Zula Restaurant

My girlfriend and I decided to go to Zula for Valentines day, and it was bad from the beginning. We arrived for our 7:30 reservation and the hostess did not welcome us or walk us to our table, she only said ""you can go sit at a table upstairs."" The menus was a special menu for the night, but was only printed on a cheap black and white printer. It took us 20 minutes to even flag down the waiter, and when we did he was not polite and seemed as though he did not want to serve us. He did not even introduce himself to us or tell us his name. The courses were rushed through, they did not wait for us to finish our salad before they brought out the appetizer. The food was ok, but not close to the $100 they were charging. They were out of the dessert that I wanted, but instead of letting me know and offering me another choice, they brought me out the other dessert option with now apology. As a previous reviewer stated the restrooms were disgusting. A 20% gratuity was included so we could not alter the tip for the terrible service we received. Then to end the night I was going to complain to the manager on the way out, but there was not anybody there to thank us for coming as we were leaving. This was hands down my worst restaurant experience ever. I will not be returning. Cons: Below average food for the price, terrible service, rude staff, dirty more

My husband, several friends and I went to Zula one Friday evening before attending a performance in the Theater District; we were looking forward to the food after reading the mostly great reviews on Citysearch and checking out the restaurant's website. My husband and I, together and apart, have lived/worked in various major U.S. cities and overseas, and we both agree that Houston overall has wonderful restaurants with great quality and value. Without exaggeration, the food at Zula is by far the worst that we have had in Houston. Pros: Relatively quiet for downtown restaurant on a Friday night (which may be a con) Cons: The food more

my wife and I celebrated our anniversary dinner at zula's on 1-11-09. Excellent wedge and ceasar salads.My wife ordered the salmon which she liked, and I ordered the flattened chicken. Chicken tasted a little dry, but I easily fixed by adding lemon juice on top. Atmosphere, decor ,and service was fantastic. We will return!!! more

My suggestion to the Manager when he asked how the food was; ?Fire Your Chef Immediately? The food had no flavor at all. I have eaten at places like The Mocking Bird, Brenner?s on the Bayou. Now these places are Five Star Restaurants with food to die for. Pros: passing up this place Cons: Food and bad Managment more

The waiters were wonderful here but every other detail was very poorly managed. Our meal there was a group event and it was the worst experience we've had in almost 15 years. Fortunately we have a great group of people and still managed to have a nice evening. Our reservations (made months ahead) were confused with those of another group. The group coordinator was completely disorganized, unprofessional and unresponsive to inquiries. She never conveyed important details like pre-selected menu selections or headcount to the waiters and they had to scramble to make up for her lack of attention to details. The restaurant was filthy throughout (everything including bathrooms and water pouring out of the ceiling) and the food was simply awful~ not fresh. Pros: Great waiters! Really worked hard to please us. Cons: Awful food, group coordinator awful, filthy restuarant more

Zula Rest. For me and my guest give this restaurant thumbs down. The food was terrible. The Trout they served was water logged and had no flavor AT ALL. My friend ate some of it but left over half her fish because she did not like the taste she tried to give it some taste with salt but nothing helped it. I had the pork chop and it had no flavor as well. The sauce they use for the topping was disgusting to say the least and the rice they served with it had no seasoning either it was like eating a piece of paper. I took two bites of my food and that was it. Yes it tasted that bad. My husband had the steak and he was unhappy with his meal as well. He said the gravy like stuff they poured over the steak did not taste good, he did not finish is meal. One of the guests I brought ordered pasta (which was over cooked and clumped together) but she said the grilled shrimp they served with it was good. 4 guest and all four walked away disappointed. Management did not seem to concerned when I mentioned the food tasted bad. Yes the restaurant decor was nice it seems they are shooting to be a ?fine dinning restaurant? and I have eaten at some very nice places were the food melts in your mouth. This place is far from it and there are not many items to choose from on the menu either. Save your self some money and time because this place was nice but we went for the food and the food was in fact disgusting. Pros: Ambience Cons: Food more

