I hosted a party for a group of girls in their party room and have the following to share:
Space, Ambience & Decor:
Since the party we were hosting was Oscars themed, the decor worked out perfectly and I saved on some expenses in preparation for the party. I definitely loved the amount of space that was available for 13 girls and everybody seemed to have loved it! One down side is that the room got a bit stuffy and there really wasn't much the staff could do about it (even their little dyson fan couldn't help much).
Food:
With a big party, I placed bulk orders on scones, croissants, cookies, macarons , yam fries, and popcorn chicken. For beverages I ordered two pots of tea, juice and flavoured water (all non-alcoholic).
Their macarons (jasmine, matcha and raspberry flavoured) are all made of organic ingredients and are different from the typical norm. I didn't quite get the chance to taste test all the macarons that were available, but I was told that the matcha with red bean filling and jasmine with raspberry filling (I can't remember what the last one had) were superb. Their macarons were definitely, by far, the highlight of yummy treats from Zen.
On the down side, I was rather disappointed with the inconsistency and quality of their baked goods. The croissants, cookies and scones were obviously overvalued. I hate to say this, but I was able to smell that they were slightly burnt (but there was no time left before the party to have have staff redo all the snacks) and unfortunately, they tasted pretty hard. The croissants were not soft nor flaky, the cookies needed a bit of time to chew through, and scones were definitely brown and not "golden." While the staff was very nice about explaining what happened and was receptive to my feedback, the answer that I got was that they the temperature of the oven was higher than normal and the goods were left in there for too long. As a baker myself, I understand this stuff happens in the kitchen all the time, but as a business, they need to be more careful and consistent to keep their customers. In conclusion, go with the macarons and don't count on the baked goods if you need to put in a bulk order...
Price Point:
Honestly speaking, I was really more focused on looking for a nice venue with good decor to host the party (which Zen was able to deliver in this case!). I was willing to pay to have food prepared for convenience (check!) and to save a headache of doing all of it on my own. However, with the inconsistency and quality of food, and how every extra food item added to the bill equated to a very nice price tag on the cost, taxes and gratuities, this will be probably be the only time that I'll host a party at Zen. (The prices charged on different items are still beyond my understanding...for example a 1L carafe of orange juice was $20?)
All in all, I have a mixed bag of feelings about Zen. Decor and ambience was great, staff were friendly (they threw in 3 free carafes of juice for the party/occasion...yay!) , but the price I paid for the inconsistency of food prepared steers me from going back again. Sorry, Zen...
In summary...
- Go for the macarons!
- host a party only if you have the budget (be careful as food items can cost a pretty dime) and be wary of baked goods as they haven't quite figured out the temperament of their beloved oven yet (it needs some taming, perhaps?)