Like everyone else, I really WANTED Zen to be fabulous. We went for a snack after the movie - got there at 10 (they close at 11 on Sundays). Hardly anything on the belt, but they were happy to make us whatever we wanted, and it was $1 off for happy hour. We had the spicy tuna roll (mushy), salmon skin roll (okay), spicy tempura roll (meh), himachi nigiri (very thin slices and weird color), and ungainly nigiri (too much teriyaki). The rolls are only four small pieces, not six chunks like at Wasabee. Service was very good, though. No complaints in that regard. Even if I go to the movies, I will head over to Wasabee - better quality and better prices! Sorry, Zen. read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - Cool vibe, empty belt (nearing the end of the evening... - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

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Zen sushi sucks! Two out of two orders totally messed up. They don't know the difference between blue fin and yellow fin tuna. They can't make a roll at all and don't include the details listed on their menu (green onion, tobiko, etc). The scallop guncan was tasty but mostly rice. The saba was totally fishy smelling and tasting - yuck! Sushi chef seems to be just phoning it in. Gave them two tries and won't do a third. Will be going back to the basic but fresh and delicious Kuro Kuru. Also, half an hour after eating their sushi, had major diarrhea! read more

Great if you want an endless array of nigiri and other sushi rolls -- many of them never seen before in Tokyo -- delivered by conveyer belt. Not so great if you ask for sashimi or something not preprepared and whirling around you. The staff were all so busy making rolls and takeout my sashimi order sat unfilled until I reminded them I was still waiting. Lots of apologies but not much skill in slicing. Chopsticks cannot handle a 5-inch slab of octopus, nearly a quarter inch thick and tougher than a Michelin tire, without a knife or scissors to make it bite-sized. read more

Our entire family got stomach cramps and diarrhea after eating here. We also got a glass that had not been properly washed and was covered with lipstick. The waitress was unconcerned when we showed her and did offer an apology or replacement. My wife is Asian and, judging from the worker's attitude, I suspect there was racism involved since I can't believe a restaurant could be managed so poorly as if they were wanting to be shut down. There is no manager, only an owner named Ken, who is totally non-responsive so I'm escalating this up to the proper authorities. read more

I was excited to finally try this place out! I don't like sushi, but I like to be adventurous and can still find a few things on the menu that I like; must be fully cooked and no fish eggs! The atmosphere is fun, I found some yummy plates to try, and the server was helpful with questions and helping me make selections that I would enjoy. I loved the coconut shrimp - make sure to grab that plate as it makes its way to you! I saw that they have karaoke on Thursday nights - I just might have to come back for some bites and fun for that! And on my way out, I noticed that they have a separate bar area that looks like s great place to grab drinks next time, too! read more

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It's not good the sushi is always warm and mushy. The service is shit and overpriced for the amount of gross food there is. I do not recommend. read more

Sushi was good but definitely over prized! And the teriyaki is terrible, it tastes so weird.

Food is good price ain't bad either their alcohol is good too. Service is always good

It is a really nice place, and it's conveniently located to the movie theater. The conveyor belt sushi was a nice surprise, as I've only been to two others in NW Washington, and I was hoping for something delicious. Even on a dead Monday afternoon, there are no specials. The drinks are okay, if not a little small, and they don't have the big Sapporo cans. The stuff on the conveyor belt is all maki (and one salmon nigiri), and mostly imitation crab. It's a little on the expensive side, and paying for that much rice irks me. That being said, it's solidly okay, and it was a good place to take our friend who was brand new to sushi. Between two of us, it was a $50 lunch bill (10 plates), and our other counterparts had closer to $30 per person. I think you are paying for convenience and novelty, but quality is lacking. You can get much better sushi for that price elsewhere in Bellingham. read more

The hostess is not very welcoming and seated two groups that came in after me, prior to my seating. Won't ever go back. Food never was that good read more

This is a fast convenient place to get some food. Great beers on tap, a wonderful staff that is most always on their game. The knowledge of the menu is outstanding. Looking forward to more dates and dinners or lunch here. read more

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Good quality fish, horrible service. Been here a few times and have always been impressed by quality of the food, but treated like an afterthought by staff, even when it's slow, even by management. It's too bad because I would go here more often than once a year if the service was better. read more

I ordered sushi from this place via uber eats today. I got a godzilla roll and a salmon roll. The food tasted great until I couldn't stomach eating it anymore after I found curly-ish, stringy, black-dark brown hairs stuck to my salmon roll. I feel sick and don't think I will be ordering again. read more

