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Categories: Vegetarian, Vegan
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
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I have eaten here for both lunch and dinner and I have to say the lunch is oddly superior to the dinner. I don't know what it is, maybe they are used to a Center City lunch rush crowd and work better under pressure? Maybe it's the lunch options? Who knows, all I know is YUM! Waitstaff, decor, overall ambience equals five stars, no doubt.
Let's talk about why I love them first: Lunch! Lunch offers a choice of some seriously amazing veggie sandwiches, salads and a few entrees. I have tasted on their portobello sandwich, beer battered seitan sandwich and pad thai for lunch- all fabulous, huge portions with a side salad. They also offer super tasty sweet potato fries that go just perfectly with the sandwiches. I ate there with two other people and our bill was $31, awesome!
Dinner offers full entrees and if their dinners were as good as their sandwiches Mi Lah would be my favorite restaurant. It's not that they taste bad or anything, they don't. As a matter of fact they are extremely flavorful but if you compare dinner to lunch they're just lacking a bit. I can't remember what it was but the appetizer we got was sort of pretentious and small even though we were told it was find to share with three people. Another person that underestimates my fatty appetite, I'm so misunderstood. Our dinners were good but they forgot the tofu in my husband's pad thai (a main ingredient) and didn't do anything to rectify it when he pointed it out (to be fair he didn't realize it until his last few bites but still). The other gripe was the price difference as the pad thai is available for both lunch and dinner, same exact portion size, $10 for lunch, $14 for dinner. Weird.
I have yet to try their brunch but the menu looks amazing and vegan brunches are something this city is lacking so I give them props for the offering.
Go here for lunch, you get a bang for lunch buck!
I really dig Mi Lah Vegetarian and highly recommend them for lunch take out orders. For dinner and eating in? Not as much a fan.
I've eaten from Mi Lah three times:
1. The First time was last March and I believe they had just changed management, which might be why it was lacking. There was only 2 other parties in there and the upstairs was empty. Thankfully one of the groups in there was a table of 6 - because there is no music in the restaurant. So its SUPER quiet! which is pretty awkward in such a small place, which means you are able to hear everyone else's conversations.
The food this time was okay. We had a brussel sprout, winter squash, potato and pistachio dish in some sort of lemon sauce, which really just tasted like lemon butter, but it was pretty good. The Pad Thai was kinda bland - but I enjoy any time I can find a vegan Pad Thai. The mushroom soup was the soup of the day and was inedible. It had separated so that there was a layer of oil on top. I didn't eat any and they offered me the other soup but I had no interest at that point and they still charged us the 6 bucks for it, even though you could hear them talking about the oil separation in the kitchen right behind us - since you know, theres no background noise and you could hear everything. We also had some vegetable fritter appetizer that was good. So there was some really bad, some really good.
2. I gave them a few months to try Mi Lah again and then ordered lunch for take out and got the Vietnamese Hoagie. I was a little hesitant to spend 8 dollars on a Vietnamese Hoagie for lunch - but not only was it gigantic (2 meals worth), it was totes delicious - with the perfect ratio of tofu to vegenaise to veggies!
3. I went once more with a large group from work for lunch, which was no problem to sit us all upstairs. I split the Vietnamese Hoagie and Hickory Smoked Portobello sandwich with a coworker. The Hoagie wasn't as massive as the time before but both were super good. Service wasn't super fast, but there were about 12 of us and she was very nice.
So while the experience has gotten better, I just find it so odd that there is no music/background noise at all at this place and will continue to order lunch out, but probably not eat in again.
Also: 1 star for their website, which has a Flash pre-loader, auto-starting music, a not-so-usable scrolling menu and a title bar that just says "Fine Restaurant".
Ugh. Where do I start? My party of 3 arrived precisely at the start of Sunday brunch. The place was ominously empty. The servers acted more like The 3 Stooges than actual restaurant professionals. For example, once seated, they took our drink order. 2 of us ordered coffee. They first brought us empty coffee cups, then someone came 5 minutes later and removed the coffee cups back to the kitchen to be filled. It was confusing. The coffee arrived back at the table. Another 5 minutes passed before anyone checked to see if we needed (soy) milk and sweetener.
