For quality Romanian food in a beautiful space in the old part of the city, go to Zama. But expect slow service if you do. (The reason this review is four stars v. five.) My family went on a Tuesday evening around 7 p.m. in July. There wasn't a crowd, but service was so slow. We waited 20-25 minutes between being greeted by our server, taking our order, getting our drinks, then our food, and then the bill. Once I asked for the bill, it took many more minutes. I had to go to the back only to find our server chatting with friends. He was super nice so maybe he was having a slower day, but it was a little annoying. However, the food was good! My wife's steak with horseradish and beet sauce was excellent. The layered polenta with goat cheese and sausage was tasty. Our six-year-old daughter enjoyed her ragu. Overall, a great experience despite slow service.

I've had a very enjoyable experience here. Me and my girlfriend dined there a couple of times and both times we went without a reservation. So it's not mandatory to call in advance, but if you really want to be safe you can call in and make a reservation by phone. The staff is polite and respectful even when the restaurant is at its busiest, which is a major plus. We left a hefty tip because of this. We had 3 courses: soup, main course and dessert. They were all tasty! The wait time was decent, given that the restaurant was pretty busy. Definitely a thumbs up from me and will definitely return!

Great experience! At the lunch time, we had great selection of traditional Romanian food. Impeccable, professional service! Bathrooms are so clean and well maintained, some people don't have in their own homes! 😄

An awesome lunch with my family! Great time in this modern traditional restaurant with great ambient music and mood. The food is just delicious! I would Recommend pork for meat lovers! With 60 lei you will receive a big portion and also a drink so price is very good for the quality and the position, cause it s in the km0 of the town. An improvement could be the beer list from my p of view.

Zama a favorite in Cluj. A modern/classic design, food features a large selection of freshly prepared, delicious regional cuisine. Value prices & friendly, helpful team. Highly recommend.

The food is absolutely delicious! If you want a good and authentic traditional Romanian food and not only, Zama is your answer. The stuff super friendly and the place super cozy!

First of all, great food. Great selection and variety. There is a bit of an upstage of traditional cuisine with the restaurants own twist. Unfortunately, the service we received there was shocking, which is very uncommon for Romania. I would like to think that they were understaffed the day after the public holiday. Also unfortunate that we can not give them another change. So please go visit and see if it was a one-time occurrence. The food there is really worth the risk.

If I could eat the red pepper soup everyday I would! Great location and good vibe inside. Friendly staff that spoke English, which is helpful for us! We got great wine and beer, full selection available. Then the red pepper soup to share, served with homemade croutons. I got the grilled chicken, which was seasoned delightfully, and the "mashed potato" type side. The hubby got the beef schnitzel, which is HUGE, and served with grilled veggies. Everything was delicious, but that soup is probably one of the best soups I've ever had!

Had an chill dinner in this lovely place. The decor and atmosphere are welcoming and transpose you into a space of calm and coziness. We had a hard time picking what traditional dish to try, but our choices (Varză ca la Cluj & Friptură de Zalău) were both delicious, despite their surprisingly affordable prices. The drinks selection can satisfy anyone's taste, and the desserts are classic, but also something you would not want to miss.

Food that makes you say WOW even tho you don’t want to hahaha. Had these meals and it’s been really good. The food could use a bit more salt, even tho it’s your choice. But otherwise it’s DELICIOUS.

We really loved the food here. A lot of options to choose from, most of them traditional, taking you with every bite deeper into the local culture. We definitely recommend the duck main dishes, those were definitely the best we had from the city among everything we tried. Staff was friendly, attentive with a good English as well. Their cocktails are also a must and we really appreciated their flexibility in creating something that wasn’t on the menu.

Great atmosphere and designed place, clean and welcoming. Starters were great, definitely order them. Mains were lacking attention and that extra touch, some overcooked.. Service was good up to a point, ignored us for deserts or any warm drinks.. What is the deal with 3 different menus for English?

Amazing selection of traditional Romanian food, with no shortage of good service. Very clean and super friendly. I went here two nights in a row and had great food. I will probably go back again. The wine list is fantastic as well. Definitely worth the wait.

Nice restaurant very close to the city centre with great drink and food options. We had the sharing platter and tasted different courses such as the homemade Sausages, steaks, roasted pepper puree among others.

Rustic decorated restaurant, offering various traditional Romanian cuisine with decent prices and delicious food. We had a goulash stew and a cabbage and pork meal as a main course then an apple pie for dessert. Worth visiting while in Cluj !

Great tradițional Romanian food. The portion was a bit more than enough for each of us. The service was great, the waiters were very professional and the atmosphere was perfect for a family dinner. I highly recommend this place. Certainly will come back!

