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  >  Lifestyle   >  ZEN OVER TEN: A Review of Zen Garden, Lagos

Location: 60 Isaac John Street, G.R.A, Ikeja

Type: Chinese

Day visited: Sunday, 7th April, 2019

A Zen Garden experience is as close as it gets to a China in Nigeria. From the grandiose Chinese traditional architecture to the interior design and lighting. Everything says, “Welcome to the China that you can afford.”

Shout out to my friend Ore for hosting us here for her 21st birthday dinner and Ayomide for taking all the bomb ass pictures. This post wouldn’t have been possible without you. Now let’s get into the juice:

AMBIENCE – 7.5/10

Walking in through the majestic door gives you the feeling of walking into a Chinese temple. You can almost want to take your shoes off lol. It opens into a chic lounge and continues to the dining area. There are stairs to the right so I’m guessing there’s more, but I didn’t go up. Part of what appeals most to me is the incandescent lighting and the kind of mood it sets. The Chinese art too was amazing!

SERVICE – 8/10

The service was quite responsive from my end. There were waiters around throughout and ready to be of assistance. They were friendly and looked particularly excited to bring in the cake and sing “Happy Birthday” to Ore.

FOOD – 7/10

We had spring rolls, chicken wings and wonton for starters, served with chicken sweet corn soup. I was fine with everything but the soup. Ayo called it “Chinese akamu” and he loved every bit of it but I found it quite bland and just yuck. The main dish was special fried rice and fried noodles with sides of shredded beef, prawns, Szechuan style diced chicken, fish in soy sauce and assorted vegetables. Now this was my first Chinese experience so my taste buds took a while to adjust, and even when they did, everything was just there. Nothing really slapped. For dessert, we were served a mixed fruit platter and of course I went straight for the pineapples because, why not? Lol.

PRICE – 6/10

This score is based on my personal experience there which was a group outing. For this, the prices (as seen below) are for a minimum of 10 and multiples of 10 guests. We were 10 altogether. I’m not certain what the price would be like for a regular date or personal purchase. However I’m aware of the heavy extra charges; VAT, Service charge and Consumption tax (you’d be paying to consume what you paid for. Na wa o)

All in all, I would easily recommend Zen for a group outing (also because those big turning tables can be very exciting lol). But for self or small group dates, I won’t be in a hurry to. I hear they have an actual Zen Garden there (who would have ever thunk that right?!) so you could check it out.  Lastly, don’t hesitate to ask what the paintings and art on the walls mean. You’d be shocked at how intentional the interior elements are.

If you’ve visited Zen Garden already, I’d love to know what your experience was like. If you plan to, I hope this post was super helpful! Please leave a comment below and let me know if you have other concerns about Zen Garden that weren’t addressed in this post.

P.S: This gist was accurate as at the day I visited, anything could have changed. Please visit their website or call a representative to get a quote before making plans, my hand no dey o.

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Till next time,

Alma.

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