April 2024 by David Francis
This was our first visit. It was a very nice, relaxed evening, food was excellent, server was very friendly, nothing was rushed. Started with cocktails and nibbles, which were both a different twist with an Asian theme to some classics. The food we chose as starters were very tasty to set us up for the mains. Very pleased that they had options for gluten free vegans. Most of us had the bento boxes, which were well presented and very good. The service isn't fast but that's not the vibe, this was exactly what we wanted, a relaxed dinning experience, overlooking the sea, in a nice environment. We expect to be return customers.
April 2024 by philip chilvers
Now before I came to Zinnia I had seen some reviews about bad service. All I can say from my own personal visit, that the service was fantastic, although being Easter Sunday afternoon it was fairly quiet. So they restaurant has gone for an Ivy Asia feel with decor and food. To be honest the food didn?t disappoint, we had a fantastic meal, stuck mainly to the sushi part of the menu, couldn?t fault it. Cocktails were also great. Will definitely be returning in the near future.
April 2024 by david quinn
Food was cold, EVERY dish. A manager did offer to replace all meals. We was warned by waitress that our sides may not be served at the same time as our mains. True to her words our sides arrived after we had finished, totally ridiculous. Waiter started to clear our starter plates and didn't finish, so I had to ask before we had mains. Lots of staff showing that they were under pressure. We decided not to have dessert or extra drinks and went elsewhere. The dress code was not in place, there was a lot trainers, sportswear and even a lad in a hoodie. All in all not a good experience.
March 2024 by Anne Hatfield
The most frustrating dinner I have had for ages. Amazing decor, great menu but totally untrained staff. Not greeted at the door despite greeter being there, taken to a 3 person table despite there being 4 of us, when the restaurant was half empty. Food been brought to the table at haphazard times. Maitre de totally ignoring our requests, table not being cleared at all even when requested. Honestly if you want this expensively refurbished restaurant to succeed you need to train your staff. Some of the expensive food is good and the sharing desert is really good but we might have been able to eat it if we were given something to eat it off and with. It came on a sharing platter with soup spoons to eat with. Honestly if it wasn't so chaotic it'd be laughable. I'd love to go back if only the nervous staff were trained. It's got great views and lovely decor but I'm afraid next time I wouldn't be so polite when after asking for the plates to be cleared the maitre d signalled to my friend to pass over her plate, when he was in reach. Its just a shame.
March 2024 by Kim Rocknean
Delicious food. We had sushi sharing platter followed by beef rendang and the fish curry. Highly
March 2024 by Craig Kitchen
What a disappointment.My wife and I went with some friends last night and was shocked by the experience we received.I'm going to separate the review into sections to make it fair and accurate.The premises looked stunning. We were welcomed in and had a drink at the bar while waiting for our friends, and the cocktails we had were stunning. Unfortunately that was the high point.Our waitress was interesting, to say the least.We were taken to our table and sat down given a menu and asked about our dietary requirements when we mentioned that one of our party had a diary intolerance we were given a seperate menu that told us which items on the menu contained which ingredients fine.Then she said it was down to us to decide whether to have the 6 course taster with meat or vegetarian (both of which had dishes that contained diary).After asking if we could just have the taster and them removing the dairy for the one, she said no, you all have to have the same dishes in the group!!!Anyway, after some back and forth, which took about 20 minutes the waitress returned and said "your very lucky the chef is in a good mood tonight and can just substitute the dishes containing dairy for something else for the member of your party". Ridiculous.She took the menus and we asked if we could keep hold of one of the drinks menus for later orders and she said "I'll let you have it for now but I might need to take it off you soon".Surely if you have a restaurant with 50 table you get at least 50 menus made up??So, onto the food, I can't remember the names of the dishes we had, and to be quiet honest the only reason I would remember them is to make sure I never had them again.A taster menu should be amazing it should be a taste of the best food the restaurant can do to make you say wow and want to come back again and again.Of the six dishes we had, one of them shouldn't have been there. The beans don't taste of anything, difficult to eat, and had the consistency of raw runner beans!!And the dessert rather than being a joy to eat was on the verge of disgusting.Three of the other dishes were OK, nothing to write home about, and frankly could have picked up an equivalent in most takeaways.The one dish we all enjoyed was the sesame prawn dish.It is such a shame southend michelian restaurants with great food, great staff and great locations and this is a great location but without everything else to drive it forward it will not become an exceptional place to go.
