Zengo

Whether you’re going for brunch, for a drink or dinner, Zengo is always fun. If you’re not from DC and want to go during the weekend, know that you absolutely need to make a reservation.
Brunch: great selection of small plates and bottomless mimosa of different flavors (a little too sweet but still good)! I love the waffles and the passion fruit and pomegranate mimosas.
Happy hour: drinks and small plates around $ 5 – 6 but terrible liquor quality (just letting you know… this is only my opinion).

Terrible. The service is abysmally slow and just awful. I had previously been to Zengo twice and had given it 5 stars both times, but I really can’t say that about my most recent experience there. My fiancé and I visited for dinner before we went to a Muse concert at the Verizon Center nearby. We got to the restaurant around 6:15pm and our concert didn’t start until 7:30pm, so we figured we had enough time to eat. But by 7:15, we had only received 2 of our small plates and still had several more on the way. We asked our waitress, but she was not proactive about it and she sort of had an attitude. I then got a salad, but it wasn’t the one I had ordered. I had ordered a tuna salad, but they brought me a chicken salad. I sent it back and asked our waitress, who said she didn’t know how long it would take for the salad that I actually ordered to be ready. We ultimately ended up asking to cancel the rest of our order and we got the check and left, still hungry.
Don’t get me wrong — the food is fantastic! And so are the drinks! My fiancé ordered the Shrimp tacos and I ordered the seafood ceviche and we at least had gotten those. They were quite tasty. And we also enjoyed the drinks (strawberry Capirihna for me and a Zengo mojito for my fiancé). But taking an hour for the rest of our food is unacceptable. And having a bad attitude is also unacceptable. We wanted to speak to the manager, but we had no time at all.
And this wasn’t the first time the service was slow. Last time I visited, it was also abysmally slow (especially when trying to get the check and leave), but it wasn’t as egregious.
Really disappointing. Based on this experience, I doubt I’d go back again.

Went here on a brunch date and the food is amazing! Think we tried every brunch item on the menu and it was amazing! Favorites were bacon fried rice, bacon brusselsprouts, and the lobster grits. Only did the food brunch but would definitely like to come back for a happy hour!

If you don’t eat here you are an idiot! The duck confit tacos are amazing. We ordered several dishes. This is a tapas style restaurant. We sat at the bar for a couple of drinks then was seated upstairs in restaurant. The food was amazing and so was the service. No visit to DC is complete without experiencing Zengo. I don’t know if the chef understood my compliment but who cares because the food was outstanding. Restaurant is pricey but food is worth it!

Went on 1÷31÷16 for their boozy brunch.
Beautiful restaurant, good service, but the food and drinks were horrible. BE WARNED do not come here for brunch. Save your $ 50 (including tax and tip) and go to Agora, Masa 14, Cava Mezze, and other.
I am Venezuelan and I a fan of Asian cuisine — in other words, I enjoy spicy and flavorful food. Upon reading the menu I recognized every fusion and dish and I was quite excited to try this restaurant that everyone wrote stellar reviews for.
—DRINKS—
Bloody Mary needed more salt. It was watered down.
Guava, Passion Fruit, Orange mimosas were mostly flavored champagne. It was artificially flavored mimosas. It was not fresh orange juice, there was no guava purée, the Passion Fruit DOES NOT taste like passion fruit.
Sangria Sake –basically, fruit punch flavored sake
—FOOD—
Edamame and brussel sprouts were burnt (black surfaces)
Ceviche was not done well, the shrimp was mild in lemon flavor.
The pork arepas, was ok the pork had too much seasoning (unfortunately) the arepas did not taste like them (I could make better myself)
None of the dishes were memorable. Even at my drunken state the flavor was not appetizing and the presentation failed to retain the authenticity of its individual elements.
You could tell the ingredients were put together poorly and quite frankly some of the dishes tasted prepackaged items from the frozen isle in a Giant Supermarket.
I spent $ 50 on bland floor. I URGE you guys to PLEASE change your cooking staff or better yet, send them to some culinary development workshops. Again kudos to the waitressing staff. This review was solely critiquing the food.

Went during RW the food the was great and the drinks were even better. We sat at the bar and John was our bartender, he was awesome!

Delicious, but after telling the server I was allergic to nuts I was served a side papaya salad with a couple peanuts in it. I don’t feel comfortable going back myself, but what I was able to eat was really good.

