Opens on Thanksgiving Day. Very good service, nice and spacious inside, and the food is excellent. The rose duck is absolutely amazing! This is the best duck ever! Even people not into duck still think the rose duck is amazing. The west lake soup, lamb in two ways, fresh shrimp with peppers, all very tasty. The shrimps are very nice and fresh. The soup was authentic and hot, which is very important for me when soup is served hot. If you close by or pass by, you have to check out this spot! read more

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The best Pékin Duck since my last visit in Beijing: no non sense cooking ... just perfect . Very pleasant restaurant ! The host a true gentleman ... I shall return .... Soon . Bravo, bravo No time to take photos ... just being in heaven read more

This place is a little pricey compared to others around the area but they're consistent with their dishes. Pictured is the Singapore Rice Noodles and Spring Roll. The spring roll is superior in my opinion. It was all delicious and the people there are kind and quick. read more

Zen Gardens - Singapore RiceNoodle - Chinese Near Me - South Burlington, Vermont

Back this year to Zen Gardens from California. Ordered the Tangerine Shrimp again. My hubby ordered Pork Chops and Spicy salt. Both were delicious! Also had peach oolong tea which we both enjoyed. If we lived nearby we would eat here regularly! read more

We did a take-out order, and were less than happy. Now, the order taker and greeter-deliverer were great and courteous, etc. The food. The chicken wings were seasoned (over-seasoned) with five spice, which gave them a decidedly cinnamon taste. And the shrimp in black bean sauce was kind of one note--cabbage--with little flavor coming from the "sauce." Fermented black beans were in evidence, but it was overall, disappointing. The spring roll was decent and the hot and sour soup was very good. read more

Good and service was great! I'm enjoy ordering from here at least once a week and the menu is very diverse. read more

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Ordered take out, saw the reviews, wanted what I thought was a standard across all Chinese Fast food, General Taos Chicken with Pork Fried Rice. Not here. Either you order the specialty dish @ $18 that only comes with white rice or you have to order the 1 qt side of Pork Fried Rice @ $10. I decided to just get the side of Pork Fried Rice with the Boneless Spare Ribs. Still a $24 meal. Took the leftover rice home for a snack later. The rice was phenomenal, spare ribs eh. The quality of the meat was not very high, almost every piece was more than 50% fat. Still I enjoyed it after cutting out the fatty parts. I could recommend this establishment solely on the Pork Fried Rice and the ambiance. Service was fast but the girl there seemed irritated, I guess I had to many questions on why I couldn't get the meal I wanted. I'm sure mgmt doesn't like to do any special requests so probably not her fault. Ill give them another visit next time in up in that area. We'll done Zen ! read more

Chinese Cuisine [South Burlington VT] Less than two miles from the "World's Tallest Filing Cabinet" we came here for dinner. The interior was nice and spacious and it wasn't too busy. We were seated immediately. We ordered Pepper Steak and Pork Fried Rice... and Wonton Soup to start. Food came out at a decent time and everything was delicious. The beef on the pepper steak was tender and flavors were amazing. Hubby didn't care for the bean sprouts on the fried rice and he spent half the time picking them out. I've never heard of fried rice w/ bean sprouts so we didn't instruct the waiter to leave them out. Anyway, the dishes had decent portions and good value for our money. Our server was attentive to our table and was quick to refill our glasses of water. There is a private dining area that can accommodate a large group. The private parking lot had ample parking. Except for the bean sprouts it was a pleasant dining experience. Review #3039 read more

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Friendly lady at the register. Usually very good. Disappointing tonight. Agree with previous reviewers, diced chicken and shrimp dish 90% celery. Not many shrimp. Bland. House Special Lo Mein lacked flavor and not much beef, pork or chicken...BBQ Spare Ribs very good but no hot mustard...Did not satisfy my Chinese food craving tonight... read more

We were the only customers on a rainy Sunday afternoon, kind of strange. Waiter brought water, Joe asked for a coke, and the waiter ran away before I could order a drink lol. I had kung pao chicken, I was very surprised to get a plate that was 99% celery, a few small cubes of chicken and a couple of peanuts. The sauce tasted good. Hubs had Szechuan beef which had very little beef and we think the same sauce. The egg roll was delicious. read more

