Zen Oriental - Chinese, London Heathrow Airport

Southern Perimeter Rd., Terminal Four, London Heathrow Airport, Hounslow Middlesex TW6 3AF, England
Tel: 020 8759-7755
Parking: hotel parking

Last Visited: June 25, 2015

Food: 2 stars
Atmosphere: 4 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $$$

It's alarming how many excellent ratings this place has gotten on TripAdvisor.  If you read the other reviews calling this the best Chinese food within the Heathrow Airport, well, that's probably true, but there are so few Chinese places, that's not much of a compliment.

Take it from a Chinese person - if you've never had Chinese food, this is probably ok.  Located inside the Hilton, the atmosphere is nice - very classic Oriental style with decorations like small teapots on display.

When we arrived, we were quickly seated into a booth which is extremely difficult to get into - they move the table so that you can sit on the bench seating which is a bit worn.  The place setting on the table is for looks only.  After ordering, they remove it from the table.  Acoustics are not so great as you can hear just about everyone else's conversations throughout dinner.

While we expected to pay higher prices at a hotel restaurant, the portions are tiny compared to what you could get outside.  I paid 55 pounds including tip for two people to have fried rice, a whole fish, and tofu with greens.  In San Francisco, this same meal with larger portions and better quality would have easily cost half the price.

- Yang Chou Rice  - For the price I paid for fried rice, I should get fresher shrimp and at least double the portion.  This is a essentially a large bowl, not a plate of fried rice.  The flavor is okay, but the shrimp was too dense indicating that it had been frozen previously and the kitchen didn't know how to compensate for this.  This dish could have used some more salt - it was a bit too bland.  It also could have been served hotter.  Way too expensive for this size.  9.8 pounds

- Sea Bass - The fish is previously frozen and served whole.  You can choose from several varieties for the fish including black bean sauce or ginger and scallions.  We opted for steamed with black bean sauce since that usually helps prevent the frozen flavor from coming through.  The sea bass was about one pound in weight - I've never seen fish at a Chinese restaurant that was so tiny - I wondered where the rest of it was.  The fish also wasn't cleaned well - we found guts inside which results in a bitter flavor and scales remained on the skin of the fish.  This dish was also not served piping hot as it should have been.  Disappointing. 20.8 pounds

- Braised Tofu with Greens - Of the three dishes, this one was served hot and seemed promising, but the braised tofu was on the verge of going bad - the sour flavor was left on my tongue showing a lack of freshness.  The broccoli was ok. 9.2 pounds

- Jasmine Tea costs 3.8 pounds a person and I constantly needed to ask them to refill the pot - they only came once on their own to do so.

The presentation of the dishes is nice, but I prefer good food over good presentation.  Service is considered very good for a Chinese restaurant, but not very good from a wider perspective.  For example, at the end of the meal, they use a cloth napkin to cover the food stains left on the table cloth.  However, when the table next to us asked about what was in certain sauces and the waitstaff were stumped.  Even after asking the kitchen, they still couldn't explain it well.  Also, the staff speaks fairly loudly with one another, so that seems a bit disruptive at times.

A 15% service charge is automatically added to your bill.

Given another opportunity, I would take a taxi and go elsewhere.  Even the panini in Terminal 3 would be a better option.