I am a restaurant owner from California, I dont get the negative reviews on hosts in general. They have the most thankless job in the restaurant. If customers are not sat at once or offered a free drink, a big comp they are HOSTITLE. People get a GRIP they are juggleing several things at once, Restaurants have to deal with the guests that are seated, the guests that are arriving and flow of the entire place. Zula is a big place and I have seen the owner do the best juggling act in the business. People are late and have NO reguard for the next guests. If you went to the hair dresser or a beauty salon and you were 30 minutes late they would send you home, why restaurants dont practice this is just plain silly. We accomodate thats our business. Zula is a great place , a beautiful restaurant . The food is wonderful , the room exciting , the service excellent. People need to be more positive , it just seems we all look for the negative , if its not the host, then its the servers, if its not the servers then its the bartenders , if its, you get the point, for some people its always something. To those people STAY HOME and make yourselfs MISERABLE. Dine out and have fun. ENJOY. Zula is one of the BEST place in Downtown of Houston. Pros: Beautiful place, Excellent food, Amazing service more

We finally tried this restaurant this past weekend, and were glad we did. The space is beautiful and the food was amazing. We sat upstairs which is very nice as its like a little mini lounge in itself. We started off with the Calamari and Crab cake which are some of the best I've had . For entrees, I had the River Trout and my husband had the Rib eye, both of which were delicious! We'll definitely be back !!! Pros: Food , Service, more

I rarely ever feel compelled to review a restaurant on this site. Zula was horrific. We walked in on a Monday night, and stood at the host stand for 10 minutes before anyone even came to the front. Two guys went into the bar, and didn't even come over to welcome us. Finally, a manager came out to seat us with the three other tables of people there. We ordered salads, which came out in 10 minutes. The main dishes, however, took another 45. And this was after everyone else in the restaurant had left, and we were the only ones who had not been served (8:00 pm , by the way). We had to ask the manager what was going on, and poof, our food came out. Pros: n/a Cons: strange atmosphere, slow service, extremely slow food preparation, no attention to customers more

Had dinner here with a group of friends and loved it! We think this is a great place to dine, as well as party. What an awesome "" Restaurant-that turns-into a Night club"" if that is even a word?! The place is amazing! We were delighfully suprised by the delicious food and cocktails they had. We stayed throughout the night and partied way as the restaurant turned into a lounge. You have to try this place!!! if you are looking for a great time and amazing food, this is the place to be. Pros: Nice atmosphere and Food!! Great service , Clean more

I set up a lunch for 15 people to celebrate the completion of a project. First, we were there 2.5hrs for lunch and we had a reservation for when they opened at 11:30. Apparently, the kitchen decided that we were not worth the trouble as the other two groups got their food in a timely manner and had no issues (they were also larger groups and didn't send any food back, one group got there right before we walked in the door and were out before us.) We should have known it was going to be bad when the hostess turned to another worker and said they didn't have enough menus for us, we waited at least 15 minutes just to see the menu. We had to send two entrees back- one steak was ordered medium well and came back rare, when it was brought back out it was more like medium rare, but it was eaten since we had waited so long. The other meal was supposed to be a veggie burger, which came out as a buger with veggies, when we sent it back, we got a plate of veggies, that was sent back a second time and we asked for some pasta and sauce with the veggies with no mushrooms and add peas, we had no peas lots of mushrooms. The salmon was undercooked but people lived with it. My water glass was filled once the entire time, I snagged the extra water next to me as I was really thirsty. My dish was like licking a salt block, I won't need any salt for the rest of the month. When we finally asked for the check and the manager we were told the manager wasn't in. Two phone calls to the manager later, and the only thing they would do is take off our drinks- the tea and coke that about 9 people had ordered!!!! Several people went to the bathroom and said they were disgusting, like a typical club restroom. Apparently they make money by selling alcohol, so at night people get smashed and then they don't care what the food tastes like, if they ever get it. Moral of the story is don't bother unless you want to waste your time and money, or would like to help the kitchen staff cook your food. more

Do not go to this restaurant. The food is inedible, and the restaurant is dirty. I ordered the tuna, but it was way overdone and tasted very fishy. I could barely eat it. As far as the atmosphere goes, the decorations were quite tacky and worn down. There weren't that many people dining there (even though it was a weekend night), and the other people who were eating there looked like they were going to the prom. There was also no valet at the restaurant, which is highly inconvenient since it is located downtown. Don't even get me started about the filthy restrooms. If they don't even bother to keep the restrooms clean, then I don't even want to imagine the kitchen conditions. I have no idea why this restaurant is rated the way it is. Maybe it has changed management and/or chefs. It is WAY past its prime. To summarize this restaurant in one word: depressing. Pros: nothing Cons: everything about the place more