We dined in and enjoyed a great meal. A skilled Chinese food chef must have prepared the stir fried Chinese green vegetables (yu tsai).The vegetables still had some crunch and it's natural flavor came through the touch of garlic. Pan-fried noodles tasted great. The noodles had that fun balance of crispy plain bites mixed with tasty sauced ones. The pork and vegetable topping was fine. The Szechuan "water cooked" beef (steamed spicy beef on the menu) was authentic. The sliced beef was swimming in a spicy soup with napa cabbage. The spiciness was just right for me, others might want more heat. We will be going back! read more

I agree with a previous reviewer, the Kung Pos Chicken was mostly celery. It tasted good but the menu says chicken and peanuts, not celery and... ; most places I've been it was just chicken and peanuts, none or very little celery. Service was good though. read more

Love this restaurant go often the food is always delicious. Price is right even though it's great quality food if you haven't been it's on Shelburne Road in S. Burlington Great Pl. again everything I've had and I've had almost everything on the menu. read more

The service is always so nice. Younger woman in the front really makes you feel comfortable and does a great job. Always look forward to coming back here when I get the opportunity. read more

Meh veggie dumplings (really lacking flavor in the filling). INCREDIBLE veggie fried rice. My husband and I were fighting over it! I can't speak to anything other than the food since we got takeout, but I'll definitely order from them in the future. Oh and serving sizes were totally reasonable for the price. read more

This is by far the best Chinese restaurant I've been to in the Burlington VT area... I know Chinese food very well. I've lived in LA and when I was in California I had amazing Chinese food at amazing restaurants in San Francisco and in the San Gabriel valley... and Zen Garden stands up to that level of authenticity and honesty to the beauty of Chinese cuisine. The Peking duck is amazing, the beef noodle soup is delicious and pure to the canon of what you want in a beef noodle. It's a beef noodle I would expect in Monterey Park. It is an amazingly good Chinese restaurant. A great restaurant to bring your Chinese friends and family if you want to impress them with a great find. The dumplings are delicious, they were just as you would expect them to be served in size and round and the size of cows eye. Hand made and tasting fresh and light. The banquet enter choices all around have always been delicious, the sauces are great, fair consistency and balanced levels of savory and sweet. Zen garden is my fiancé and I'd favorite restaurant in the area. We loved the service and the atmosphere. We are so grateful to have a wonderful Chinese family restaurant close to home where we can sometimes have nice dates. read more

I am always amazed when I don't see Zen Gardens on the list of best Chinese food in Burlington. Their food is always fresh, tasty, and fast! This is where we always go for Chinese and has been for more than a decade. The service is friendly and efficient. The dining room is very nice, but might not be open right now. 100% recommend. read more

Generally this is my go to Chinese restaurant in town but unfortunately I got take out and found a used staple in my beef after taking a bite. Normally if something was wrong with my meal I just wouldn't go back to a restaurant but the fact that I could have choked or worse is something I really can't over look. read more

Great food & service! I especially like that they do not use MSG either, just delicious dishes & very friendly people!

Best vegetarian Chinese options & quality that I have EVER HAD!! Mock bbq spare ribs and mock general Tso's chicken were unlike any meat substitute I've encountered. I am not sure if anything is vegan or not, the server wasn't sure what it was made of, but menu's vegetarian page says "guaranteed no meat" which is honestly a nice bode of confidence. read more

Zen Gardens - Mock (vegetarian) BBQ spare ribs / vegetarian egg roll - Chinese Near Me - South Burlington, Vermont

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Longtime favorite for dining or take out. Food is always excellent. Staff is friendly.

Total rip off. If you order a chicken entree that's all you get - just chicken, not even white rice with it. That's an extra $1.50. a few broccoli florets - 4 of them - is an extra $2.50. No sauce on the General Tao chicken. It was dry with all dark meat. A lot of the local Asian restaurants are cutting their portion sizes, double frying chicken fingers, etc., but this place takes the cake. I could have bought a nice dinner with much better cuisine for the $23.00 I wasted here. The topper was I got sick afterwards. Could have bought the same thing as a combo elsewhere at half the price. This place won't last. read more

Zen Gardens - Chinese Near Me - South Burlington, Vermont

Lovely little place we found almost by accident. A pretty typical Chinese food line-up, but it's high-quality stuff. The service was prompt, sweet, and efficient. Not in the most obvious location, and it doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside, it's actually quite pretty and very comfortable. If you're going to go out for Chinese food in South Burlington, this is the way to go. We'll be returning for sure. read more

Delicious food, beautiful presentation. Zen Gardens never disappoints! I've tried multiple dishes and they've all been fantastic.

