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Categories: Religious Organizations, Vegetarian
Neighborhood: Central SquareCentral (Red)
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Good food, don't get me wrong - I am a connoisseur of fine Chinese vegetarian food, and there is a lot to be desired at this place.
First off, this is just a review of the restaurant. Secondly, they only seem to offer "one" substantial item, which is dubbed their "lunch special." So if you go for dinner, you still have to order a "lunch special."
The appetizers such as the steamed dumplings are quite nasty, and the free soup is free because it's quite gross. Shame on these people for perpetrating such stuff - its no wonder their food is so cheap. Again, no complaint about the "lunch special," but why not offer real courses we can buy and enjoy in addition?
I think they can improve a lot, hike their prices a bit, and hire one more waiter. That way, they are focused on service and food rather than cutting corners. Heck, they might even be able to afford some matching cups for the tea, instead of the janky home-style mugs you should only see in a bachelor's dorm room.
A well-balanced and delicious vegetarian meal including sweet and sour tofu, veggies, rice, and soup for $6.95. Enlightenment, free of charge.
They have a great tea selection, too (I loved the rooibos tea), and they play pretty music. Practitioners meditate in the beautiful temple amongst flowers and statues of Buddha, their shoes lined up outside.
One of the volunteers thoughtfully threw breadcrumbs into the little garden by the window for the local birds, so we got to watch the wrens eat their lunch while we ate ours.
The very zen fortune in my fortune cookie: "Even a broken clock is right twice a day."
What a lovely, peaceful place. Having tea and lunch in a Buddhist temple is not an experience that you could have just anywhere -- I feel lucky to have a place like this right here in Cambridge.
This a really neat place to go for lunch. When you walk in you are met with a wonderful incense smell, which immediately makes you want to enter and stay. To the left is an area to pray and do tai chi (at least I think that's what they were doing). To the right is a seating area where the food is served.
The lunch special includes four different vegetarian dishes (all were delicious), as well as some brown rice. Everything tasted fresh, and not too heavy. We also ordered some hot, orange tea which was really refreshing (like warm orange juice with chunks of fruit). We also had an appetizer (can't remember what the name is), but it was also really tasty. I went here with some friends from Taiwan and they said the food was surprisingly authentic. Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong here foodwise.
Pricewise you can't go wrong either. The lunch special is $6.95, which is unheard of in Cambridge. I liked giving business to this place, as you can tell the focus is on producing good, healthy vegetarian food and putting people at peace. I will definitely be back. Check it out. You know you want to...
I went there a couple times and The food was delicious and healthy. The atmosphere was peaceful and the service was great. This is a unique place and I strongly recommend it for a relax lunch.
Absolutely my favorite place for lunch! The food they serve is vegetarian and very healthy, but more than that it is the calm relaxing setting that offers spiritual nourishment. The service can be a bit slow , but slow down and unwind here for a lunch that means something.
Great food at a really great price. They offer one vegetarian lunch/dinner plate everyday, with four different items (today I got veggie goose, a tofu dish, braised string beans, and salad) with soup and brown rice. All for $6.75!
The Cultural Center is very peaceful, with a nice reading area with books and a lovely Buddhist shrine.
I've been working across from here for almost a year and a half and finally tried this place. The lunch special is filling and as someone who pretty much never eats a meal without meat (except pizza), it was good. I didn't really like the soup - mainly because it lacked seasoning (making it even healthier, but that didn't make me enjoy it any more). What probably made it worthy of 3 stars and a possible return trip was that 2 of the billion items cramped into the container were full o' spicy goodness - the sesame tofu and another mixed asian veggie dealio.
Its probably the first time in a long while that I ate vegetables that weren't covered in cheese, or some sort of lard. So kudos to the Buddhists.
Yum! Who knew that vegetarian food could be so tasty?!
This place is not fancy, it is run by volunteers, and by the way, the food is great! I had delicious spring rolls and the lunch special, $6.95. The four different vegetables were steamed broccoli, cabbage with carrots, diced vegetables in a chili sauce, and marinated tofu with sesame seeds.
