Overall quality of fish was good. The chef tasting menu rellied a bit more than I would have preferred on tempura foods as filler. The wasabi used was overpowering either by the amount or the type (western not real wasabi) drowned out the fragile taste of the fish when used. Normally would have been a 3 for me rather than a 4 but server was good and overall ambiance was ok so I rounded up a 3.5 to a 4.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
James W
Working in Center City provides its lunch challenges that Zama solves. And by challenge, I mean, the $20 lunch. Either you’re eating a quick bite from a food truck and have to take the lunch somewhere to eat it or you’re paying for a very overpriced lunch that might not be as filling. Or, you’re stuck with the fastest of fast food that may still be $20 once you check out but what are you really eating?
Zama is my hidden gem, go-to lunch that solves all of these problems. Tucked away before Rittenhouse Square, this Japanese restaurant has it what you’re looking for. It’s sleek, with wood slats and accents throughout to warm up the dining area. Bar seating by their storefront window is my typical place to sit since I’m normally alone but the bar staff is always nice and attentive.
Although I have tried other items in the menu, the Maki Lunch Set has made it quite difficult to move to other items on the menu. I’m a sucker for a colorful plate and this dish has all the color from the house salad to the edamame. But you also get texture and contrast from the tempura vegetables and udon noodle soup. Lastly, you get to choose a 6 piece maki that comes with a mushroom maki. I typically go back and forth between the spicy tuna and the spicy salmon. Can’t go wrong either way!
Zama provides an incredible lunch for an excellent price. It’s my favorite center city lunch spot!
aj solomon
They have a creative menu and the sushi was fresh. Service was excellent.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Hansjakob Werlen
It had been a good while since I returned to this stalwart center city restaurant and everything was as good as I remembered. The lunch specials still are an amazing deal, with a well-made udon noodle soup, salad, the standard bowl of edamame, and a generous plate of sushi or nigiri. The atmosphere, with lots of warm wood, is lovely, especially in the back of the restaurant. Small selection of sake, as well as a couple good local craft beers.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Grace Zhao
One of my most favorite Japanese restaurants in the city!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Alexa P
Merci is amazing! Love the wasabi lobster.
Atmosphere: 5
Sarah Mohammed
We definitely enjoyed dinner at Zama. The food was fresh and high quality. I do wish the seating arrangement was less cluttered. But the food was worth the try. We made a reservation but they let us sit 15 min early.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
RJ Aguilar
My favorite sushi spot of all time! I always pass by here but never had the chance to try. And damn I wish I had gone here earlier. Atmosphere is giving traditional Japanese sheek. The service is impeccable—waiter regularly checking in and I appreciate the food runners explaining each dish without asking to. The yuzu salt endamame was flavorful but a little too salty for my liking (and I love salt). The agadashi salad was great. The king crab roll topped with scallop was amazing! And to think there couldn't be a better roll the crunchy truffle eel wrapped in daikon was THE BEST maki roll I've ever had! It surprisingly blew my expectations. I'm definitely returning to see what the lunch service has to offer.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Joe Belisari
ZAMA Review Dinner and lunch favorites: California Salad Hamachi Ponzu Red dragon Orange Dragon Rittenhouse Three
We have dined at Zama over 50 times since April of 2023. The only reason I’m not there more is that we travel to other parts of the US months at a time. We have enjoyed sushi in San Diego, NYC, Jersey shore, and Philadelphia just to name a few. Enjoy Omikase dining in most cities. This is must dine for friends visiting from the big sushi Mecca of San Diego. ZAMA has consistently delivered fresh sushi in a warm, welcoming, laid back vibe.
Craig and the front staff; Peter, Travis, Merci, Gianna, and Jonas have been together for many years and it shows.
For this review I will only touch on our favorites. Everything on the menu is good. The Hamachi Ponzu is one of our favorites. Prepared fresh with a fine texture and visually appealing. The California Salad with snow crab is a great split dish. There is plenty of tasty crab and we enjoy having a nice light salad with our sushi. ZAMA does several great Dragon rolls, whether it be spicy shrimp tempura with Tuna, or Salmon, they seem to have a special one almost every night. The tuna and salmon always fresh and tasty. There is one distinct combination called the Rittenhouse Three. It is three different hand rolls. There is a SST, Spicy Spider, and Crunchy Scallop.
