Zen Noodle - St Edmundsbury

I wish I could rate our visit higher but the staff ruined the mood and entire visit. Having been to Zen nearly 10 years ago with a wonderful experience to look back on, I had high hopes for returning, however the staff were miserable whilst being reasonably attentive, and yet still felt borderline rude. My best friend, his young son, and I arrived at maybe 12:20 for lunch and the entire place was empty except from a party of 3 on one table as the restaurant had just opened at 12 we were acknowledged by two members of staff, one of of which then laid menus etc out on a table and swapped a chair for a high chair for my friend 's toddler to sit in he was on his best behaviour if not a little grumpy at the end of the meal and eager to leave, but otherwise very well behaved and then we were left to seat ourselves. I don 't want to be too harsh because service was prompt and we were well attended to, and the member of staff who served us was even kind enough to pick up the spoon and chopstick my friend 's son dropped on the floor, but there were no smiles or rapport throughout the entire time. I personally had ordered an extra appetiser to take leftovers home, and as my main dish (satay chicken vermicelli was HUGE (that portion could have comfortable served 2!!! I wanted to take the remainder home. I was shocked that when I asked, the waiter disappeared and then returned with a takeaway container and put it down in front of me and left me to it. I 'm no snob, but I 've never just been handed a takeaway container to pack my own leftovers to leave a restaurant... I rarely have left overs in the first place but I actually felt a little embarrassed to have to scrape my own plate at the table trying not to spill anything from this huge plate into a narrow chinese takeaway container.. and then seal it up to leave.. I wasn 't given a bag, just a flimsy tin container with a cardboard lid, AND before I could even finish folding the metal edges over, the waiter interrupts to lean across in front of me and take the left over unused cutlery away. I 'm sorry but I find that entire scenario incredibly rude. On a positive, the main was lovely, the duck rolls were lovely, as were the mini vegetable spring rolls, but the entire visit was spoiled by lack of manners. My last gripe was when I paid (this visit was my treat, my friend and I take it in turns each time we get together which is only a few of times per year no one asked if we wanted the bill or indicated how we should approach paying (should we stay seated and wait for contactless, do we need to go to the bar? we were just left awkwardly and after a few minutes we gathered our belongings and coats to leave. I ended up approaching a different server who seemed to be busy or daydreaming at the bar with his backs to all the tables and asked politely to pay, and he barely spoke a word, just indicated the card machine after finding our bill slip and that was about it. For anyone reading this, I honestly NEVER make a fuss when dining out, I 've worked hospitality and retail, I know how miserable it can be... but I really was shocked at the lack of manners and communication today. Sorry to say but it 's ruined any good memory I have for Zen and there 's very little chance I 'd return in future. Maybe it was just a bad day, maybe the staff didn 't like the fact that my friend brought his toddler with us and he was making a little bit of a mess as he ate (my friend swept the table with his serviettes to clean up the table of any crumbs or rice AND even cleaned up any dropped food on the floor for them too as my friend also works in hospitality and respects others, but this really was poor representation for the business. I don 't want to be that person to tell another to smile, but I really try my best to be friendly and warm to everyone and be a good customer, all the pleases and thank yous I can muster, etc... but today just got nothing back. I even wondered if they were judging us because my friend even commented as we were leaving that the staff kept staring at us (my back was to the staff at our table and maybe because I, a female, was with my male friend who was obviously incredibly attentive and loving to his toddler son but me being JUST a friend, appeared to be an uncaring mother to those not in the know? I don 't know, but the whole experience made me uncomfortable, I just paid the bill and we left as quickly as we could especially because lil man was then getting a bit grumpy maybe he sensed our moods change too!

Great little place to eat. Service and food were fantastic, even the desserts were gorgeous. Would definitely recommend to anyone and will be visiting again. Would advise to book as we did, as within half an hour it was packed.

The recent evening meal was a bit of a mixed bag. The starters were average and lacked flavor. We tried the dumplings and spring rolls, but it was the sweet chili sauce that gave them any taste. It seemed like these might have been made off-site and deep fried or steamed to order. For our main course, we had the laksa soup and rendang curry, which were pretty good and came in generous portions. While the flavors may not have been the most authentic I've had, I understand that they serve dishes from across Asia so I wasn't expecting perfection. Overall, I would give it a 7 out of 10. It wasn't a bad meal, but it wasn't particularly memorable either.

The food was incredible, freshly prepared with generous portions. The staff was very friendly and made my birthday feel extra special. I hope to come back soon in the near future.

Great food. Great service. Hadn't booked but able to get table. Great timely service and great food. Good portions and good cooked so well. 100% recommend and would pick this over any of the similar chains in Bury.