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Categories: Vegan, Vegetarian [Edit]
Neighborhood: Banker's Hill
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i only went to this place once and i planned on returning ASAP. then, on april 1st last year my best friend told me that they'd closed indefinitely. i laughed and said, "that's a great april fool's joke." he directed me to the website and in my state of denial i persisted that this was just their idea of a cruel april fool's joke. everyday i visited the website, hoping to see that they were open again. it wasn't a joke... i nearly cried. their lasagna was amazing. the chicken parmesan was so authentic that one of my friend's refused to eat it because it tasted too much like chicken (what a pussy-vegan). the kale salad - YUM! god, everything i ate here was just fantastic...
and then it happened. we were done with our meal, filled to the brim but decided to go through the drive thru for some soft serve ice cream. to my euphoric surprise, they had peanut butter that day! i was driving when i took the first bite and had to let go of the wheel and the brake due to my quivering arms and legs. we almost crashed so we decided it would be best to park and eat. i think i shed some tears. it was so beautiful. and now i shed tears for it's demise. writing this is causing me to return to a very painful period of my past. spending one perfect day in love and passion only to find out that you might never experience it again. kung food, i know you might be afraid of commitment... but i promise you, if you come back, i'll never go astray.
i think i'll have to pour some of my 40oz for you this weekend in remembrance.
This place has a drive through with all the junky burger and burrito delights one would find at a "normal" drive through. Also has a sit down cafe. Hands down, the best veggie burger I've ever had. I always make sure to eat here when I am home - even if it's just to grab a burger on the way to the airport. I only have 2 small problems with this place:
1) you can't order drive through food inside - you have to walk through the drive through and then they will bring it to you inside. I once managed to order inside when it was pouring rain and it confused the heck out of the poor hippie kids behind the counter.
2) I am no longer allowed to take my dad to vegan restaurants b/c of this place. Their other, non-burger food is either ok or bad. My dad always manages to pick the winners. I love this place anyway. Even if it means I can't take him to a truly good vegan place now when he comes to San Francisco to visit.
Wow, pretty darn good. Sunday brunch is great here and the pseudo buffet thing always has incredibly tasty vegan foods. Although I eat dairy, Kung Food's version of vegan cuisine doesn't make me long for cheese, etc. as much as one would think. Chicken Parmesan is great as are the tofu quiches available on weekend mornings. There is a little make-you-own salad bar and cold case with raw salads and premade sandwiches and wraps. Beer and wine are available too! You can also do the vegan burger and fries as well. Quality is good and you don't have to wait an hour for something that is served w/ a sneer. Pokez, Veg'n Out I'm talking to you.
Food from the buffet is $5.95 per pound, so if you're like me and can't decide and have to try everything, uh, watch out.
The restaurant looks nice and has local art on the walls (what a shock). I'm sure Kung Foods hosts a poetry slam sometime or another as well. Haven't been to that, but the organizers should be thankful of waiting periods for firearms. Ahem. You're getting the social responsibility/art/activist space here, BUT the focus is good vegan food, so the latter is irrelevant. Well, almost.
Kung Foods is much better than the former tenant, The Vegetarian Zone. That place was the most stereotypical vegetarian/vegan restaurant ever. Bland food at high prices and too-cool-for -school service. I remember walking out of there in 2001 and going "Man, FUCK that place." Kung Food makes me want to cuddle with the staff that has been magic bussed in from O.B. They do, at times, need to put down the communal bong and attempt to have a coherent interaction with a customer. Mostly, though, service is sweet and not unlike being waited on by your nice aunt. Cool.
I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy, but I loved the veggie burgers from this place! I was really surprised with the quality of the food and the wide selection of veggie burgers to choose from. Make sure you get the sweet potato fries with your order.
If you aren't the burger type, there is also another indoor ordering area for ordering things like pastas and salads.
It's now closed for business, but I can eulogize about it, right?
It was amazing. I begged my friends to send me tofu sticks and brownies and cookies. They never did. They aren't my friends anymore.
Okay, they are still my friends.
Back to Kung Food.
I LOVE the food they had. There was always a good selection of flavors... Mashed potatos were amazing, lasagna was tasty, tofu sticks were always perfect, veggie rice was nice (haha), and Israel's Tonic always hit the spot, a drink made from a blend of beets and garlic and spices and shit. Always made me feel better when I thought I was going to be sick.
RIP.
This gets two stars because of the drive-thru...otherwise it would only get one. The drive-thru, while not really anything special, does offer pretty cool vegan imitation greasy burgers that you can't get anywhere else.
On the other hand, the food in the dining room is little better than mulch. No, scratch that... it basically is mulch. The entrees aren't that tasy to begin with, and who knows how long they've been sitting out there. You might as well go to Food 4 Less and just get a few ready-made containers from their deli.
Nothing else makes veganism so tempting. I would consider giving up cheese and honey forever if I could eat here for free. Eats can get pricey, but you get what you pay for, in terms of quality and novelty. I haven't tried the drive-thru yet, but I love the salad bar and the tahini dressing, the hot food bar ("chicken" parmesan and pot pie and particular standouts), vegan soft serve, and chocolate-mint pudding. Last time I went, I had the split pea soup with cornbread. I would complain about the soup's blandness if they didn't have about 10 different kinds of spices/flavors to perk it up!