2 members of my party ordered the tofu benedict. I went with the sausage and biscuits with deep fried king mushrooms and sweet potato fries. We also received the complementary fruit and "pastries." Pastries is here defined as bland flavorless muffins. Seriously, I could not determine what flavor they were supposed to be. At least the fruit was fresh. The "scones" arrived AFTER our mains. Apparently, they weren't ready when we arrived. Eh. No big loss. They were also flavorless lumps of dough.
Our orders arrived pretty quickly, except, oops, they brought me the incorrect plate of food--the vegan omelet, ordered by no one at my table. Back to the kitchen it went, and I had to wait 10 minutes for my actual order to arrive. At this point there were maybe two other tables seated, but the place was by no means hopping. Gordon Ramsay would have a field day in the disorganized mess that Mi Lah calls a kitchen.
As for the quality of the food, I have my table-mates assurances that the tofu benedict was sub par. The tofu looked exactly like it does in the package: bland and flavorless. It was covered in a vegan version of hollandaise that was pretty nasty tasting. My sausage and biscuits with gravy was actually not bad. The biscuits, being vegan, crumbled into nothingness as soon as you cut into them, but they weren't inedible. That's the best I can say.
I could do a better job preparing a tasty vegan brunch in my own kitchen, and it wouldn't cost me $20 per person. I am honestly ashamed that I chose this place. One of my table-mates was an out of town house guest, and since he is vegan, I thought Mi Lah would deliver a great option filled brunch. Alas, I should have listened to my husband, and taken him to Dos Segundos. I feel sorry for vegans who think this place is good.
I eat there everyday for lunch, I love this place. The miso braised kale and the vegan cheesesteak are my favorite things on the lunch menu, dinner menu my favorites are palenta cake and the califlower steak.
Great vegetarian sandwiches. Eating in is OK, but takeout taste just as good
I was eager, read EAGER, to try out Mi Lah. Alas, it was not meant to be. It was your average Tuesday and the schedule on the door said Monday thru Saturday. However, the sign and the closed shades said CLOSED.
After dining at Mi Lah for two consecutive meals during a second visit to Philly, I must give it all 5 stars.
All the food my wife and I ate was amazing.
Dinner: yellow curry (with seitan, pineapple, potatoes, and green beans) but without rice, which didn't matter because of the delicious bread that was included, plus cake made in-house by a vegan pastry chef. The curry was as good as any Thai place I've been, and had a nice combo of ingredients you don't always see.
Lunch: sweet potato fries and the Vietnamese hoagie (again), plus simple but great vegetable soup.
My wife had the lentil/couscous dish with portobellos on the side for dinner and it was really amazing. Simple with "normal" ingredients and veggies, but extremely tasty. She also had the beer battered seitan for lunch which was covered in tabasco sauce. She liked it, and people who like hotter food would love it. I'm craving it now...
All in all, the people who run the place are friendly and attentive (the chef came out to ask if everything was okay), and the food is great. They don't have a huge selection, but they have variety which I think will please most people. It also doesn't have too many fried dishes or oily dishes that make me sick of other vegan places. All in all, it ranks on my list as one of the best vegan/veggie places I've ever been.
I went here with an unlikely crowd for a business lunch. Me the lone vegan, and everyone else not… Read more »
After reading favorable things from many Yelpers my girlfriend and I decided to check out Mi Lah for lunch.
Overall the environment and decor were pretty nice. It was fairly busy the day I visited and almost all of the 8 or so tables they have downstairs were full. This made for a somewhat cramped feel, and it was difficult to block out surrounding conversation particularly from a loud girl who insisted on reliving the details of cleaning out the mousetraps in her apartment to her friend. When I went upstairs to visit the restroom I was surprised to see a really nice, airy, semi-spacious seating area. Why were we all packed in downstairs? Probably because of the waitress...
