Mediocre. Server was super nice given how busy they were. Atmosphere was nice also. Food was bleh. Chicken satays were borderline undercooked. Peanut sauce had separated and was a weird consistency. Tom Kha soup was too thick and bland. It needed heat, acid, sweet, and saltiness. Stir fry was unmemorable just like the rest of the meal. There must be better Thai restaurants in Lawrence, because this place is a dud. read more

We came in after many recommendations from friends. I ordered a mango mai tai- which is a nice treat in their daily happy hour. The drink wasn't too strong but it was a great pairing with the drunken noodles. The mild spice is not noticeable fresh from the wok but as I had some for left overs, the spice kicked in just right. We also had the green papaya salad which needed some more spice. The flavor was good, but a little bland without the heat. I love the crunchy peanuts that come with it. Overall, we will be back to try more dishes like a coconut curry, Thai tea, boba tea, and the spicy eggplant rice dish. read more

In town, visiting for the holidays, the family decided to try this for lunch today. It was pretty busy. There seemed to be only 2 waitresses. Our waitress was very good. It was busy so things took a little while, but not ridiculously long. Two of my children are vegan. There were plenty of vegan options! The food was great! We got calamari as an appetizer (we're not all a bunch of vegan weirdos!). It had a unique lemon garlic dipping sauce. The entire plate was gone in about 2 minutes! My youngest (12) had ordered Thai style spring rolls. She had no idea what she was ordering and I ended up eating them. They're wrapped in a clear kind of shell. The dipping sauces were delish! One was a little spicy and the other was a peanut sauce. Yum yum!!! My other daughter (14) ordered a bowl of noodles with shrimp. It was very big. She ate until she was full, then shared with her younger sister who had mistakenly ordered the spring rolls she ended up not liking. After both of them were full we still had a huge bowl of noodles to take home! My 18 year old ordered the tofu curry. She ate every bite of hers! She felt overly full afterwards, and wished she had stopped sooner, but it was so good that she ate every bite! My 24 year old ordered a spicy tofu curry with potatoes (picture included). He had leftovers. I got the yellow curry with chicken and peppers. I was able to add vegetables, so I added broccoli and carrots. It was very good, but I had a huge plate of leftovers. The curry menu is listed from hottest to most mild. I ordered the least spicy dish, but it was still a little spicy to me. My hubby got the yellow curry with seafood and he ate every bite (except his vegetables of course!)! He and my son both had a delicious beer. Lunch for 6 came to $78, with tip it was $90. We gave our leftovers to a homeless man sitting outside. Hope they weren't too spicy for him. read more

Zen Zero - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

This place is quite the dive! I have to say that I have recently been turned on to Thai food and this is a great Thai spot in Lawrence! Initially, I found myself at a loss of what to do get but the staff is extremely helpful when ordering. All of the staff that I have encountered here has been very knowledgable of the menu and can suggest many items based on your palette. With that being said, I personally love the Glass Noodle Soup with Beef! This is a great place for anyone that loves curry and some spice in their meal! It also has many dairy-free and gluten-free options, which is awesome and can be hard to find in Lawrence. You should be able to walk in and dine, it's never too busy when I have been! I will miss Zen Zero as I head to Chicago post-grad! read more

Ordered the Phad thai, all I could taste was ketchup. Not a single Asian person in the kitchen, not a good sign.

I live downtown and this is definitely one of the better spots. They always have great specials and the staff are super friendly.

What's not to love? Came in for lunch on a Thursday , it was busy but we were seated right away. Given menus and shrimp chips . Waitress was friendly and attentive. Now let's talk food. My boyfriend had the eggplant stir fried with white rice the spices were good but I had the chicken pad Thai and it was amazing ! My boyfriend kept eating my plate and the great thing was the portion was big enough for two and very reasonable price. Also I recommend a side of their peanut sauce to kick it up a bit . Their peanut sauce has curry powder which is to die for! The Thai ice tea is great, just the right amount of sweet . I would definitely recommend this place to all and tip you to try the pad Thai ! read more

Zen Zero - Stir fried egg plant with chicken and white rice.. It's pretty good has the rights flavored - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

