Zoa Moroccan Kitchen - Bellaire

I've had the chance to try Zoa at their other locations before, and remember loving the food, so I was super excited to try this location. Overall the food was decent. I think the portion sizes have gone down now compared to when they first opened. I recommend making your own bowl so you can customize it! Loved the cauliflower and the eggplant sides.

After Morocco's surprise victory in the 2022 World Cup soccer, I just checked the food. I found ZOA on Yelp. It was located between Chase bank and HEB at the corner of Bellair and Rice. I had no idea about the food. I just picked up the menu. Just like Panda Express, I asked the server to give me what I wanted. I got a little sandwich. $10 was a bit higher than Panda Express. It was okay. Much better than Pita wrap at JackInthebox. Zoa might have a couple of locations. You may try it for a light meal.

This place packs a great meal. The food is amazing and full of flavor. I recommend the meatballs they have just the right spice. The tea is delicious.

Good food, great flavors, sorta different set of flavors than CAVA (even though I understand Mediterranean vs Moroccan is not the same). I do like them both and Zoa is a nice way of mixing up variety from eating too much cava, lol.

OrderingI ordered ahead online. I love a good "online ordering" option. ParkingParking was super easy I pulled up right in front of the door.Order PickupThe pre-orders are kept on a metal rack that's to the left of the register. Service/dog friendlyThe employee there was a very kind and welcoming young lady who told me they allow dogs on their patio when I asked. Great news for me since my dog was in the car and I was ready to eat onsite. Outdoor diningTheir patio is nice, covered, has a fan (maybe it had two?) and looks out across Rice Ave. FoodNow here's where the stars dropped. I created my own bowl. As I ordered I wavered between ordering the beef tangine and the chicken charmoula. Well I ended up getting the beef. I definitely should've got the chicken. The beef was $1 more and it was WAY too sweet. I didn't taste any other flavor but sweetness/sugar. I'm not a big fan of my savory food tasting sweet and as I ate it I quickly regretted ignoring the terms "cinnamon carrots" and "honey pepper" that were part of the beef tangine's description. I also have a slight sensitivity to sugar so the beef gave me a slight headache from eating it. I couldn't even eat it all so I left still feeling a bit hungry and dissatisfied. Oh and I also got white beans, beets, feta and cauliflower in my bowl, over greens. Where I went wrong/in summaryI should probably give this restaurant 4 stars instead of 3. To be totally honest if there was a separate category, I'd probably give the beef tangine 1.5 or 2 stars. I did not like it but it's really not the restaurant's fault I mucked up my bowl. Probably shouldn't have ordered online from a place I hadn't eaten at before, particularly one that serves the food up cafeteria style and where they probably would've let me taste things before ordering. Anyway, from looking at others' reviews there are people who actually do like the tangine. But yeah, not me.I'd return to Zoa but would make sure to get the chicken charmoula next time. Loved the patio, the service and the restaurant's cleanliness. Nice location as well.

We are not familiar with Moroccan food, so had trouble picking a meat. A lot of the dishes were stew based. Overall we enjoyed everything we ordered- made things easy and ordered the preset combo bowls. Marrakesh (beef tagine): Moroccan beef stew, sweet and savoryFez (chicken chermoula): I had googled chicken chermoula and it pulled up as roasted chicken in a Moroccan pesto sauce. This was not that, more of a stew dish and still very tasty. Tangier (shrimp): I ordered the shrimp. It was a-okay, tasted like a tomato-based shrimp dish, couldn't tell what made it Moroccan. Casablanca (lamb meshwi): my friend liked his bowl. Although we couldn't discern all of the components of the dish, I think he liked the taktouka- from Google "Moroccan savory dish and spread made from tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, toasted paprika and olive oil."Kenitra (beef kefta/meatballs): my husband enjoyed it. It was covered in a tomato sauce. We ordered sauce on the side because he prefers less spicy. Would return for a quick meal to add variety to our usual take out dinner rotation.

I ordered tonight via Uber Eats. The food was delicious as usual however, it would be nice to have the option of getting the sauces on the side when ordering from Uber Eats or DoorDash. I can't see why this would be an issue. Also, the option for extra sauce when ordering from 3rd parties would be nice!

I loved their Moroccan mint tea! The food was good; it was different and unique. I was surprised when the price was less than $30 for two people, including one drink. Nowadays, it's unusual to have dinner in that price range.

This was the third Zoa Moroccan Kitchen location that I have visited within Houston. They have locations all around the city and are rather convenient for visiting over lunch or dinner. So far with this location? Unimpressed and left much to be desired. This location is super skimpy with their portions and the price point is heavy. For two bowls, 1 bread and 1 green tea, you'll shell out about $30 and leave feeling a bit underwhelmed. Not sure why they are so skimpy with their portions and their service. Food was good, warm and flavorful, but I've had better at their other locations. This location is quite small and grab and go style as well. Parking is a bit small and limited and as mentioned, this location is smaller than the other ones that I have visited. With the food: The meats were tender and their toppings were decent. Unfortunately, I may never revisit ever again due to their lack of decent portions of their bowls and the overall presentation of their meals. I'm already hungry after writing this review and I was just visiting with their location not that long ago - LOL. Their super sweet Moroccan green tea is great, but honestly, I can make that at home (Atay Bi Nana). We don't have that many Moroccan food choices in Houston, I wish Zoa could do a bit better. Probably wont revisit this location ever again as mentioned. Until next time!

Okay, nothing special. I had their bowl with brown rice and lamb. Lamb was dry, felt old, but they had just opened. Toppings were fresh and all tased good: you get to add 4 toppings. Garlic sauce was very good. Guy behind the line was friendly and courteous. Sparse interior but felt clean. Nothing stands out: nice local atmosphere. Worth a try, but not sure I'd go back. Very sparse menu.