The food here is amazing if you not from cluj I’d highly recommend coming here. Service is great and staff are very helpful. The place itself is very aesthetic and it has a very chill vibe. The only thing I’d say is the papanasi desert aren’t like the traditional Romanian papanasi so just bear that in mind . Otherwise great 10/10

Amazing food! With reasonable prices and friendly staff. They have a menu with English translation which made ordering a lot easier

Zama has great traditional food- it’s tasty and the portions are copious. Staff and service is efficient and friendly. Last but not least the interior is very stylish and well decorated. Highly recommended!

The food was ok. Interior is cozy. Staff was very nice and friendly. One downside is that our order was making 1 hour and smoking IQOS inside is very weird.

This was the place we fell in love with the Romanian cuisine❤️

In the centre of the city, very close to the Students’ Cultural House, this restaurant serves many sorts of Romanian traditional cuisine, but quite modern and sophisticated style. I recommend soups; with vegetable, meat, bean, or potatoes… you can choose among them along with your feelings. Needless to say there are salads, pastas, main dishes and deserts. Last but not least I would like to point out its large and well designed dining space, nice atmosphere! And the toilettes is also clean and modern.

What do you do, when you get to a town you've never been to before and in search for good food? You check nearby places and their reviews. And that's how we got to Zama. Reviews are true. Place is amazing. Modern, with a touch of tradition. Service was on a high level. Food was exceptional. We had cabbage soup, grilled home made sausages and balmos (local version of polenta). For dessert, we had Somloi Galuska. Everything was amazing, well served and with the right touch of flavors (even simple thing like french fries was apparently home made, with a bit of extra spice). If I ever come back to Cluj, I will definitely visit again. Thank you for a great experience of Transilvanian cuisine!

Solid 4 stars for this location. Reservation for a group was processed without issues. Service was friendly but did not speak english. So it was not easy to place our order. They have an english menue, which helped for people like us who do not speak Romanian. Some dishes were sold out and one order was mixed up. The meal came in an appropriate timeframe, was hot and tasty. We were offered a complimentary dessert. A nice location with a thouch of the belle epoque with a modern twist. Lovely!

Amazing experience! Definetly, my go-to restaurant for traditional food. Friendly staff and modern setting.

Zama is a hidden gem that I find myself returning to time and time again. Located in the heart of the city, its central location makes it an ideal meet-up spot. The ambiance is enchanting, with tasteful decor that complements the overall dining experience. But what keeps me coming back is the food—consistently delicious with a menu that caters to a variety of tastes. It's a must-visit for anyone looking to elevate their dining experience.

Basically the food are quite ok, especially the duck leg and pork rib. Tiny fries are surprising yummy. However the Ice cream let us down, not beautiful, very expensive but not tasty. The waitress will take the initiative to ask for tips while it doesn’t matter if you don’t mind.

Love their menu, dishes have old archaic names like my grand grand parents used decades and hundred of years ago in the countryside…. The restaurant is modern and spacious, decorated tastefully with natural materials …impressive generous bar at the entrance and really good jazz ambient music track. But more important the food is delicious, plenty of traditional dishes to choose from and Romanian wines to match with . I would definitely choose Zama to go out with friends or family, even by myself. ❤️

The food was alright, tasty but there was some dust in the fries. Unfortunately the service was not very kind or quick to deliver, even if the restaurant was more than half empty. The atmosphere was welcoming and warm ☺

Excellent restaurant with many tasty authentic Romanian dishes. Many tables to sit and a beautiful ambience with good relaxing music. We liked it so much that we went again the next day. The waiter was very good and friendly and helped us with the orders. Good service with good food. Try the soups and the ribs. The fries are very good too! 👌🏻

Loved this place: delicious Romanian food with a modern touch in a beautiful chic restaurant. We loved it so much for lunch that we came back for dinner with our friends on the same day. Great service, highly recommend Zama

One of my favourite restaurants in Cluj Napoca. The staff is 👏🏻 amazing 👏🏻, the food is brilliant and you have plenty options if you want to try romanian dishes. I totally recommend if you're looking to eat something different, you won't find hamburgers or pizza, instead of these you will find "Mămăliguță", "Păsulă" and a lot of amazing local foods.

We wanted to taste something homemade in Romania 🇷🇴 and found this great place with really kind waitress 😊 We have tried: 🍻craft beer Romanian IPA (I come from the Czech Republic - the best beer country - and this one was good 👍) 🥣soup from baked peppers 🥘traditional Romanian balmos 🍽pork steak Everything tasted good!

Great interpretation on traditional Transylvania food with a modern twist. Same with the decor, Romanian traditional motives with a modern look. Also interesting century old recipes, and pages from recipes book displayed on a wall. Food really good, everything we tried was excellent.

Food was tasty and good looking, as well as the cappuccino that I had. Staff was helpful and nice. The prices are moderated for such a modern and sophisticated place. At all, I would recommend this place, they have a big variety of dishes, traditional and modern cuisine also.