First time here. Just moved to VT and this place is close to home and Lowes (hardware store) where I was shopping. I ordered the lunch portion of Shredded Beef Szechuan style with white rice and soup. Just so you understand my perspective- I am asian from NYC, dad owned several restaurants. Whether I'm ordering an authentic dish or americanized dishes, I keep it all relative. My order was take-out. Out of the bag: the. tiniest. portions. I've ever seen. I'm NOT saying it wasn't enough for me, it's just the smallest lunch special I've ever seen, having ordered same (type) of lunch combo in NYC, SF, Chicago, STL,Indianapolis....almost adorably small, like it was a Chinese kids meal. For Chinese lunch combo take-out, $10 is on the high side for the mini meal. Aside from the acceptable level of spicy the shredded beef had no other flavor. The sweet and sour soup had to much thickener (corn starch). My rating is on the food alone. read more

Zen Gardens - Shredded Beef Szechuan style - Chinese Near Me - South Burlington, Vermont

Passing through South Burlington we decided to give this Chinese restaurant a try since it had good reviews. We ordered Hot and Sour Soup, an order of Spring Rolls, Vegetable Dumplings, and Kung Pao Chicken. We got one Spring Roll, the Hot and Sour Soup, the Vegetable Dumplings, and a different Kung Pao than what we are used to. It simply had no sauce, lots of peanuts and red dry peppers, (more peanuts and dry pepper that you add to three dishes). I don't question the recipe, but I normally order a Kung Pao chicken for the veggies. This recipe had no onions, bell peppers, celery, carrots or zucchini. The lady wrote the ticket as Peanut Chicken (not Kung Pao chicken). No sauce, means no corn starch, and no thickness in the sauce. To top that off, we got no soy sauce packets in the bag. We got sweet orange sauce, and a wasabi yellow sauce. read more

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This is truly a hidden gem in Burlington area. I've tried countless authentic Chinese restaurants in Bost on and NYC area, and I've travelled extensively across China as well; yet the attention to detail I see in the dishes here still surprised me. Allow me to re-emphasize: this isn't your run-of-the-mill Chinese takeout restaurant AT ALL! (Unless you make it so that is). If you are looking for authentic Chinese culinary experience in Burlington, look no further than the last page of their menu. If you can drive yourself out of town to get here, you will be rewarded with a good surprise. Some of the highlights: - The "three-cup chicken" aka "basil chicken" on the menu is a faithful interpretation of a famous Taiwanese dish. I personally feel they should add just a little more flair and make it their house special. Being tucked away at the end of their menu simply doesn't do it justice. - The flavor of most dishes are very well balanced, but if you want spicy ones this place doesn't disappoint either. - The oolong tea we ordered was brought from Taiwan by the owner himself!!! It's a very subtle type of tea if you can appreciate the floral aroma. Pretty dope. read more

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This used to be a good place. Last 2 deliveries the food was disappointing. The sesame noodle sauce was a crystallized splat in top. The ginger chicken had no hint of ginger. read more

The renovated dining room is very nice. Excellent service, very attentive. Food was ok, but not as good as it used to be (before renovation). Scallops and shrimp in garlic sauce had very little flavor. Sesame chicken was dry and not very flavorful. It was disappointing because we had such great meals there several years ago. I hope that they improve. Maybe other dishes are better. read more

Stumbled upon this place because our large party wanted Chinese for dinner. Clean, spacious and very accommodating. We had a large variety of dishes and our 2 Vegan guests were very happy with the options. No butter and diary and they talked to us about how every dish was made. Close to downtown by car and a real crowd pleaser! read more

Zen Gardens - Chinese Near Me - South Burlington, Vermont

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Been eating here for years, best Asian in town. Try the sesame chicken. Take out is fast

I really wanted to like this place. The inside had beautiful decor, was spacious and clean from what I could see, but when it comes down to it the food just lacked flavor. We ordered the eggplant, chow fun, and Hunan beef and while the texture of everything was spot on, meaning the chef had good control of the heat and flames, all the dishes were lacking in seasoning. Nothing was remotely spicy and the noodles were bland. I think this place has potential. My only critique would be to season their dishes more, and I really hope to come back and experience their food again just with more flavoring! read more

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Zen Gardens is great. Def not the "hole in the wall" place if that's what you're looking for. Servers are friendly and the restaurant is clean. I recommend the Lamb Mala. It's phenomenal. read more