OK, so the service kinda sucked. The young (inexperienced?) girl that was waiting the tables really seemed frazzled. She had to come back to the table a few times to ask what we had ordered, and had delivered several wrong dishes to other diners. My girlfriends entree (African stew) came out first, but I had to wait another 15 minutes or more for my Vietnamese hoagie. So as she was finishing her meal I was only starting mine (but at least she is nice and let me nip at her stew while I waited : )
Additionally the place could have been a bit cleaner. My silverware was a bit grubby, the restroom could use a sprucing, and it looked like there had been a cilantro fight at some point on the steps.
Anyway, onto the food:
We split a salad with mango and avocado. I wasn't so into it. Some of the lettuce was past its prime (read dark & slimy at the edges) and some of the 'cado was kinda spotty. Overall there was a grassy aftertaste that i didn't find too great, kinda like after you have a shot of wheatgrass. The dressing was a bit too tart for my taste but my girlfriend didn't mind it (she likes fruitier, sweeter dressings than me).
Her African stew was a decent blend of chickpea, carrot, potato, etc garnished with crushed peanuts. Nothing wrong with it, but not overly flavorful either. A decent vegetarian stew but nothing to write home about. The brown rice it was served with came out cold. I'd definitely try their other dishes before ever considering getting it again.
My Vietnamese hoagie was very tasty and almost worth the extra wait. The tofu was warm, the dressing mildly spicy, and the veggies crisp and julienned. Yes, at $8 you could certainly find cheaper at other Vietnamese spots, but as a vegetarian I don't mind paying a premium for food that I know was not prepared near (read contaminated by) meat products. Definitely would get this again.
Overall I would be willing to come back and try some of their other dishes and brunch. I taste potential. If they resolved their service issues I might be willing to break them off another star, but until then I have to leave it at a solid 3 (maybe 3 1/2).
And let people sit upstairs!
I was pleasantly surprised with the spicy seitan buffalo chicken sandwich. The taste of the imitation meat was totally spot on and accurate compared to the real thing. The Vietnamese hoagies and vegan cheesesteaks also peaked my interest enough to return. I'm not sure if I would experiment with the curry and Thai dishes, however. I'm a pretty big snob when it comes to any genre of Asian food. The vegan specialties and vegetarian dishes is what truly sets Mi Lah apart from the myriad of herbivore-friendly cuisine available in Philly. On the positive side, the restaurant is kept meticulously clean and the staff is extremely attentive. On the negative side however, parking on 16th and Locust is brutal and the dishes can add up pretty quickly. Their vegan brunch also seems worth checking out too. Definitely a potential five star spot for any hungry vegetarian or vegan.
Mi Lah is my go-to restaurant for an affordable and tasty lunch in the Rittenhouse area. Like many other reviewers, my all-time favorite is the Vietnamese hoagie. It's so ridiculously good, it has forever spoiled me for other Vietnamese hoagies, vegetarian or not. But the other dishes are excellent as well: creative flatbread pizzas, fresh and flavorful salads, savory soups, delightfully nuanced fish-sauce-free pad thai, and the refreshingly simple ALT (avocado, lettuce, and tomato). Even non-vegetarians can find something to love here.
I enjoyed the brunch here - good coffee and fresh juices, breads and fruits to start. Waffles and seitan was a big, dry portion, but really, I am not about to complain about a veggie chicken and waffles dish ever.
Dinner was less pleasing. I found most of the food to be heavily spiced, masking the ingredients' flavors instead of enhancing them. Dumplings were dense and dry, and the cumin fingerling potatoes were hard. Mi Lah is in the same price bracket as Horizons, but the cooking seems to be an order of magnitude below, which is a shame.
Having read the positive lunch reviews, I'll give that a shot soon.
The service was terrific and the people were incredibly nice and accomodating. However, the dish I had (the Cambodian Amok with tofu in red curry) was not appetizing. Thus the lower rating for this vegetarian restaurant. I must say that I've experienced better. The dish was also rather expensive.
Delicious all vegan food, beautifully presented, and reasonably priced. The menu is vastly appealing for the healthiness of the food and unusual options. The upstairs dining room is much more pleasant than the downstairs, which is reminded me of a chinese take out place.
It was tough deciding what to have but I decided on the warm cauliflower salad (awesome) and the tofu hoagie (again - awesome)!
