Zen City in Southend-on-Sea

When here for my mums birthday as her favourite food is Chinese 100% recommend. We have dined here many times food is always fresh and perfectly cooked staff are always friendly and attentive.

yesterdays left overs over cooked the worst ever sweet/sour pork balls more like over cooked cannon balls I WIIL NO MORE USE THIS RESTAURANT

Best Chinese restaurant in Southend. Excellent quality every time.

i ordered Plane fried vegetables and they came in oyster sauce which i didn’t want!! There was hardly any veg nothing like the picture on the menu!

food says delivered and didnt evenarrivw after and hr of waiting

RUDE IMPOLITE DRIVER COLD FOOD OVER COOKED RICE STRINGY CHICKEN RUBBER SHRIMPS SOGGY PRAWN CRACKERS CHOWMIEN NOT BAD BUT TASTELESS

Ordered at 6:45, given delivery time of 7:05. Finally arrived at 8:10 - and they had the cheek to charge £5 for service charge and delivery. When it did arrive, half the food was stone cold, and the sauces were so strong it was uneatable.

fast service, great food, and plenty of it!!

I am writing to formally lodge a complaint regarding an unacceptable experience I recently had with one of your delivery drivers The order, which had already been paid for, was refused to my elderly parents by your delivery driver due to their inability to locate a delivery code. His attitude and lack of assistance in resolving this issue were appalling and unacceptable. Despite several attempts to resolve the situation, the driver refused to: 1. Show my parents where to find the code, despite them asking for his help. 2. Call the restaurant to obtain approval to release the food, as we requested. This situation is completely unacceptable. It is outrageous to think that we had to wrestle with a delivery driver to receive food that had already been ordered and paid for. The way your delivery driver handled the situation, especially when dealing with elderly customers, reflects poorly on your company’s customer service standards. I strongly urge your company to better train your delivery drivers in handling all types of customers, including the elderly, disabled, or those who may struggle with modern technology. It is crucial that your delivery staff act with patience, understanding, and professionalism in such cases. I would appreciate a response from you outlining how this issue will be addressed and what steps will be taken to prevent such situations from happening again. Please contact me via email to discuss the matter further. I look forward to your prompt response.

Great food as usual . Best Chinese in Southend

The food is fresh and tasty. Lovely staff. Pleasant atmosphere. Will return. I love the starter platter. Portions where perfect. Particularly liked the teriyaki prawns Thank you

It's good value as it is eat as much as you want and they bring it to your table. However none of it really has much taste and the dishes are a bit boring

The food was good and tasty..but not the service. It's says it's unlimited food.that we can order as much as we need.but the staff always give looks when ordering food and always acts so weird with all visitors.I would never recommend it to anyone. Always trying to emphasise people not to order anything more and trying to save food coming to tables by wasting time . It's not unlimited it seems. Never take the buffet option.its really worthless. Specially the guy and one women who serves food do not know how to give a better customer service . They should first learn how to treat customers .Then do the restaurant. 1/4 service , 3/4 for food

Very quick delivery, lovely and fresh food

First time ordering from here and won’t again. Food was bland and there must have been a hidden ingredient not standard in the dishes I ate which has triggered my IBS.

Food was amazingly good as well the service.They immediately came for service when needed without us standing up to the counter.Had all the right proportion of the meals.Despite having many people food didn't delay to be brought to everyone.Definetly a place I would visit again and again

I went last night with husband and some friends. The food wasn't great, the staff wasn't that friendly and the toilets were horrible. In the women's toilet one was dirty and the other the door didn't work so I asked one waitress and she said use the disabled that wasn't very clean either. Definitely I won't back there and neither my friends.

Didn’t deliver the right food. Refused to re deliver the ordered dish. Starter was only enough for 1 person and misadvertised if it was for 2 people.

Ten of went to the Zen for a Friday night out. It was a great experience. The food was very good and service was very quick and efficient. Can't fault it.

The food was absolutely disgusting and appalling!! Over cooked, dry and horrible! I certainly would not recommend it at all. How do I get a refund?

very poor quality of food, no seasoning and overall disappointing

Normally order from here most weekends but today's food was absolutely horrendous. The soup tasted like hot salt water so much that it couldn't even been eaten, the dumplings were so over cooked they were chewy, the pancake roll you had to use a sharp kitchen knife to get through the over cooked batter, the chow mein was cold and there was no prawn crackers. Really disappointed won't be ordering again

Thank you, delicious food as usual.

