Zento Restaurant

I eat at Zento all the time and they’re pretty good about gluten free. The miso soup has gluten, as does their regular salad dressing (but they have gf alternatives). I’ve had their teriyaki chicken and their simple sushi rolls and have been fine. My only complaint is when they do takeout… occasionally they combine my meal, that has been marked as gluten free, with my non-gf husband’s items. Make sure you specify that gluten cannot touch anything you order as gf.

How confident are you that this establishment takes safety precautions against cross-contact?

— Not very

Safety Feature Ratings

• Staff is knowledgeable and can answer questions
• Staff will clean kitchen space or change gloves if asked

Is there a gluten-free menu?

— No gluten-free information on the menu

How much of the menu is available gluten-free?

— Some

How would you rate the taste and quality of the gluten-free food you tried?

— Excellent

Other Characteristics

• Good for dinner
• Good for kids
• Good for lunch
• Good for takeout
• Good selection of healthy options
• Good vegetarian options
• Offers delivery
• Offers online ordering

I went for lunch, and the gluten free options are marked on the menu. I had a greens roll, and the chicken teriyaki lunch bowl, which comes with miso soup. The teriyaki sauce was gluten free! It wasn't too sweet like most teriyaki sauces are. The greens roll was very fresh. All that food only came to $14! I will be back.

Zento was not a bad time, to be honest. It was a busy place and during Happy hour we were lucky to sit at the bar and not wait for a table. Happy hour was by far the most affordable I have seen in the area with an offering of various rolls, including several *insert fish here* and avocado rolls, 2 for 10$ as well as discounted sake of a fair quality. They also offer gluten free soy sauce, which was not of amazing quality I'm sorry to say. The staff seemed to be aware of gluten in food and offered me a gluten free version of a roll that sounded safe to begin with, a picked ginger roll of some sort. Now, the server said "I will put it in gluten free," but seemed dismissive and in a rush. This was not of the greatest concern to me initially, but was later paired with a scoff and a laugh from the wait staff and the sushi chef; both of whom were immediately in front of me at the bar. This made me nervous about how seriously they took it, but I understand everyone makes fun of people they serve at work. The overall atmosphere was busy but generally friendly. I would go again, but would only have the rolls I knew to be gluten free without bothering to take a chance on something new. To be fair: I did not get sick, the rolls were good, and the price ended up pretty decent. However, to be perfectly honest Momo is only a few blocks away and that is my preference between the two.

tl;dr - good happy hour, busy but comfortable happy hour, seem to be aware of gluten and allergies even if they joke about, would visit again (if the wait at Momo was too long and Bilbo Baggins had no room to sit and wait)

Celiac friendly?

Yes

Servers were very knowledgeable about gluten-containing ingredients and accommodating.

We checked out Zento's after writing to the owner on Yelp. He was very helpful sharing that when we came in there would be plenty of gluten free options. My boyfriend and I went there and ordered 4 rolls (salmon and avocado roll, tuna and avocado roll, white tuna and avocado roll and yellowtail and avocado roll) from the happy hour menu and a rainbow roll (which they changed to be gluten free for us). All of the sushi was amazing!!! I would highly recommend this restaurant. I would give it 5 stars but they didn't have a seperate gluten free menu. I had to ask the waitress who was helpful but a little confusing. Good news is that I didn't get sick. We will for sure be back :)