Zama

Made a reservation for my husband birthday and everything we ordered was delicious! The service was phenomenal, much husband even called out how much he liked our server, and everything came out quickly! The interior and vibe was very nice but chill. Great for after work drinks or dinner with friends.

cozy homey spot with warm ambiance!i've been here twice and got the $65 tasting menu both times. i was very disappointed to find out that menu does not change, i definitely won't be coming back for the tasting menu. the food was fine, but nothing to write home about. for the price, you get a decent amount of food, and my friend and i left feeling satisfied. however, there are so many other japanese restaurants in philly that i would much rather go to. nothing really stood out in the tasting menu. the service was fast, but our server felt a little pretentious. he brought us our food and left so swiftly that we had no chance to ask any questions. we were also told we were being too loud when i was showing my friend a video on my phone -- which i would be more understanding about if there wasn't a crying baby wailing its lungs out at the table directly adjacent to us. just seems a little hypocritical and targeted.

The manager in suit is a joke. Poor, unfriendly attitude. I'm not sure if the restaurant owner is even aware of it. The server is nice. Food takes forever to come out.

OK, so yelp came to the rescue again for me last night. I'm in Philly for a business trip, and staying in the Rittenhouse Square area, which I know can be somewhat pricey, and I'm always skeptical about higher end sushi places when I'm not in my home city.So I did what I usually do and pulled out my phone and did a search - even though I really like Yelp, a lot, nothing could've prepared me for what a great experience I would have at Zama. The reviews were mostly positive, but overall, I feel that this place is even better than many of them make it out to be. I can sum it up with these two statements:1) The quality of fish at Zama is SUPERB. It's not just "super fresh" like you'll read and other generic reviews, but the quality of fish at this restaurant is outstanding - that is the epicenter of what a great sushi place must be and Zama knocks it out of the park. To me, I think their Nigiri was particularly awesome. The only thing that I would change would be to possibly have freshly grated wasabi on the side, I know how hard it is to come by these days. I do not mean that as a criticism, but more as an illustration of just how wonderful the quality of fish was. If you're picking on a place because of their wasabi in the USA, you pretty much have nothing else left to critique on! If you are interested in what I chose to have, here you go:- Kurobuta dumplings- Nigiri - king yellowtail, salmon, ikura, bluefin tuna, and chutoro.- Philadelphia roll and dragon roll- Draft Asahi "Super Dry"2) Their service is SUPERB!!!! I was astounded that I could even find a wonderful sushi place on a Sunday night to enjoy, and the staff at Zama, provided, flawless, friendly, and knowledgeable service. Everyone knew how to help each other out, and I genuinely felt that they cared about each and every diner throughout the evening. This highlighted the pleasant ambience and made my evening extremely enjoyable, and set me in a great mood for the work I have to do this week. The nice young lady, who was bartending, and helping out with Service was very kind to all of the customers, and really made my evening an enjoyable dining experience.I will most certainly return the next time I come to Philadelphia and look forward to trying out more dishes and experience their restaurant even fuller!!!どうもありがとうございます!!とても美味しいです!!!

On the last day of my business trip, I visited this sushi restaurant. I was a bit tired but the Japanese dishes revived me! The miso soup contained enoki, scallion, tofu, and it was the same with the miso soup I have had in Japan. Black belt is the word which is used for the person with advanced skills of judo, and when I added this "black belt" option to the sushi, toro was served instead of akami.The shari was a bit tight but overall the sushi was fresh and delicious. In the U.S., I often see tempura with thick coating in a sushi roll, but the sushi roll here looked healthier than such rolls. The owner of the restaurant seems to pay attention to the details of each dish so much. The interior design was the fusion of modern and classical Japanese styles and I liked the clean and tidy counter. Generally, sushi is expensive, but this restaurant seems to try to keep the price within the appropriate range.The person who served me and another person who made the sushi were tidy and attentive. I would like to come back to this restaurant again!

Not gonna lie the waiter was just straight up strange. Like he was openly acting too cool to be our waiter while literally being our waiter. We asked about menu options and he was like annoyed that we had questions. A bit too openly hostile for my taste. I will say the food was actually outstanding. Delicious and fresh, and I could have ate so much more. Their prices are on the higher side but for a nice night out it's well worth it. I'm hoping our waiter was just having an off night, and we are considering returning and hoping to get a different section. The place gets booked up quick, bar seating is available first come first serve. It's a little noisy but decently sized overall.

After doing extensive research to find a Japanese owned sushi place near my hotel, I landed at Zama and spoiler alert...I made the right choice."Black belt" sashimi sampler featured 9 cuts of sashimi and the fish was very fresh with nice flavor.Rittenhouse Trio was a sampler of three hand rolls and each one provided a unique flavor with an emphasis on the freshness of the fish and a quality presentation.Lindsey the server was on point and did a great job on all fronts.Elusive fifth star not granted because no interaction by sushi chefs as they just kinda stared at me when I tried to initiate conversation, so I assume it was a language barrier thing, but still staring is kinda awkward, sorry just being honest.Overall, food was definitely solid, service was very good and the atmosphere was nice, so well done Zama, just work on the sushi chef customer engagement training and that elusive fifth star could no doubt be in store down the road.

Tried the Zama tasting menu (the one that is not omakase) and had a great meal! Great flavors with a variety and sushi + non-sushi items. The staff was great at timing the various courses and providing descriptions. Top tier sit down sushi in rittenhouse!

It's just ok. The fish wasn't fresh and I had gastro-issues after, but I appreciated that there were some more "authentic" options. I would recommend those over the rolls, e.g. the lobster wasabi roll was just confusing to eat.

So good! We went here for dinner on a Saturday night and had a great experience. The food and drinks were delicious and the service was excellent. We had the edamame, Bao Bao Bao, and pork dumplings to start. Everything was delicious, but I highly recommend the Bao Bao Bao, which is a sampling of 3 different Bao buns (Pork, Shrimp Tempura, and spicy tuna). We then shared 4 sushi rolls- Red Dragon, Salmon on Salmon, Spicy Lump Crab, and a Philadelphia Roll. They were all excellent, but the Red Dragon and Salmon on Salmon were especially good. The restaurant is pretty small and fills up so you will want a reservation. Overall, I highly recommend Zama!