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Zen Zero serves up what I consider to be the very best vegetarian Thai dish I have ever had in a restaurant that is not purely vegetarian. That very dish is called Pharam Tofu, but I prefer to refer to it by a far more punchy name...Pharamenal tofu! Or maybe even phenomenal tofu, when I'm too hungry to play with words. What this dish entails is a giant bowl of lightly steamed vegetables (nary a yucky bell pepper nor bland carrot nor boring sliced onion in sight...my three most hated and also sadly the three most common veggies in many an Asian veg dish, I've found) and tofu SMOTHERED with peanut sauce. I did say "smothered," didn't I? Oh my god, there were two heavenly bunches of bok choy hiding in there, folks! And bamboo shoots! And broccoli! And they don't skimp on protein! Loads of tofu. Served up with Jasmine rice and sprinkled with chunks of peanut on top. Oh, the textures involved here work sublimely together. They have a full bar, have drink specials and a fair selection of wine and beer. The entire menu is priced very fairly when you consider what you're getting. I sometimes wonder if the geniuses behind Zen Zero read my mind when creating this dish. Truly exactly what I desperately need and want in a Thai dish on a freezing winter's night. The best part? When you say "I'd like that hot," they ask you, "Medium hot, Very hot or Thai hot?" And when you're someone like me who dumps half a jar of red chili pepper sauce on your food, you need that shit THAI hot and what's more? They don't play at "Thai hot." They mean business. read more

Unfortunately, Zen Zero is owned by the same group that poorly manages Genovese (and La Parilla), a very sad excuse for an Italian restaurant a couple blocks down the street on Massachusetts. I hesitate to spend our money at Zen Zero only because of the unpleasant experiences we have had at Genovese, but there are not many options when it comes to decent, reasonably priced restaurants in Lawrence, so we bit my tongues and returned after a long layoff. Our server arrived with a customary basket of Asian rice chips, light and crunchy, which are tasty but an accompanying sauce to dip in would have been nice, but seemed as though she did not seem overly eager to be there or serve us. Sunday night used to be Zen Zero night in our house where draught beer is on special for $3.00 per (American) pint. They do not have a huge selection of drafts, a pale ale, a wheat, and a seasonal (e.g. Oktoberfest, Irish Red). I ordered the Irish Red (normally $4.50), two total over the entire meal. My wife had water. The Fried Pork Momos (now $4.99) come with four dumplings and two sauces, a mildly spicy red tomato chutney and an almost white sauce that reminded me of very well-blended hummus. The Fried Chicken Spring Rolls (now $4.29) come with a sweet and spicy sauce infused with chili peppers. They were savory and crunchy, containing ground, seasoned chicken and, beside the small portion, they were also good. But having lived in McLeod Ganj, India for two months last year, a Tibetan colony and home of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, I ate Tibetan food three times a day, every day. An order of momos there consists of eight, double the number at Zen Zero, they are much better, and only cost $2.50, one-quarter the price at Zen Zero. My wife ordered a vegetarian dish, Phad Phak Ruam Mitr ($7.99), a mixed vegetable stir-fry with broccoli, onions, garlic, carrots, bell peppers, snow peas, Napa cabbage, scallions, baby corn and tofu and served with Jasmine rice. It was light and not too spicy and the vegetables fresh and crisp, the sauce light yet complex, but leaving a strange aftertaste unlike when we have had it in the past. She barely made a dent in it and the server did not bother asking how our meal was or if there was a problem with the dish, bringing a to-go container and making us box it up ourselves. I love curry and Zen Zero's Massaman curry (now $8.29, $10.28 with beef), a coconut curry from Southern Thailand with potatoes peanuts (no pork option), was as good as I remember. Having ordered my curry with the customary beef (an extra $2.99), the curry was rich and well seasoned. A thick red curry, Massaman comes with tofu or meat (other than pork - $1.99 to $3.99 extra charge for meat or seafood) with potatoes and peanuts in a huge bowl served with Jasmine rice. Not overly abundant in the beef department, I was not too disappointed because the thick curry sauce was nearly as good as the best I have ever eaten (the best was a similar curry at a small Vietnamese restaurant in Palos Verdes, California back in the late 1970s). Our appetizers took quite a while to arrive and our entrees took even longer. I watched my wife's Phad Phak Ruam Mitr sit on the counter for at least ten minutes until my curry was finally ready, all the while our server was too busy talking on her cell phone to bring us our food and we had to wait even longer after my curry was finally ready. When we had finished, I gave our server a coupon we had received (2nd dinner half-off with purchase of an entree and two drinks), she told me she did not think we could use it. I asked, "Why?", and she told me "You have to order two drinks to get the deal". To which I replied, "We did, I had two beers" (and a couple appetizers to boot) to which she responded, "I'll have to check with my manager to see if it's OK". Really? I should not have been surprised because Zen Zero is owned by the same group that owns Genovese where we had a similar incident a while back (they also refused to honor a coupon). I find myself wondering why the owners bother printing coupons if they are just going to have their servers hassle customers who try to use them. Zen Zero had become a staple in our house and we may likely be returning in the future even though they have raised their prices rather significantly in the past year and the service was not nearly as good as it used to be. Good restaurants are not abundant in Lawrence, particularly downtown, but Zen Zero is a welcome option, albeit a bit pricier than in the past. I gave Zen Zero 9 Bombs Out Of 10 in a past review, but with deductions for their price increases, the delays in receiving our appetizers and entrees, the weird aftertaste in the Phad Phak Ruam Mitr, and being hassled by the server for using a coupon ... CombatCritic Now Gives Zen Zero 6 Bombs Out Of 10 ... Bombs Are Good! read more

