I’ve been to Zootz several times, but only for social salsa dancing. Once every month, they clear all the tables and chairs, and turn on the latin music for people to practice their dance moves.

As far as food goes, I’ve never had the urge to eat here, mainly due to negative social media reviews. When a friend suggested we eat here, I reluctantly agreed and came with no expectations. Like other eateries in the area, this place serves breakfast and has an all day breakfast menu, which is a selection of 5 dishes. Then there is a selection of light snacks, vegetarian, pasta, seafood and meat dishes which are mostly mediterranean influenced.

Today, I ordered the Chicken Burger. I suspect there’s only one cook working out in the kitchen because our meals took a good 35 minutes to come out. There were many customers before us and as you would expect, the meals were prepared in the order that they were taken. The burger consisted nice lean pieces of marinated chicken breast that were succulent and tender. You could taste the smokiness in the chicken but no other flavours. The bacon was a single large strip that was inconsistently cooked. The bacon rashers were still fatty while the the lean back portion was very crisp. My friend’s egg was cooked sunny side up with the yolk still runny, while my eggs were completely cooked through. The tomato and lettuce were fresh and crisp, and the mozzarella cheese was soft and gooey. The onion was caramelised to a golden brown and the Turkish roll was lightly toasted.

My friend had the Steak Burger. She commented that the burger was good, however the thickness of the steak was noticeably thin.

Another friend had the Salmon Bruschetta. The serving size was quite generous considering it was an entree. She said the dish was good and virtually licked the plate clean.

Two other friends had the Chicken Penne. This was a chef’s special and isn’t found on the menu. I didn’t hear any complaints from the other two women so it must have been ok.

The staff here are inattentive and look like they’d rather be on a tropical island (wouldn’t we all?). Getting their attention was often difficult as they didn’t like to make eye contact. The service was extremely slow. It felt like an eternity before our meals came out, and when it came to pay, it wasn’t much better. The atmosphere was quite relaxed and we could clearly hear each other speak from across the table. The pricing is a bit higher than average, particularly for the main dishes. While my serving size was quite generous, the burger itself was quite bland and below average.

It’s the seaside location that brings the customers to this place. There are much better places to eat in the area and this isn’t one of them.

WHERE: 257 Seaview Rd, Henley Beach