I suppose this is the best fast sushi option in a downtown area of a landlocked southern Indiana town, if, of course, they actually let you order it. I attempted to order a 2- or 3- roll combo lunch and was informed they probably only had enough sushi rice left for one roll. OK. Weird that a place with sushi in its name would run out of sushi rice, but whatever. I rolled with the punch and got one eel roll with some teriyaki chicken on par with what you'd get at Panda for about the same amount of money. The maki was nothing special and I was kind of glad I didn't wind up getting an all-maki special at the price they were charging because the roll selection was very limited and my roll was beyond mediocre. I tried not to take it personally when a woman came in 5-10 minutes after I did and ordered a California roll and was not sent away due to the Sushi Rice Famine of 2012 I'd been told about. Very odd.
Review Source:All i can say is this place is a prime example of why we all love yelp and use it consistently - read the reviews here and you'll go in knowing what to expect!. Z&C has good sushi if you're in a hurry or don't want to pay for anything too fancy. Great place to stop in if you're downtown and want a quick, unpretentious lunch. Probably awesome if you're on your way home from the bars. It is not a fancy sushi place, it is not a big restaurant, it's more like fast food turned Asian (and locally owned, which is nice to support). It may not be the most incredible food experience of my life, but I come back time and again because it's quick, convenient and better than the other greasy cheap crap you can get at the chain stores nearby.
Review Source:Okay, I've altered my expectations a little bit since I first started going to Z&C, but with hits and misses, I stand by my scoring -- but now with more to comment on!
Their Teriyaki Chicken bowl (with noodles!) is still a fantastic treat. And literally, it's $5 for something that is sure to fill you up. Yes, it's greasy, yes, it's obviously unhealthy -- do I care? No. Not a whit. I enjoy my teriyaki chicken bowl and that's what matters to me. I have never once been disappointed by my teriyaki chicken bowl, barring that one time when my roomate and I got ours mixed up and she ran off to class and I went home only to find that mine had rice. But c'est la vie. That's our fault.
Now for the sushi (which I've now tried): obviously you can get better in town. OBVIOUSLY you can get better from around the world. Again: stay focused on where you are and where you're going in to. Do you really expect to get the best tasting sushi from a dingy little place in Central Indiana? (There are the occasional surprises, but just go with me here!) No, of course not! This place, for having cheap, middle-oh-Indiana, dingy-restaurant sushi, has acceptable sushi. The seaweed is that slightly crunchy kind that has this odd appeal to it, and though the fish seems to have been run through a food processor (...maybe that's me having to get the "spicy salmon" or something), I can eat it, and I can enjoy it. I certainly wouldn't go to Z&C and just get the sushi -- it's not that good -- but it's certainly nice to get a roll as an appetizer to share with a friend.
I still have never experienced a friendly staff member, barring one time where I'm pretty sure I got the cook's mom or something. She actually smiled at me and seemed cheerful. I'm pretty sure the cook was just more infuriated by her presence, however. I have now ventured here on days that aren't Tuesday's at lunch time, so I can only assume everyone at Z&C is angry all the time.
The restaurant is still a small, dingy place. Don't expect much in the way of parking, because it's Kirkwood, and you can never ever get parking on Kirkwood unless you have luck or magic on your side, which I oh-so-rarely do. Weekends you can at least park free in the local school lots, so that's nice. The place still doesn't sit many, and just trying to get through it from one side to the other is akin to trying to get through a maze built for a toddler.
But I would still suggest it for the people who want a cheap meal that is quite tasty for all the problems.
I'll preface this review with the fact that I'm from a coastal state and perhaps that has skewed my expectations of sushi. Â However, I am doubtful of that possibility. Â
Now, reading the previous reviews, I expected not only a cheap lunch, but a great lunch. Â I got neither. Â I found no sushi combos for 5 or 6 bucks, as several reviewers mentioned below. Â I got, instead, a two roll "combo" that came with no drink, no salad, no miso... and two rolls. Â So, where's the combo? Â And instead of "5 or 6" I paid $8.99. Â The roll choices offered in the "combo" were limited to a relatively short list. I was okay with that, because Philadelphia roll was on there, and that's my favorite. Shrimp roll was my second choice, but it was pretty disappointing. Â Literally just a piece of somewhat rubbery shrimp rolled in rice, then in nori seeweed. Â No roe, no anything. Bland city.
My husband ordered a chicken teriyaki with fried rice and a sushi roll, and this was exactly the opposite. Â The portion size was quite large and it was cheaper than what I got ($7.99). Â The quality was okay, but it was definitely greasy. Â The california roll was good. Â
I'm also beginning to wonder if I just went to the wrong place. Â A reviewer said the "atmosphere is great!" Um... I ate lunch in a super small, hot room with a walk up counter and three (literally) tables. Seriously, was I missing some awesome back room?