Even my boyfriend, who groans at the thought of eating vegetables, was amazed at how tasty this food was! I left this place feeling healthy and peaceful. I will definitely cross the river again for this vegetarian treat!
Just adding to the chorus on this one. Had been wanting to try this place a while, and we finally went today for the much-ballyhooed lunch specials. YUM. Gentle, tasty food served in a simple, serene environment for extremely reasonable prices.
Today's lunch special was a) a tofu omlette-type thing with veggies inside, b) some slightly spicy eggplant, c) braised cabbage, tomatoes, and onions, and d) steamed broccoli. Everything was very tasty and spiced so as to be subtle but flavorful - you really taste the vegetables and the seasonings just enhance that. The soup (sort of a classic vegetable with some ginger) was a bit bland, but that was the only thing I thought was less than delicious. The spring rolls were crisp, not at all oily, and very yummy.
We got a pot of honey-citron tea, which made me decide that I'm heading right to this place next time I have a cold and need some comfort. Sweet, delicious, and warming. Their tea pots are served with a nice little mixed nuts and rice crackers mixture too.
Glad we finally went, and will definitely be back!
The reasons I like this place:
Prices: Lunch Special $6.95 for four side dishes, brown rice, and soup.
Calming Effect: I came here everyday back when I was MCAT studying
Health: When everything on your plate is green, you know it's good for you
Cute Staff: usually old, little asian people. super cute.
PS: You don't need to be buddhist to eat here. I'm not, and they were still nice to me :)
Simple, home-made vegetarian fare (lunch special - $6.95) in a quiet setting. The smell of incense reminds me of Buddhist temples in Taiwan.
And my table placard reminded me to make conversation meaningful, and to act magnanimously.
Just... lovely.
This place is grrrrreat (think Tony the Tiger)! The space is fantastic- calming, serene, and insanely comforting. The food tastes wonderful, is bountiful (soup + brown rice + 4 or so other small dishes), vegetarian, and inexpensive (~$6). The staff are gracious, polite, and attentive. The tea is available in unique flavors, and the little pot it's served in is enough for 2 people.
Such an awesome place- even better because I leave feeling healthy : )
Authentic Chinese/Taiwanese super yummy vegan dishes at reasonable prices served by friendly staff in a relaxed atmosphere.
For meat lovers like me, tasty vegetarian food is common in Asia but rare here in the US. I am thankful that Greater Boston Buddhist Culture Center offers authentic Asian vegan home-style cooking, just like what I would find in major East Asian cities. The $6.95 lunch combo is a great deal in terms of quality and quantity. Those who enjoy dim-sum will love many of their appetizers (turnip cake and dumplings are my favorites). Bubble tea is well prepared, too.
The restaurant is better for small parties rather than larger groups, due to limited staff. It may not be the best place if you are in a hurry, as service can be slow at times. It is a perfect place to take time and enjoy a weekend brunch with friends. In my opinion this is the best vegetarian restaurant in the Boston area.
I've been there for two times now and the food is always great. It's not that easy to make good vegetarian but they always pull it off with flying colors. The service is not stellar but I don't really care about that when I can eat such great food at such affordable prices.
This place is run by Buddhist volunteers... so it's not just an eating/coffee experience... it's a step into a spiritual world. It's not a typical restaurant, not a standard coffeeshop, but a place you should go to experience the unique.
Try their vegetarian appetizers... and also their rose tea where you can see little rose buds floating inside their crystal tea pot. A lovely slice of peace.
Just had lunch there. It was pretty nice. Ordered the lunch special which is a ball of rice with four different vegetarian dishes arrayed around it. The food and sauces were all very good. I also really enjoyed the turnip pancakes which we got as an appetizer.
All in all, the food isn't anything special, but it's a nice place and worth eating at. It looks like the dinner menu has a lot more good looking stuff on it (although I only saw a Chinese copy, so I wasn't sure about everything on it), and the prices are very good (especially as it's just a suggested donation).
yum... tasty cheap, healthy! go go spiritual cleansing!
