Reviews of Zen Chinese Bistro (Restaurant)

Antonio Maniaci

Most amazing Chinese restaurant that's mostly gluten free. Big lunch portion, soup,tea for $12.00 bucks. Delicious

Arif Hafeez

Lovely people! Super courteous. Great place

Sheri Fasulo

Many Gluten Free dishes and it all tastes great. Fresh veggies abound and the orange chicken dish is a favorite amongst my family.

Sean Glazier

Really awesome food and reasonable and freshly made!

Melissa Selvon

It was okay

elizabeth defeo

I have a severe MSG allergy, and so, sadly, have not been able to enjoy Chinese food for a long time. Let me just say, oh. My. God. Zen is unbelievable. House fried rice is smoky and delicious, with jumbo shrimp throughout. The Zen platter is excellent, with boneless spare ribs shining through, and a bit of curry in the chicken teriaki. Drinks are fresh and well made. Mojito is outstanding. Happy girls will drive 1.25 hours for this one again.

Todd Reagin

Great bar and good, quality food.

Jennifer Stevensen

This is hands down the best Chinese food! Locally sourced ingredients and a wide selection. Service is friendly and fast. You want the best, it is going to be at a cost though. You will spend an average of $15-25 per person without any alcoholic beverages, when you can get decent Chinese in the area for $10-15. It is worth the extra!

Tristan Duffy

Best Chinese food I have ever had and gluten free too!

Brandy Soos

The crab rangoons were good, but many dishes didn't come with vegetables so we decided to leave. The Sesame chicken and General Tso's chicken are not the same, despite what the waitress said. We were placed upstairs and there was a loud birthday party downstairs so not the best environment during our visit. It may have been a great place once, but I doubt we will be back.

Colleen

The food is always great.

Wade McClay

Good food, generous portions. Menu a bit limited.

dawn gee

We drive over an hour for their food. So good

Tim Miller

Nice place. Good food and great bar.

milesdd

Very expensive for delivery ($80 with tip for an app, a soup and two entrees). Granted, we had the Peking Duck, but it was disappointing. Not very flavorful duck. Other dish was excellent. Nothing was terribly hot, however. And it wasn't because delivery was delayed - it actually came early. It's still probably the best option in Portland, but we'll likely get take out next time.

Carrie Ruth

Ordered delivery to our hotel after a long day of traveling. Food was less than mediocre especially for the price and they didn’t even provide utensils. Hotel didn’t have utensils either. Ate orange chicken and rice with fingers. Wouldn’t recommend.

Jeanette Wolfarth

Huge portions. Delicious food... In fact, the best in Portland!

Arch Stanton

Probably the best Chinese food in Portland Well executed restaurant with a great menu, decent prices, and a clean cut comfortable atmosphere! The exterior and the location make it more low profile. Great place for a date night or to grab some drinks.

Eric Hollingsworth

I was recommended this place by a couple of my Uber passengers a while back and I am just getting around to trying it out. The atmosphere was a pleasantly well kept, modern, and comfortable. I couldn’t find my “go to” General Tsao Chicken dish, so I asked the waitress who immediately obliged. It was hands down the BEST version I’ve ever had. Super healthy portion. Amazing spices. Received my order very quickly. Price was reasonable. Definitely going again.

Irving Medrano

I showed up and gave them a takeout order which was made for me pretty promptly. I was very impressed with the promptness and the courtesy of the young lady who took my order. I have yet to taste of food as I am taking it home.

Mackenzie Currie

Absolutly amazing!! Food was superb as well as specialty drinks! Left nice and full and very very satisfied!!

James Gerard

Very comfortable envirement, great service and food. Great place if you don't have to much time before heading into town for a movie. The food is always hot and at the table before you know it.

Nelson Mondale

It's fine. It's Chinese food. Kinda expensive - doesent taste outstanding

Dani Marie

So awful, took an hour to receive take out, on a Wednesday. Way over paid for the worst sweet and sour chicken of my life. I cannot believe anyone can get away with charging so much for such low quality food. Much better options around Portland for Chinese food.

