ZIMA Russian Restaurant Reviews Summary

Customer Service

Pros:

• "The stuff are always nice and welcoming."
• "Our waitress Laura was very welcoming and helpful."
• "Staff was incredibly nice to us, especially the manager!"
• "Very helpful waiters Daniel Nicolenco and Dionis Bruma were always next to us in their busiest hours."
• "Service was very good, staff were very attentive."
• "The staff is super friendly and open to help you with suggestions."
• "The staff and our waitresses were all very friendly, always with a smile on their face and happy to help out!"

Cons:

• "The staff is kinda fidgety, with abrupt movements, and a bit aloof, which is not conductive to a pleasant atmosphere."
• "Our waitress looked like she was annoyed the whole time, definitely needs to work on her body language and customer service skills."
• "Service disappointing. It was very hard to get attention from the staff."
• "Very slow service unfortunately."
• "The service was poor and really disappointing."
• "Whilst the food was tasty, i wouldn’t recommend this restaurant because they have no clue about how to be efficient or speak with customers in a friendly or efficient manner."
• "The service was sluggish, waiters were slow and unfriendly."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Enjoying fantastic food and great ambiance."
• "Great beef stroganoff!"
• "The lamb pelmeni were fabulous!"
• "The best Russian food in London."
• "The food is exceptionally delicious. You must try the herring under fur (or similar), the dumplings or draniki. Don't forget to get at least one shot of their vodka that comes in multiple flavours!"
• "The Pelmeni and Beef Stroganoff were amazing, and the dessert menu was especially tempting."
• "The food itself was well presented and absolutely delicious!"

Cons:

• "The food portions are small, unfortunately can't call food delicious, very basic."
• "Small plates, not very fresh tasting food and food poisoning afterwards."
• "The food was very very average as well."
• "Golubtsi were too creative and too far from the original flavour of this dish."
• "The food quality was so-so."
• "The food is so-so. Pancakes with salmon were just tasteless."
• "A lot of the dishes were not as good."

Ambiance

Pros:

• "This place has a nice bumping atmosphere, cold russian vodka, nice pickles and small plates."
• "Never eaten at a Russian restaurant before and felt so relaxed here. Warm and friendly vibe. Highly recommend."
• "Zima is a cosy restaurant that seems quite calm on a busy street."
• "The atmosphere nice and relaxed."
• "The restaurant had a great ambience."
• "The atmosphere was cosy and relaxed."
• "The atmosphere was so relaxing."

Cons:

• "Con: mostly play music by Z-singers, unbearable atmosphere."
• "We got a table from which I had to look at some horrible colourful psychedelic artworks - not really a Russian restaurant vibe that you want to show your international friends when you take them out for dinner."
• "It was get a bit loud due to lack of noise insulation."
• "It was extremely noisy due to some kind of party going on in the basement."
• "One thing I didn’t care for was the volume of the music. A bit too loud."
• "Only negatives were that it gets very hot and very loud in the restaurant in my opinion."
• "But service… service is just terrible."

Value

Pros:

• "Highly recommended for small groups or couples."
• "Reasonable prices considering the location."
• "Especially since it's so surprisingly affordable."
• "Although not cheap, the portions were good and we were full after sharing five dishes and one apple and buckwheat tea."
• "Very cheap compared to other restaurants in this area."
• "The prices are good for the quality you get the food tastes great."
• "Great selection of traditional Russian dishes (just as good as babushka’s food!)."

Cons:

• "Pricy; Poor customer service but with a tasty food."
• "Way too expensive for the food we had."
• "The downsides would be the small portions and relatively high price."
• "Portions are small for the price you pay that is for sure but you are in Soho so it is what it is."
• "A way too expensive for such a small portions."
• "The prices went up compared to the last year."
• "My biggest complaint was the cost to portion ratios. Spent nearly 80£ and was just barely satisfied."