House of Vegetarian

02/21/09

AWFUL PLACE, HORRIBLE ATTITUDE AND DIRTY!

by tristanperk at Citysearch

We started out having an ok meal. The food was very roughly made, the steamed vegetable dumpling wasn't cooked completely. The shiitake mushroom with vermicelli was bland, and the stir fried string beans too salty and under cooked.

Ok, so you always take a risk every time you go to a new restaurant, but not only was the food of extremely poor quality, the workers had a very nasty attitude as well.

I found pieces of hair stuck on the place underneath our stir fried string beans' sauce, so it was OBVIOUSLY on the plate BEFORE we started eating the food. Not only did the workers denied that the hair came from the kitchen, they also blamed it on us!

What kind of an attitude is that to be treating your customers without respect?

NEVER AGAIN! Vegetarian Dim Sum at 24 Pell Street is much better, cheaper and MUCH MUCH MUCH FRIENDLIER!

• Cons: Badly and roughly made food, under cooked, horrible attitude, dirty.

02/21/07

Bland, gloppy American vegetables at high prices - why is this in Chinatown???

by foodie474 at Citysearch

I enjoy the exotic vegetables that Chinatown has to offer, so I was eager to try the House of Vegetarian. However, I was disappointed by the poor creativity and preparation of the dishes, the high prices, and the blandness of the restaurant itself.

Our appetizer was the mock roast duck (made of two types of wheat gluten to imitate the skin and interior [except no bones of course]). The flavor, while not at all resembling that of meat, was interesting enough.

The other dishes were bad. An order of bean curd in curry had gloppy sauce. Any regular non-vegetarian Chinese restaurant would have prepared it better.

I ordered mixed vegetables in a bird's nest (a nest-shaped thing made of noodles) and while the nest was fun to pick apart, the vegetables were mostly American broccoli and more of that mock wheat gluten stuff -- that's not a vegetable!!! what was it doing in there? There was almost no flavor at all to this dish -- I avoided drinking tea because the "strength" of the tea would overpower the food.

Wonton soup was satisfactory but not a good choice because the membrane-wrapped tofu dumplings (or whatever they are) in the soup get all soggy and start to unravel.

I also got Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce, one of my favorite dishes at non-vegetarian Chinese restaurants, but the dish here was bad. No flavor or spice at all except for a strange perfumey taste to the noodles, which were overcooked. The peanut sauce atop them was gloppy.

Prices???? Usually in Chinatown you can get a huge meal with leftovers for practically nothing. But not at House Of Vegetarian. Prices are 50%-100% higher here than at a normal Chinese restaurant, even for standard dishes that you can get anywhere, like Cold Noodles w/Sesame Sauce ($8.00), or Tofu with Curry Sauce (~$10.00).

BTW, there are no decorations at all on the walls so I hope you have interesting dining companions. There are no Chinese customers here. I'm amazed the waitress spoke Chinese.

• Cons: Bland, American vegetables, gloppy sauces, boring place with no decoration

08/04/06

Yummy Veggie Food

by monesh32 at Citysearch

This place is one of my favorite Restaurants. The service is good. The food is phenomenal. Not all the dishes taste like meat but they still taste very good. And in the end...The taste is what counts. The lighting is dim and it might not be the best atmosphere but its nice and cozy. Get the Steak, get the Ham Fried Rice, Get the Braised Fish, Get anything Pork and Ham, Appetizers are good too. All in all this place is very enjoyable.

02/06/06

YUMMY!

by brightstuff at Citysearch

Excellent food.

The food is very tasty and the service is usually very friendly.

Worth the trip.

• Pros: good food, lots of space, cheap cheap cheap
• Cons: gets drafty

07/07/05

My Favorite Restaurant in Chinatown, Hands Down!

by fuegochick at Citysearch

This restaurant is entirely vegetarian, everything is "mock" meat/seafood. To date, after trying most things on the menu, I have never been disappointed. I no longer live in NYC, but every time I am in town, I make it a point to eat there. And I always fly home with several take out containers of the Hot Steak Kew. It freezes great and I can enjoy this wonderful dish when I am back home. If you are vegan or vegetarian YOU HAVE to try this wonderful restaurant. it will convert your non-veggie friends and family members. Mmmm.

• Pros: Wonderfully creative, Inexpensive, Fast service

06/22/04

So-So

by ontherock at Citysearch

I had a bad first impression on this restaurant; not with the atmosphere or anything, but with the appetizer. I ordered a curry chicken and it was served in less than 2 minutes. As bad as the prep, the food tasted like the one from a can I once bought, only worse. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. Good thing though, my main course was good enough. I had one of the E-Fu noodles. Would recommend this one.

05/29/04

Delicious!

by losdavos at Citysearch

House of Vegetarian is simply the best Chinese vegetarian place around.

Forget Zen Palate and VP1 &2.

HOV's food is flavorful, not greasy, and clean tasting.

I highly recommend the braised "chicken" with lily flowers.

• Pros: Not oily, fresh, CLEAN restaurant!
• Cons: , Not lively

12/03/02

so much for so little

by emmdub at Citysearch

The best meal I've ever had. The meat substitutes are incredible. Everything's perfectly cooked, utterly delicious, and inexpensive, especially compared to most vegetarian places. I could eat there every day and never get sick of it. HUGE menu!