Zen Box Izakaya

A Near Perfect Place?Surprisingly, they did everything right.Server was awesome and paid attention to our needs. Was willing to work with our dietary issues. The dinner tonight was with my lady friend who is Vegetarian... You know the one.We ordered a host of items and every one was either was solid. Gyoza (veggie) to the main courses... Solid.

Zen Box Izakaya is conveniently in walking distance of the Stone Arch Bridge, Mill City Museum, the Guthrie. Izakaya translates to a comfortable spot to grab a drink and snack after work, and yes I think soHighlights- Japanese beer on tap: Sapporo, Asahi Super Dry- They also have sake, cocktails, and tasty non alcoholic sodas - Interior has a fun vibe, good staff too- Smaller menu that includes ramen, good pork katzu, oh and we like their potato salad Consider - Never had any complaints here, but this isn't the most flavorful ramen broth in the Twin Cities. - Again, smaller menu - this isn't so much a hibachi or sushi restaurant Current favorite local ramen: Ramen Kazama. Also: Tori, Tongue in Cheek

Small restaurant but a good spot for dinner with friends. Make a reservation to make sure you can get in. They have happy hour on Saturday from 5-6 pm. Food was good! We had chicken dumplings, pork noodles and ramen all good flavor. I wouldn't say the ramen flavor was anything special but a solid broth. This is worth a dinner stop.

My husband and I have been here a handful of times and every time is always a great experience. The place is small but cozy and the staff is always super friendly and welcoming. We love the ramen but our favorite is the Blistered Shishsito Peppers They are a must try!

This has been on my list for a long time. Honestly, it felt a little overrated. The fried dumplings were the best thing we ate. The fried chicken bites weren't cooked the best (but the sauce was very good). The ramen was OK, but expensive for what you get.

Zen Box had tons of people on a Tuesday night. I was able to sit at the bar. It was a fun, loud, modern vibe inside the restaurant. The servers and bartender were really friendly, great service. The food was good overall. The gyoza is deep fried which resulted in a hot and crunchy appetizer. The dipping sauce was delicious as well. The ramen tasted good overall, but I've had better ramen so I rated overall 4/5 stars. The broth was extremely salty, the pork was tender and cooked perfect, the eggs were the best part! Delicious food and good drinks! I'd recommend stopping by Zen Box if you're in town.

before going to Minneapolis we had read a lot of positive reviews about this place so decided to check it out. we originally tried to go for lunch on Saturday but they only had a special menu so we ended up going for dinner to try their entire menu. overall good food but horrible service. we got the brussels sprouts to start and then we got the veggie ramen with tofu and the bento box with beef ribs. the brussels sprouts were good, flavor was more at the bottom but a large portion and decent flavor. the ramen was also a good size portion and also had good flavor but needed to be mixed to have the flavors combine well. the bento box was also good in size and had edamame, salad, rice, as well as the main - the beef ribs were good but we've had better elsewhere. we also got a side of kimchi but it was average, also had better elsewhere overall decent flavored food and good portion size but horrible service

Boring. I went to the 'happy hour' and got the three most appetizing things that I could see. Utterly boring and disappointing. And for the honor of sitting through that I got to pay into the $20 range.

Stumbled upon this corner restaurant. Pleasantly surprised at how high-quality the Ramen was. Would highly recommend this place for people looking for a yummy place to eat while visiting Minneapolis.

I really wanted to like this place more than I actually did. I came on a Tuesday night and the restaurant was fairly busy, both inside and outside. The ambiance was pretty cool, with lots of fun decorations all over the place and overall good vibes.I'm a big ramen fan and I was excited to try the Tonkatsu Ramen. Unfortunately, I was a bit underwhelmed. When it came out, the soup wasn't actually very hot. I even contemplated asking the waitress if the ramen could be microwaved, no joke. The broth didn't have the rich umami taste I was hoping for and it was very salty. The actual toppings in the ramen were tasty, though, and I enjoyed the chewy consistency of the noodles.Given the place was so busy, I'm hoping most of their other menu items are a bit better!