Zula Restaurant

02/26/09

Awesome Restaurant!

by kennelission at Citysearch

My wife and I recently made the transition from Los Angeles to Houston. Our first two nights, before moving into our new place. were spent in a nearby midtown hotel. Our second night, after much needed rest, was to be an " out of town night/exploration" of the area. The hotel conciege ( a very cool, gracious and down to earth young woman) insisted on Zula Restaurant. The food was VERY good ( my wife used, "Rocked") The ambiance reminded my wife IMMEDIATELY of places she use to frequent in Vegas... I shared the same sentiment, but from a different coastal perspective. It was our second night in town and that sealed it for us. Food (10) Service (10) Ambiance (10) Can't wait to come back

• Pros: All Good, Food, ambiance, Service
• Cons: Nothing to complaint about

02/26/09

Best Restaurant in Downtown of Houston

by sara2006 at Citysearch

I have been to Zula restaurant twice this year already and everytime go there , we have a such a wonderful time and make us come back again. The food, service and vibes are excellent and different from all other downtown or midtown restaurants. I dont know why people left hungry? dont know why people said the rest rooms were dirty, it was fine to us at the time, Well, Zula is not an one plate dish fills you up place. it is more like a fine dining restaurant you go there to order appetizer, main and dessert plus cocktail and wine. so I dont you to expecting to go there to get an over potions one meal south style dish and sprit the dish with friend. We love to go there for Thursday 1/2 price wine deal night! They got a great wine selection too.

• Pros: Clean and Outstanding Food and service,

02/23/09

run in the OTHER DIRECTION!

by lulusag at Citysearch

i went out with my friends over the weekend to this place, i didnt have a very good experience. originally the waiter that was waiting me was VERY RUDE! my friends are I were just talking amongst ourselves and we were getting loud because we'd been drinking and the waiter so rudely comes to us and says "baby your too loud" as if he'd asked us to keep it down a few times before. We called for the manager and had the waiter switched, the manager was awesome. the food however was not, i ordered the flattened chicken it was supposed to have cheese on it but you could tell it was valvetta for almost a 20$ meal without drinks i'd have better gotten real cheese...the only decent at this place is the manager and cheesecake but for 7$ your better off at cheesecake factory its a dollar less and doesnt taste like it came from the forzen isle at walmart

• Pros: the manager (mike), very trendy interior
• Cons: food, original waiter

02/16/09

Worst restaurant experience I have ever had

by mrt124 at Citysearch

My girlfriend and I decided to go to Zula for Valentines day, and it was bad from the beginning. We arrived for our 7:30 reservation and the hostess did not welcome us or walk us to our table, she only said "you can go sit at a table upstairs." The menus was a special menu for the night, but was only printed on a cheap black and white printer. It took us 20 minutes to even flag down the waiter, and when we did he was not polite and seemed as though he did not want to serve us. He did not even introduce himself to us or tell us his name. The courses were rushed through, they did not wait for us to finish our salad before they brought out the appetizer. The food was ok, but not close to the $100 they were charging. They were out of the dessert that I wanted, but instead of letting me know and offering me another choice, they brought me out the other dessert option with now apology. As a previous reviewer stated the restrooms were disgusting. A 20% gratuity was included so we could not alter the tip for the terrible service we received. Then to end the night I was going to complain to the manager on the way out, but there was not anybody there to thank us for coming as we were leaving. This was hands down my worst restaurant experience ever. I will not be returning.

• Pros: NONE
• Cons: Below average food for the price, terrible service, rude staff, dirty

02/08/09

Overcooked and flavorless

by foodiedoc at Citysearch

My husband, several friends and I went to Zula one Friday evening before attending a performance in the Theater District; we were looking forward to the food after reading the mostly great reviews on Citysearch and checking out the restaurant's website. My husband and I, together and apart, have lived/worked in various major U.S. cities and overseas, and we both agree that Houston overall has wonderful restaurants with great quality and value. Without exaggeration, the food at Zula is by far the worst that we have had in Houston.

The service was acceptable (however we were the only seated table besides another table of customers at 7 o'clock on a Friday night) and the ambience/decor is reminiscent of 80's Las Vegas, but the food was simply unacceptable. The Boulevard Sashimi consisted of fair-grade sashimi tuna wrapped in nori, accompanied by a red-chili sauce that was cloyingly sweet. The Seafood Martini consisted of 5 rubbery-hard, overcooked shrimp thrown in some pureed stewed tomatoes with garlic salt and some sugar thrown in, accompanied by a few slivers of some sort of white fish. I had the Salmon filet, described to have been citrus-marinated and served with hollandaise; this dish had no hint of flavor, citrus or otherwise, and the hollandaise tasted like a simple amalgam of flour, water, and salt. My husband had the chili-rubbed Porkchop, ordered medium; it arrived very well-done, bone-dry and tasteless with a rub that had just a hint of chemical heat but no flavor. A friend had the ginger and wasabi tuna filet, again totally devoid of flavor...have you noticed a trend here?