You have to walk in knowing that this is NOT a Thai food restaurant. Its more Asian fusion. With that said... I feel that a papaya salad from a Thai place defines their authenticity so we started with papaya salad. It was VERY sweet and used very little fish sauce and almost no Thai chili peppers. Papaya salad is supposed to be spicy! A bit disappointed. We asked for Thai chili peppers in fish sauce and they gave us fish sauce with red chili flakes... I don't think they have fresh Thai chili peppers... For entrees I ordered Green Curry Noodle Soup. This had a bit of a kick and the creamy broth was pretty yummy. The noodles they use is the thin rice noodles that was a little too soft for my taste. My husband ordered a Pad See Ew. Again, it was very sweet but at least they used Chinese broccoli. I miss the Thai food from LA... read more

Zen Zero - Green Curry Noodle and Pad See Eww - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

I have fond memories of Zen zero since when I moved to KU for my undergraduate degree back in 2006. They have a ton of vegetarian options. I highly recommend their Veggie fried momos and Singapore noodles!!! I have moved to DC now and cannot find a place that makes better Momos. I make it a point to go to Zen zero everytime I go to Lawrence. Love the people and the food. read more

For years and years (close to two decades) this has been my absolute favorite restaurant in Lawrence. They've always hit it out of the park! However, lately, they seem to be getting lazy. The place is always busy so it's not like they're hurting for business and can't afford to be as lazy as they're getting. So my complaint is that for the last few months they seem to be skimping on flavor in their dishes. The last couple of times I've gotten Pad Thai here it was actually kind of dry! Like I was dumping soy sauce in it to get it to taste like anything. That's kind of pathetic. read more

So many options ( a lot vegan) and great price. Staff is always friendly and efficient. My favorite is the yellow curry with added broccoli. read more

Zen Zero - Vegan options! - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

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This is one of my favorite places to eat. This is were my wife and I usually go when we go out and want asian food. There is usually a good vareity and food is very good. The service has always been good. there is usually a wait on weekends because the place is not very big. I usually have red curry but all the curry's that I have had are good. The portions are a bit small but OK. read more

