Z’s Kitchen offers amazing variety
Coastal North Town Center in North Myrtle Beach has been growing exponentially over the past year, now the location of popular stores like Publix and Hobby Lobby. The shopping area expanded even further, and where there was only grass this time last year, there is now a restaurant making itself known.
Z’s Amazing Kitchen is what they call a fast-casual establishment, aiming to provide a wide array of delicious and fresh food as fast as they can.
With this type of restaurant rising in popularity, Z’s stands out from the rest by their menu alone.
Instead of being bound by one type of food, they have instead opted for a fusion route, which can be considered uncommon for restaurants of this type. Being fast-casual usually makes variety and speed difficult on a small kitchen, but so far this eatery has managed the challenge well.
Being only a few months old, the restaurant still has that almost sterile new look to it, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but even more personality would help the atmosphere. They pride themselves on the open kitchen where guests can see their food being made fresh to order, but it also makes a quiet conversation or listening to the enjoyable music a bit challenging.
Menus are available on the rail at the door for first time guests to peruse while waiting in line, including some take-out menus. Because of the impressive variety, deciding on what to eat can be stressful! Vegetable lovers will love the choices, but for those who don’t care for delicious plants can always customize their meal.
On par with their fast-casual label, the atmosphere was friendly and the food came out fast. The buzzers often went off as the server was already reaching the table with the food. One thing to keep in mind when dining at Z’s is to retrieve your own silverware from the counter next to the soda fountain, and take whatever sauces or seasoning you think you need.
Combining some of the sides and appetizers can make for a filling enough meal while also providing as much variety to a sitting as one could want. The house made potato chips and broccoli, for instance, was light enough not to need extra seasoning but were also not bland.
The fried rice was a definite twist on the usual, as Z’s has added zucchini, squash, and red peppers to their version, and added a familiar sauce rather than soy sauce. Different, but delicious. (Again, if those vegetables aren’t what you like, just ask them to customize it.)
The soba salad could have used a little more flavoring but with all the vegetables plus crispy wontons, there were a lot of fun textures to the meal. The Chipotle hummus, while tasty, had a very strong kick, almost to where the actual flavor of chickpeas was lost. But the Korean BBQ beef tacos were delicious and not as spicy even with a little bit of kimchi. The sausage and peppers were also fantastic.
Z’s Amazing Kitchen is pretty amazing indeed, and from what locals can tell, they have nowhere to go but up. The restaurant also serves antibiotic free meat and recycles as much as they can, down to the oil they fry food in. Dine in or take out, eat alone or cater a party, Z’s family is looking forward to taking care of North Myrtle Beach.
This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Z’s Kitchen offers amazing variety."