If I was to go back, I'd probably get what my husband did, but that's also doubtful.
I was pleasantly surprised by this place. It doesnt look like much from the outside, but it is pretty good quality inside. I feel bad that they are across the street from a Panda Express and it seemed many people who were considering coming in to eat caved and went there instead. Oh well, they are missing out.
I am generally pretty cautious about ordering sushi at a Asian fast food place that looks like it caters mainly to the teriyaki crowd, but I was craving it so I gave in. For $12.99 the three roll combo is a pretty good deal. I ended up getting California roll, spicy tuna and yellowtail. I have to admit, I was really surprised. I wasnt expecting much, but it was very good. I particularly loved the seaweed. Sometime sushi seaweed can be very dry and flavorless. This was a tad moist and had really amazing flavor. All the rolls were above decent.
This is the spot that got me hooked on sushi.
Yes, I used to be one of those people who don't like sushi. Basically, one of those people who are a little weirded out by it and don't really eat fish.
Z and C, however, deliver perfection wrapped in white rice and seaweed. Their spicy tuna roll is my favorite...so flavorful. I get that with an avocado roll and it's a meal that doesn't leave me feeling gross afterwards. I've also tried the Crazy Roll, which is perfect for introducing a non-sushi eater to sushi, since it is partially cooked. So the raw fish stigma slowly dissolves like delicious tempura flakes, mmmm!
Props for free water and green tea if you dine in. But I give Z and C 4 stars because I tend to feel a bit rushed every time I go there. It's a take-out spot that I wish was a sit-down restaurant. Sushi that good deserves to be savored.
Per capita chicken consumption in the United States rose from 28 lbs. in 1960 to 110 lbs. today--thanks in no small part to Z&C Teriyaki and Sushi Restaurant.
The specialty is a heaping pile of greasy, dripping chunks of teriyaki chicken over oily fried rice and vegetables. It will only set you back about $6.
Don't get the sushi. It's got poisson in it.
I was pleasantly surprised to come across this sushi restaurant on the strip near IU. Â I was in town on work & stopped in for lunch. Â The restaurant is pretty tight quarters, and if it were packed with people, it could get claustrophobic.
I ordered a seaweed salad, and several eel based sushi rolls. Â I haven't had sushi this good since Alasak (or maybe Nashville). Â It was pricey, but worth it due to the quality of the sushi and the serving size of the seaweed salad.
I bypassed the greasy Asian food as other reviewers have commented on - and I was glad I chose the sushi route.
If you're looking to have a greasy sodium binge. this is a great place to do it. Â Super delicious Asian food served quick and cheaply, with wifi and window bar seating.
I'm kinda wondering if they could *possibly* make it more unhealthy though. Â For example, I ordered shrimp teriyaki with mixed vegetables...and got a huge container mostly filled with lo mein slathered in sauce, some extremely greasy cabbage, a few pieces of greasy shrimp, and maybe four token shreds of broccoli. Â This is not the place for someone who wants to compromise fast food with healthy choices. Â My advice: stick to the sushi unless you want your scale to hate you.
Z & C provides satisfying, no frills, Japanese food, with an emphasis on economy and simplicity. The whole restaurant occupies a space about the size of my living room; there's a bit of a pleasantly cramped feeling, but the broad open window lets you look out at Kirkwood while you eat and the bar seating makes for a nice solitary eating experience.
The teriyaki comes out of the kitchen steaming, well-slung and seasoned, served with rice of your choice, or noodles. There's nothing particularly special about the rice, but honestly it's just there to set the stage for the savory meat and cabbage. The chicken tastes as though it's dark meat, which pleases me greatly because the inexplicable worship of white meat chicken bothers me greatly. Sriracha is available and recommended; I suspect that they've watered it down, but that seems to adapt it well from its original purpose, which I assume was illicitly carpet-bombing cambodia, and makes it an excellent condiment. The motivation may have been economical or culinary, but more likely was intended to prevent the naive from rendering their food inedible by drenching it in hot sauce.
I've only had the unagi roll, so I can't vouch for the freshness of the raw sushi, but the eel was excellent, well-built and flavorful. Perhaps, I've been settling for grocery-store sushi too often, but I was genuinely impressed with what I was served.
The udon noodle soups are slightly expensive, which is confusing because they come with a sushi rool. I'd like the option of paying less for the soup without the roll because it's plenty of food and the cost makes it prohibitive as an economical lunch. The broth and soup ingredients are not undelicious, but they are clearly made from frozen and prepared stock. The soup satisfies a craving, but isn't really worth your attention or the extra price unless it's something you must have.
Z & C lets me eat a immensely satisfying lunch with a peaceful view and for that I am grateful. Admittedly, there is something intangible about it that makes me either overlook flaws or interpret them as strengths, but I genuinely think it's the kind of establishment that there should be more of.
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