zen garden

food decent. reasonably priced. service very average. restaurant is freezing cold. for goodness sake- put some heaters in here🙄🙄🙄 instead of having guests shivering

10 out of 10 for authenticity - everything that you would expect from a chinese restaurant - low ambiance, poor service, low cost per person topped off by food that's "good enough" :)

we had a number of courses:
- hot 'n sour soup (good, but could've been spicier)
- jelly fish and cucumber cold starter (really good, if you're adventurous, give it a go)
- roast pork belly cold starter (a chinese classic, really good, not too fatty with a good crispy crackling)
- deep fried won ton (meh, i think they were frozen)
- garlic vegetables (nice and tender)
- crispy calamari (tasty, but quite a small portion)
- salt 'n pepper prawns (fat, tasty prawns, and a decent sized portion!)
- roast duck (tender and juicy, but not as tasty as fong mei's duck)
- rice (lots of it!)
- steamed and deep-friend buns with condensed milk (i don't have a sweet tooth, but these were really tasty)
- jasmine tea
- oranges (on the house!)

as always, service is really not great, but that's expected right? highlight of the night was a zulu waitress who appeared to know the chinese names of the dishes we ordered, that's a winner!

i'm sure i'll be back!

great portion for the price and tasty food. efficient service.

only blunder which warrants a lower remark is that i was given vegetable dumplings instead of the pork ones i ordered and was charged for.

went for a take away. waited an hour. got home and was surprised to find that nothing that i ordered was given. phoned and the owned laughed and said that i was charged for the noodles. do not go

good food but the menu prices on zomato is outdated. only realized it was outdated once i collected my food and saw the menu at the store. please update the menu prices.

this restaurant is very authentic southern chinese food. if you are up for cantonese type food then this is where to go. the owner is friendly and checks on you to see if you enjoy your meal. over all a pleasant experience.

dishes to try: vegetable stir fry with vermicelli glass noodles, golden tofu and brinjal stew. for asian food standards in joburg, it is decent than most. typical chinese restaurant with service you have to ask for.

just average i will tell you that. everything average. not so great but not so bad either. maybe a little bit more improvements with the taste and the staff service and i am sure your score will be a lot higher

went here with my mom for dinner and god damn this place is awesome.

had the fried dumplings and prawn dumplings followed by black bean beef and crispy beef.


best crispy beef i've gotten my hands on and i'll be coming back for the black bean beef.
it's rare to find a place that makes even sea cucumber look delicious 😂

wonderful dishes , and quick service ,. to make your experience good. a good place to recommend , and will not fail your appetite.

took a guest from overseas here tonight, keen to try out some authentic chinese cuisine. we chose to sit inside, and ordered some drinks and starters before checking out mains. while we waited for the starters, we had a cockroach run across the table. then, by absolute luck, i accidently knocked over an empty soup bowl that was set on the table to reveal a dead cockroach. suffice to say we paid for drinks and got out of there pronto. gross.

i've been craving a delicious yum cha session for ages, and since my cantonese grandfather is in town he suggested we visit zen garden on sunday. the restaurant is typically chinese, from the kitsch forest wallpaper to the moody orange lighting, and a standard fish tank housing some strange looking creature in the front. the ladies helping barely speak english so it was nice having some relatives there to order the tasty dishes.

you order from a lady by a stand housing ornate little steamers filled with delicacies ranging from char siu bao to chicken feet. we picked a few dishes from there and also ordered two bowls of chook (my childhood favourite, thick rice soup which is perfect comfort food). the chook could have done with a bit more flavour and i'm not a fan of the cooked lettuce, but it was still good. the lady also mentioned one of my other favourite childhood dishes, cheong fan, which is flat rice flour pancakes filled with prawn or pork in a sweetish sauce, so we ordered two portions of those. they were delicious. the pork ribs were full of flavour, and there isn't much meat on them so every bit counts. the chicken feet, bao and beef noodle dishes were all very good as well.

i don't know if it was all the nostalgia of having authentic chinese food again, but i thoroughly enjoyed the experience and i would go back for the yum cha anytime.

* we came again for sunday yum cha last week, and i got to try my favourite dish: the beef flank hot pot. delicious flavour but the meat was a bit too chewy.

best best chinese restaurant i've ever been! price is good, food is really tasty, the boss is very friendly! come very often! love it. i'm here now😈

went to eat here two months ago. really enjoyed the chow fein and mein. the meat and vegetables were cooked well, value for money. for anyone in the fairlands area, definitely try zen garden. looking forward to trying the pecking duck soon!

well, i have to say that there is hardly any great chinese restaurant that impresses me and based on this visit, my statement was supported. service was okay but the problem was the variety of the food. from food on the menu not being available, to won ton that was small, it really was a disappointment. dim sum was bland and average. well, it will be while before i make the next visit.

and indeed it took a little while to make another visit and i decided to downgrade the rating due to the inefficiencies of the kitchen. apart from the peking duck which was okay, it took forever for food to come out and service was absolutely abysmal.