Don't give this place your money. Period. Management here, even from the customers perspective, is disastrous and abusive to staff. Out of the handful of times I've came here after seeing a movie, I've seen the manager berating his young waitresses & other employees like no other. I've seen plenty of mean managers in retail and experienced the wrath of them myself, but this really took the cake. He had absolutely no respect for them or himself clearly. Hey man, yelling at your college-aged staff over seating somebody incorrectly or minor things like that is totally classless, especially in front of a nearly FULL dining room. You should be embarrassed and ashamed. The only good thing about this place is the friendly service. I've became violently ill after eating the conveyor belt sushi every time I've touched it, so I bet their food safety is garbage. With the amount of careless disregard for his employees and customer's comfort, I'm sure that the management is cutting all kinds of corners when it comes to food quality. If by some stroke of misfortune you find yourself having to eat here, tip your waiter in cash, and don't eat off the belt. read more

My family and I were very excited to try out a sushi place with the conveyer belt style service. However, we were unpleased with the lack of customer service and welcoming atmosphere that we did not receive while eating here. The food was quite good though. read more

Nice space and close to shopping, and the movie theatre next door. Two of us for Sunday lunch recently, looking for something a little different. Not usually a fan of conveyor belt sushi places, as I like mine fresh off the knife- so to speak. Seeing the same french fries do the rotation left me wondering. Ordering off the menu, we had nice gyozas, sea weed salad, edamame, to start, followed by a salm/tuna/eel nigiri combo. I wanted some thinly sliced lemon for my salmon, but they were out of lemon. Tuna could not easily be bitten through. All tasted clean though. Dragon and spicy tuna rolls rounded out the sushi part of the meal. Dragon was bland and gooey, while anything spicy of the tuna roll had been forgotten. Ordered the three chicken skewers to finish, and was told the three were now two. One of those two was quite literally the size of a Tootsie Pop, second one was exactly double that. Had the house saki because they were out of everything ekse on the list. Seems the kitchen is missing a qualified guiding hand. Overall a hohum experience and probably will make the trek across the parking lot to Tokyo House next time... read more

Steer clear of this place unless you want to support an arrogant, mean, and condescending owner. We watched the owner publicly berate his employees for the smallest things (like seating us at one table versus another), complete with animated hand gestures. While eating, I also heard a waitress warn another employee that the owner had just yelled at her and she was next. No human deserves the be treated the way that this owner treats his staff, who were working hard, hustling, and trying. I choose to support businesses that do good for our community and the people of our community. This owner and his business is not one of them. read more

If I could give 0 stars, I would. The food is very obviously quite old, and I literally got food poisoning from eating here.

Seriously? You say you close at 10/10:30pm and you close the kitchen at 8pm? Not only did my family of 6 get all the "leftover" sushi but you (manager? Owner?) then somehow reprimand my really nice server over what? The cooks going home early? You just serving fried food and cake? She is just doing what she can with what you gave her. read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

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We had the Seattle roll , dragon roll , salmon roll and Salmon sashimi , and Cali roll. Every single roll was fresh and still warm when it got to us via door dash. We were both impressed with the freshness of every single roll. We will be back to zen sushi and bar ! read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - Salmon roll , dragon roll , Seattle roll , salmon roll , California roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

After a new year day at the movie, my wife and I decided to try out this restaurant. Walking in, there was no hostess at the front, so we waited for 5 to 6 minutes just to be seated. The restaurant was virtually empty, and we were seated. The waitress just walked away without saying a word. So my wife and I talked and waited for another 10 minutes to order drinks, but the waitress just walked by twice. I was starving so I grabbed two plates off of the carousel. As my wife and I were talking for another five minutes, the table next to us wanted their check and made a point to say that they never received their miso soup that they ordered and to please make sure it was not on the bill. At that point my wife just looked at me, and before she said anything I knew what she was going to say. She said "we haven't even received a glass of water, maybe we should leave". I just said yes. I had to flag down the waitress and ask for the bill. We still had to wait for a few more minutes for the bill. We had to go to the register up front to pay and we waited another 5 minutes. We paid and just walked out. The place was clean and new with lots of potential, but such lousy service. I could never go back or recommend it to anyone. read more

Zen is a sushi carousel style sushi restaurant in Barkley Village next to the new movie theater. The prices were very reasonable and the food was great. My favorite plate was the Godzilla roll. The atmosphere is very contemporary and upscale without being contemptuous. The staff was very polite and courteous. We will definitely be back! read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

