but I really liked the pickled radish.
Wife & child seemed to like their food as well
I was a little bothered by the amount of grime & food that was visible in the Cook line area. Some of it could have been from today, but only some. Much of what I could see has been there for quite a while. They are lucky the health department didn’t come in. I’m afraid to see what the rest of the kitchen looks like.
If it looks cleaner in the future, maybe I will add another star.

Great food! Similar to Chipotle with the ordering style, but Korean food with fresh, quality ingredients. I had a noodle bowl with tofu. Pickled radish, an egg and kimchi on top. So delicious. A great concept that would do well in any town. Like Fredericksburg, Va. That was a broad hint. If you’re in Carytown, and you like Korean food, stop in. If you don’t like Korean food, still stop in. This place will convert you.

Sad to give this place a 1 star but was extremely disappointed. As a Korean, I can say their quality is very poor, from the meat to the flavor of their dishes. I understand this place is VERY Americanized and not authentic at all but come on, at least keep the flavors the same!
I came here with the boyfriend and went to town on their menu.
We got a large rice bowl: Lots of choices but whats the point of choices when everything is bland?
broth noodle bowl: it was like noodles in warm flavorless water. It was also really weird to put some of those protein choices in a soup base making them soggy.
Dumpling soup (Mandoo Guk): same water broth as the noodle soup! GROSS. and 100% they use frozen dumplings but what can you expect?
Zapaghetti: cost was 8.95 sorry but i can make it taste better from instant noodles that cost $ 1.
crab pancakes: this was probably the best thing on the menu that we tried.
Overall, did not like, would go to the other Korean spots that are in Richmond. They are so much better!
TIP: If you haven’t tried Korean food, I would highly recommend going somewhere else in Richmond, just Unilocal them!

Great food. Like a Korean version of chipotle with a million more options. I highly recommend asking the folks behind the counter what they like. They always make me something good. They have fun, cozy, if a little cliché décor. A great outdoor patio area and a dedicated parking lot. For those of you who know carytown, you know how great this is. Bathrooms are always clean a well-​stocked. They have an alcohol selection that far exceeds expectations. This is one of the few Richmond places I could see blowing up and becoming world-​famous. The food is THAT good for VERY low prices. If you want fast-​casual food that is interesting, this is your place.
I’m giving four stars because they got rid of the Coke freestyle machine and I LOVED that thing. They do everything else SO well, it seems like a disservice to be just average at something.

I ordered some Zzaam the other night. The taste was fresh, and the service was quick for delivery to my neighborhood. Everything in the chicken bowl was nicely portioned, and flavors in the bowl went together nicely. The flavors subsided when it came to the soup, unfortunately. I’m a huge soup lover, so this may be me being picky. I have heard the comparison to Chipotle, which I can understand. I am just glad some fast casual Asian places keep popping up around town. I would like to give some other bowl combinations a try– hard to judge a place like this off one visit.

So yummy. I had salad with porkbelly and ginger dressing. Music and atmosphere are great.

I love this place. It has all the right mixture of a great asian fusion restaurant with fast food concept. Someone said «Korean Chiptole» and that is true. The owner is aiming for that but making it better with Korean style meat, toppings and sauce. This is better than chipotle for the following reasons:
— Korean style pork, kalbi and chicken have more flavor than just hot or grilled or pulled
— Kimchee adds tons of flavor replacing the need for pickles, hot sauce and lettuce and it adds texture into every bite
— Korean inspired sauces are going to have some serious kick and flavor also
— There’s beer, wine, sake and soju; what else can you ask for?
It’s not your authentic Korean food so don’t go expecting that kind of experience here. This is after all asian fusion, fast food style cuisine with local craft beer. There’s live band playing at times and outdoor seating with a Parking Lot for your convenience.
They will be expanding their menu to include Korean Style Street Ramen which I was privileged to have experienced in while in town. So what are you waiting for?

