From the moment it opened about five years ago, there was something special about Zen, an Asian fusion restaurant in downtown Northampton.

There were the amazing, tall windows at the front of the dining area that can open almost completely to create the sensation of open air dining. The décor was and still is downright cosmopolitan, with sleek lighting and an expansive sushi bar on one side.

The food was a cut above our already pretty-good Asian restaurants in downtown. The sushi the freshest and tastiest and the traditional Chinese dishes somehow more gourmet than other places. The presentation of all the food was artful.

(www.zenorthampton.com, 41 Main St., (413-582-6888)

On the recent Thursday evening when my kids and I stopped in, it was unseasonably warm and wet so we were worried we’d be freezing in the overly air-conditioned air that most restaurants have. It was a busy night and we were seated in the balcony area, a spot I’d never visited before. It felt a little isolated up there and I found myself asking them to turn the air conditioning on.

At Zen, you get a menu and a separate ordering sheet for sushi from which you can choose from dozens of a la chat sushi, sushi rolls and vegetarian roll. You get a pencil to mark which ones you want. There are also more specialty sushi rolls in the menu.

All of us picked out some sushi, with 13-year-old Livvy going for the cucumber roll (nothing squishy in it) and 15-year-old Elliot going for the decorative caterpillar roll. I stayed with my old favorite the Unagi roll, the delicious combination of fresh-water eel, avocado and cucumber. We were not disappointed.

We agreed it was the best sushi we’ve had in Hampshire County. The caterpillar roll was very creative, truly looking like its name especially with the carrot antenna on one end. Besides the beautiful presentation, each piece of sushi had intense and delicious flavor.

We all love General Tso’s chicken and Zen makes my favorite version around here. (They call it General Tao’s chicken and it costs $14.) Elliot pointed out it was “smothered” in the slightly spicy sauce (he meant that as a compliment), while Livvy said it tasted like there was more chicken and less breading. “It tastes healthier,’’ she said.

Because we weren’t being very adventurous with our dining choices – and Zen has a lot more choices than most restaurants around here – I ordered the Zen sampler ($10), which the menu said includes steamed vegetable dumplings, friend chicken dumplings, shrimp shumai, curry fries and a wonton basket of Asian slaw.

The sampler was beautifully presented, but taste-wise it was disappointing. There were three sauces, one being the orange and sweet duck sauce and two which looked like what we typically dunk our egg rolls in.

The chicken dumplings were the highlight, with both kids saying they were plumper and meatier than any we had before. The veggie dumpling was downright bland and neither kid would even try it. The shrimp shumai (which are also dumplings according to my Google search) were pretty mushy, but had shrimp-cocktail strength flavor.

The curry fries were more like fried egg rolls with an interesting mix of vegetables inside with a very light curry flavor and a wrapper on the outside. I tried them in both types of sauce and neither enhanced the flavor to my liking. The Asian slaw was also bland and I didn’t even notice if there was a wonton basket.

Overall, we were happy with our meal. I’m not sure Zen still has that sparkling, better-than-everywhere else feel it had when it opened in 2006. But it certainly has the most unusual menu around in this era off Chinese-Japanese restaurants.