Zula Restaurant

12/12/08

Yummy!

by mluerra4 at Citysearch

We finally tried this restaurant this past weekend, and were glad we did. The space is beautiful and the food was amazing. We sat upstairs which is very nice as its like a little mini lounge in itself. We started off with the Calamari and Crab cake which are some of the best I've had . For entrees, I had the River Trout and my husband had the Rib eye, both of which were delicious! We'll definitely be back !!!

• Pros: Food , Service,

12/01/08

Nightmare

by walkerton76 at Citysearch

I rarely ever feel compelled to review a restaurant on this site. Zula was horrific. We walked in on a Monday night, and stood at the host stand for 10 minutes before anyone even came to the front. Two guys went into the bar, and didn't even come over to welcome us. Finally, a manager came out to seat us with the three other tables of people there. We ordered salads, which came out in 10 minutes. The main dishes, however, took another 45. And this was after everyone else in the restaurant had left, and we were the only ones who had not been served (8:00 pm , by the way). We had to ask the manager what was going on, and poof, our food came out.

The weirdest part of the experience happened when one person ordered the flattened chicken. 45 minutes after the order, the waiter came out and said "the chef wanted me to let you know that we sold out of chicken." So, he ordered something else - again, 45 minutes after the original order. Then, another 5 minutes later, the waiter comes back out and says "oh, the chef wanted me to let you know that he got some more chicken, he just needs to cut it." Not only did this not make any sense, but it scared everybody as to where this chicken came from. When asked what the hell was going on, the waiter said, "we have a new chef, I don't know what's wrong with him."

After this nightmare, they offered us a free dessert, which we politely declined. No food was comped, and manager never came over to apologize or explain what happened.

• Pros: n/a
• Cons: strange atmosphere, slow service, extremely slow food preparation, no attention to customers

11/25/08

Great Food, cocktails and Scene

by Jodiethetexan at Citysearch

Had dinner here with a group of friends and loved it! We think this is a great place to dine, as well as party. What an awesome " Restaurant-that turns-into a Night club" if that is even a word?! The place is amazing! We were delighfully suprised by the delicious food and cocktails they had. We stayed throughout the night and partied way as the restaurant turned into a lounge. You have to try this place!!! if you are looking for a great time and amazing food, this is the place to be.

• Pros: Nice atmosphere and Food!! Great service , Clean

11/18/08

Horrible Experience

by Sherlocksbookworm at Citysearch

I set up a lunch for 15 people to celebrate the completion of a project. First, we were there 2.5hrs for lunch and we had a reservation for when they opened at 11:30. Apparently, the kitchen decided that we were not worth the trouble as the other two groups got their food in a timely manner and had no issues (they were also larger groups and didn't send any food back, one group got there right before we walked in the door and were out before us.) We should have known it was going to be bad when the hostess turned to another worker and said they didn't have enough menus for us, we waited at least 15 minutes just to see the menu. We had to send two entrees back- one steak was ordered medium well and came back rare, when it was brought back out it was more like medium rare, but it was eaten since we had waited so long. The other meal was supposed to be a veggie burger, which came out as a buger with veggies, when we sent it back, we got a plate of veggies, that was sent back a second time and we asked for some pasta and sauce with the veggies with no mushrooms and add peas, we had no peas lots of mushrooms. The salmon was undercooked but people lived with it. My water glass was filled once the entire time, I snagged the extra water next to me as I was really thirsty. My dish was like licking a salt block, I won't need any salt for the rest of the month. When we finally asked for the check and the manager we were told the manager wasn't in. Two phone calls to the manager later, and the only thing they would do is take off our drinks- the tea and coke that about 9 people had ordered!!!! Several people went to the bathroom and said they were disgusting, like a typical club restroom. Apparently they make money by selling alcohol, so at night people get smashed and then they don't care what the food tastes like, if they ever get it. Moral of the story is don't bother unless you want to waste your time and money, or would like to help the kitchen staff cook your food.

