Two-Minute Review: Ocean Zen

It's sort of like letting the air out of your lungs and sinking to the bottom of the pool.

You know when you were a kid and you played “tea party” at the bottom of the pool? You let all the air out of your lungs, sank to the bottom, sat crossed-legged with your eyes open and imagined taking a fancy little meal on the bottom of the sea. Whoever designed Ocean Zen’s new space (600 E. Battlefield Rd., 417-889-9596) must have played that game, and that person must have had a great imagination.

The place feels like it’s under the sea. Blue fabric lights shoot up from between the booths and look like flowing, glowing seaweed. A wall covered in differently sized circles looks like a wall of underwater bubbles. It’s dark, it’s cooler than you are, and it’s pretty swanky. Men, bring your ladies there (and don’t gripe about the price tag because you’ll impress the pants off them). Take that literally, if you want to.

And if you ever went to the old Ocean Zen, you already know the food is fantastic. I tried the herb-encrusted pan-seared halibut in white cheddar basil cream sauce for $26.95. Art Director Kari Engel had the macadamia nut-encrusted mahi mahi with macadamia-lobster-basil cream sauce for $22.95(pictured). Both were ridiculously delicious and impressively gorgeous on the plate. Kari’s was more unusual, so perhaps better by default. Mine was probably more of a crowd-pleaser for the less adventurous types.