Delicious will definitely order again

As we often do for occasions and just casual meals we went to Zen City. We booked this up about a week ago. Staff, service and food all good. Plenty of it too.

Food was bad dry,over cooked, burnt, and for food that wasn't eaten you still payed for but weren't allowed to take home in doggie bag...would never recommend.

Food was shocking. Everything completely overcooked; it was cold by the time it had arrived even though it was on time and everything was just greasy and bland. A really disappointing Chinese.

Restaurant contacted me to confirm preferences, arrived quickly and hot and was delicious. Thanks!

The buffet food (you can eat as much as you want) is delicious and the service is always nice. The only minus is the waiting time for the next order

The soup was omitted from the order £4.50 you owe me. I got 2 lots of complimentary prawn crackers. Thanks but no thanks. Fed up with delivery food orders neigh either late cold or incomplete. How do I get a refund for missing item?

Lovely! Really nice food staff very friendly too! Will be visiting again! Thanks

Forgot pancakes to go with duck

I have used them for takeaway for over two years. Definitely the best Chinese in town. Very consistent, food always excellent.

We had a fantastic fund raising evening at Zen City. The food was excellent, staff were very helpful and the evening was great success. We received lots of positive feedback from our guests and will definitely be back in the future!

Staff very attentive. Food arrived quickly and hot. Good selection. Would recommend

Great food and atmosphere, will certainly return.

Hot and Sour soup tasted like sweet and sour sauce with some meat in it. Disgusting.

Was there yesterday for my husbands birthday. Had booked for the 2 of us. Was quite busy, despite that staff were attentive and we were offered food and drink at appropriate times. Left feeling the experience as is usually the case was good. We been using Zen City on and off for 15 or so years.

Used to come here often years back. Ive had mixed experiences here, some very good, some pretty bad. This time was ok. My friend and I were hungry and went in for the all you can eat for £20. Price is still good for nowadays. Ordered various starters including something we didn't order, a hot and sour soup which was actually a nice surprise. Prawn toast was good, spring rolls are tony but taste alright, chicken wings portion (2) was nice but minimal. Udon noodles were nice, Thai red was decent enough, although a little mild for me. Szechuan pork was not what I know it as, but sweet and sour chicken was nice. Crispy chili beef suffered from that extra crisp as if burnt in the oil. However, service was good and staff were friendly. It was a quiet night. Worst thing was how I noticed customers on other tables speak to the staff. One said tonight 'you're not the only one who works long hours' (what the hell would he know? Another came out with a sexualised comment. Pls note I'm hiding the customers lack of decorum rather than the staff. It's a real shame that customers are so arrogant sometimes. I did notice that Guinness is quite cheap compared to other places though, and a few Asian beers are available as well as dessert menu.

The special fried rice and chowmein didn't seem to have been fried though, just boiled, very bland :(

Sweet and sour sauce was extremely vinegary...not very pleasant

Delicious as usual. Thank you this time to delivery driver he was very fast.

The food was absolutely delicious

Love this place, staff go out of there way to keep you happy and enjoy your meal , and the food is excellent 20 pounds for all you can eat yes please 🙏 oh 1 pound extra for the crispy duck and its amazing .

I personally found it a bit messy

I ordered a pork chow mein, not sure if it was pork though, way too chewy and tough kept on spitting it out was not pleasant to eat, and the pancake roll was burnt and way too greasy to eat so both have ended up in the bin. Thanks for nothing, I will not be ordering from you again

Service was appalling,had to wait over an hour to be served,the food was terrible aswell,would not go again

Great place to eat, food was freshly cooked and the restaurant is very welcoming to young ones will definitely re-visit many many times

Dont bother ordering we.placed order 2145 took over a hour too.arrive.guess what not one item we.ordered arrived ,just some mish mashed left oversat end of service. We foned took several attempts as.fone service.at their end was crap, no aplology just sorry kitchen now.closed What a usless exuse for customer service. Wont order again wont reccommend plus a bonus hair in whoevers chicken ball we got!!!!! Pic.being sent to enviromental health

Wrong food delivered. Told tough kitchen is closed

That was the most worst meal we have ever had saltband chilli chicken no salt no chilli pan cake roll no nothing just bean shoots bland chilli chicken no chilli worst meal we have ever had never ever order a meal from zen city again

Noodles tasted microwaved and had a funny smell, the soup wasn’t a soup something else.