I've been on Yelp a couple of years and sadly, I believe last night was my first return trip to Zen Zero in that time, but I've dined here dozens of times over the years. For some reason it's just not on my family's list of usual places we dine of late. Stranger yet, Genovese, operated by the same group of owners is our typical date night out stop and gets much of our business. Go figure. Last night I was reminded what a great place this is and how interesting the food choices are. Chicken Laab... find that in Kansas City. I don't know, maybe you can but I haven't seen it and last night's salad was moist, tender, flavorful and upon request they packed in some extra heat in some peppers which made me smile. The peeled cucumbers and cabbage leaves provided some relief from the burn. Things I like from memory: Love their starter (chips) with chili paste and soy Red curry dishes with shrimp or chicken and lots of heat added by request Great appetizers, especially the momos Salmon special Pear saki! A few tips: although I strayed last night one of my favorite guilty pleasures is to come here for a very simple meal that consists of two appetizers: the pork ribs and veggie momos. Those two joined by a pear saki or a beer, that's a damn fine meal. Not overfilling and just the right amount of food without going home overstuffed. Another tip: get a seat where you can watch the kitchen. It's highly entertaining, take my word for it. Service here has almost always met my expectations but I think that might be due to the owners and I find the service equally good at Genovese. This is a great place to take an out-of-town guest. The food here is an interesting blend that runs from Thai to Chinese to Vietnamese and more. If you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary, you can definitely find it here. read more

Zen Zero - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

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I really enjoyed this place. Nice and comfy atmosphere and our server was pleasant. I got the Pad Thai (next time I'll go out of my comfort zone and try something completely new) and the Tom Kha soup. Both were really good. My boyfriend tried their Massaman Curry which he enjoyed ok. It was a different flavor for sure. Overall I would definitely return to explore other goodies on their menu. read more

I used to frequent this place quite often in my collegiate years and always left feeling not completely full--and not in the literal sense either. Service was lacking, and so was the food. I now know why I felt off every time I ate here. We had asked that our check be brought to our table asap immediately after ordering--we had to ask our waiter on three separate occasions before he brought us the bill. We were given waters timely, and even gave my friends child a little to go cup of water, but failed to give her or any of us straws. We waited for a bit of time and couldn't find wait staff that was approachable or even available, so we ended up getting the straws on our own. Food came out at a decent time, but I was not impressed with the pad see ew that I had ordered. The noodles were cooked well and the spice level was just perfect, but the seasonings that they had used were bland and did not taste authentically Thai. I did ask for chicken as well, but the chicken tastes very low grade and almost grainy. I think we'll stick to something else the next time we drive back to Lawrence.. read more

Zen Zero - Pad see ew, hot spice level. Appearing quite bland, and also tasted that way too.. - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

We had a late lunch here on a Saturday. It wasn't very busy, so we were seated immediately. I got the Tom kha soup to start. It was really yummy an definitely too rich to have more than a cup of. To me, the Singapore noodles were bland and dry. I was expecting a lot more flavor than I got. Adding some chile sauce helped immensely. The drunken noodles were really good. Overall service was poor. We were ignored most of the time, and our dirty plates and bowls were never cleared from the table- we just kept stacking them. I'm interested in going back and trying other dishes, and I hope the service we got was a fluke. read more

Zen Zero - Tom kha soup - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

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I was obsessed with Zen Zero for the eight years that I lived in Lawrence and even dream about it now that I live in Chicago. Sure, it's fairly 'Americanized' Thai and Asian food, but damn, it sure is good. My OBSESSIONS/SUGGESTIONS: Veggie momos (fried) Drunken noodles with tofu (add broccoli) !!!! Singapore noodles with tofu The Panang and Red Thai Curries with tofu Also, it's never listed on the menu, but the purple yam sorbet is phenomenal. Seriously. The portions are huge (seriously, I've never walked away without leftovers) and the price is affordable. The service isn't always the best, but whatever.... read more

Zen Zero is always a good go-to for me. I work near, and it's handy to have daily lunch specials available. The wait staff and atmosphere are both alright, but the food is good for the price. I've had some simple, clean Pad Thai with Tofu, and I'm in love with their Vietnamese Spring Roll Salad as well. They have some great vegetarian choices all over! The protein is always able to be added in though for a couple bucks too. read more

Zen Zero - Pad Thai w. Tofu - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

