« Will the Real Jason Please Stand Up | Home | Nothing Good from a Bad Man »
More Noodles Than You Can Shake a Chopstick At
By bukkhead | August 7, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW: ‘ZAO’
Address: 2630 NE University Village Street
Cuisine: Pan-Asian
Every time I go to Zao, I get the same thing: the Shanghai Beef and Chicken. Is this a testament to how good it is? After all, I’m the sort who likes to move around the menu. trying new things. Or, to be more specific, I like to try new versions of things. The only time I find myself ordering the same thing again and again is when I am in a chain restaurant.
So there you go: Zao is a chain restaurant. I’ve never seen one any other place than the University Village, though their web site tells me they have six locations, all on the West coast. But you could tell it’s a chain anyway: the staff wear T-shirts with amusing saying like “did you eat your 22 feet today,” and for crying out loud, it’s located in a mall. A mall with difficult parking.
Which is not to say it’s a bad place. Not at all. What Zao does, Zao does well, at least the Shanghai Beef and Chicken. Chalk it up to knowing the recipe: it’s never tasted any different, and I’ve gone there over the course of four year or so. Maybe six visits altogether. So when it comes to a chain, the reason for going there holds: you know what you’re going to get, and you’re not disappointed.
The menu, as far as I can tell, is some kind of Asian fusion thing. There’s Thai inspired items, such as Pad Thai or Green Curry. There’s Vietnamese dishes, such as good old Pho, And of course there’s Chinese, or American-style Chinese anyway: dumplings, a so-called “Chinese Chicken Salad” (that means it has rice noodles on it). All of it blended together, Zao style, so what you get is not an authentic Asian dining experience, because you’re not looking for an authentic Asian dining experience. You’re looking for something Asian inspired, but not at the fast-food level of a Panda Express, nor at the wannabe-fine-dining level of a P.F. Chang’s.
The place is usually busy on the weekends, but they’re willing to take your cell number so you wander around the nearby Barnes and Noble while you wait. And I’ve never had to wait more than 20 minutes, which is just enough time find something to read while I eat, but not too much time that I end up with a stack of books that will break my reading budget. And speaking of budget, Zao is about the price you’d expect, more than fast food, but not so much that anyone’s trying to fool you. These are noodles after all, the best selling food in the world.
So if you’re in the U-Village, have had sushi recently enough to want to pass up Blue C, and don’t feel like dealing with burgers, beers, and their fans at The Ram, Zao is not a bad choice. The serve dessert too, but Ben & Jerry’s is literally only 10 feet away, so your meal right there is complete.
Topics: Dining | No Comments »