March 2024 by Deena West
Beautiful looking restaurant and location is great, we all had real high hopes for it.But the service was terrible, lots of staff but no one knowing what to do!! We had to wait a long time to order drinks -we flagged someone down to take our order but to be told I don?t really do that but can do (he was in a suit), our order was taken wrongly - a drink was missed off which we had to keep asking for. The wine cooler was put on the table and they walked off, no staff opened or served the wine - and the cooler just caused a huge puddle on the table so not comfortable to sit at the table as had to keep wiping it up.And staff do not know what cocktails are which even when my friend said it?s definitely not what she ordered (tasted completely different - she ordered a coconut based drink and this had no coconut in!) they continued to insist it was! When she ordered the same cocktail a second time the right one did turn up and the staff members response was ?that?s funny how different the same cocktail can be!? No clue at all! But to give them their dues they did take the first drink off the bill.The food was ok, but Singapore noodles were one big clump together. Nothing special and definitely not on par with Giggling Squid.We were left with dirty plates from the starter on the table when the main course was served - no one took them away.After the main course was cleared we were ignored again by staff - no offer of dessert menus or coffees.We did not pay the full service charge added to the bill and when we said our reasons why, there was no apology.If you want to be a high end restaurant (the bill was over £300 for 6 people), then you expect attentive, welcoming staff - who know the menu and drinks and can recommend dishes etc. I do appreciate it?s a new restaurant but to me the first few months are crucial to make a good impression and get people coming back.
March 2024 by Paul Marchant
Very bad service , forgot orders , shared menus with other guests , food being taken away before being finished , tables too close together , rude staff , it goes on ?.
March 2024 by Darren Brooker
We arrived at 7.45 pm, to find 2 groups of dinners waiting to be seated, with NO staff in sight. When someone did finally show up she was extremely flustered, explaining to the three groups that they are short-staffed. Which to me was a concern straight away.My Wife & I and our four friends were taken upstairs to our table.Only ONE Menu was given for six people to share. Yes ONE Menu. We asked another member of staff for another menu, and the face she pulled was like I asked for her kidney. One more menu was given. Ridiculous. How can a table of six guests comfortably read and choose their meal?Finally, our drinks order was taken with our starts & main course. The frustrating thing was, that my starter came 15 minutes before the rest of the tables. I could not believe it, I spoke to a waitress who said they wouldn't be long, and 10 minutes later they turned up a very poor show.Main course, I had to send my dish back as it had clearly been sitting on the pass for some time as it was lukewarm, again had to wait for a member of staff's attention. Also, a whole order was missing, again waiting for a member of staff to get the situation resolved. 10 minutes later she finally got her meal.One thing I will say is the food is amazing.Sadly the service you get at the restaurant is extremely poor. One member of staff said I cannot wait for F?king 12am.Also staff standing behind the pass eating, which you can see when walking back from the toilets.I'm very disappointed with the evening, especially as we came out to celebrate our friends Birthday. I feel the evening was plagued with disasters at the restaurant.
March 2024 by Jonathan Sheppard
BookingVisited Zinnia 15/3/24. When booking was told we had to leave a £10 per head holding deposit and couldn?t be late! Not the best of starts. Asked for a 7pm reservation but was told that wasn?t at all possible and it would have to be 6.45. On arrival the place was empty and there plenty of tables free even at 7.30FoodStarters (all arrived within minutes of ordering, which led me to think not everything is freshly made) - Soft shell crab tempura, was practically an empty shell of batter. Katsu sushi roll, bland and tasteless. Edamame beans, really small portions and a little brown on the edges, not a patch on Wagamama.Mains (again, served within minutes of starters being cleared) Beef skewers over cooked with a slightly ?I?ve be reheated flavour?. Nasi Goreng was ok, bit sloppy and not a huge amount of flavour. Didn?t chance desserts.ServiceWas ok, nothing brilliant. After our mains were cleared a waitress came over to tell us ?our main courses would be along shortly????Complained about the crab tempura and it was removed from the bill.AtmosphereBeautiful restaurant, really lovely surroundings.OverallNeed to simplify the menu and get a lot better with the food. Nothing tasted fresh. Hoping that it?s all ?teething? problems as it?s such a great looking restaurant. Would I go again? Probably not. I?ll keep an eye on the reviews.
March 2024 by Megan Jones
Greatest restaurant I?ve been to!Very delicious food, welcoming staff and quiet atmosphere.
March 2024 by Olha Miniailenko
Absolutely loved my experience at your restaurant! The atmosphere was delightful, the food was incredibly tasty, and the service was exceptionally attentive. Can't wait to dine with you again!