VERY pricey. I ordered 4 different rolls. Roughly $40. Normally I'd have enough to share with a friend, but I had just barely enough to keep me full. The sushi itself was pretty decent. Not bad, but not amazing. Really not worth the money though. I could get the same quality sushi at a conveyor belt place for half the cost. read more

Never have to wait long, convenient, and quick. This is just what you need before hitting a movie or shopping. Quality is contingent on who is making the rolls, but over all for the cost and convenience it is worth it. read more

This place is a piece of art in terms of the interior design. Grand Buddha in the middle of the restaurant gives the room a lot of depth. Modern and clean. A lot of space to sit. Great location. Sadly, the sushi is mediocre for the price you're paying. Not horrible, just not great. In my experience, the texture of the rice was not right due to being slightly undercooked. Quality of taste went down because of that. Menu lacks pictures, which I think is crucial since most ppl don't know what most rolls look like. I did like the baked muscles though. Overall, I probably won't come back to this place. read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - The only thing I liked was the baked muscle. Yum! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

We came to Zen Sushi on Saturday night after a late afternoon movie next door. It's a busy day of the week so we didn't mind waiting. The waiting area was full so we waited right outside the door, just feet from the front desk. Bad idea. They never called our name, only after practically every waiting party was seated did we go inside and find that we had clearly been skipped over. What's the point of taking a list if you don't make a half-hearted attempt to find the folks who are waiting. The hostess realized she'd skipped us and asked if we had been on the list and then got us seated quickly, seats on a part of the restaurant they clearly were not expecting to use. We had no utensils and no soy sauce trays. I asked a chef in front of us for them, he told a server. Still none came. So I turned around and faced the front desk (the wait staff were busy doing other things) and the owner asked if we needed something. I told him, it took another few minutes to get. Too long, particularly after waiting nearly 30 minutes to get a seat. The food was fine, the place was busy so there were a lot of fresh dishes coming out. There were also a lot of hot dishes, too. Little egg rolls and pot stickers were a nice addition. After a rocky start, we finished our meals with smiles on our faces. The food was good and our water glasses were kept full. We don't usually order off the menu here, though we do on occasion order specific nigiri if we don't see it on the conveyor. We keep coming back, but it has been over 6 months since our last visit. It might be even longer this time before we return. read more

Pleasantly Surprised... After hearing comments like "the sushi is awful" "way overpriced" "'other places' in Bellingham 'is/are' better" I was a skeptic. When my wife and I went out to dinner and a movie we decided to try it. I thought the sushi was great. They have plenty of variety, I tried 4 different rolls, all clearly described on the conveyor belt (I've never seen that other places), and all delicious. If you're a sushi snob, and freshness is important, you can order every single roll right off the menu. However, in my opinion, the freshness was still there off the conveyor. As far as price, another yelper actually said to try Scotty Browns... What?! That place (which I enjoy...) is extremely overpriced. I've eaten a ton of sushi, and been to many places in Bellingham, and I can honestly say you get what you pay for. Bottom line, sushi was delicious, and I will definitely be back. F it... I was going to give them 4 stars but they deserve 5. read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - A delicious toll with tempura shrimp, spicy tuna, tobiko and eel sauce. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

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Amazing sushi experience! Staff was lovely and got right to us and what we needed! Definitely will be coming back!

this place is run by the rudest, most condescending man. he is verbally abusive to his employees and will talk down to them in front of customers. I heard him call one of his employees an "idiot" in front if us. i've never seen anything like it. the employees are kind and helpful, but the owner is horrible to them and to customers. Not worth to give money to this restaurant or to this owner. read more

Pleasantly surprised! NOT grocery-store sushi. Stopped in with my boyfriend before a movie, even though we had heard bad things. We were seated promptly, but it took forever for the waitress to come by for our drink orders. My boyfriend ordered the chicken teriyaki and loved the sauce, though the chicken itself was pretty bland. I had the spicy California roll, Seattle roll, and dragon roll. Sauce on dragon roll was AMAZING, and everything tasted fresh. Me and my boyfriend would both go back. Not the best sushi I've had, but good for the price, atmosphere and location. read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - DragonRoll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

The food was good quality, but the menu was slightly limited. The bar is nice and has 3 HD televisions for viewing sports etc. The main area has a huge Buddha statue that is worth a look. The conveyor is always a fun addition I think. The location is good for seeing a movie before or after your meal. Overall very clean and inviting. Definitely recommend giving them a try next time you are in the area. read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - Nice bar in addition to restaurant area. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