Yum! I went for brunch with two friends--we all enjoyed our food and the staff was friendly and helpful. It is a bit expensive ($20) but plenty of food, and I would probably go once every couple of months or so.
I had the great luck of trying Mi Lah during the first time for their Sunday Brunch special. It's a fixed price, but well worth it as the food just keeps coming. Service has always been great here.
Unlike a lot of other asian restaurants whose meals focus around 100 varities of faux meat, this one has some real ethnic style and menu diversity. I think it will continue to be a good retaurant and it is already high on my list of vegan dinner locations in the city for a more refined evening.
It's BYOB too!
Went in early on a Friday evening, and soon the tiny downstairs of this place was packed. Enjoyed reviewing the menu, and wanted to try everything. We had a corn fritter-type appetizer, which was a bit greasy for my taste, but delicious. The Japanese hot pot was simple and understated - very very light and delicious - I had to ask for an extra bowl of brown rice as I was very hungry. However, the other entrees on the list were more substantial. My friend ordered the special of the evening, which was butternut squash moussaka - truly, truly amazing. The most incredible thing about this food is that often you feel like you're eating dessert - it's just so tasty - and they do it well here, cooking up vegan stuff.
We ended with a chocolate lava cake (a bit overcooked), but the vegan ice cream was so amazing.
Another time I came in for lunch and ordered both soups - they were amazing. Can't wait to go back.
My advice if you are hungry or not so hungry is to ask the server what type of portion the meals are and to choose wisely. Everything is great. Including our service.
I love the simplicity of Mi Lah.
The service is quick and personal. The food is delicious and even if you are not a vegetarian you'll still enjoy yourself.
I've had both the ALT -- avacodo, lettuce, tomato and the Vietnamese hoagie. The smokey vegenaise adds the right touch of flavor and keeps you reaching for you glass of water or tea -- which they have a nice selection of by the way. Both sandwiches were fresh and light yet filling. A refreshing break in the middle of the day (and not to mention a much better alternative from the chains on Walnut)
I'm itching to go back for dinner. Especially because the upstairs seating area looks so inviting. Complete with it's own bar and windows overlooking 16th St.
I just went here last weekend for vegan brunch with my partner. We took a trip down to Philly for the day from NYC and I had heard about this place online and wanted to try it. Being vegans, we are pretty limited with restaurants these days.
From the moment we walked in and saw the menu, we knew that we were in for a treat. The place was pretty small but there was a table waiting for us. My partner ordered the tofu benedict and I ordered the chocolate chip/peanut butter pancakes. After the waiter took our order, he brough a plate of fruit and cakes...all vegan. Now, as most vegans know, it's heard to find decent baked goods and this stuff was absolutely amazing!
Then came the rest...the pancakes were to die for and his tofu benedict...just amazing! Service was really fast. We were probably in and out of there in a little over half an hour, though we could have lingered, but we had stuff to do...
I can't wait to go back to Philly...this will definitely be our first stop!
I've been to Mi Lah twice and my first visit was good - maybe 3 stars - because I kept it simple. I heard the Vietnamese hoagie was good, so I ordered that and the soup of the day (can't remember which it was). The server brought me out the wrong soup, but cheerfully corrected her mistake. The hoagie was delicious and I remember leaving looking forward to returning for another.
The second time I went was a sore, sore dissapointment. The hoagie wasn't on the menu because it was closer to dinner time, so I decided to split some appetizers. We settled on the "Variety Soup," a BBQ tofu & veggie skewers, handrolls with sprouts, dried seitan and veganaise and leaves (can't remember what kind) with tempeh in green curry. The soup came out first and was extremely bland, no flavor at all really.
The handrolls were basically all sprouts with crunchy (i thought i would chip a tooth) dried seitan and a huge glob of veganaise at the bottom. After choking down the first few dry, flavorless bites I was left with a tablespoon of veganaise dripping down my chin - gross. The tempeh tasted like hot dogs, a flavor that unfortunately I was tasting all night. The only decent thing we ate was the BBQ tofu skewer, but I'll eat just about anything with BBQ sauce.