Everything is strictly vegetarian. It is chinese style cooking even though the place is is a branch of Fo Guang Shan (Mt. Buddha's Light) Monastery in Taiwan.
They have tons of Chinese teas you can sample as well because... its a tearoom!
Its not good for real big groups, the tea room table set ups are pretty small, and i would say its not good for kids because it is a quiet and serene atmosphere.... if you have really good kids fine but please no bad bratty kids.
I do think you can reserve the tea room for large group events.
They do a whole lot more than feed people for lunch. check out the website:
http://www.ibps.org/bo...
Had lunch here with a party of the veg social club that I just joined and it was beautiful--everything was so serene, the staff were lovely, and even though the cafe area was actually packed, it was still quiet (not like hear a pin drop quiet, but low hum of conversation quiet).
The lunch special is interesting--they ask for a suggested donation of $5.95, the food is usually vegan and varies depending on the day. You'll get a cup of soup followed by a large plate filled with a cup of brown rice in the center. Surrounding the rice you'll find 5-6 other side dishes all home made and making for a very well balanced meal.
The baby bok choi that came with my lunch was fantastic--and I appreciated that the young man who took my order went and checked the kitchen for peanuts. There was also a sweetened tofu dish that I'd never had that I really enjoyed.
I'll be back for food and would love to check out a service as well.
Today was my first visit to the Buddhist Center, but it won't be my last..the room is very simple and the food really fresh, tasty and CHEAP! The lunch special is apparently a surprise every time...always 4 different side dishes served with brown rice. The soup was lovely, fresh carrot, mushroom and some root vegetables...I had pomegranate tea..fabulous. I will be back as often as possible...who knew this was available...I've been in the area for years and wasn't aware of the lovely little gem.
The food is so delicious and fresh here -- try the homemade vegetarian dumplings! I think most of their dim sum items are made on the spot. They also have ginger tea, barley tea, honey citron tea, osmanthus mountain tea and a lot of other delicious hot drinks. It's a lovely place to come and enjoy the birds in the tiny garden outside. The people who work (volunteer?) here are very down-to-earth and friendly, and on weekends there are lots of families who come to eat. They never give you an over-the-top, religious, let's-convert-you vibe, so if you're worried about that, don't be! It's really a community place that is open to everyone. Although if you come and eat here often enough, you may be converted to the religion of good food and peacefulness.
I generally eat there twice a week, especially now that they serve brown rice. The food is healthy and very tasty, with generous servings of varying fresh vegetables and one or two tofu dishes. I love their cabbage. I also frequently get their spring roll appetizer, which is loaded with veggies, and cold ginger tea. I also like their turnip cake appetizer. The ginger tea usually has real slices of ginger. I like the veggie broth they serve, as well. After I eat the tofu or veggies in the soup, I let the soup rest a while and then I drink the soup-it's gently flavorful that way for me. The servers are very friendly and polite. On Saturdays at 1 pm, I enjoy watching the beautifully instructed tai chi lessons they provide in their Buddhist chapel.
Just tried their wonton soup. Delicious. Superbly prepared wontons. Comes in a wonderful light miso soup. You can also request the wontons in the soup of the day.
Great vegetarian restaurant... as I'm sure other people have said... and cheap too :) The tofu is fresh, everything is fresh... they even made fresh batter for us to use in their vegetable cakes. All in all, a calming and relaxing restaurant that is a gem tucked away in the sleepy outskirts of Cambridge and Harvard.
Although my lunch didn't taste really good; it was probably the healthiest meal I've had in Boston; with a full day's serving of vegetables on 1 plate. I like my vegetarian food flavourful and tasty enough to convince me that meat is not required to spice up a dish. The "flavours" here were bland and too homemade for my taste (in the sense that it looks and tastes like something someone has whipped up at home; as opposed to being prepared by one who is skilled in the techniques of treating vegetables in a way that really "wakes them up" by utilizing their natural flavours and textures. The atmosphere would have been tranquil but for the racket coming from the kitchen. In some ways, a skilled vegetarian chef is 5X more talented than one who works with meat since it's much more difficult to make a broccoli stalk tantalizing than say, a steak.