March 2024 by Jane Crosland
I was Looking forward to this venue for afternoon tea for my 60th Birthday treat and sadly it was disappointing.. The venue itself is beautiful, it was a Monday and the day after Mother?s Day so I accept they may have been run off their feet the day before .. the fact that it was empty was not a problem, we were the only table (5) the afternoon tea arrived the sandwiches looked clumsily thrown together, were not slim cut as you would expect and clumsily thrown on the lower level of the tired stand , the bread was dry, the assortment of cucumber and cream cheese, smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise and coronation chicken was satisfactory and we were asked if we had any special dietary requirements .. layer two was a selection of two different flavoured delicious little moist sponge cakes, you could not fault those and the top layer of dry scones that crumbled as you cut them were made only worse by the fact you couldn?t spread the unspreadable clotted, not clotted cream which was not smooth, it was solid sticky and just dragged the broken scones across the plates, a token of 5 or 6 mini bite size sponges thrown on the top level completed the tower? The tea and coffee was only replenished when asked and lack of staff in the empty restaurant meant waiting for someone to come to the table to ask for a teaspoon meant you were better off stirring your tea with the hand held end of your knife.. or your tea would be cold by the time someone realised you wanted something? so for £25.95 a head and a service charge added for a lack of service was sadly insult to Injury .. I am not normally a complainer but this was disappointing and lack lustre.. if you?re looking for a nice afternoon tea venue it?s a very pretty restaurant but i would not recommend this as a place to go for afternoon tea ?spend your money elsewhere
March 2024 by Amy Cannon
Long waits to be served, just to take our order for drinks we had to wait 40 mins until we got someone?s attention. Once the food arrived (took an hour and a half for a couple fry ups) it was cold. We received raw sausages, brown avocado, beans and mushrooms missing from each plate, the bacon was so cold like it had just come out the fridge and the toast was cold bread. All The staff seemed like they didn?t know what they were doing, running round like headless chickens. We received an apology but with no reasoning as to why the food took an hour and a half and then came out freezing cold. We will not be returning
March 2024 by Jenna Hood
Went for a mother?s day meal. Going to split this review into food and service because I have a lot to say about both.Set menu was severely overpriced at £45.95 per person, having an entire course dedicated to miso soup which costs about 20p per person to make and is served free in Japan. It was already a bad sign when the main course on the set menu at an asian restaurant was a roast dinner? so strange. We did ask if we could change this for sushi or order literally anything else on the menu but apparently the only food they serve on mother?s day is this odd asian-british set menu. Couldn?t get a table anywhere else though so we thought we?d try it. The appetiser consisted of spring rolls which were awful and obviously cooked from frozen (so slimy we all took one bite each and couldn?t finish), salt and pepper squid which was okay, and ?gyoza? which could hardly be called gyoza - it was more like dumplings that had been cooked in a gyoza-fashion - they were lukewarm as if they had been sitting out for ages. This shared appetiser was accompanied by a set of ?green volcano? sushi, which was genuinely worse than supermarket meal deal sushi. It was served with what appeared to be vegetable tempura but that honestly tasted a bit stale too. The rice quality in the sushi was awful and dry and it was obvious it had been pre-prepared and sitting out for a while. Then the main - the roast. The meat was so dry, especially the beef. The cauliflower cheese was probably the blandest I?ve ever had. I?m not going to elaborate more on the roast as this is meant to be an asian restaurant and if you?re reading this you?re probably not going to order a roast here - honestly if you like good food and value for money you?re probably not going to order anything here - but the main point is that it was unsatisfactory all around. The desserts were okay, the matcha cake was the best part but again nothing worth £45 to see here. The entire meal was a scam, I am 100% confident in that I have never had asian food this bad before and the prices are ridiculous. There are so many good asian places in essex for decent prices, please don?t waste your money here. I certainly will not be coming back.Now the service. When we came in, there was no receptionist. 2 staff members walked past us and although I don?t expect to be seated straight away, especially if they?re busy, they didn?t even acknowledge that we were waiting to be seated - didn?t say anything to greet us they just looked at us and walked straight past. When we found our seat we handed our coats in which was nice and we got a warm greeting from a man who was possibly the owner/manager. It took so long to get our drinks orders in, and so long afterwards for us to actually receive them. After waiting super long and receiving our drinks we then got asked if we would like our food. The service was just exceptionally slow really, and every time we would have to flag a waiter down which I hate doing as I don?t like to interrupt their work but they were completely ignoring us for ages despite there only being 3 tables in. At the end we asked for our coats back and got told to wait downstairs, we waited downstairs where there were still no staff members to be found for 10 minutes until we finally got our coats back.Awful experience all round. At least the decor is pretty.