The only redeeming quality was the service was very attentive, even overbearing - checking in 3 times while we ate our soup. Moral of the story - stick with the hoagie.
BRUNCH IS UNREAL
At first the $20 price tag seemed steep but upon further reading it included fruit, baked goods, coffee/tea, juice, and an entree. The fruit was fresh, the baked goods were all great, and the coffee was way better than most restaurants. Also the juice was good, it's billed as mimosa mix but it's basically just juice since it's non-alcoholic. My entree was sausage gravy and biscuits with their home fries. It was delicious, first time I'd had biscuits and gravy in a while and the home fries were also delicious.
I recommend their brunch to any vegans, I've never had the lunch/dinner so I can't speak to that.
I am a big fan of any place that can do a great avocado, BLT that even a meat eater can devour, AND sweet potato fries. If you can pull that off, wow. And I have only been there for lunch, so I can't really speak to the dinner, but I've heard good things. The vegan brunch is also good.
The Asian decor is a bit off putting because of the original concept of just vegan fare, but it works.
Good place for those of us working in Rittenhouse on a budget.
Mi Lah came highly recommended, but seriously I have no idea why. I thought we were off to a good start here too... the atmosphere is nice and clean, the menu looks good, and the staff were pleasant. Sadly the food here is horrible. I ordered a dish that was supposed to be rice with veggies. If there were any veggies in the mix they were cut so small I could hardly distinguish them from the rice, and even then it was in a pitiful portion. The rice was not that flavorful and really really oily. Blech! I took one bite and had them pack it to go for me. Instead I ordered the soup. When they brought the soup to my table, all I could think was, "Am I in prison?". It was a flavorless broth with a few undercooked potatoes floating in it and a couple pieces of carrot. What are they thinking? All this was way overprices too... I mean if the food was good, fine, but this place has no clue what they are doing. The other entree we ordered (some kind of bean dish) while it had a better and more interesting flavor was totally undercooked and eating undercooked beans is a sure way to feel crappy after eating. After the meal I expressed my dissatisfaction with the meal... this was met with a blank stare.
Avoid this place and go somewhere... anywhere else.
Great service here from an enthusiastic vegan waitress who gave excellent descriptions of the food. Tiny, with ochre and celery-colored walls and candlelight, Mi Lah is romantic and all vegan now, so don't be confused by the name, although I can see why you would be! We love that it is BYOB and feel this place gives Horizons a run for its money, though why shouldn't there be more than one upscale romantic vegan place in a city like Philly? Why shouldn't people crave vegan like they crave sushi, even if they are not eating this way for ethical or health reasons?
Loved the carrot coconut soup. He had the roasted brussel sprout dish, and I had the pot pie. I can never get pot pie because it's usually all meat, so I was very excited and wondered how they made the crust.
The downstairs can be a bit crowded, but I don't mind sitting close with people who care about eating this way. :-) We noticed that the upstairs was indeed cold, but it was closed for seating. You just have to go up there to use the bathroom, and they had a portable heater going.
Vinum O-style water glasses were a classy touch, and our wine was handled quickly and well. We had a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc called Errazuriz which went beautifully with the food. We were too full for desserts but will be back.
Nothing we had was spicy or hot or *too weird* for omnivores, just flavorful comfort food that shows what a creative chef can do with vegetables -- so that vegetarians don't have to rely on the old boring salad or pasta, which we can get anywhere. I hope other restaurants can take some good ideas from places like these.
I've been to their fixed price Sunday brunch twice and I was extremely pleased both times. The interior is inviting and cozy and the staff are genuinely nice, pleasant, professional and attentive (tip them well, they deserve it!). The $20 is well worth it for juice, coffee, fruit, baked goods and entree.
The brunch dishes I've tried are:
1. tofu kielbasa on english muffins with avocado, gravy and coconut crusted mushrooms & sweet potato fries
2. tofu omelette platter
3. beer battered seitan and waffles
All of it was delicious with the generous portion sizes.