I just now remembered that I got attitude from an employee once, after I told him the salad mix was looking a little wilted. I don't want to knock down any stars, so I'll just assume they fired that employee.
I usually say that Ethiopian or Indian food are my favorites, but if I could only go to one restaurant for the rest of my life, it would be Kung Food. Absolutely everything that I've had in the cafe is delicious: raw pasta with "Alfredo" sauce, "Chicken" Parmesan, Soyrizo and potatoes, lasagna, sag "paneer", marinated veggies, soft serve... all amazing. I generally don't go out to eat frequently because I prefer my own cooking, so that's saying a lot. The cafe food can add up fast (it's priced by the pound), but its still a good deal. At the end of the day you can find discounted items in their refrigerator which can save you a lot. I've eaten here with vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores and all of them were impressed.
I just went through the drive-thru for the first time and had a burger (Flame Broiled style Gardenburger) on a white flour bun, and that was the only boring thing so far. But it was 11PM on a Friday and I was starving so I didn't care. On the upside, the drive-thru was actually closed and their cash register was closed out, but the employees made us 2 burgers anyway (we paid with a credit card). Now that's customer service.
This place has the BEST sweet potato 'fries' I have had to date. They're slices, lightly fried and salted, and boy do they go well with the Sloppy Jane, a vegetarian version of the Joe.
Creative and delicious menu, amazingly friendly service, and right by the park. You can eat in their garden out front, or bring your food to the oasis that is Balboa Park, right across the street. Oh and did I mention it's really cheap? (around $5-7 per entree). yea!
Can't believe they closed! Sad day in San Diego.
This place is a vegan's paradise! I am a former vegetarian and love to eat here when I am too lazy to cook, but still want healthy food. They feature some raw items, a salad bar, soups and various prepared hot food all served cafeteria style. they even have organic beer! I feel in love with the blueberry pudding the first time I was here. They also have the first health food drive thru that I have ever seen.
This is my kind of fast food. Get the chicken fingers! I hate real chicken fingers but for some reason the vegan ones truly hit the spot.
I never had the 'raw' burger but have always been intrigued.
The drive through can be a bit tricky but it provides ambiance. I've never had and the service is great.
This vegan place is awesome! I went to San Diego for a weekend, and I ended up coming here twice! The food is awesome and surprising. You can get so much variety in one inexpensive meal that even if there's one dish you don't like, you've got a whole bunch of others to enjoy. You can't dish it out yourself, but the staff was very good about giving a "large amount" of this and a "tiny bit" of that. We were confused when we first went in and didn't know what to do, but when I went to the register and told them, they were very nice about showing the options and how it works. If I'm ever in San Diego again, you can bet this is where I'll eat most of the time.
All I have to say is: Come back Kung Food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :'(
I'll admit I liked the soup, however the food they prepared was cafeteria food, healthy yes....but still cafeteria food. The price's they were charging for food that was sitting in a steam warmer was ridiculous...Surprised they lasted as long as they did.
I'm sad that this place is closed now. This was the first place my bf tried vegetarian meats and he was all "Who the F$%# eats this #$%#?" It was embarassing, but I laugh everytime I think of it because he actually enjoyed his vegetarian lasagna and meatloaf.
Damn I miss this place - why did they have to close?? I am by no means a Vegan but I would eat here every so often when I felt like having a light, healthy meal.. They had all kinds of tasty treats from vegan spaghetti (made with spaghetti squash and NOT pasta!) and hummus-stuffed peppers, cucumber salad, etc... Anyone know what the deal is, why they closed? Do they plan on re-opening?
So sad. I think a different location would have worked better. Maybe Adams Ave. University Heights area would be a better choice since that healthy lifestyle seems to be saturated in that area. Oh well. Maybe someone else will venture out and open a place similar.
Try the sweet potato fries...you'll die, they're that good! In fact, most everything here is pretty damn good. It's heaven for vegetarians sick of the same old.
After taking a stroll in the park come here to chill out and grab some great food. It's priced very well and you get pretty good sized portions for how much you're spending. They have good service here as well, I high recommend it!
why is it closed AGAIN?! damn kung food.
I cannot believe Kung Food is no longer. I ate there all the time when I lived in San Diego. I was looking foward to the day I went back so I could enjoy their delicious southwest burger, amazing chicken parmigiana, to-die-for blondies and scrumptious weekend brunch. I am so sad now.
oh how i miss kung food. i tried going there last month, no lights no signs. i was devestated. it was one of my favorite places to pick up dinner on my way home from work. the delicious soyrizo burrito, the chicken chipotle sandwich, the chili cheese fries. sadness
i misssss youuuuuu :-(
wow, i can't believe this is the highest rated restaurant in the 'vegetarian' category for san diego. this food always gave me a stomach ache and felt like it was at the perfect temperature to cultivate bacteria but not kill it. cafeteria style ambiance is not actually ambiance at all.
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