The Local newsletter is your free, daily guide to life in Colorado. For locals, by locals.
Walk into Zuma Vail inside the Sebastian hotel and the low ceiling instantly sets a high-energy vibe. The feeling is akin to stepping inside a buzzy nightclub—if the nightclub served outstanding food. DJs blur the line between dining room and dance floor with bumping house music. Carved timber screens over the windows let a bit of natural light in, but intimately insulate the scene from the outside world. Glowing amber resin details and a backlit bar softened with Japanese-style wallpaper keep the palette warm. Every seat in the house (including the bar) is deep, upholstered in boucle, and built for long stays.
Run by global restaurant group Azumi, Zuma has built its identity around more than Japanese cuisine. Across its 32 postcard-worthy destinations—which include Dubai, Bangkok, Rome, Mykonos, Phuket, and New York—the brand is known for pairing izakaya-style dining with a DJ-driven atmosphere. So it felt like fate when the brand finally acclimated to 8,150 feet and opened its second U.S. outpost in Vail in June.
Vail Vibes After Dark
While you might equate Japanese food with minimalism or restraint, that’s not the Vail—or Zuma—way. In a ski town that already knows how to turn dinner reservations into a party, Zuma came to play. Because here, dinner often doubles as the evening’s main event. Skiers-turned-socialites order third rounds, greet friends between tables, and treat the coveted reservations as much like a night out as a meal.
For years, that energy has been headquartered at Matsuhisa Vail, where the high-ceilinged bar remains one of Vail Village’s perennial see-and-be-seen spots. Now, Zuma is stepping into that same arena. Hotel concierges welcome the competition since scoring guests a reservation at Matsuhisa has long been one of the toughest asks in town. Zuma now gives visitors another high-end Japanese destination without sacrificing the lively atmosphere they’ve come to expect.
Order Up
In keeping with high-rolling crowds, Zuma’s menu offers much more than simple rolls: an extensive sashimi selection, sushi boats, tempura dishes (like a rock shrimp garnished with saffron and served with a citrus mayo), robata skewers, signature cooked dishes, and desserts. About 80 percent of the menu is standardized across every Zuma location. “People want to walk into a Zuma anywhere in the world and be able to order their favorite dish and have it taste exactly the same,” Francisco Troncoso, the group’s culinary director, says. But each location also takes liberties with about 20 percent of the menu. In Vail, some of these dishes include the maple cheesecake with Japanese whiskey and locally sourced huckleberries and a soon-to-drop Colorado lamb dish.
If picking out the menu’s greatest hits on your own sounds a bit too much like homework, let the chef work for you with one of two omakase options. The signature runs $160 per person (the whole table must participate) and includes the best bites from each section (served in a sushi boat); or opt for the premium at $228 to get the top-tier cuts like Japanese wagyu and Chilean seabass. There are also two caviar tasting menus that start at $128.
A Rival or a Reason To Celebrate
At first glance, Zuma might seem destined to compete with Matsuhisa for Vail’s luxury diners. But, Troncoso says there’s room for multiple seats at the table. “We don’t see ourselves as competing with Matsuhisa, we are elevating each other,” he says. “You push each other to be better. Food cannot be reinvented, but it can be refined.” Rather than dividing diners, he believes the two restaurants strengthen Vail’s reputation as a destination for world-class Japanese cuisine—having two stellar spots in town for miso-marinated black cod isn’t exactly a problem.
Troncoso’s favorite seat in the house is the izakaya table by the DJ booth, which offers a full view of the bar, sushi and robata counters, and dining room in motion. People-watching, he says, extends beyond the guests—many diners spend just as much time watching chefs as they work through service, often in step with the music. “If the team is having fun behind the robata or sushi bars, that energy carries to the front of house and to the guest,” he says. “The whole experience is a show.”
Reserve a table in advance, or visit Zuma Vail inside the Sebastian at 16 Vail Road, Vail. Open daily from 5 to 10 p.m.