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I have been here on two occasions, and both were great. HOWEVER, both times I ordered shrimp in my dish, and they came, both times, TAIL ON. This was HIGHLY inconvenient when my first visit was more of a business meeting and I was trying to look polished in front of my company. It was impossible to eat my Tom Kha with shrimp with a spoon. I would have had to put the whole thing in my mouth and spit out the tail. Lol, not gonna happen. So, the delectable shrimp sadly sat at the bottom of my bowl. My next visit was with my fiance and I ate the Som Tom salad, again with shrimp (by chance, I'm not a huge seafood fanatic). This time, as a salad, I was at least able to cut the tail off the shrimp before eating it. Much more graceful. It was SO good. We sat outside and ate our meals, and when I return, I will definitely eat this here, again. read more

Zen Zero - Som Tom Salad with Shrimp. - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

Went there tonight with my family made reservations was seated but it took them 15 to 20 mins to come and get our drink orders even though they had sat two other tables and took there drink and dinner orders before us and talked to one of the waitress she said they had a different server so after bout 25 minutes they got our drink and dinner order it took bout 35 minutes to get our dinner very disappointed there answer was they were busy even though there was only bout ten groups of people if that hope upper management or whoever sees this nonetheless they didn't even offer a discount for having to wait so long oh well I probably won't even hear anything back read more

This place was highly recommended by a friend of mine, I never tried Thai food before. Ordered chicken pad Thai. Chicken smelled so bad I almost vomited in my plate! My wife ordered dry curry chicken and she liked it. read more

Just had the best calamari in Lawrence and some real good red tofu curry and a $4 Sapporo draft, perfect to share and leftovers. read more

Zen Zero - We'd already dug into it a bit, best in town for sure. - Asian Fusion Near Me - Lawrence, Kansas

we moved to northern CO from LFK a few month ago. People ask me if there is anything i miss back in Lawrence, mostly the answer is "no" except for Zen Zero. Great food and a great value. We never had anything there that we didn't love. The Massaman Curry, NapaleseThukpa, Laab. they just have a bunch of great dishes on the menu and we miss it and the owners. read more

Excellent! Atmosphere is clean and hipster- felt a bit crowded, but we were glad to be seated right away! Service was great. They serve delicious complimentary shrimp crisps to every table upon sitting down. It was a perfect light snack before our food arrived. I had the clear soup, the others in my group had the spring roll salad and curries. Everything was fantastic and served in large portion sizes. Overall Zen Zero is a great spot if your looking for a healthy and flavorful meal! I highly recommend! read more

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My husband and I are obsessed with Zen Zero's Pad Thai. It is the best around. Every time we go to Lawrence we have to eat here. We sometimes make trips out here just because we want Zen Zero. The Edamame is good. We highly recommend! read more

Delicious Thai tea with boba.. Atmosphere is great place to eat and have a wonderful time with friends hangout. Service is great and always smile. Green curry I asked I don't want no spicy and they brought my food how I wanted to be.. I definitely will come back again soon read more

After being here for many times, we noticed the food quality has decreased. The shimp chips provided at the beginning of the meal was very greasy, and fried with very old oil. We could see the dirty oil spots on the chips. It's really easy to tell very old oil was used for frying, since shimp chips are supposed be one color. In addition, we noticed their chicken has a very weird taste. We can't really tell what the taste was, but it was definitely not a good taste, it sort of made us feel disgusted by the chicken meat. Also the place has a weird smell, and seems not very clean. We stopped going. read more

I was not impressed by the service. Its probably called Zen Zero because there was Zero Zen in there! I walked in, anxious for their popular, and delicious, Pad Tai, to be greeted by a waitress, Shannon, with a gloomy face, acting like I was bothering her for being there. Her complete body language screamed that she would rather be anywhere else. That totally killed my excitement to be there, even more so when I saw her laughing and smiling with the cooks, and returning to me with the Eeyore attitude again. The food brought to my table was AMAZING!! The best Pad Tai ever, and my friend had the Red Thai Coconut Curry that was equally awesome!!! I dont think I will return for the service, but I will definitely return with an order to go; and i will do it often!!! read more

Great staff, environment, choices, in an appropriate location. Very fitting to Lawrence's downtown.