11/15/08

Disgusting food, old/dirty decor, filthy bathrooms

by citysearchreader2008 at Citysearch

Do not go to this restaurant. The food is inedible, and the restaurant is dirty. I ordered the tuna, but it was way overdone and tasted very fishy. I could barely eat it. As far as the atmosphere goes, the decorations were quite tacky and worn down. There weren't that many people dining there (even though it was a weekend night), and the other people who were eating there looked like they were going to the prom. There was also no valet at the restaurant, which is highly inconvenient since it is located downtown. Don't even get me started about the filthy restrooms. If they don't even bother to keep the restrooms clean, then I don't even want to imagine the kitchen conditions. I have no idea why this restaurant is rated the way it is. Maybe it has changed management and/or chefs. It is WAY past its prime. To summarize this restaurant in one word: depressing.

• Pros: nothing
• Cons: everything about the place

11/14/08

think first episode of hell's kitchen

by dagr8lulu at Citysearch

Here's the scoop. The chef that got this restaurant those rave articles that attracted you to this place is LONG GONE. Who is left?

Apparently, someone who does not know how to cook a medium rare steak. First it was overcooked, then rare - with a cold center. To be fair, about 1/4th of the steak was cooked a bit for those who likes variety in a single filet minon. The asparagus is cooked in too hot heat so the center is raw and the outside stringy. Undercooked risotto. The crab meat is good for those who prefer pieces of shell in them. The Caeser's salad has the wrong lettuce and the wrong dressing. I've had better Caeser's salad at a hospital cafeteria. Some parts of the eating experience was okay. Bread has great seasoning if you don't mind that part of it is stale. Mashed potatoes where okay. The cook (cook, NOT CHEF) can cook the seafood at least. The crab cake is good, especially with the sauce that comes with it. The shrimp was... cooked. And the tilapia was even tasty if you ignore everything else that comes with it. If you are expecting to titillate your tastebuds into an org9sm, this is the wrong place to go.

If you have to try this place for yourself, NEVER order the specials. They cost almost twice as much as the most expensive thing on the menu. At least try the hideous food for less.

• Pros: Service is very attentive when there is no one else in the restaurant.
• Cons: Hideous food. Bad music.

11/10/08

BEST of Steak

by tanny04 at Citysearch

ZULA is THE place to go for steaks. We've done Ruths ( too expensive ,average steaks, small side dishes) Mortons ( great steaks, expensive, noisy ambience, dull side dishes) and Donovans( WAY too suffy) This place is ( like goldilocks said) " just right". The steaks are perfectly prepared, Asparagus must be grown specially for this restaurant because its aways crisp and very tasty, especially with the fabulous bernaise sauce. I'm allergic to seafood but my dinning companion often orders the Fish of the day and she say it's awesome. Zula has great wines to accompany any of their dishes. Their desserts, if and when you have room for them, are spectacular. FIVE stars every time!!!

• Pros: Steaks, fish , wines, ambience

11/08/08

Simply Perfect

by T0445 at Citysearch

I have to say I was a bit skeptical after reading most recent reviews online. I didnot know if we were in for a great meal or a noisy night of pertention. After reading the menu I was really worried- some of the ingredients sounded good but they were combined in such a way that I wouldnt normally choose any of the items. The food proved me wrong. Two things stand out: Our Rib-eye steak was incredibly tender , the service was superb , my wife main course was also awesome. Over all, the food was outstanding.

• Pros: Food , Service

11/08/08

Excellent food and service

by Kajamie at Citysearch

After reading some of the earlier reviews , I was a little worried our anniversary dinner wouldn't be so great. BUT we were surprised . Our server, I think his name was George , was very attentive yet did was not over bearing. He asked us questions about what kind of wine we like, he listended and brough us a bottle we absolutely loved. Service was superb, right down to the plate presentation. My husband works in the industry and I am a veteren, so we know when we get good service and this was a definite. Food was delicious. Interesting flavor combinations. Some of the reviews said this place was not in good shape, absolutely not. Would go back and recommend to others.

• Pros: Food was Delicious and Service was superb.

11/05/08

Don't bother

by sali2008 at Citysearch

We went on a Thursday night before the theater and we were the only diners in the place. Waiter served wine with cork in it. We got our appetizers/salads fairly quickly and then it was another 45 minutes before our entrees. We think the chef went upstairs to take a nap! We finally got our entrees with 10 minutes to spare. Guess you know what kind of tip he got. The weird thing is the food was really good. BUT the bathrooms were filthy and smelled of that sickeningly sweet stuff they spray to cover the real smell. The fabric on the banquet was old and worn out. All in all not a good experience. AND the music was so loud we had to yell at the waiter to get him to turn it down. And then he couldn't even figure out how. So sad.