So, my foodie sister told me about a couple of places recently, and one of them is Zen, which got our mom interested because that's the short version of her name. I figured that we go here with most of the family first because it's less of a drive. Our mom isn't a fan, but that's because she's not much of a Japanese food person at all outside of sushi. Before I forget, this trait isn't the reason why I gave the place the score I inputted.
Zen/禅 is an udon place on Sunnyvale's Murphy and Washington. The place has the sanuki method of making udon noodles, the thick process from Kagawa on the island of Shikoku. The place isn't about shortcuts, as the process of making each dish is all about getting it right.
Grading the place was complicated. I so want to like the place more. I am that fond of udon because udon is my favorite food whenever I have a cold. Let me type up why the grading process gave me fits.
The place does multiple parts right as we stepped in. I figured initially before we left the house, I'd have a new go to udon place. I mean, the place has a simple look (to fulfill the ambiance part), a legit feel, a spirited server who provided wonderful service, and tasty food and drinks. I ended up with the most ordered dish in the tonkotsu udon and a wakame salad along with a Ramune yuzu soda bottle because I usually don't pick that flavor. The rest of the family ordered different bowls, tenpura, mini rice bowls (bowls you can combine with your udon for $3), and chawanmushi (savory egg custard).
Then, the flaws piled up. Though I typed only two minus signs for my initial notes section at the top, the reason was that each section piled up related to the overall flaw itself. Once I type up the flaw listed on the notes, I go delete it so that the reviews you see from me are the way they are now. With that typed, the general flaw I have listed here is well, "a bad food and drink list" is a ruthless flaw for me to type. So, I'll instead type up "a food and drink list with multiple bits of harm". It's easy to remember the good parts, but I must type up the flaws so that you all know if the place is okay to work around or what.
Let me point out the drinks first. Though the hot sake we had is good, what I was let down by is the lack of my favorite sake in Sayuri, and to add on to that, neither my youngest brother nor I saw his favorite Japanese beer in Okinawa's Orion. The fact that only oolong tea is served scratches off any desire I had for tea in the evening because the caffeine's a twitchy element if I need to wake up early the following day. The biggest drink issue I must type here is while it is nice that I saw Ramune soda bottles (cultural drinks do matter to me if I'm not in an American restaurant), what bothers me is the lack of a juice because there are times I'm not in the mood for a soda, and the celebration I had to warrant a soda, thank goodness, is the nephew starting kindergarten. Switching to the food, as good as the food is, I'm more let down by the batch of food than the drinks. Right off the bat, there's spicy food a plenty, and while that may be good for a number of you, it's the biggest flaw not including proper technique for Japanese food spots that drives me bonkers because if I'm not sick, I'm never in the mood for spicy Japanese food (this is developed by how Japanese people have a cat's tounge or a sensitive tounge, not being really fond of spicy food unlike people such as the Koreans). All tenpura layouts have the shishito (not Shiseido as my mom called it) pepper, and I know you can remove elements, but it's still a bother. The other food part that irritates me is how there's so much beef, but so little everything else. The mentai udon's there, but the spice flaw is there also, and you don't have a chicken udon or a tonkotsu udon with pork. It's so weird how there's so much beef, and yet, there's no sukiyaki udon. I know I have been spoiled by Shiki's, but Shiki was the place that made me Mully/Steph 3-pointer level giddy (really really really giddy in other words [three "reallys" intentional], not just giddy) on buying udon, and I still haven't found an udon place that has come close to the Satou family's since (five years and counting).
Zen is a mixed okay bag. While it does carry a good amount of beneficial elements like good service and tasty food, it's bogged down by a menu that makes me twitch more times than it should, and I still look for my go to udon spot as this isn't it. Would I go back? If it's family, sure. Solo, maybe if one harmful element is fixed, but I know way too many Japanese spots here in the southern part of the Bay Area.
+/Zen is good zany because of the spirit of the place, the legit feel and the real tasty udon and other foods.
-/The place does more harm than good for me with its menu because of flaws such as the insane love of hot spice and the lack of a guilt free drink for kids outside of water. read more