- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee & Tea |
- All
Zen-Ya
Category: Restaurants Japanese Japanese [Edit]
486 rue Ste-Catherine OMontréal, QC H3B 1A6
(514) 904-1363
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 2:30 pm
Mon-Sun 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- Paid
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Dogs Allowed:
- No
15 reviews for Zen-Ya
15 reviews in English
-
Review from Sean R.
2/23/2012
Excellent sushi. Sophisticated yet comfortable atmosphere and great presentation. Finding this place hidden away on a third floor is a real gem.
-
Review from C M.
Montréal, QC
7/18/2011
Tucked away on the second floor of an obscure commercial building on Ste Catherine, talking into ZenYa is like walking into another world. You walk into the lobby of the building with skepticism, only to step out onto the second floor into ZenYa which is dim and lit with candles, decorated with bamboo and twine. The restaurant is spacious and the tables are not crowded together at all, which happens to be the case in a lot of restaurants in Montreal. Needless to say, I was impressed.
The service was also very good- Again, something that most places in Montreal lack in.. We were promptly seated without reservations and attended to by our servers who filled and refilled our glasses, took away empty plates, checked in on us without being annoying.
I am not a fish or sushi/sashimi fanatic, so I stayed away from the raw stuff, instead opting for sauteed scallops, cucumbers and zucchini for an entree and the teriyaki atlantic salmon for my main. Both were pretty good, the entree almost outshining the salmon. My boyfriend ordered the chicken teriyaki, which was so good it changed his view on chicken being "boring".
For dessert, we had the green tea opera cake which was AMAZING. The green tea made the opera cake lighter (or at least gave it a sense of lightness) which made me feel less guilty about eating it =)
ZenYa is an amazing spot, a hole in the wall, perfect for dates or good Japanese food in the downtown core. Highly recommended! -
Review from Teena D.
5/12/2011
I'm in Montreal for a work function.
Our team went to supper there last night. There were 15 in our party.
We were seated in the front at two big low tables. It looks like you'll have to sit on the floor yoga-style but there's actually a big pit in the floor so your legs are dangling. And you have to take your shoes off.
I'm not a fan of sushi, etc. so was happy to see that there was chicken teriyaki on the menu. Most of my colleagues ordered mixed sushi. It looked fun and colourful and they enjoyed it.
I found the service was slow and when my meal did come, it was warm, not hot. -
Review from Nelson N.
8/31/2011
Will not come back here again. We were out for a bachelor party on our last night and wanted to treat the bachelor to a good meal and sushi. We had a party of 9 and it was a walk-in. We sat in the private room and the host said they were short staffed. The saki and cocktails were good and the sushi was fresh and flavorful except the bland tuna one our friends got. Our server was slow and rarely checked in on us and to make it worse we waited a good 45 minutes for our entrees. I had to speak to the host/managers on 2 separate occasions. It wasn't until the 3rd timer our server finally came by to apologize and offer us a round of drinks. It was a nice gesture but should have been done 30 minutes earlier. The entire meal took about 2.5 hours and we walked out of that place more sober before we came. Great food, good decorum, horrible service and lack of timeliness.
-
Review from Dave H.
8/18/2008 11 photos
Zen-Ya is on the floor above a nightclub, on Rue Saint Catherine. They're mysteriously hidden, up until when you get to their attractive entrance, where you'll undoubtedly run into parties waiting to be seated. (Unsure how my friends found out about this place, but we found ourselves there for dinner one evening.)
Amid Zen-Ya's hip, lounge-like environs - and sushi bar - were servers bustling about and fellow diners sampling fresh sushi. Unfortunately, someone thought it would be a good idea to leave the lights low, and was way too dark (think: coffin) at our table. We requested the lights be turned up, which helped immensely: seeing our food increased the enjoyment factor, and bento boxes are not exempt.
Their menu is chock full of Japanese selections; prices are reasonable. I don't think I ordered the "right" items - I had some tough squid in my bento box - and the rolls I tried weren't that memorable. With Sho-dan in the city, I wouldn't return to Zen-Ya unless I lived in town, and then probably only for drinks. Still, they had their moments, and I suggest trying them for yourself. -
Review from Angel G.
12/4/2008
Yes, this place is hard to find (I had to go to the second floor, come back down the stairs and out, then went up to the fourth floor then took the elevator to the second floor again. It really shouldn't have been that hard. They definitely need a sign at the door but hey it was part of the "hunt" for good sushi). Yes it is a bit dark (it's called ambience)
BUT!!!!! the fish was fresh,delicious and excellent!
I was in town for business and was stayingat the hotel around the corner and asked my concierge about a good place for sushi. Mind you, I am from California and have a pretty good palate when it comes to telling good sushi from mediocre sushi and this was very good.
It was a slow night and sat at the sushi bar (the usual) and asked the chefs Mark (rolls) and Take (sashimi) to surprise me. And that they did.
It's definitely a fusion place to a certain extent.
They started me off with a portabella mushroom stuffed with scallops and a cream sauce (not too much) which was exquisite.
While I was eating the portabella, the chefs asked me what I liked and I explained pretty much everything except Uni (sea urchin). What came next was sheer pleasure.
The roll made a roll consisting of unagi and some other fish (sorry it was just good and didn't catch the name of it) next came a parade of various fresh sashimi (the "catch of the day"-scallops, real crab meat (OMFG!!), salmon, hamachi, albacore, etc). The freshness and taste of everything pleasantly surprised me.
I had a huge smile on my face!!! During this parade of fishes I was speaking with the sashimi chef and he had convinced me to try the Uni. I guess he had realized that I was not going to have room for dessert so he made Uni and of course more unagi (which had advocado between the rice and eel) nigiri look like a dessert. They looked so delicious and tasted just as they looked.
