Zim's Cafe

We had a great experience at Zim's.
Excellent service from Brie and her trainee, Brendan (?).
Very knowledgeable about the menu, offered suggestions, provided detail for someone in our group with gluten issues, all done cheerfully.
Generous portions, obviously freshly made with quality ingredients.
4 people in our party, and everyone got something different and each enjoyed their choice.
Next time we will try desert as well!

The food as usual was great but the service was horrible. I really loved the food but the service was not good at all. Our waitress seemed annoyed we were even there. It was a Sunday evening and she was like well it’s the end of Burger week and we are out of most things. We ordered fries and never got ketchup she never checked in on us during our meal. Then she brought our check before even offering dessert and we inquired and again well we are out of most things it’s the end of the week even tho we had looked in the case and seen chocolate cake, cookies, peanut butter pie. So we asked for chocolate cake al a mode which she brought cold chocolate cake with ice cream in a bowl. She was just rude and not accommodating. It really ruined our meal!

Burger tasted very dry. Seemed to have been prepared several hours ago.

Service was slow and halting. Food was just okay. Atmosphere was not particularly inviting. A far cry from her other restaurants.

Always a great experience. Excellent food quality and service. Even tho this was a holiday and they were extremely busy, they still accommodated our reservation with ease and our server was very attentive and professional.

We made a reservation. We stood for several minutes while staff chit chat before being seated. The restaurant was not full, but tried to seat us in the bar. Why they do this is beyond me. We accepted a seat in the bar area once and left after a long wait with no one waiting on us. The service has been consistently below expectations. The food is good. The prices are not so cheap. Service conditions may prevent another visit. Someone needs to get the staff in shape. Professional is not a word I would use to describe. More life first time high school students jobs without adult suvervision!

Everything we ordered was fabulous and plentiful, not to mention a great price! The cheese spread app, the Cuban, Shrimp and Grits, a nice Merlot and peanut butter mousse pie! We will return!

The food was good, as was the service. The three of us were very happy with what we ordered. We do plan to visit again soon. One item of note. When we made reservations, we didn't realize that we would be sitting in the Thirsty Fox, the companion bar to Zim's, which is situated across the lobby from Zim's in the old courthouse building. The atmosphere was lively and loud, which I didn't mind too much, but we were actually looking for something a bit quieter. I suggest finding a way to distinguish between Zim's and the Thirsty Fox when making reservations through OpenTable.

We would not order the blackened catfish again, it had too much blackening seasoning on it and overwhelmed the catfish. The hush puppies were overcooked and too hard to eat. However, there are so many things on the menu that I would like to come back to try some of the other things there. The french fries were very good, and the banana pepper rings were the best we've ever had! I will definitely revisit this restaurant and order something different from the menu, but we will always have the banana pepper ring appetizer!!!

Service at any of the Ouita restaurants has always been hit or miss. Don’t expect to ever be “wow’d” by the service but the food is always spot on.

We took friends from out of town, and we all loved our meals. The food and drinks were terrific. It was louder than usual that night, mostly because of one table. The location is beautiful, though. We'll definitely be back.

Food and service was very good, unique decor and obviously clean (make or break). Small bakery was fantastic. Items ordered were the fried catfish platter and the shrimp po boy.

It is a bit loud in the main dining area depending on where you sit and how many people are there. Definitely not a place for a semi private conversation.

No our first time to Zim's. They were not busy. We waited an unusual time for our order. Finally they can to our table and apologized that there was some kind of mix up. We eventually got the order. The food was good. We were offered free desserts and compensation for our long wait.

This is the third time we have gone to Zim's for dinner. The mistake we made was to eat at Zim's on the night of Thursday Night Live. The service was terrible; so bad that we had to hunt down the waiter 3 different times just to get our bill. It was so loud, we could barely talk to each other. There were four in our party and we were sitting in a booth. The food was fine, but not good enough to convince us that we were having a good evening. We would have ordered dessert to eat at the table, but could hardly wait to get out of there due to the noise level and feeling aggravated by the poor service, so we bought cookies from the bakery and ate outside. The noise from the festivities outside were a lot quieter than inside.

