ZIMA Russian Restaurant in City of London, Westminster

We loved Zima! The service was warm. Authentic Russian cuisine experience with olivier salad, shuba, vinaigrette, pelmeni, blinis with caviar and of course nastoyka. The dishes were all very tasty. We also loved the fact they had Moldovan wine. We'll be back!

An excellent restaurant with authentic Russian cuisine, well located, with a pleasant and cozy atmosphere. I had the summer menu chicken schnitzel, which was very tasty and beautifully presented. The staff were friendly. And of course, I highly recommend trying the Medovik 🤗.

Be careful! Scammers! They include a 13.5% service charge to the bill and then ask for a tip when paying by card… Their food and service are worse than average, comparing to modern Moscow restaurants. Don't go if you want to feel the ambience of modern Russia and try its cuisine, everything is very outdated, as if it were from the 2000s.

Mixed feelings. The food is reasonable. The service less so. We went there to celebrate our anniversary, and it was mentioned on the booking. No acknowledgement of the occasion. Massive 13.5% service charge on the bill, as well as you have to select tips on the card machine when paying your bill. All in all ended up paying 25% service (service charge+tips), and the place is quote expensive to start with!! When we were leaving, they allowed us to help ourselves to a free "Russian Magazine", I just opened it and it is 3.5 years old!!! A bit perplexed.

It was our second time here. We were very positively impressed during our first visit, so we were keen to come back. Unfortunately, the restaurant has changed a lot. The menu has changed. It is now more limited and the prices have gone up. This was a smart and expensive restaurant before but now it has become prohibitively expensive. The waiters also try and push to add items to the menu, which is not appreciated. The pirozhki are now made using French brioche bread, which I personally don't like and I wouldn't call this pirozhki at all. The worst of all was that almost as soon as we arrived we got a big dog right next to our table. It came as a shock to see an animal allowed in such an expensive restaurant that charges 13.5% on top of the bill for service. I would expect the service to be impeccable for that price and not to be made to sit next to any kind of furry animal. The staff played with the dog touching it with bare hands, it went on the sofa and it tried to climb on the table too. There is a big question mark over hygiene and sense of propriety here. It's of course their choice how they run their business and it is ours whether we come back or not. Unfortunately, after how this restaurant has changed its menu, pricing and taking the hygiene situation into consideration, I can no longer recommend this and I will not be back myself.

Opposite Bar Italia and next door but one to Ronnie Scott's on Frith Street, you’ll find Zima. It serves Russian food in a way that’s modern but not entirely disconnected from its heritage. We’ve eaten here a few times. The first occasion because of the novelty - I haven’t eaten much Russian food; but also because I really like caviar. There, said it, and Zima’s caviar is some of the most keenly priced in the capital. This visit was a Thursday night and Soho was heaving. Bar Italia blipping with folk inside and out and a line of excited guest for the early show at Ronnie’s. Fortunately, we’d booked. What can I say? Zima does what it says - great Russian, and Russian inspired, food. My caviar and blinis were excellent. You can’t go wrong if the ingredients are good, and they were. The Beef Pirozhki were excellent too. I was still on with the fish eggs, blinis and sour cream whilst my partner enjoyed her Lamb Pelmeni. It was the Medovik - layered honey cake - was especially good. During the course of the meal we enjoyed two or three of Zima’s flavoured Vodkas - the Gooseberry Nastoyka was a cracker. Attentive service from Victoria made the meal a winner. Highly recommended and just a little bit different.

Delicious food, really. Great location. Fantastic service. Laura was just as attentive despite me walking in at almost closing time.

Been here 3rd time over the week. And more likely it was my last visit. The story: Enquired about my reservation over the phone, discussed all and found out a solution. On arrival first I was gaslited and accused of being a liar, after checking that I called indeed and the phone number was correct instead of apologies I was told the stuff is not responsible for what was told over the phone as it was not them (the same accusing me). Every time that lady did not like our answer, she just turned round and went away, making it impossible to even ask for the manager. Luckily I manager to finally ask for the them - Youssouf (that was his name). Unfortunately never bothered to appear and the lady confirmed he is not coming as all was clear and his presence was not required. Did I like the food? Yes Did I like the place? Yes Was shisha good? Last 2 times it was overheated and burning (confirmed by stuff 5 minutes after it was brought to the table, was never changed) However, I won’t be coming back, I don’t find this approach acceptable of any standards. P.S.: we have been in the restaurant 3 times (average bill 220£ each time) over the week, guys were difficult, with constantly changing rules (1shisha per 3 people; 2 Shisha per 3 person; last time 1 Shisha per person) but approachable, and both food and vibe compensated. Everytime we visited, number of Shisha’s per person increased, without any reason explanation apart Youssouf told we only do it. We had plans to come again a least a few times a week, until yesterday happened. So now, we’ll go for something else instead

Went with a Russian speaking friend who is well acquainted with Russian food and they were quite disappointed. The pelmeni and salo were definitely nice but the rest of what we had was quite disappointing. The pirozkhi and draniki were both pretty substandard. Service and drinks (sea buckthorn lemonade and kvass) were decent but for £90, I'd expect better.

Russian restaurant with traditional Russian dishes and an amazing selection of flavoured vodkas. Their Borscht was full of flavour and very enjoyable. The dumplings selection that we had was also very good- my favourite being the lamb ones. We tried a few different vodkas from a broad selection of flavours- not just different fruits but ryegrass and horseradish. Very different and great to try. Efficient and friendly service.

Would consider this authentic recipes. Small restaurant and very busy with a multitude of languages going on. Loved the food....we each had borscht soup, shared an order of lamb dumplings. Also had the buckwheat/mushrooms side dish. Portions were smaller that expected so this was not overloading for two people. Good place to visit. Not sure we would go again.

Stopped by here for a quick Tuesday lunch .Service was slow and waitress kept forgetting about our orders.Portions are very small