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View Full Version : Review: Buddha's Veggie



flipstah
02-21-2010, 03:16 PM
I'm back with another review! Yesterday was the DAT and my friend wanted to drown her misery of probably failing that exam by hanging out with friends. It's the right thing to do and carving that soap will make someone famished.

Usually we'd just go anywhere, but she's currently going through a Buddhist tradition right now, which requires her to go vegan and must avoid meat and meat by-products. She recommended an all-vegan restaurant and that we should try it out. I'm fine with that because we'd probably go to a real foodjoint after and get real food; c'mon, it's Vegan!

Pfft, it's probably gonna be lettuce and mushrooms and it's going to be bland, boring and colorless.

It's going to suck and it's going to be hippy-style food with wheatgrass and soy. Ugh.

Little did I know that I was going to eat those words later.

Buddha's Veggie
5802 Macleod Trail SW
(403) 252-8830

Ambiance/Atmosphere: 8/10

The place had a modern Chinese decor to it with new, modernized booths, and red accent walls. It had an out-of-place fish wall art with netting behind it near the main area; odd because it's a vegetarian restaurant. I thought it would have grass or lentils or something green... In fact, it was the opposite of that; it was warm, welcoming, and very...

Wait, what the hell is that?

I looked around and saw some of the customers eating what looked like meat dishes. I saw shrimp! Either that is a very good imitation shrimp or this place is gonna get interesting.

Food: 5/10

Haha! I knew it. Buddha's Veggie had two distinct menus; one with meat, and another with strictly vegetarian.

I might like this place after all.

I was tempted by their meat dishes and usually, I'm the douchebag of our group with the one who taunts and stuff but for the sake of my friend, I'll go for the vegetarian meals with her.

Oh god. Veggie Goose? What the hell is that?

I'm so scared. I'm diving into the abyss.

For apps, we ordered the 5-Spices Golden Purse ($8.90), regular Veggie Dried Ribs (12.90), and home made veggie dumplings ($8.90)

I didn't know what the 5-spices Golden Purse was but curiosity got the best of me. This was actually disappointing as it was just fried tofu with red seasonings. Next.

The dumplings were good, tasted great and came out piping hot. The texture took time to get used to because I swear it had a meaty texture but it was guaranteed to be all vegetarian.

The ribs came out next and I was curious as to how they're going to make vegetarian ribs. It came to our table and obviously, it wasn't shaped like ribs and looked like a pile of breaded batter.

I took a sample and immediately, I took back everything I said. These 'ribs' tasted like they were dry pork ribs! It was mind-boggling! It was savoury, well-seasoned, crispy to the bite, and it was... Not meat.

What is it? Tofu? There's no way tofu tastes this good.

Oh man, gotta have more.

Next up were our mains which were, Kung Pao Veggie Chicken with Cashews ($12.90), Veggie Sweet & Sour Pork ($12.90) and Fried Rice in Two Kinds of Sauce ($14.90)

The Kung Pao was well seasoned, with just enough punch to get a little tingly. It complimented well with the rice, which was creamy and very satisfying. The pork was questionable as it tasted like what it's suppose to be but it wasn't; it was sweet & sour for sure, but when I tried the 'pork', it was like eating a plain timbit covered in the sweet & sour sauce. Pass.

My god, those ribs. My whole perspective went 180; red is blue, white is black, vegetables taste like ribs?! What has the world come to?

EDIT (Feb. 21, 2010): I'm lowering my rating down when I found out that MSG could be a main factor of the flavor. It explains a lot because there's no way tofu can taste that delicious; everything has limitations.

If it's been proven that Buddha's Veggie does not uses MSG for flavoring, I'll bring it back to 8 but for now, it's going down.

Service: 8/10

We were promptly seated, which is surprising because it looked very busy. Our server was courteous and introduced us with the two distinct menus. My friend couldn't have onions or garlic (because of the Buddhist thing) and informed our server about the situation. She politely replied that their menu was 'full vegetarian' meaning it doesn't have any of those.

I don't know how you can serve food without those two great vegetables but somehow, it worked. Sidebar, anyone know why garlic and onions are a no-no?

Moving right along, the service was prompt and fast. A little too fast.

I was still flabergasted by those ribs and was stil enjoying them when the mains started to come on by. The food piled up a little to quickly and didn't give enough time to savor the moment.

Pricing: 7/10

Food for two people came to ~$78, which I think is a tad pricey but then again, this was my first voluntary vegetarian meal ever so I have nothing to compare it too. Their iced tea was also not on tap, which was disappointing. Canned drinks FTL.

overall: 7/10

If you want to be blown away and give your tastebuds a challenge, I'd head to Buddha's Veggie and enjoy a meal that you will remember for quite some time. If you've never had a vegan meal in your life, you'll flip out at what that chef can come up with.

I sure did. However, I'd recommend a reservation as they did look busy for a Saturday night but then again, who's not busy on Saturdays?

Cheers!

LongCity
02-21-2010, 09:42 PM
Vegetarians eat seafood though, don't they? So it's not weird you saw shrimp and fish. I think it's vegans are the fucked up people that can't even eat certain candy cause it's made from fats and whatnot.
Anyways, I thought it was pricy for the kind of food you get, too. But you get a pretty good portion size.

GQBalla
02-21-2010, 09:56 PM
the shrimp and fish there are all fake and made to look like the real thing.

its decent...........but yeah.............

Graham_A_M
02-21-2010, 10:13 PM
Very generous to give the atmosphere an 8/10. I'd say closer to 6/10, as I found that place to have all the charm of an upscale barber shop. :dunno:
Maybe its just me (being the cracka' foo' that I am) but. meh.

I didn't know they serve meat now, all the times I went it was imitation meat, and very good imitation at that.
:eek:

For an (..almost) sole Vegetarian restaurant, the food is definitely hard to beat.

flipstah
02-22-2010, 12:20 AM
Originally posted by Graham_A_M
Very generous to give the atmosphere an 8/10. I'd say closer to 6/10, as I found that place to have all the charm of an upscale barber shop. :dunno:
Maybe its just me (being the cracka' foo' that I am) but. meh.

I didn't know they serve meat now, all the times I went it was imitation meat, and very good imitation at that.
:eek:

For an (..almost) sole Vegetarian restaurant, the food is definitely hard to beat.

Well I gave it an 8 on the basis that it was renovated. It became 'fusion cuisine' hence the new image and the new menu.

I like to put emphasis on cleanliness and then decor and since it was clean, I was tad lenient towards the high marking.

Jeremiah
02-22-2010, 12:35 AM
Too bad this food is way worse than eating a pound of sugar. One piece of that "pork" probably doubled your daily intake of sodium lol

flipstah
02-22-2010, 12:39 AM
Originally posted by Jeremiah
Too bad this food is way worse than eating a pound of sugar. One piece of that "pork" probably doubled your daily intake of sodium lol

OMFG, I knew it! There's no way tofu can taste that good!

You win again, MSG! FUCK YOU!