Mrs. Tough

Got the general taos bean curd. Asked for spicy but it wasn't. It was decent but it wasn't amazing for the price. (16 bucks) prefer Chia Sen for the more upscale Chinese food (or for any Chinese food in the area.) My partner got tofu szechuan and we agreed it was mediocre. Sauce was liquidy. Perhaps they do meat better. Waitress was less then attentive. Atmosphere was good. Looked similar to bar that was there previously.

Jamie USA

A great restaurant yo have in our neighborhood! Delicious!

Alex Keller

Waited 2 hours to pay for my vill and then ended up having to pay more than what I ordered when I was there waited another 30 minutes to get change, food was not too bad though

Steven Robinson

Mediocre food, It seems like the focus on faddy gluten-free things caused this restaurant to lose track of the real goal: making tasty food. Definitely not worth paying far more than you would at near by competitors. (Had pan fried noodles and lo mein.)

Katie Hatch

All your go to favorites! Super lunch specials.

Aaron Milligan

Great food and service. A lot of gluten free options. Not always busy, but don’t let that deter you. Very nice bar area to enjoy your favorite beverage and watch TV.

Daniel Benedict

Good flavor!

Patrick Richard Clark

Excellent Food Excellant service. Very Friendly . THE Best Food . Worth every penny ! I'm a huge fan of this business

Thomas Farrington

Um, YUM! Food was excellent. Maybe the best Chinese food I have had in quite some time. With they were closer to my house and parking wasn't on-street.

Andrew w

Our favorite place! Fresh and consistently good!

Michael Bagley

2nd time we've been here... awesome

Abby Archer

Great food and service!

EllaMinnow Pea

Very pleased with lunch carryout at ZEN so far --the staff are friendly & fast. For $10, you get neatly portioned fried rice, a good scoop of chicken (entree) and "appetizer of the day" (so far = one spring roll). You also get a side soup choice. I find it perfectly filling for lunch. I have yet to dine in the restaurant itself, but the space is nice & open -- formerly the renovated District restaurant. There are always a few business people having lunch in there, too. I'm not sure how "healthy" ZEN is compared to other chinese restaurants -- they boast sourcing fresh ingredients locally -- but either way, they've somehow managed to freshen up the expected tastes of your standard, Americanized Chinese food. I would certainly give ZEN a shot if you have not yet tried them!

Russ Fleischer

Too expensive, too lazy, too cheap with portions, no plastic spoons forks? Lady English awful and delivery guy is stoner!

Dark Range

Not impressed. Ordered online to have it delivered about 6 pm, the food showed up 1 1/2 hours early. The "Zen platter" was missing some of the things they say come with it (No shrimp at all!), egg rolls are about the size of a spring roll, the pork dumplings (Had them pan fried) were small and didn't look like they were fried at all. On a plus note the BBQ Pork was ok. So all in all, they will get one more shot (everyone gets 2) but I wouldn't recommend the place at this point. Dark

Paul Masbeth

Thanks for being open on Christmas!!!

PokemonZomg .

Really enjoyed my experience here. It's pleasing that there's a variety of Gluten Free options offered here! Great drinks too.

Keri Thibeau

We found Zen Chinese bistro due to a Groupon so we were pleasantly surprised to see how nice it was inside and how great the food was. The dumplings were absolutely delicious and the portions are huge you definitely get what you pay for and the service is fantastic as well. I would highly recommend going here even without a Groupon.

T Barbieri

Love Zen. I am gluten-free and it is the only Chinese Restaurant who has a GF menu. The food is wonderful!!

Karen M

We are form out of town and decided to take a chance and try Zen to celebrate our engagement. It’s rare to find gluten free Chinese food let alone amazing GF Chinese food. Will most definitely be back when we are in town again! Thank you for a wonderful dinner!

Dale W

They have like 12 gluten-free dishes, where most places have 2-3. That’s a big deal to my GF sweetie. Delicious food, good service and cozy/quiet. Unfortunately, there must have been some cross-contamination with some Gluten items in the kitchen It's been a couple of hours and my wife's very sick with belly pains and usually, that's what it is.

Mike Nicholas

Everything is always cooked fresh, the owner is extremely nice and knowledgeable on dishes. Lunch prices are amazing for what you get. Never had a bad meal in the 4 years I've been coming here.

Ryan Knowles

Top notch!