Here's the scoop. The chef that got this restaurant those rave articles that attracted you to this place is LONG GONE. Who is left? Pros: Service is very attentive when there is no one else in the restaurant. Cons: Hideous food. Bad music. more

ZULA is THE place to go for steaks. We've done Ruths ( too expensive ,average steaks, small side dishes) Mortons ( great steaks, expensive, noisy ambience, dull side dishes) and Donovans( WAY too suffy) This place is ( like goldilocks said) "" just right"". The steaks are perfectly prepared, Asparagus must be grown specially for this restaurant because its aways crisp and very tasty, especially with the fabulous bernaise sauce. I'm allergic to seafood but my dinning companion often orders the Fish of the day and she say it's awesome. Zula has great wines to accompany any of their dishes. Their desserts, if and when you have room for them, are spectacular. FIVE stars every time!!! Pros: Steaks, fish , wines, ambience more

I have to say I was a bit skeptical after reading most recent reviews online. I didnot know if we were in for a great meal or a noisy night of pertention. After reading the menu I was really worried- some of the ingredients sounded good but they were combined in such a way that I wouldnt normally choose any of the items. The food proved me wrong. Two things stand out: Our Rib-eye steak was incredibly tender , the service was superb , my wife main course was also awesome. Over all, the food was outstanding. Pros: Food , Service more

After reading some of the earlier reviews , I was a little worried our anniversary dinner wouldn't be so great. BUT we were surprised . Our server, I think his name was George , was very attentive yet did was not over bearing. He asked us questions about what kind of wine we like, he listended and brough us a bottle we absolutely loved. Service was superb, right down to the plate presentation. My husband works in the industry and I am a veteren, so we know when we get good service and this was a definite. Food was delicious. Interesting flavor combinations. Some of the reviews said this place was not in good shape, absolutely not. Would go back and recommend to others. Pros: Food was Delicious and Service was superb. more

We went on a Thursday night before the theater and we were the only diners in the place. Waiter served wine with cork in it. We got our appetizers/salads fairly quickly and then it was another 45 minutes before our entrees. We think the chef went upstairs to take a nap! We finally got our entrees with 10 minutes to spare. Guess you know what kind of tip he got. The weird thing is the food was really good. BUT the bathrooms were filthy and smelled of that sickeningly sweet stuff they spray to cover the real smell. The fabric on the banquet was old and worn out. All in all not a good experience. AND the music was so loud we had to yell at the waiter to get him to turn it down. And then he couldn't even figure out how. So sad. more

I visited Zula with a friend after reading about it on both CitySearch and OpenTable. Upon arrival, we were taken upstairs to what looked like a storage area turned dining area for the evening. (We were told that the entire bottom floor had been rented out for a party.) Our table was so off balance that we were concerned it was going to fall off of the center leg, and after showing our waiter, he immediately ""created"" another table for us. It was so dark, that we could barely see our menus and ended up using the light from our cell phones to see them. It smelled very musky! The carpet was stained. Our waiter changed twice during our meal. The first one did not have a clue as to how to serve wine. He came to the table with the bottle, popped the cork, stuffed it in his pocket, poured a huge glass for my male friend, and then another huge glass for me, sat down the bottle at the opposite end of the table, and took off. We spent the rest of the meal filling our own glasses - as he never returned to do it for us. The only thing I can speak positively of was the food. It wasn't impressive per say, but it was good. To summarize, I was very disappointed and embarrassed. (It was my turn to pick a restaurant and I thought I had it in the bag) I was wrong. I'm sure Zula had their heyday at some point, but the present time isn't it. Pros: The food was ok Cons: No valet at 7pm that evening, parking is across the street in a pay as you go lot more

I had been to this restaurant many times in the past and it had always been a great experience. However, I went there with two friends before the theatre last week and it was a big disappointment. I always liked the funky decor of the restaurant, but it now looks worn and tired. The bathrooms were also not in good shape and unkempt. The music was so loud that we couldn't hear each other and we had to ask to have it turned down. There was no one else in the restaurant and the service was very slow and not attentive. We had to hurry to finish our meal before the theater because it took so long to get our entrees. Once the food arrived it was actually pretty good, however, the rest of the experience ruined the evening and I will never go back. more

My date and I went to Zula before an 8pm show at theater. We had a nice dinner Pros: good food, good service more