I was very excited to try this place out because I’ve heard good things about the food truck! I’m from the west coast, so we take food trucks seriously. Anyways, I stopped in on a Tuesday after the gym, which is their $ 2 Taco day. I was a bit disappointed when I walked in. I didn’t feel a Korean vibe at all. It just looked like a chipotle that wasn’t finished on the inside. But I didn’t come for the décor, I came for the food.
Everything seemed great from choosing what to get. I got 2 chickens & a tofu taco. I wanted to spice it up so I told the dude to give me the spiciest sauce they have. He proceeded to tell me that I may want to drink a lot of water… Now it was time to eat.
As I was adoring my food until I began to eat. In all honesty, I just wasn’t impressed that much. It was just bland to me. Even with the spiciest sauce, I was a lost soul. I needed flavor & it wasn’t there. Maybe it was an off day. We all have those but that didn’t save me from crying on the inside. Would I come back? Maybe. Would I recommend this place to others? Yes. Why? Because this place deserves others to try their food. Just because I had a «got damn it. I shoulda went to 711» moment, don’t let that stop you. I’ll just stick with Jkogi for a minute

Korean Chipotle… yep, sounds about right.
Rice bowls, noodle soups, baos, and dumplings are all available here. We opted for a build your own rice bowl and to me it was just okay. You have the option for meat, up to 5 veggies/​add ons, and a sauce. We got the pork, added a few vegs as well as a fried egg (I would skip this. it is already pre-​fried and it was just cold/​rubbery) and one of their sauces. Overall it wasn’t all that memorable but I did appreciate that they had brown rice available and the meat was nicely seasoned. Towards the bottom of the bowl everything got kinda wet from probably the veggies and it was just not that appetizing anymore. Also got their bao which was standard, nothing too special.
Several beers on tap and a lot of space, probably pretty good for large groups for a get together. The employees were pretty friendly and everything was really clean. I don’t know if I would come back in a huge hurry, but I wouldn’t cross them off my radar.

This place is smart. I’ve been here a few times for lunch and you really can’t beat the portions, price and conveinence. They have their own parking lot! In Carytown, this is huge. They’ve also just finished their patio outdoor which is half covered and looks great. On my trip today I was excited to see a «dog seating» area outside (away from the main patio seating). Again, smart!
The food is good and you get to create your own bowl or burrito so as long as you pick things you like… It’s pretty fail proof! I agree with a previous mention that its like a Korean Chipotle. So you might not choose this for a first date but its a cool spot, with beer and wine to boot.

If Chipotle had a Korean cousin, this restaurant would be their best friend. It’s a fast casual dining experience located right in the heart of Carytown. You first start off by choosing your base, either a rice bowl, a burrito, or a noodle based (I think there were two kinds). We got the brown rice bowl and you can then select your choice of protein: beef, chicken, pork, spicy pork or tofu. We got the spicy pork and then you can pick up to six vegetable ingredients/​toppings. We also topped it off with a fried egg which was pre made and looked chewy. you can definitely skip that. Then after all that, you finally get to pick your sauces and we chose the Zzam sauce of course which has a really nice to kick to it but the flavors didn’t really wow me.
The spicy pork was just okay and our overall bowl was also just A-​OK. It’s pretty on par with the other Korean fast casual restaurant: Gogi BiBimBap. I was hoping for this place to really kick it up a notch as far as Korean food and especially their flavors but it wasn’t there for me. We also got two buns but they gave us pork instead of chicken.
I like the vibe and décor though as it’s very Richmond and you’ll see when you come. Great location and the prices are fair but I probably won’t be in any rush to come back here.

I have been here a few times this year and so far never subpar. Simple idea but unique take on the fast, casual restaurant trend.
I order the pork belly every single time, it is very good. If you have never had it you are missing out. They have a decent beer selection and patio area.

Popped into Zzaam earlier for lunch (pronounced ZOM). I find myself in Carytown very often and instead of going to my tried and true favorites, I decided to try something new today. I’m a huge Chipotle fiend so any fast casual restaurant that’s similar to Chipotle, I’m all in.
The service at Zzaam is great. They were patient with me and guided me through the process of choosing my bowl. I chose a small bowl with brown rice and beef. They let me taste the spicy chicken and beef. Although both were good, I went with beef. I was super surprised that we could add in 6 veggies. I actually didn’t know where to start. After salivating a bit, I ended up choosing bean sprouts, carrots, lettuce, black beans, and something else that I don’t remember. We topped it all off with a mixture of ginger and teriyaki sauce.
I sat down to devour it all on their happenin’ outdoor patio. The bowl was good, but next time I think I would add some different ingredients. I wasn’t really feeling the teriyaki sauce. It was really sweet and I tend to shy away from mixing sweet with savory in my meals.
Overall, really cool local spot to hang out and grab lunch!

