If there’s one restaurant we’ve visited the most since living in Manhattan, it’s Zou Zou’s.
It’s close to us, the food is delicious, and the room makes dinner feel like an occasion. We’d already been more than five times before our latest visit: date nights, work dinners, and dinner with a friend visiting from overseas. Different company, same reliable choice.
This time, it was just the two of us celebrating Francis’s birthday. We booked through OpenTable, sat inside, and ordered the $79-per-person Chef’s Menu.
A busy room where you can still have a conversation
Zou Zou’s is a Mediterranean restaurant in the Hudson Yards area, at Manhattan West. It has indoor seating and an indoor-outdoor area, and dinner tables are typically packed.
Our birthday dinner was no exception. Still, we could comfortably chat without spending the evening asking each other to repeat things. The atmosphere is a big part of why we return: nice enough for a date night, welcoming for a catch-up with friends, and a setting we’ve happily chosen for work dinners too.
Start with the dip tower. Seriously.
If you’re going to Zou Zou’s, order the dip tower.
Did you even go to Zou Zou’s if you didn’t order the dip tower? We’re only half joking.
The five dips come with flatbread and crudités, and they’re one of our favourite things to order here. For us, this is the must-have on a first visit.
What we had on the $79 Chef’s Menu
Everything was served to share, including both fish and steak. Our dinner followed the Chef’s Menu, which includes:
- The signature five-dip tower with crudités and bazlama flatbread
- Yellowtail, fattoush salad, and beef manti with garlicky labneh
- Branzino and Yemeni filet au poivre, made with filet mignon
- Wadi Rum jeweled rice and charred broccoli
- Kataifi cheesecake
The branzino is always a hit, and the filet mignon is really good too. Alongside the dip tower, those were the standouts for us.
There was more than enough food for two. We ended up taking leftovers home, so this wasn’t one of those set menus that leaves you looking for a snack afterwards.
At $79 per person, we thought it was great value for the amount and quality of food served. The menu is fun, and for a restaurant we’d choose for a birthday or date night in Manhattan, the prices feel reasonable to us.
View the current Chef’s Menu. Menus can change. The restaurant’s published Chef’s Menu also lists hot kasseri cheese and duck borek for parties of four or more; those weren’t part of our dinner for two.
A thoughtful birthday touch
The staff gave Francis a birthday card and treated us to complimentary champagne. Both were lovely touches that made the evening feel special.
The service was attentive, which also came through in the reel we shared after our visit.
Watch our birthday dinner reel on Instagram.
Our bill—and the Chase credit we used
Our final bill was approximately $230 for two, including a 20% tip, before applying any credit card benefit.
Francis has the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and we used its $150 dining statement credit towards this dinner. That brought our effective out-of-pocket cost to approximately $80 after the credit.
For context, the card offers up to $150 in eligible dining statement credits from January through June, and another $150 from July through December, at restaurants participating in the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program. This is a benefit for eligible cardholders at participating restaurants, so check the current list and your remaining credit before booking and paying.
See Chase’s current benefits and terms.
Explore Chase Sapphire with our referral link
We may receive a referral bonus if you’re approved through our link. Check the offer and terms shown by Chase before applying.
We’ll cover the card’s benefits in a separate article. For this review, the important distinction is that our dinner cost $230; the card benefit reduced what we ultimately paid. We’d already been returning to Zou Zou’s long before this birthday dinner.
Would we go back?
We’ve been for date nights, work dinners, and to bring a visiting friend. This time, we chose it for a birthday. That probably tells you more than a rating would.
We don’t really have a drawback to report from our visits. Zou Zou’s is hard to fault—and that’s saying something coming from a couple who can be picky.
If you’re looking for a dinner spot around Hudson Yards, it’s one we’re happy to recommend. Go with your partner, bring a friend, or make it a work dinner.
Just order the dip tower.
