Review: Zen2go (Victoria Island)
I literally just found out about this Lebanese restaurant from a friend’s page (hi, Bernard!). The day I went there, I had been looking for a place to eat good, affordable food with a nice ambience, so I got my intel and off I went.
Immediately you get into Zen2go, you’ll notice the outside seating, as well as the grill and bar area (seems they’re not quite done with the outside space just yet), which all give it a nice vibe. But I didn’t come here only to go back home smelling of grills I didn’t eat, so I carried myself inside.
Inside this restaurant is pretty lit (literally 😂); I think they used the lighting to compensate for the minimalist space, but it worked to my advantage, anyway. The waitress that attended to us was really enthusiastic about taking our orders and we felt taken care of.
Here’s where I need to talk about the drinks: Zen2go’s drink menu is VERY limited, which was fairly annoying because I like my drinks. The only ‘cocktail’ they had was Chapman, like they were trying to mock me? They “had” shots on the menu, so of course Tequila to the rescue, but alas, there was actually no Tequila. I asked for gin (if you like judge me), which they also didn’t have. I think the waitress was tired of going to and from the bar, so she just proceeded to bringing the only two alcoholic drinks they had — Grey Goose and White Walker, and then canned Heineken. I asked for two shots of White Walker and opted for the Heineken, because I was tired at this point. Like, you don’t have to sell alcohol if you don’t want to 🙄
Now, onto the business of the day: The food. After the drinks fiasco, I tried to order one of their local meals, but they said it was served only on weekends, so essentially, I had to order from the regular menu.
We ordered the half-roasted chicken with a side of Jollof rice, the volcano chicken strips and fries. The roasted chicken is actually the best marinated chicken I’ve ever had in a restaurant! Every corner you bit into was juicy and flavorful, and just melted in your mouth. The Jollof was also good Naija Jollof, even though I wished they made it with a bit of their local spices so it could be a little different, but still, I was pleased.
Zen2go’s half-roasted chicken with a side of Jollof rice
The volcano chicken strips were the highlight of my day. I like crunch, but not tasteless crunch, and tasteless, it was not 👏🏾 This juicy chicken came drizzled in their barbecue sauce and the fries were crispy and soft at the same time. My meal came with a delicious sweet chili sauce as well. Long story short: The meal was pure magic ✨ and I was a happy gal.
Zen2go’s volcano chicken strips
Oh, and I have to talk about the portions: We could barely eat up to half of our meals and had lots of leftovers! As per the service, the servers were enthusiastic about making sure we had everything we wanted, they smiled all through, and it was noticably not the “I’m just doing my job” smile; they seemed genuinely pleasant.
Will I be eating at Zen2go again soon? For sure.
postscript
7/10 (the drinks mess-up let them down a little)
verdict
DAMAGE
2 shots of of White Walker - N5000
Water - N500
Volcano chicken strips - N6000
Half-roasted chicken with a side of rice - N5500
Fries - N1000
3 Heineken cans - N4500
PARKING
It’s in the inner closes of VI, so there’s barely any parking