I'm literally sitting down right now devouring these rolls of sushi with my girlfriend. I love the simple rolls and I absolutely love the Seattle tool and our service- AND just gave us a lemon cheesecake as an early birthday present! #JENforEOM Plus she remembered us. Back to the food. It was delicious and the portions were perfect. Keep the sushi comin'! read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - I don't know what this is but I ate it ALL! Trust me you will too - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

5 stars for the service! Our waiter was younger gentlemen, but was very kind, prompt and attentive. The food on the other hand did not seem fresh, the belt had very limited options, I was going crazy staring at the same food come around. Yes, I had the option to order, but for some reason they were out of the ingredients to make the rolls I wanted to try... I do not plan to go back! read more

This is the tea infuser/strainer use to serve me hot tea. I tried to tell the waitress that they should not serve in anything like that (In a very nice way, not a Karen), but she walked off mid sentence. read more

Zen Sushi & Bar - Mesh is broken. Pieces of mesh frilled. Tea pot and lid was held together with zip ties. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Bellingham, Washington

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Distinctly unimpressed. I ordered takeout through GrubHub and asked for imitation crab to be left out of one of the rolls. It came with the imitation crab. The nigiri sushi was sliced quite thin, so it was mostly rice and not much fish. All the fish was mediocre. No garnishes such as shiso or shredded daikon. Even though the prices are good, the food isn't worth it. read more

I ordered off of the GrubHub app. The order was ready 40 minutes past when it should've been ready. The food was terrible. Review of the food: we ordered the cucumber salad, crab Rangoon's, and several speciality sushi rolls. Half of my order was fresh, half of my order was old. It was obvious to tell because we saw half of the order sitting there for 40 minutes! The crab Rangoon's were stone cold. The sushi was underwhelming. The rolls were either oversauced or over-spiced. There is no flavor here. It is all salt, fat, and spice. A lot of salt. And we didn't even use the included soy sauce. It left us very disappointed. We will never go here again. We would NEVER recommend this place. This is like the McDonald's of sushi. If you want the real deal, don't eat here. Review of restaurant: I arrived at the restaurant within the specified pick-up time frame. I got notified my GrubHub order was ready via text. I went inside to pick it up and was informed that my order had actually been put on the sushi belt. There was a faint apology as I was told I would need to wait another 20 minutes for my order to be ready. I waited an additional half an hour. I asked to speak with a manager, and apparently there is no manager! The lead hospitality guy, Isaiah, was very dismissive and uninterested in the issue that his restaurant had caused us. My husband and I were on a date, and this made us 40 minutes late for everything else! There was another weak apology from him as he wrote down my name and number and promised to get back to me after he spoke to the owner. He never got back to me. When I called later the following week, he supposedly had talked to the owner and said that they had done everything within their power, which was absolutely nothing. He said that because I ordered via GrubHub, it was all GrubHub's fault. Ummmm.... Not when your restaurant messes up on my order! As this was our first time visiting this restaurant, we had hoped for more. We would have liked to try this restaurant again and even requested a gift card or a percentage off for a future visit so that we could try this restaurant with a fresh view. Isaiah told us that was not possible, that he could do nothing of the sort. "Sorry, not sorry, you have your food, it's GrubHub's fault." After eating the food, we were quite relieved we didn't actually receive any compensation from this restaurant. We will never eat here again. Aside from the lack of care and the dismissive customer service, the sushi is disgusting. read more

worst sushi I've had in the area yet. It looks like it's been sitting in the fridge for a day. one roll even had some green substance (that definitely WASN'T wasabi) The owner was there and seemed extremely rude to his staff members read more

Great place to go to for late night happy hours, pre-movie, post-movie. During my time in Bellingham, I spent a lot of time at Zen. It is one of two belts that I am aware of in the main Bellingham area. Although it is a belt, there is friendly wait staff as well that can help if you want to order something not on the belt. Oscar in particular, is very friendly and helpful. I used to be somewhat of a regular there and would see him often, but even when I come once in a while, he is sometimes also there and welcomes me back. He's a super friendly, hard working individual. I'm often in a rush so it's nice to just grab off the belt, eat, and go to my next activity. I usually get California rolls, tamago/egg, unagi/eel, and sake/salmon nigiri. The Samurai Roll is good as well. Whenever I'm in Bellingham, Zen is a restaurant that feels like home. read more

Not sure why this place only has 3 stars, it was fairly priced and delicious! Pickup service was great and we were happy with our visit!

I first went to this place about five years ago. Unfortunately, the quality is not as excellent as it initially was. Granted, they have a unique flair for flavor pairing. The portions are perfect though most dishes are drench in sauce and imitation crab. read more