Came to grab quick dinner with my boyfriend and ordered two bowls: one noodle bowl, one rice bowl. Their prices are fair but ‘you get what you pay for’ so don’t expect overflowing chipotle bowls despite the similar concept. Ordering food is straight forward and exactly the same as chipotle but this time you can get seafood pancakes and runny eggs. They also serve alcohol which is actually really cool.
Cons: They are quite reluctant to give more than a small portion of any protien and have itty-​bitty tongs to grab meat and sides, so I was pretty dissapointed there. Overall, I’d come back but JKogi is still better.

4 stars because the food doesn’t taste like authentic Korean food though it was still pretty delicious.
Just think of chipotle but Korean style. You choose the type of bowl you want and then the meat and everything else that gets added into the bowl.
It’s a pretty cool place to hang with your friends and that have a good beer choices on tap if you’re looking for that.

This review is a generous 4 leaning a little more towards a 3.5. I love the concept of a fast-​casual Korean restaurant, but there are a few kinks they need to work out before I’d rush back. We went on a Sunday at noon and they ended up being slammed with churchgoers. We had to wait for a good long time because none of the employees really had any sense of urgency. Even though the line was growing by the second, each employee seemed to be in no rush to move through the line, taking their time to put on each and every topping.
As for the food, its is good, but I think I need to refine my order. I got a spicy pork burrito, which was delish, but just way too messy to eat as a burrito. The sauce the pork is in is just way too thin and watery, leaving your tortilla and hands a sopping mess. If you add any sauce to it, it just become a nightmare to eat. I ended up throwing away my tortilla and eating it as a bowl. We decided to share an order of crab pancakes, which were my favorite thing I tried. They seem like the perfect greasy and low-​cost street food you might actually find in Asia.
As I said, I liked it, but I won’t be rushing back anytime soon. When I do, you better believe I will order a bowl instead.

This is like a Korean Chipotle!
You walk down the line picking rice or noodles, then meat, 6 veggies and sauce. All for a reasonable $ 7 or so.
I had a rice bowl with spicy pork which was good. My co-​worker had a beef noodle bowl with broth, which actually looked better than mine.
They also serve beer. I am not sure what time close, but it seems a good place to stop late at night after a few drinks in Carytown.
Downside is the parking lot. Not many spaces and they are really tight. But I guess it is nice they have any off-​street spaces considering the location (Carytown).

Zzaam is pretty good. A fair comparison I’ve heard is that it’s sort of like an Asian Chipotle, minus the salmonella and basic white girls.
They are a Korean fast casual dining spot in Carytown that replaced the once longstanding Carytown Cleaners. They offer a variety of hot bowl options, but my favorite being the dolsot, or «hot bibimbap» dish. It comes with your choice of white or brown rice, meat, five vegetables and sauce. You can make it as mild or spicy as you like.
The price is pretty fair, and the have a Coca Cola Freestyle machine so that’s pretty rad. Personally, I like Gogi Bibimbap better, but I digress. B+

I think I just found my new obsession.
I never did Zzaam the food truck, so lunch with a coworker at the new permanent location in Carytown was my first experience. Now let me be clear. I happen to love sweet and spicy anything. And pickled anything. So when I told the girl at the front of the prep line she knew exactly what to make. Spicy pork rice Bowl with pickled everything and sweet and spicy sauces.
It was like Chipotle in terms of the process but with more flair as a restaurant and obviously totally different style of food. But man, the food was awesome. Fresh and exciting with bold flavor profiles.
And I promise you won’t leave hungry. In fact, it’s really more food than I needed. But I ate every last bite!
Anyway, I love it. I’ll be back soon for sure.