They have a prix fixe vegetarian lunch special for $6 that is always quite tasty. The hot, aromatic fruit tea is amazing. It's intentionally tranquil, so don't come with more than 4 people or if you're in a rowdy mood.
I just ate lunch here and I have to say its one of the healthiest, yummiest lunches ever! The lunch specials have always been great in my opinion, but sometimes it completely exceeds my expectations. Plus you feel soooo good after eating it. The fresh fruit tea is also a must try. It was amazing.
This place makes me feel peaceful, safe, connected, calm, and satisfied with their yummy frozen fruit shakes. They have a bookroom to wander through and a quiet, simple restaurant that you can sit quietly and enjoy the afternoon. The people here are phenomenal-ly nice and warm. It's quite lovely here. I think they have meditation, yoga, and theology classes here, as it is a community center. I have only come for the shakes and peace of mind and it's been wonderful so far.
I always pass by this place but today I decided to try it out. I was the only customer inside. It is typically empty actually. I had the lunch special. They gave me a vegetable soup with tofu then they brought a big dish with different kind of mushrooms, rice and other vegetables. It was good food and the environment is very peaceful. It reminded me of a Japanese monastery I visited a year ago. I think I will be going there for lunch more often. The lunch special is only 5.95 but they put a label in the menu that says "suggested price". I guess you can pay less, but I would recommend paying more to support this center run by volunteers.
I really love coming here for the lunch special. Maybe its the serene atmosphere or maybe its the fact that I get to actually fortify my body with nutrition and vegetables which I sometimes forget to do. Seriously if you've been on a vicious take-out bender, this place can perk you right up. Its a sweet deal $6.95, four vegetarian dishes that vary, a huge scoop of brown rice plus soup. Its is perhaps not the most tasty food you'll ever eat, but its clean, wholesome, and made with zen love man. What more can you ask for from time to time, plus unless you get sucked into eavesdropping annoying Harvard intellectual chatter, it is quite soothing in there especially if you like incense.
Oh my buddha! This place is really beautiful. Nice, gracious staff that offer you a very inexpensive and bountiful lunch. Bubble tea and regular tea too. I ran inside here today during the July hail rain wind sun event and was greeted by a very nice Buddhist lady. She let me browse their books on Buddhism, trinkets and I enjoyed the aroma of incense. They even have a temple that you can use (just make sure you take your shoes off). I was en route to see my chiropractor and took cover from the monsoon that was pummeling Cambridge. I would have stayed longer but had to get to my appointment. I got a ginger tea to go. It was made by a very nice girl in a metal pan and it took a few minutes, but I did not mind. It was made with love and care and she smiled as she proudly handed the tea to me. I thought the tea was great and enjoyed it for the hour I had with it. I would love to come back for lunch.
I just came back from lunch there, it was fantastic! I had the lunch special (rice, tofu, stir fry broccoli..) and it was really good. There was a lot of flavor to it too ( i didnt think it was bland at all). The servers are very fast to ask for your order and to get the meal for you. And the place is really nice. Definately coming back for more!
I just had lunch here by myself and it was a relaxing and very enjoyable experience. I got the chrysanthemum tea, which was delicious, and the vegetarian special. It was really different-I hardly recognized any of the four vegetable and tofu mini-meals on my plate-but they were all lovely and very well prepared. Also, like other reviewers have said, you feel very healthy eating here, and I'll definitely come back. I should also say that I don't usually enjoy myself when I eat alone, but this place was the perfect spot to do so. In fact, I think I'd intentionally come here again alone instead of with a friend, since it gave me such a good excuse to relax and read a little during my meal.
A lovely place to go with friends for brunch on Sunday. Low key atmosphere. Try the lunch special and the turnip cakes.
Cambridge, MA
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