These gentlemen are honestly artists in their profession. Kudos to them and the restaurant Zen Ya!! -
Review from Ruth R.
2/5/2012
This was an interesting experience- the food was incredible and very fresh- we enjoyed some maki rolls and they were all very tasty. The service however was weak- we found out about the specials after we had almost finished our meal- when we ordered the bottle of wine we were told they were out and asked of we wanted a different one and when we said no they magically found the bottle we were asking for. Overall we found it enjoyable as the food made up for the service. If you like sushi then you will enjoy.
-
Review from Eric G.
8/1/2010 1 Check-in Here
We came here per our hotel's concierge's suggestion. It was a bit of a walk from the hotel, but worth it.
It's on the 3rd floor in the downtown area. The ambiance was very hip/dark/asian . The sushi was fresh and tasty. The spicy tuna was good, altho only 2 pieces were served vs. the usual 6. Negi Hamachi was good too. -
Review from chris n.
7/2/2010
Where can I start, the sushi is very good. ive been there twice and the 1st time I was there I got big pieces of sashimi and the last time I was there I got "average" cuts.
The soups here are to die for and the house salads were amazing. Def worth going to eat there if you're stuck on St Catherines.. -
Review from Chad T.
5/16/2010 1 photo
Very nice sushi place right in the heart of Rue St. Catherine. It looks like a non-descript building but once you make it to the 3rd floor, the inside of the restaurant is well decorated and comfortable.
We did a sushi Omakase for 4 people (no hot dishes), and they just gave us two huge platters of Nigiri, Sashimi, and various rolls. Even with all the beer, sake, etc. it ended up being about $65 per person, quite reasonable given the quality of the fish and the sheer amount of food. I would definitely come back to Zen-Ya for sushi again. -
Review from Bunny G.
7/2/2010
My husband and I are spending our honeymoon in Montreal and Niagara Falls. We are in Montreal for the Jazz Festival - Last night we decided to wander around and find what we could find. We thought we were heading into a burger joint - on the way up to the second floor a kind woman stopped us and asked us where we were headed: We told her we were looking for dinner. She brought us to ZenYa which was amazing!
My wine was delicious and my vegetable tempura was amazing. My sticky rice was incredible and my soy sauce for the tempura was perfect. The atmosphere was comfortable and romantic; our server was friendly and available.
Who knew a Japanese restaurant in Canada would be so wonderful! -
Review from John M.
Montréal, QC
5/25/2011 1 Check-in Here
Absolutely terrible service. Waited over an hour before any food arrived on the table. Anything that was supposed to be warm wasn't. It's a shame because the sushi was actually decent.
-
Review from Wayne L.
5/5/2011
Clean and Modern Sushi Joint
Pros:
Good Sushi
Fresh Fish
Variety of special rolls
Nice Decor
Considerate staff (when we ordered too much - we were four guys- the waitress recommend that we hold off before putting our final roll order. She was right)
Some tatami seating available
Cons:
It's on the third floor.
Recommend:
Sea Roll
Green Tea - it's flavored with roasted rice grains -
Review from Linda R.
8/16/2011
My husband and I found this place while walking on St. Catherine's street where there was a girl in a kimono standing on the street. We decided to give it a try since we had a craving for sushi. She ushered us into the elevator and brought us to the third floor. We wouldn't have found this place if it wasn't for the girl out front on the street.
The host seated us, and the bus boy poured us water and gave us our menus, oh and even lit our tea light candle! Our waitress took forever to greet us, and when she came by, we were ready to order. We ordered the vegetable and shrimp tempura, and a cold sake to start (another waitress saw us waiting there with our menus and asked if we've been helped after we had ordered). Again, it took about 30-45 minutes for the tempura to come out, and when it did, she brought us just a vegetable tempura which consisted of two tiny mushrooms, one small broccoli, one slice of eggplant and bell pepper. We told the waitress that she had brought us the wrong order, she took it back, and about 10 minutes later, the correct tempura came back with four shrimp tempura, a slice of eggplant, a small broccoli and a slice of bell pepper, they took the mushrooms out. I thought that the tempura was decent, it wasn't very hot though, everything was cold.
At this point, we still had not received our sake, so I asked the waitress for our sake. It seemed as though she had forgotten, so she ran back and about 10 minutes later, she brought over hot sake. We had to flag her down again and remind her that we had ordered a cold sake. She apologized again, and came back about 5 minutes later with a warm bottle of sake in a small bucket of ice water and told us to give it a few minutes to get cold...
An hour after we had placed the order, ate our tempura and drank our sake, the sushi we ordered came out. At least she couldn't screw this order up since we checked it off on a piece of paper. We ordered four rolls: the dynamite roll, spicy salmon, spicy tuna and california. The sushi selection was not great and very limited. We thought the sushi was pretty good, but the service was appauling, although I asked another waitress for tea, she was very pleasant and served us tea because our waitress never bothered to ask.
When our waitress, Annie came to clear our plates, she asked how things were, so I said "they were ok", she didn't even bother to ask why because she could care less. The only reason I knew her name was from the bill.
I do not recommend this place to anyone, everything is OVER PRICED and SERVICE IS NON-EXISTENT. We were there for 2 hours! Our waitress was an air head and could not get one single thing correct, they do have decent sushi, but it's definetly NOT WORTH IT, STAY AWAY! -
Review from J B.
8/19/2010
The sushi was mixed. Tasted and looked fresh, but somewhat mediocre presentation. Spicy and eel sauces were mediocre, but eel was good.