I have yet to try their lunch or dinner but browsing the menu, the dishes look extremely inventive and fresh. I am definitely planning on going back very soon for both. I've been to plenty of vegan restaurants in several major cities in both Canada and the U.S. and Mi Lah is quickly turning into my favourites.
Also a note to other vegans, their updated menus outside the restaurant states that everything is now vegan. It appears that they dropped their one dish with dairy. Yay! :) So go support them!
Loved it. Best Pad Thai I've eaten. Excellent Asian choices with many tofu and seitan options. Good prices for the portions. Yummy!
"FLAVORABLE" food (waiter stunned said first time hearing that")Translation: GOOD, TASTY, PLEASANTLY SURPRISED, STANDS OUT, MEMORABLE (my expression, my word: FLAVORABLE!)!
went yesterday for brunch (tried doing a few minutes ago, but password acting special, so it's a new day!) and enjoyed pretty much every morsel of food.... the waffles were a bit overcooked 2 my liking; however, the mix of fruits & veggies with sweet & tangy sauces, were way cool!
after serious deliberations and many questions, (because the menu changes and i was looking 4ward 2 a blueberry pancake dish they had on the online menu, but their menus same 2 change) i finally was able 2 choose the Mediterranean dish with edamme samosas & my friend had tofu sausage on a wheat english muffin type thing (which i didn't care 2 much 4) with gravy & avocado & the o so edible sweet potato fries! yum!
the waiter was just ok... and it was a tad 2 warm (the air conditioner was out of commission downstairs--but not upstairs).... however another team member brought over a fan for the very uncomfortable teething baby, so appreciative 2 him (even if it was almost at the conclusion of the meal)....
i definitely have to try dinner or lunch here another time and pray 4 such tasty food with spunkier service....
peace & flavoring
Fusion or no fusion, my rating of Mi Lah hasn't changed since I ate there in the fall. It's a wonderful dining experience. Attentive servers, unpretentious atmosphere, and excellent food. It's the kind of place you go to eat vegan food that is absolutely delicious bite by bite. Plus, it's way more affordable than Horizons or Govindas. It's now in the top contenders for my favorite places to eat in Philly.
I've been Mi Lah for dinner, brunch and twice for lunch.
This place is great. I've enjoyed everything I've tried.
When I first came for dinner they had just opened and it was a little chaotic, but now they seem to have things going smoothly. The vegan cheesesteak at lunch is the best I've ever had.
can't complain about a vegan place with delicious food and thoughtful service.
i recommend the tofu benedict at brunch and the buffalo seitan hoagie or cheesesteak at lunch.
I was really excited to hear about Mi Lah opening and basically stalked it for a couple of weeks until it (finally) opened in early October. I've been there 3 times in two weeks. Twice with friends (non-vegans) and once alone (also a non-vegan).
My friend, Steph got the polenta cake entree for dinner as well as the sweet potato cakes. During dinner, she proclaimed that she now understands how people can be vegan. Her meal was surprisingly flavorful and filling and she ended up leaving about half of her entree behind because she was stuffed.
I have tried the bbq eggplant (delicious), the carrot-ginger soup (yum), the endive BLT (fantastic) but the best thing I've had was the labi labi stew. I asked them to make it 'very spicy' and 'kill me with spice' and they did just that. The stew's heat was just what I needed to clear out my sinuses but it wasn't so spicy that I needed to drink tons of water. It was a mild but potent spice, maybe he used a lot of cayenne pepper? Anywho, it was delicious. The regular version on the menu isn't spicy, but the chef will turn up the heat if you ask him.
It's been my experience that if you go for dinner, they bring you samples of their juices which are fantastic. I love the juice that has kiwi in it. It has a very exotic taste that reminds me of a kiwi drink that my friend's Korean mom used to make us.
The decor is nice and inviting. dark wood tables with white table clothes, warm orange walls. It would be a nice quiet date spot (for now, but I bet it'll get popular (and loud) given the location and food.) Do yourself a favor and do not sit at the bar downstairs. The bar stools are up too high and you will have to slouch over your food to take a bite.
Had a (mostly) really great dinner here recently in the downstairs dining area. It was a Thursday night and while most tables were occupied we were seated without a reservation.
