Zen Noodle Bar Temple Terrace

One of my new favorite restaurants in Tampa. On my first visit I had green curry chicken udon soup and it was so good I ordered it again a few days later. It came out quick each time and the portion size was filling. If you like extra heat they have Thai chili flakes, Thai chili paste and sauce. Their Vietnamese ice coffee was fantastic too. Am looking forward to visit 3 to try something different!

We walked into the restaurant and got seated right away. Within just a few minutes we got our water and menu. The waiter was friendly and gave us a few minutes to look over the menu instead of rushing us. Ordered the pho with beef ribs and the ribs were fall off bone tender and you got 2 of them. The broth was rich and flavorful, the spring rolls were nicely rolled and the peanut sauce was delicious. We did end up spilling a whole cup of water but the waiter didn’t fuss over it and calmly came over with additional napkins and towels to help us clean up so we can enjoy our meal. It’s located in a shopping strip, so plenty of parking and easily accessible.

I really wanted to like this place, amd i guess that's why so many stars.... but it's like the more I come back, the more I hate it. I tried to upload photos with this post but idk that i did it correctly. ANYWAY, the food is pretty good for the most part but the portion size and quality for Togo is very inconsistent. And tonight it was just plain insulting! I order the same thing everytime. ribeye Bulgogi rice bowl extra beef. My bowl literally had scraps of meat in it. I get it all the time. It looked like someone had eaten it all out. I keep digging threw the bowl trying to find it but nope! I have a picture of how much meat i took out to give my daughter because i was so flabbergasted that the bowl had no meat. They have me my extra beef on the side but it honestly looked like they put my bowl together, then took the meat out the bowl and put it on the side. I always share this bowl with my daughter and tonight i didnt get hardly any Bulgogi because there just wasn't enough for the both of us. It was barely enough for her and she's 6! I hate wasting money and this was such a waste. I paid $20 for rice. There's been other instances and mishaps for Togo, but if i ever go back, it most certainly will be to sit down. The 2x i went there to sit down were fine. But I'm very disappointed not to be able to trust them.

Though this restaurant serves delicious food, the service is so dreary that we'll not be returning! Many a times when a restaurant serves good food, even if the service is not exceptional, just being efficient does the trick to compensate for the shortcomings. But when you have to wait 13 minutes for plates and silverware, especially after the appetizers have already made it to the table and the customer has reminded twice already - you're just left baffled at the severity of the lack of basic service!!! We've never experienced this kind of asinine service!!! And there's no way the staff was overwhelmed, the restaurant barely had 3-4 tables occupied (including ours). I hope the restaurant trains their staff better and hope they stop losing customers over lack of bare minimum/decent service. The drinks situation was weird again. The Thai iced tea & taro tea took about 20 mins to make it to the table. We had to remind them multiple times to bring us a second glass of Moscato. They ran out of sake and some beers. There was consistently something amiss during our meal experience! Sad.... We were a large group and tried multiple dishes. And we liked them all: Bang chicken bao buns were delicious - (The delay in bringing us the small plates caused all the sauces from these buns to run on the table. What a mess 🤦🏼‍♀️) We also enjoyed the summer rolls, Kimchi fried rice, Green curry chicken, Drunken noodles, Bang bang chicken bowl and the Pho with veggie broth.

I’m in town for business and decided to give this place a try. I got the Zen Ramen with pork belly. It was delicious!! The restaurant was clean, roomy and had a good vibe. My server (Victor) was personable and fast. He was smiling and upbeat the entire time I was there - even when he had to clean a table that looked like a war zone. Food was everywhere! Most people would’ve been a little perturbed by this but Victor joked about it and cleaned it with a smile. Rare in this day and age - he’s definitely an asset to the business!