We are a dementia home and took some of our residents with their families out for a meal. Got Zen city of Google looked at the menu and price. Went in and paid deposit and spoke about our dementia residents the price, disabled toilets etc. Cannot fault the food, service and atmosphere. Until it was time to pay the bill the menu states 15.95 on Google, manager saying its now 20.00 per person,the manager was very rude calling myself a liar. When I showed him the menu with price he just shook his shoulders and told me that is a old menu , in which I told him was not my fault or problem. Then he made me speak to the person I spoke to when I went in as she was at home on the phone who thought she,could shout at me down the phone which was definitely not exceptable. After half a hour of reminding them that I was only going to pay the 15.95 and they was keeping me from taking the residents back to the home. Most in there 90s . It really left a sour taste. Not letting me post the photo of the price I got from google

Disappointed. Food was cold on arrival, the cucumber with the duck looked rotten and the juicy from the rotten cucumber had spread everywhere, and then one of the meals did not turn up! Duck was not shredded which was annoying more than anything.

My house number did not appear on the order. Fortunately the courier rang me. Can't see how to update this.?

Take away Food portions was awful not even half full in the Tupperware pots, Food quality was not up to scratch. Prices was way to high for how much you get. Would highly recommend not to eat from there.

Completely ruined my daughter’s birthday. Had the same experience both times I’ve been here. Both times, waited an hour and a half for food. Never saw our food and had to leave to go to a show (hungry). It seemed to be the same for the majority of tables there. We only saw deliveries being served, actual diners were ignored and told “it’s cooking” whenever anyone asked after their orders. Perhaps just be a takeout service rather than a restaurant if you aren’t actually going to serve people?

Ordered food at 18.01 delivered at 19.47! Food arrived freezing cold and everything was dry curry had no sauce , satay had no sauce, wouldn't order from here again!! waste of money!!

Duck was over cooked and rice was plain!

A lovely evening 😊 with family. Great food and service. Only one thing. They forgot to add a bottle of wine to bill . There were 8 of us so quite a substantial bill. Embarrassingly a member of staff ran out after us calling out about non payment of wine. Which was immediately paid by one of our party. SHAME.,!!!!

Excellent food… eat all you want on weekdays… but not pre cooked… all cooked to order

Always good food, you never go wrong with Zen City. Thanks to all people working in the restaurant.

Love Zen City. Excellent service, value for money.

Lovely an hot. Definitely order again.

Family meal with eight people Food was excellent service was very good staff very friendly nice atmosphere Would definitely go again

Delivery driver took 30 mins for a 5 min journey turned off his tracker. Curry sauce was completely emptied in the bag so didn’t have curry sauce for my meal.

I said no veg in my order, and they ignored my request and added veg, i could not eat it as I am allergic to bean sprouts, I called them, then he told me to F-off, I told “Just eat “ and they said that it is not their problem! What a joke!!

There was a bit of a mistake, when only half our order turned up, which has never happened before. I called the restaurant and they sent the rest of my order without delay. I am very happy with the customer service. Thank you Zen city.

They are the best. The food, service everything. Thank you to Steve for keeping us company❤️

Chicken was entirely tasteless but the rest of it was very good. Really polite delivery guy too.

Chicken balls was hard and nasty. Taste like old, not fresh chicken.

We had a takeaway from here. We had the chow mein, chicken balls and kung po chicken. All really hot and fresh tasting and large portion. Will be ordering again!

Amazing food just as good as eating in their restaurant 😁

Excellent food. Service could be improved

Wrong items sent, lady on phone at restaurant not able to help very well

Brilliant as always. Shame you can’t order drinks though 🤦🏼‍♀️

Delivered wrong food then when I asked them to resend the order, they missed out an item. When I phoned again to complain, the person who answered kept blaming me for their mistakes and kept talking over me. Instead of calming me down and resolving the problem, they just annoyed me even more. I waited over an hour. Abysmal customer service.

The taste was bad and the food was not fresh, it only tasted salty, did the chef put the whole jar of salt in it? 🤨

Very expensive buffet portions we too small.. main menu much better and not much dearer

immediately, when walking through the door, the waitress side eyed me and my friend. we were taken by our seat and immediately asked if we wanted something to drink. we both asked for tap waters, then began to look at the menu for the buffet. it was not a traditional buffet. not large pans of food, you would order from a menu with around 10-15 starter items and soup on. my friend and i ordered both: wasabi prawns and teryaki prawns, but they both arrived tasting exactly the same- just your average fried prawns. the portions they bought out were very small. after maybe 13 starters and a soup, we ordered our mains, which were really nothing special. the kung pao was genuinely just sweet and sour with a few chillis thrown in it, and the chicken in the katsu curry was very tough. we spent the entire experience anxious as we did not want to pay extra for "wastage" although the food was not very nice. as well as this, the food was very salty, which meant i had to drink a lot of water.