LOng stOry with the Zengo.
The first i came, during a sunday brunch, i had to throw out in the reatrOom since the barman was serving 100% glass mimOsa ebem if yOu cOuldn’t take it. I fOund it fun at the time.
2 years later, i’m having a farewell party frOm the Office.
Service is fine. Food is fine. AlcOol is fone tOo. But i stayed cOnfused in frOnt of the favt that the barmaid was dOing her Own blend wine with the several bOttles ordered at Our table.
So gOod fOod, as sOon ad tOu’re nOt gOing tO deep in the fried meals, gOod wine as sOon as they dOn’t blend it, and nice ambiance.
Fortunately the churroa came in an infinite way during the dessert time so i’m happy with it.
In term of meal, Zengo is meaning sharing. So share the fOod with the peOple arOund and enjOy the discOvery.
Just, take care tO the mimOsa Man!!!

Always an awesome dining experience. Tried brunch for the first time today — great deal! Unlimited everything — despite the common assumption that unlimited food plates equal the quality of a buffet — the food was great. Every plate that came out was tasty, seasoned correctly and played beautifully. Aside from brunch this place can be pricy, but it’s worth it. come here when you feel like treating yourself. Like all Richard Sandoval restaurants, the décor is on point.

This review is for brunch only…
I went to Saturday brunch at Zengo the day after Christmas. To my surprise, it wasn’t nearly as packed as we expected. We had a party of 8 so we made reservations well in advance (thanks to suggestions from other Unilocalers). We came for the bottomless brunch; which was $ 39 and included unlimited drinks and small plates. If I recall correctly, tea and coffee weren’t unlimited, only the «alcoholic beverages.» For some, that’s not a big deal but for me, it was a bit of a bummer since I didn’t want to drink any alcohol that day.
Nonetheless, the service was fine and the food was tasty. The menu is rather eclectic but since they’re small plates, nothing was too overwhelming.
All in all, this was a nice place for brunch with a large group.

This is a review for the brunch. It’s a bottomless drink and food brunch. Almost all the dishes we had we loved. My favorite mimosa was the pomegranate.
Service was good too.

Pretty much the WORST brunch we’ve EVER experienced. We came on Sunday for their bottomless brunch for $ 39, which includes unlimited plates and brunch drinks. Right away we experienced horrendous service, as the server in the dining room downstairs gave us attitude when she found out we were doing the brunch upstairs. Okay…
We walk into the dining room upstairs to 2 loud parties of approx. 18 – 20 Asian patrons SCREAMING and laughing at the top of their lungs. We are seated next to them. The next couple servers we encounter were similarly unfriendly and apathetic. We inform our server we’re doing the bottomless brunch and begin ordering. Their bloody marys had very little alcohol in them so I would stick to the mimosas, which are equally watered down. With the exception of the steamed buns, arepas, and chilaquiles, literally every single item on their brunch menu was absolutely terrible. No exaggeration. The salmon benedict was actually offensive; I would put money on that being farm-​raised, 2 day old salmon sitting out overnight. We’re lucky we didn’t leave with food poisoning, no joke.
The large party of people were NOT being managed by the staffed and they began getting hostile and aggressive towards other patrons, our table included. Apparently they have a 2 hour limit that this party well-​exceeded. No management present or enforcing any of this. Why wasn’t this enormous, rowdy, and rude party put into their private dining room meant for large parties? Literally they were disturbing everyone in the dining room.
Their bathrooms were dirty and underserviced, with a couple tissue boxes thrown in place of paper towels they had apparently ran out of. Who the hell is running this place? Service was abysmal, food was awful, ambiance was loud, and clientele was trashy, rude and cheap. Guess what, for $ 39 of unlimited food & drinks… you get what you pay for. Never. Again.

Came here for Christmas Eve dinner after work. We’ve been here a couple of times but not recently. Our server was Erica so it was easy for me to remember since I’m Eric :) She was almost too polite and made me feel old with all the sir stuff. My wife had the scallops and she raved about the mushrooms even more than the scallops. Was presented in a large shell for effect. She had a mojito that was very good according to her. I had the Bulgogi Tacos and they were tasty as well. For dessert I had the Mexican hot chocolate ice cream. It was just ok but came with some cookies, daughter had churros and my wife had the Asian pear empanadas and she was very pleased. It was a quiet night so it allowed for us to chat without having to raise our voices.
Hats off to Erica for the good service. Don’t call me sir next time and we’re good ;)

I’ve heard this place is great for brunch, but I went for dinner and it was all over the place. We got the thai ceviche, broiled scallop, bulgogi tacos, and zengo fried rice.
The dinner started off with the ceviche, which would have been the best way to start out BUT it was absolutely disgusting. Literally the worst ceviche I’ve ever had in my entire life. It tasted so fishy that I felt like it had been left out for hours next to an open trashcan just soaking up the smell and I could feel myself getting food poisoning (I didn’t, but doesn’t change how horrid it was).
The rest of the food was alright. Nothing to write home about, but I will note that the fried rice tasted oddly like phở.