I really wanted to like Zim's Café. The location is great, the restaurant has plenty of windows overlooking downtown and the menus were printed newspaper style. The server was very attentive but our meal was awful. The appetizers, the artichoke fritters, started out all right. We decided to try the blackened catfish with fries and the Orzo salad. The fish was very spicy and greasy with a strange flavor that was off-putting. The Orzo salad was almost tasteless and hardly worth a second bite. The fries were decent but not good enough to overcome the rest of the meal. There are probably better entrees but the first experience was bad enough I am not interested in trying Zim's again.

Zim’s is a fantastic restaurant for any meal or occasion. Very tasty and well portioned for a conservative price. Convenient location and parking as well.

Server was wonderful; took care of our group of 12 very well.

The appetizers all look wonderful but the artichoke fritters were to die for and the fried pickles were delicious and not greasy at all. Plus, the pickles were still crisp and kept their shape. The chicken salad is very good, the fried oysters were a hit with one of the other diners with me as were two different sandwiches which were ordered at my table. All in all, very good food, fair prices, good service and a nice ambiance in the bar area where we sat.

Great atmosphere and service. We sat in the bar area of this great historic building. Good food enjoyed by our entire party. Best Od Fashion in town.

Although the burger and banana pepper appetizer was pretty good, the rest of the meal was just par.
Would not recommend the vinegar slaw or blackened catfish. Slaw had no flavor at all the the catfish was way over blackened.
We did order the hummingbird cake. It was very dry and the icing was excessive, not creamy, and not the least bite sweet. Wasn’t a big fan.
Service was nice enough but not genuine.
I was a tad disappointed.

Food was great! Would love to see a few more of their options offered broiled or grilled vs so much fried. Will still be back - we loved it.

Wonderful food and experience!

This was our first visit to Zim’s. So thankful we had a 5:15 reservation. By 6 pm when almost the entire restaurant was seated it was SO LOUD we could hardly hear ourselves talk!!! Please Ouita, add some acoustic tiles or something!! We left early because of it!! I get that it’s a really cool, old renovated building so don’t buy metal chairs to go in tile floors!! Oh my aching ears!!

Burgers and white beans were excellent. Our server was new so every time we asked a question he would say, “I don’t know but I’ll find out.” We asked what the fresh fish of the day was...didn’t know. We asked what was in the hummingbird cake...again he didn’t know. We will come back but we’ll call and ask if the sound has been improved.

Great service. Food was very tasty! Super loud though.

Great food and service. Had a friend visiting from New Jersey and wanted local. Zims is Kentucky!

Everything was perfect. The decor was so perfect and food amazing

The food was amazing but the service was terrible. If the place had been busy I *might* understand why our service was so bad, but it was basically empty when we arrived. When our food was brought to us and we asked for silverware and napkins, we got a handful of paper towels (for what it’s worth, the other few patrons who were there who had different servers got rolled silverware). We saw our server a total of 3 times during the hour and a half we were there, so no drink refills at all, and we would have been there even longer if we hadn’t asked a different server to bring us our check. I’d go there again because the food and atmosphere are nice, but I hope they do something about the service.

Excellent food, fun atmosphere and in a great old building.

nice place. good food. will return.

We actually sat outside near the Thirsty Fox---was a wonderful night!

I visited Zim's on a Saturday evening, and was very impressed with both food and service. It is beautifully decorated and comfortable. Everything we tried was delicious, as I expected it would be. My only negative is the noise levels in the restaurant - it was hard to have a conversation with my friend.

One of my new favorite restaurants, this menu has something for everyone at a price you all can afford. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The chef has done an amazing job capturing KY cuisine at it's best. Would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone! Complete with unique folk art in a space that has history and charm, I will be heading there often!

Need to apply acoustical tile to ceiling. Too noisy in dining area. Time from entry to main meal food was 50 minutes - too long

First time , will definitely be back. Top notch service, and great food. The waitress was awesome her recommended cocktails and food choices were right on.

Great atmosphere and wonderful food!

We had a great experience at Zim's. However, the noise level was very high even though only half of the restaurant was full. The food and service was outstanding for the price, but next visit we will try the Thirsty Fox which hopefully will be a quieter dining experience.

What a find. We love everything about Zims and The Thirsty Fox. Great food, great value and service was excellent. Definitely will be going back.

A moderately priced place to grab a bit right in downtown Lexington. Ouita Micheal has done it again. I will be back!

Loved the printed menu! Lots choices.

Overall, the food was just okay and nothing as we expected. My burger was dry and my husband’s chili was lukewarm.

Dessert was yummy and coffee good according to others in our party.

Will try again but order different item next time.