Michelle Locke

Zen's food is always really fresh and delicious.

labby Jane

Deliciously real food. You will not leave hungry.

Maranda Wade

Gluten free menu was awesome and the food tasted great!

jasonalwaysready

Nice, clean, great lunch specials.

Alex Fuller

Delicious food, great drinks, great service. A good place for a nice, quiet dinner date. Pricy, but absolutely worth it.

Brian Young

Pricey, but good...

nina johns

By far the best Chinese food in Portland!! Got the Zen platter with a side of amazing pork fried rice, and it was enough for my pregnant self and my father! The staff was very pleasant also, great atmosphere! Good prices! I will suggest this to everyone! ❤

Mason Cyr

Great vibes, good Chinese cousine with all your favorites including crab rangoon's. Bar sevice was great, with friendly staff!

Jacob Veayo

Food is good, yes. Prices are terrible. Its like they know they are the only place in the old port and they can get away with it. Can't have a decent meal here for under 25 bucks. pfffffft. Have a good one!

Ian Mullinder

Cannot go wrong with any dish on the menu.

Mehru Lodhi

Great chinese food, valur for money, ambiance was alright, but service , food and quantity was excellent, will go there again, trued edamame,singaporian rice with jumbo shrimp and seafood tofu soup(good for 2). Its nt on menu but tgey can make it for you. Im definately going there again.

Roland Carter

Great food and celiac safe on a ton of dishes!

Matthew Rodriguez

Unexpected gem. The food here ended up being much better than the typical Americanized Chinese food that we expected. It's different in a good way. Almost a little bit healthier but honestly much tastier. It's the Chinese food you want when you want to make it at home but don't have the time. The drinks were great and we really enjoyed it overall. Surprised how empty this place was but don't let that deter you. Give it a shot and you'll be impressed.

Marian Laroche

This is our favorite Chinese restaurant because the food is flavorful, not great and made fresh to order.

Angela Dubois

Ordered takeout and the person delivering didn’t make eye contact or even speak to me at all. They were on the phone with someone so they had me sign a paper, handed me my food and walked away without a single word being said. Also, the food was not very good, especially for the price.

Bluntman Chris

Very elegant and modern feeling definitely had funk shway staff was friendly food was excellent would highly recommend

Ray Alba

If you have a gluten intolerance and love Asian food this is hands down the best place in Maine and Portland.

Jonathan Billings

One of the best Chinese spots in Portland

Vin Conti

Eh..... I liked egg rolls but girlfriend didn't. Hot and sour soup and wonton soup both good but not great, wonton a little better. The moo shi pancakes were bad. Skip them. Just Mexican flour tortillas. Four happiness= bad. Chicken with garlic sauce was pretty good. Scallops weren't what you would expect for the Old Port of Portland. The desserts looked good although we skipped it. Waitress was nice. Would have been 2.5 stars, maybe 2.6 if I could.

Dylan Batchelder

Great Food

Christopher Kimball

Good food quickly

Michaela Donahue

Wonderful service & excellent food. Five stars if the order had been right!

Richie Denis

Excellent quality Chinese food fresh and delicious!

Tina Cigri

Zen Chinese Bistro offering large selections of fresh, healthy and delicious home made Chinese cuisine. The menu also provides huge selections of GLUTEN FREE entrees and apetizers. In addition to the traditional Chinese dishes, Zen also offers organic salads with home made giner dressing. The full bar offer wide choices of martinis, polynesian cocktails, and wine & beer from around the world. The atmosphere is clean, classy, beautiful and cozy. IT IS A MUST TRY SPOT..

Vanya Caron

I Love Zen Chinese Bistro! At that time I was on a salt restricted diet and ordered the avocado salad. No kidding, it was the best salad I ever ate! It had fresh baby greens, a perfect avocado half and dressing to die for. I ate it so enthusiastically, that our server observed" I could see you hated that salad." The wait staff is congenial and efficient. My friends ordered more Asian type food. They said it was delicious.

Gerry Tiernan

The food is a few steps above Chinese take out, delicious and good portions. One of my family's favorites. It's rarely crowded but can still be a little tough to park close.

Andy Martin

A little expensive but this isn't fast food. The food is great and consistent!