Zen Kitchen really feels more like a quirky little pizza shop you might find in a larger city like…read moreAustin. The restaurant holds about 50 people, and there are individual chairs, small tables, or community seating for the arrangement that suits your party. The menu is impressive, offering lots of unique ingredients, and the food tastes fresh and delicious. I ordered the Pizza lunch special, with a small personal pizza and a salad. I really appreciated the use of reusable trays and tableware. The staff is very knowledgeable about the food, and refreshingly knowledgeable about dietary restrictions and allergens. I would be happy to eat here again.

Yes I posted this review on Google, yes I'm posting it here. I don't care…read more To preface, I'm out of town for a business trip. Along with this awful economy, per diem reimbursement is pretty important to me and my family. So, the very first thing I told the bartender was "please make sure my alcohol is separate from my food on the receipt." They nod, as if they understood. Ambiance was great. It was giving industrial burger joint vibes, but they had Harry Potter trivia, very family oriented and clean. When they opened my tab, two bartenders were having trouble getting it to tap because the POS system they use is called "Toast" and while it works, it's not consistent. (Source: Used Toast for years in about 4 different restaurants.) The next question I ask, is if the bartender can recommend me anything. I'm assuming this person was new, because they recommended me the house salsa and all the said about it was "good, and it's homemade," like that was supposed to add to it. I said "I'll check it out on the menu, thanks!" because I was really looking forward to trying something new and local. I also asked for drink recommendations, did not get an answer, just "light or stout." (This place has "craft" in the name and additionally has a huge sign that says "craft cocktails," why not upsell me on something unique, not sure.) I ended up ordering a watermelon Mojito, and the Smoked Gouda & Brisket Pizza. The mojito comes out, it's a regular mojito, absolutely 0 watermelon but on par with something from Chilis. All I tasted was sour, and instead of there being simple syrup, they just toss in a bunch of sugar??? Very odd, wasn't dissolved, but the drink was so bad, every grain of sugar was almost like a break from the sour lol. Few minutes later, I hear my name being called to pick up the house salsa?? They ask if I ordered, bartender asks, and I say no, because I really just wanted a recommendation. Salsa would be the last option for me. The owner/manager I'm guessing takes it off, then hands me salsa. Cool, thank you!! The salsa itself, uhm. It was good. Nothing amazing. You can tell they don't like their flavor here because it just tasted like tomato's and salt. The chips are straight store-bought tortilla chips. Either Tostitos, or the Yellow Calidad brand. Either way, the appetizer was definitely not worth the $6-7 they were asking, so thank god it was free. Alright, cool, got my wannabe mojito, got my house made salsa with store bought chips, listening to trivia, I'm vibing. This is actually where I leave my initial review, all positive because you can tell they're still getting the hang of things. Whatever, as long as my alcohol is split off the bill like the bartender promised me. Pizza comes out. This is where I'm like, yeah this place is pretty mid. It's a brisket and Gouda pizza, so I'm expecting grease. But holy moly, it looks like they took maybe half a handful of brisket, then added a scoop of brisket grease on top of the cheese. "Finished with pickled red onions," bro they put a spoonful of these red onions in the smack dab middle of the pizza. So when you grab a slice, unless you traveled through the pool of grease to spread the red onions, the red onions just fall off onto the plate. Flavor was great, but I had to tilt each slice and use the force of gravity to drain majority of the grease off. Crust had 0 flavor, and at one point was so hard/chewy, it felt like I was biting a bike tire. Alright, still enjoying my time. It's mid food, but the vibe is nice and no one has been rude to me. So I go ahead and ask for a box, and to close my tab. I pack my food, tell the bartender to close my tab. Tab gets back, and instead of giving me the option to pay it after I check the receipt, they just charge it. Once it's been charged, you cannot split the tab. (Again, used Toast for quite a long time) Why even acknowledge my request in the beginning if it's going to be ignored? It takes about 2 seconds to split the drinks off onto a different seat/table/section, so why not even ask if you told me yes in the beginning. All in all, very ALRIGHT place. Wouldn't come back. It's very bland and you'll find a good 15 of these types of restaurants in a single square mile of Austin Tx. If the employees can't figure out Toast, then the ordering system needs to be changed to something more rudimentary. There were 2 different misunderstandings, and while I get it's a newer place, it's quite infuriating to not be reimbursed for such a mediocre experience. 3/10 if you travel, you'll come across a million of these, nothing new. Now imagine this pizza with all the red onions just piled in the middle for artistic pizazz.