I went to Zengo with a large group (15) on a Saturday for Brunch. We made a reservation via Open Table for 8 people, about two weeks in advance. However, as time went on, the number of attendees grew and we wound up making a second reservation for 6. Once we got to Zengo (approx. 11:30), it was already pretty busy on the upper floor. We saw a large table available and asked if we could combine our two parties and sit there. The hostess asked the manager and, instead, they gave us the large room in the back! That room could probably seat a good 25 people comfortably, so it was really nice of them to offer it to us. :)
We got the bottomless brunch option (obviously) and the food just kept coming! When you go in a small group, usually each individual orders their own dishes. The server suggested that since we were a large group they would just bring out some of EVERYTHING — and ensure there’s enough so that each person got to try at least one of everything. Anything we really enjoyed, we requested extras of. My favorites: empanadas, crispy tofu, brussel sprouts and the pork tacos. What I could go without: ceviche (too tangy) and the arepas (kinda dry).
The staff were all really friendly and attentive! 5 stars for the service but 4 for the food.

So I had another visit at Zengo.
I have to admit that even though I had a great time, I don’t think they deserve 5 stars for the food, more like 4. However, I will keep the 5 stars as the service was great, and the overall visit was really good, and I do think it’s a good place to eat and drink at.
So, what we took this time is as following:
* SEA VEGETABLE SALAD ($ 9) — it was tasty, and the size was decent.
* WOK TOSSED RICE NOODLES ($ 10) — great dish!!! It come with half-​raw egg on top, and mixing it all together gives great interesting flavors.
* BROILED SCALLOP ($ 8) — OK, so this is outrageous — only one scallop is in this dish. It’s beautiful dish, that’s for sure, but one?! I think this is ridiculous. And btw, it tasted nice, but not more than that.
* SHORT RIB UDON NOODLE ($ 16) — pretty good, bit spicy.
* ASIAN PEAR EMPANADAS ($ 7) — our server really recommended us taking this dessert — so we decided to try it. It was definitely worth it! I never had empanadas for dessert, and they created here something very special. It might have been a little too sweet, but perhaps it’s only me as I’m less a sweets person.

I thought they made a good attempt at Latin/​Asian fusion cooking. Very interesting eclectic menu. Some items were truly fusion and a few fairly standard Asian cooking.
Our server was great and we liked our selections. Great place for sampling small plates tapas style.
Good price/​value for DC. Make reservations it gets crowded.

Unlimited brunch here was amazing! At times they were slow with the refills. We were a table of 8 and everyone had their favorite dishes. The food here is pretty awesome. The décor and atmosphere was great for brunch as well.
These 4 were the table favs
*Empanadas
*Bacon Fried Rice
*Meatballs
*Handi Pandan Pancakes
There was an odd complaint that some pieces of Angry Zen Roll had bones in it. I didn’t have a piece with bones but 2 – 3 of my tablemates did.
I would definitely return for brunch. I would maybe try a happy hour.

Holy tapas, batman. This place is a must. $ 39 gets you unlimited drinks and tapas, not a bad deal.
Naturally I tried all the drinks. Bloody Mary was meh, but the flavored mimosas were delicious. Guava was my favorite. Towards the end we started getting crafty and mixing them together, which I definitely recommend, especially if you have an awesome server like ours.
We said we wanted everything on the menu so they just kept bringing out plates of deliciousness. My favorites were the crispy tofu (and I’m not generally a tofu fan), angry roll, bacon and scrambled egg steamed bun (I could eat 10 of those), bacon roasted Brussel sprouts, Peking duck chilaquiles, and the bacon and eggs (the bacon is cooked and seasoned to perfection).
Since its unlimited, you can just keep ordering anything you liked. I will definitely be back here!

Two words. Bottomless. Mimosas. I’ve tried to find it. The bottom that is. I failed, utterly and tragically.
I haven’t been here on a regular weeknight or weekend, but I don’t have to, nor do I plan to. There is only one day you should even bother going and that is on Sunday for brunch. All you can drink mimosas (there are something like 4 different flavors– you need to have 4 to 8 rounds of all of them… you know… to really get the subtle flavor profiles of each) and all you can eat small plates.
It’s $ 40 a person, but that’s nothing when we’re talking about bringing a bunch of friends and having a great time over food and killing your hangover with endless mimosas.
Everyone has their own favorite small plate, but my absolute favorite are the pork arepas. To die for. I’m drooling as I type this now.
See you there Sunday.