The fat waitress at the front desk of this store has a bad attitude. She pretends not to hear her when I asks for a drink. I really don’t know if such an employee is qualified to work in the service industry? Won't go again

Driver was excellent phoning to keep us informed

Ordered a chicken noodle soup and got chicken chow mein that was dry and cold. The duck was alright, quite fatty. Prawn crackers were stale. Not ordering from here again.

Ordered to collect at 5.40. Still wasn’t ready by 6pm. No explanation or apology. And they forgot the sweet and sour sauce for the chicken balls. Chow mein very dry. Will go elsewhere next time as service and food terrible.

No available drivers. Store was closing before driver could be allocated so I had to collect myself

Always great when we've been to the restaurant. This was the first time ordering a takeaway and was disappointing unfortunately. Didn't seem anywhere near the quality you get when you eat in. Stone cold, watery sauces, rock hard sweet and sour chicken (more chicken bullets!). Was expecting more. It felt a bit like leftovers from the buffet. Would eat in the restaurant again but not delivery.

Extremely disappointed that they no longer have Jasmine tea. Why would you stop doing such a traditional drink which was introduced in China and I have been ordering it in Zen City for over 15 years. Spoilt my whole experience last night. Food was tasty but minimal meat amongst lots of veg in each dish. Service good although several staff asked us the same thing so didn’t seem to be working together.

Thank you again Zen city, the best Chinese food & Restaurant in the town.

Booked a Sunday lunch for my Daughters 18th. It was a fixed menu all you can eat, although there is plenty to choose from. Everybody enjoyed it

The food was very tasty and arrived hot! The salt and chilli wings were LOVELY! The only think I would say is that the black bean sauce was quite watery and this seemed to dilute the flavour, had the sauce have been a bit thicker, I think it would have been much better. Other than that, I can't fault the food. It's not the cheapest Chinese, but certainly one of the best I have in a long while! I will be ordering from here again.

Thought to try this out for a change. Service was great, food was average and the atmosphere was alright but could have done with some more customers to add to the ambience. Decor could do with a bit of wallpaper paste stuck behind it in places.

We had a meal here Saturday evening and found the food excellent good quality staff very friendly and very reasonably priced particularly enjoyed the duck Will definitely return

Food burnt - Other not cooked properly

Hands down the worst Chinese iv ever had. Barbecue ribs shouldn’t have even called them that no sauce. The duck for two omg got two wraps each and that’s for two 😂 the chicken with sesame seeds on was Gravy or something like that wasn’t teriyaki no way. And we had one drink each come to £55. And they charge you for left overs witch I couldn’t eat the sesame chicken they prob charged me for it but there is no way I could of ate that my dog would of turned his nose up at that it. Got that bad I was laughing as they put the food down absolute joke of a place….. AVOID TRUST ME GO TO YINGS CHINESE 10/10 food they ain’t got nothing on YINGS it’s a takeaway but I tell you what for your money the food quality at YINGS is top notch

Everything very good except Chicken Balls. A cube of strangely textured protein I've not had before. Won't order that again. Anywhere else I've had that has been very good. Sorry Zen City that wasn't a winner for me.

Awful! Chips were old and brown. Chicken balls tough and hard and chewy. Beef was terrible quality we could y chew it. Noodles were so spicy they were not edible. Prawns chewy, pork ribs hard and unable to bite the meat off. Terrible we haven’t eaten it. I couldn’t give the children the chicken balls or chips

Not a traditional Chinese restaurant. £20 per person buffet style. The food felt mass produced, not authentic. Very busy though, so two courses for two, took over an hour and a half to get. Not a place for couples.If you like deafening chatter from 100plus people, with crying babies at 8.30 at night, and cheap average food then it's the place for you. 6 years since my last visit and I'll never darken its door again.

Food was freezing, isn't very nice threw most away as didn't want to risk eating it

Superb food A+++ shame about the just eat driver he just left my food on the doorstep Rung my doorbell and walked away without saying a word

Fantastic as always. Lovely friendly staff, very reasonable drink prices. Food terrific, so tasty. Great selection. Highly recommended!!!