A personal shout out to Jonas. One night it was packed in the bar and he noticed someone in a covid like mask saunter in to the area and prevented this person from stealing from a women’s hand bag hanging from her chair. It’s always nice to know that people are looking out for their customers.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ginka Nikolov
I found it to be more gimmicky than actually good. The menu is very interesting in theory, but in reality nothing was excellent. Salmon on salmon roll the top was not very pleasant to eat. The extra crunchy is also strange. Calamari salad was very good, but the NY stip steak was quite bad. Service was so-so. I don't think I would visit again.
Zama is an unassuming restaurant right off Rittenhouse Square that has some incredible Japanese cuisine. I came for the first time and had such a great experience!
Started with the lychee cocktail, it wasn’t overly sweet and was strong enough to give me a buzz off one. For an appetizer, I had the udon noodle soup with was salty and rich with umami flavor. It was excellent and I’m going to crave it in the fall & winter!
I also got the salmon and eel fiesta roll. The avocado salsa on top was fresh, the eel bbq sauce added a nice sweetness. Difference textures and flavors all worked together to create a perfect roll.
Peter was our server and he was great. So attentive and helpful with the menu. The restaurant was incredibly clean and well kept, loved the decor. I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about this place - I’ll definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jay Patravali
Key words: rudeness, passive aggressive and apathetic manager
Not sure if asking for food recs was inappropriate or if we just weren’t liked the minute we walked in. When we asked for a table, the manager stared us down. Later, when we asked the server for 2–3 recommendations for mocktails or vegetarian rolls, instead of helping, they repeatedly told us to ‘just look at the menu.’ The tone felt dismissive and hostile, to the point that it felt safer to walk out after only a few minutes
Service: 1
Alan Carpenter
Excellent sushi. Fresh. Great variety. Service was outstanding. Quality to cost ratio was favorable.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Stephen Lewicki
Excellent Japanese food with attentive service. The space is underwhelming but the food makes up for it.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dawn Mahan
Delish sushi and wonderful service. Thank you Peter and all! Definitely would go back.
Overall quality of fish was good. The chef tasting menu rellied a bit more than I would have preferred on tempura foods as filler. The wasabi used was overpowering either by the amount or the type (western not real wasabi) drowned out the fragile taste of the fish when used. Normally would have been a 3 for me rather than a 4 but server was good and overall ambiance was ok so I rounded up a 3.5 to a 4.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Working in Center City provides its lunch challenges that Zama solves. And by challenge, I mean, the $20 lunch. Either you’re eating a quick bite from a food truck and have to take the lunch somewhere to eat it or you’re paying for a very overpriced lunch that might not be as filling. Or, you’re stuck with the fastest of fast food that may still be $20 once you check out but what are you really eating?
Zama is my hidden gem, go-to lunch that solves all of these problems. Tucked away before Rittenhouse Square, this Japanese restaurant has it what you’re looking for. It’s sleek, with wood slats and accents throughout to warm up the dining area. Bar seating by their storefront window is my typical place to sit since I’m normally alone but the bar staff is always nice and attentive.
Although I have tried other items in the menu, the Maki Lunch Set has made it quite difficult to move to other items on the menu. I’m a sucker for a colorful plate and this dish has all the color from the house salad to the edamame. But you also get texture and contrast from the tempura vegetables and udon noodle soup. Lastly, you get to choose a 6 piece maki that comes with a mushroom maki. I typically go back and forth between the spicy tuna and the spicy salmon. Can’t go wrong either way!
Zama provides an incredible lunch for an excellent price. It’s my favorite center city lunch spot!
They have a creative menu and the sushi was fresh. Service was excellent.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
It had been a good while since I returned to this stalwart center city restaurant and everything was as good as I remembered. The lunch specials still are an amazing deal, with a well-made udon noodle soup, salad, the standard bowl of edamame, and a generous plate of sushi or nigiri.
The atmosphere, with lots of warm wood, is lovely, especially in the back of the restaurant. Small selection of sake, as well as a couple good local craft beers.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
One of my most favorite Japanese restaurants in the city!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Merci is amazing! Love the wasabi lobster.