First time dining in at this place unsure how long they've been there since we live on the other side of town but glad we found it. Of all the local Asian cuisine in the greater Burlington area this is one of the best in our opinion. It was a little difficult to understand our waiter but he was so pleasant and helpful due to my wife being gluten free, he took the time to answer her questions and made a suggestion which she loved. Unfortunately without soy sauce it's not easy and so much of their food has it, which I love but contains gluten so my wife can't have it. Despite that, we thoroughly enjoyed the meal it was fast, friendly and very accommodating I highly recommend Zen Gardens! read more

Too expensive for what it is. I paid $28 for a Gen Tso's entrée and crab rangoon appetizer and found both to be underwhelming in taste and size. The rangoon was dry and seemed like it had been sitting around for a while. The chicken was also bland. Both serving sizes were small. Very surprised by the number of positive reviews here. read more

Delicious food--flavorful and not greasy. Friendly staff! Chinese food that's actually worth going out for!

Zen Gardens is one of the best places in Burlington for Chinese cuisine. It's located on Shelburne Road (Route 7) in South Burlington--just a few feet in front of Palace 9 movie theater--in other words, perfect for a great dinner and a movie night! The food has always been high quality and large portions. The atmosphere is nice, but could use some minor repairs and updates. The service is excellent--fast, friendly, knowledgable about the menu, and happily accommodates special requests. I have tried a variety of dishes and drinks and have never been disappointed. The prices are very reasonable and the food and drink quality are high, as is the service. I haven't tried take out, but they do offer it. Because of it's location, I love to go here before a movie. Overall, Zen Gardens has--in my humble opinion--the best Chinese Cuisine in the Burlington area! read more

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Best Chinese food that I've ever had in Vermont. The price is decent. The last page on the menu contains the real authentic Chinese dishes. I'm sure the Americanized dishes are tasty too. read more

This is my new favorite Chinese restaurant in the Burlington area. Quality ingredients transformed into authentically Chinese dishes and served by a helpful staff in a pleasant setting?Yes, please! As a Korean-American stuck in Vermont, I find myself craving spicy Asian cuisine with few options for satisfaction--I usually have to settle for watered-down, Americanized Chinese and/or Thai food. But Zen Garden has the real deal if you know what to order for dinner. And it's easy to know because (a) the Chinese staff will happily tell you what they enjoy eating if you ask and (b) there is a section of the menu labeled something like "traditional menu" that has stuff like "jellyfish salad" and words like "tripe." Two staff members told me their favorite dish was the pork belly with hot peppers, so we got that, and then the waiter helped me narrow down the authentic Chinese beef options to "steamed beef with peppers." Both dishes were amazing, but both are rife with dried red peppers that can ruin your husband's evening . (Writing that now, I see that I should have noticed that both dishes involved the word "peppers." Looking back, I see I was overly excited by the prospect of eating spicy, authentic Asian food. In hindsight, I see that I should have unselfishly ordered at least one non-pepper dish for my open-minded, long-suffering, Caucasian husband...) The crispy pork belly was cut relatively thin and small, like thick bacon but cut into 1/2-inch pieces, and painted with a sweet/salty/spicy sauce that was not unlike a Korean marinade for pork. I could snack on those all night! So addictive. The "steamed beef" was more like a gentle braise in a spicy, amazing sauce. The bite-sizes pieces were so tender, so perfect. There were some braised greens in the broth as well that added a nice freshness, and occasionally you'd run into a fresh peppercorn that would wake up every tastebud in your mouth. Now, these dishes are not offered in your average Chinese restaurant, especially those in the whitest state in America. I've never had the pork belly dish before, but I'll be back for it! The steamed beef dish is very similar to my favorite pork dish at an authentic Chinese restaurant in Florida, and I'm craving it again already. But given the quality of the ingredients and the attention and care that the chef clearly put into his authentic dishes, I'm pretty confident that the General Gao's Chicken and Beef and Broccoli that I intend to order next time will please my husband immensely. So whether you are yearning for funky, hard-to-find Chinese dishes that involve unspeakable parts of animals or sea creatures that are better off left alone or whether you just want some lo mein and sweet-and-sour chicken, you'll find your happy place at Zen Garden. read more

My family and I ordered takeout from here for dinner and were very pleased with the food! We got an order of beef pan fried noodles and also the chicken lo mein. Both were delicious, but we especially liked the pan fried noodles. They were so flavorful and had a great crunchy texture! The portion size was decent~ there were 4 of us and we felt it was enough, but we also had other dishes that we made separate. But would definitely order these dishes again, highly recommend! read more