Boiled-down description of our Zula experience: overcooked and flavorless. With all the wonderful reviews of Zula, I'm beginning to question their authenticity.

• Pros: Relatively quiet for downtown restaurant on a Friday night (which may be a con)
• Cons: The food

01/11/09

good time

by geby1 at Citysearch

my wife and I celebrated our anniversary dinner at zula's on 1-11-09. Excellent wedge and ceasar salads.My wife ordered the salmon which she liked, and I ordered the flattened chicken. Chicken tasted a little dry, but I easily fixed by adding lemon juice on top. Atmosphere, decor ,and service was fantastic. We will return!!!

01/10/09

Fire the Chef Immediatly

by bmjsa at Citysearch

My suggestion to the Manager when he asked how the food was; ?Fire Your Chef Immediately? The food had no flavor at all. I have eaten at places like The Mocking Bird, Brenner?s on the Bayou. Now these places are Five Star Restaurants with food to die for.

Zula really should learn to cook with spices and use fresh food. I was sick all night long after trying to eat at this place. Mind you I only ate a few pieces of my pork chop. This place was not good at all. The bread they served at the beginning was so tasty it was the best bread I have eaten. I thought it was a taste of what was to come; except Zula dropped the ball when it came to the main course. The food was uneatable and my guest and I left felling disgusted by what was trying to be passed off as a five star.

For those of you giving this place a five star you either work there or you have never truly eaten at a five star restaurant. No Taste, Gross Food and management didn?t seem to care. Enough said!

• Pros: passing up this place
• Cons: Food and bad Managment

01/08/09

Huge disappointment in almost every way......

by CookWannaBe at Citysearch

The waiters were wonderful here but every other detail was very poorly managed. Our meal there was a group event and it was the worst experience we've had in almost 15 years. Fortunately we have a great group of people and still managed to have a nice evening. Our reservations (made months ahead) were confused with those of another group. The group coordinator was completely disorganized, unprofessional and unresponsive to inquiries. She never conveyed important details like pre-selected menu selections or headcount to the waiters and they had to scramble to make up for her lack of attention to details. The restaurant was filthy throughout (everything including bathrooms and water pouring out of the ceiling) and the food was simply awful~ not fresh.

We've eaten at Mark's and Quattro in Houston (both exquisite) and Zula is not in the same category~ not even in the same universe. Can't drag us back there even for free food. I'm really tolerant because I have waited tables but this was just beyond anything reasonable. Ugh!

• Pros: Great waiters! Really worked hard to please us.
• Cons: Awful food, group coordinator awful, filthy restuarant

01/04/09

Worse restaurant I have ever eaten at

by BAdame at Citysearch

Zula Rest. For me and my guest give this restaurant thumbs down. The food was terrible. The Trout they served was water logged and had no flavor AT ALL. My friend ate some of it but left over half her fish because she did not like the taste she tried to give it some taste with salt but nothing helped it. I had the pork chop and it had no flavor as well. The sauce they use for the topping was disgusting to say the least and the rice they served with it had no seasoning either it was like eating a piece of paper. I took two bites of my food and that was it. Yes it tasted that bad. My husband had the steak and he was unhappy with his meal as well. He said the gravy like stuff they poured over the steak did not taste good, he did not finish is meal. One of the guests I brought ordered pasta (which was over cooked and clumped together) but she said the grilled shrimp they served with it was good. 4 guest and all four walked away disappointed. Management did not seem to concerned when I mentioned the food tasted bad. Yes the restaurant decor was nice it seems they are shooting to be a ?fine dinning restaurant? and I have eaten at some very nice places were the food melts in your mouth. This place is far from it and there are not many items to choose from on the menu either. Save your self some money and time because this place was nice but we went for the food and the food was in fact disgusting.

• Pros: Ambience
• Cons: Food

12/12/08

Great Restaurant

by ftheo at Citysearch

I am a restaurant owner from California, I dont get the negative reviews on hosts in general. They have the most thankless job in the restaurant. If customers are not sat at once or offered a free drink, a big comp they are HOSTITLE. People get a GRIP they are juggleing several things at once, Restaurants have to deal with the guests that are seated, the guests that are arriving and flow of the entire place. Zula is a big place and I have seen the owner do the best juggling act in the business. People are late and have NO reguard for the next guests. If you went to the hair dresser or a beauty salon and you were 30 minutes late they would send you home, why restaurants dont practice this is just plain silly. We accomodate thats our business. Zula is a great place , a beautiful restaurant . The food is wonderful , the room exciting , the service excellent. People need to be more positive , it just seems we all look for the negative , if its not the host, then its the servers, if its not the servers then its the bartenders , if its, you get the point, for some people its always something. To those people STAY HOME and make yourselfs MISERABLE. Dine out and have fun. ENJOY. Zula is one of the BEST place in Downtown of Houston.

• Pros: Beautiful place, Excellent food, Amazing service