Waitress was super nice I think her name was olivia, everything came very fast and the portions were good. All around a great place with a great vibe too will Definitely be back read more

Went here with my buddy yesterday, I got the chow mein while he got the phad sae eaw, when I tried is i was astonished it was the best plate of noodles I've ever had. I went for dinner the very next day to try it again, and when I got it it just didn't taste the same, tofu wasn't flavorful and the vegetables weren't quite there either, it was pretty late so I understand how they might've wanted to get my food out of the kitchen. I'll definitely be coming back to try it again, hopefully I can try the Phad sae eaw like I did the first time. read more

My favorite place in town. The Thai food is amazing, they offer lots of options for those gluten and/or dairy free and the service is always amazing. All this and it's still very affordable! read more

My mom was in town for a few days from the East Coast. She's a foodie, I'm a foodie, she knows that Lawrence is a town of foodies. She wanted Asian food so I took her to where foodies go for Asian, Zen Zero. We were with the whole fam, my wife, my two kids. Oh my, to say service was slow is an understatement. We didn't even get the free little basket of chips until 20 minutes after we sat down when our server took our order and my kids were melting down from hunger. Another FOURTY FIVE minutes later and our food still hasn't come. The kids have eaten their tiny appetizer meals and have even had ice cream before we could track down our server, who did not check in with us, about when we might receive our food. "Oh yeah, we're backed up," is what they said. Well, now it's my kid's bedtime and I'm pretty mad that I took my mom out for one night and this is the service I get. So we decide to get the food to go since we'll have to eat while putting the kids to bed anyway. The cooks, who obviously seemed over the heads, even seemed pretty upset that we asked for a box after they had plated it. But here's the clincher, no apology, no check-ins, so frustrating. There was a 20% discount at the end, but the experience was pretty ruined. By the time we got home to eat it we're thinking, "These noodles are not saucy enough and I thought I ordered chicken instead of shrimp." 2 Stars may seem harsh, but think about it, how many amazing places are there to eat on Mass Street? So many! Mediocre is fine if that's what I'm in the mood for, but I don't go to Mass for mediocre. The one night we had with my mom? I'm sorry Zen Zero, we won't be back for a long time, and as far as bringing out of town guests to you? I don't think so. read more

So the food is delicious- we had the kao soi and pad Thai. But unfortunately, I went two nights ago and still have a headache. Which tells me they probably use MSG. If this is the case, I am really disappointed. read more

Well...: I must be fair. I have had many great food experiences here. The food is terrific but my recent experience made me stop going. I have been doing take out from this place often recently. In the past week, I have ordered it 3 times. The kind of frequency that makes a business prosper in tough times.... but this last time was a disaster. I approached the bar to make a to go order and the bartender said: "what do you want?" I was confused as to why I had to order from memory. Is it too much to ask to bring me a menu? I guess it was as when I requested one I got a (sigh) and then she asked "what do you want?" yet again after laying the menu down for a full 3 seconds. I felt like I was on a shot clock. I finally had to tell her to back off (but not in mean way) " can I get a second?" was my reply. After finding what I wanted, I proceeded to start my order and it was difficult communicating with both parties having masks on in a noisy venue so I pulled mine down to order and another employee interrupted me and demanded I put my mask up. Ironically I had tipped him over 20% on my last visit for take out. Take out doesn't deserve that high of a tip but I always do here.... or rather I DID (past tense) until now. I really don't appreciate being either interrupted or bossed by someone like this and I walked out. I refuse to come back to this place if this is the way they treat highly frequent customers who tip really well for take out service. There are other Thai places around. Good luck to you all. Your owner must not be happy to read this but remember it's his/her/their business not the disrespectful employees' business. They will never own a business themselves acting like that to their best customers. read more

Just love this place! It's my go to place with my girl friends! Great service and great food. Wonderful chocolate martinis. They are cool with us hanging out for hours. read more

Visiting Lawrence and found this gem. Lots of options - many are vegan / vegetarian. The serving size was massive, so had to get a to go. Server was friendly and happily offered recommendations. Prices are reasonable. Definitely recommend. read more

I really wanted to like my takeout order, but was frustrated by what I got this evening. I ordered mild chicken pad thai, and instead got spicy noodles with a few rare small pieces of chicken. The noodles were overall pretty dry and not super flavorful. I should mention that the bartender was very nice and attentive. However, based on the food, I will probably not be back. read more