Atmosphere: 5
We definitely enjoyed dinner at Zama. The food was fresh and high quality. I do wish the seating arrangement was less cluttered. But the food was worth the try. We made a reservation but they let us sit 15 min early.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
My favorite sushi spot of all time! I always pass by here but never had the chance to try. And damn I wish I had gone here earlier. Atmosphere is giving traditional Japanese sheek. The service is impeccable—waiter regularly checking in and I appreciate the food runners explaining each dish without asking to. The yuzu salt endamame was flavorful but a little too salty for my liking (and I love salt). The agadashi salad was great. The king crab roll topped with scallop was amazing! And to think there couldn't be a better roll the crunchy truffle eel wrapped in daikon was THE BEST maki roll I've ever had! It surprisingly blew my expectations. I'm definitely returning to see what the lunch service has to offer.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
ZAMA Review
Dinner and lunch favorites:
California Salad
Hamachi Ponzu
Red dragon
Orange Dragon
Rittenhouse Three
We have dined at Zama over 50 times since April of 2023. The only reason I’m not there more is that we travel to other parts of the US months at a time. We have enjoyed sushi in San Diego, NYC, Jersey shore, and Philadelphia just to name a few. Enjoy Omikase dining in most cities. This is must dine for friends visiting from the big sushi Mecca of San Diego. ZAMA has consistently delivered fresh sushi in a warm, welcoming, laid back vibe.
Craig and the front staff; Peter, Travis, Merci, Gianna, and Jonas have been together for many years and it shows.
For this review I will only touch on our favorites. Everything on the menu is good. The Hamachi Ponzu is one of our favorites. Prepared fresh with a fine texture and visually appealing. The California Salad with snow crab is a great split dish. There is plenty of tasty crab and we enjoy having a nice light salad with our sushi. ZAMA does several great Dragon rolls, whether it be spicy shrimp tempura with Tuna, or Salmon, they seem to have a special one almost every night. The tuna and salmon always fresh and tasty. There is one distinct combination called the Rittenhouse Three. It is three different hand rolls. There is a SST, Spicy Spider, and Crunchy Scallop.
A personal shout out to Jonas. One night it was packed in the bar and he noticed someone in a covid like mask saunter in to the area and prevented this person from stealing from a women’s hand bag hanging from her chair. It’s always nice to know that people are looking out for their customers.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
I found it to be more gimmicky than actually good. The menu is very interesting in theory, but in reality nothing was excellent. Salmon on salmon roll the top was not very pleasant to eat. The extra crunchy is also strange. Calamari salad was very good, but the NY stip steak was quite bad. Service was so-so. I don't think I would visit again.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Restaurantji Recommends
Zama is an unassuming restaurant right off Rittenhouse Square that has some incredible Japanese cuisine. I came for the first time and had such a great experience!
Started with the lychee cocktail, it wasn’t overly sweet and was strong enough to give me a buzz off one. For an appetizer, I had the udon noodle soup with was salty and rich with umami flavor. It was excellent and I’m going to crave it in the fall & winter!
I also got the salmon and eel fiesta roll. The avocado salsa on top was fresh, the eel bbq sauce added a nice sweetness. Difference textures and flavors all worked together to create a perfect roll.
Peter was our server and he was great. So attentive and helpful with the menu. The restaurant was incredibly clean and well kept, loved the decor. I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about this place - I’ll definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Key words: rudeness, passive aggressive and apathetic manager
Not sure if asking for food recs was inappropriate or if we just weren’t liked the minute we walked in. When we asked for a table, the manager stared us down. Later, when we asked the server for 2–3 recommendations for mocktails or vegetarian rolls, instead of helping, they repeatedly told us to ‘just look at the menu.’ The tone felt dismissive and hostile, to the point that it felt safer to walk out after only a few minutes
Service: 1
Excellent sushi. Fresh. Great variety. Service was outstanding. Quality to cost ratio was favorable.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent Japanese food with attentive service. The space is underwhelming but the food makes up for it.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Delish sushi and wonderful service. Thank you Peter and all! Definitely would go back.
Food: 5
Service: 5
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