We had our wine opened and poured promptly (yay for BYOBs!) and started out with some garlicky white bean dip and baguette. We split an amazing appetizer of seared tempeh with butternut squash, apple and grilled leeks (and encouraged at least two other groups to order the same-- the tables are rather cozy in there and you are likely to overhear conversations).
We also shared two main courses. One, which was disappointing, was supposed to be a "portabello mushroom and seasonal veggie" pot pie with a side green salad. This was not at all what we imagined, with the crust seeming to be a layer of pita on top, with the interior being very soupy and lacking in what was supposed to be the start ingredient. The other ingredients didn't make up for that, though the broth did have a nice flavor, and the server was nice enough to bring us some more bread to mop it up.
The second entree (which we also recommended to a neighboring table) was a special that evening, and phenomenal. It consisted panell (which I had never heard of before, and I'm not exactly sure how to spell but it turns out to be polenta-like, without the grittiness, and made of ground chickpeas) on a bed of pureed white beans and smothered in a huge amount of super-delicious mushrooms and a few leeks for good measure.
We were stuffed after all this, so didn't get to try any desserts (or even look at the menu, in fact).
I will definitely be back, because pretty much everything on the menu sounded delicious and it was really hard to decide. Also, they've got very reasonable prices and the staff seem nice. Good job, Mi Lah!
One final note: tt might be possible to get someone in a wheelchair onto the ground floor, but there is a pretty tall step and in any case the restrooms are up a flight of stairs.
I've been to Mi Lah twice now and have come away disappointed both times... the service and the ambience are very good, but the food is just okay. And the prices seem a bit steep for what you get (in quality and quantity).
The food just seems a bit bland or lacking in real flavor (unlike Horizons which has figured out how to make tasty and authentic vegetarian food).
The menu has a wide range of cuisines-- Thai to African... maybe that's the problem: trying to cover too many continents leads to a lack of focus.
Still, I applaud the fact that they are one of the few vegetarian restaurants in this city.
I have eaten at a handful of vegan restaurants since my conversion more than half a year ago and I have to say that Mi Lah is one of my favorite places when my fiance and I go out to eat. I've had about half of the items on the menu since it has opened and everyone was better than the last. I recommend their carrot coconut soup, Jerk Seitan and their fingerling potatoes dish. For desert their cupcake dish and CHOCOLATE cake are amazing! All in all, a great vegan restaurant that I would recommend anyone who's vegan or just adventurous with food to try!
i've been to mi lah for lunch and dinner, not brunch.
for my taste, the brunch and lunch menus are where it's at. (seitan and waffles?! awesome.) i may come back and change this to 5 stars after trying brunch, which i plan on doing.
on my lunch trip i had the vietnamese hoagie. i prefer the real deal banh mi chay you get for $3 in south philly or chinatown, but it wasn't bad. $8 is seems a shade high though. there are a few other things i would try on the lunch menu, too, like the tB.A.L.T. or the pizzas.
the dinner menu? not so much. $17 for a plate of brussel sprouts is ridiculous, but that's what i got because it looked like my best option. other than the tofu pad thai (which you can get anywhere), there is no mock meat on the entrees for the dinner menu. the seared glazed tempeh appetizer was ok, but i wouldn't get it again (too salty for me, and it seemed fried...it was oily. the apples helped a little though.)
if you're the type of vegetarian or omnivore who is really into vegetables, your opinion will likely differ. me? if i'm going to get a veggie plate for dinner, i'd rather go to a fancy omnivore restaurant and ask for a veggie plate, otherwise i'd rather go to horizons where i can get grilled seitan and other hearty fare.
This place is delicious. I had lunch there with my boyfriend the other day and we had the top floor all to ourselves. The decor is so warming and quaint and the food is absolutely amazing. My boyfriend isn't vegetarian but he absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back. Lunch prices are reasonable as well. mmm!
I went here for lunch with some co-workers and ordered the special: Black Bean Burger with avocado and mango. A co-worker ordered the portabello sandwich and we split our sandwiches. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms, but that sandwich was pretty darn good, especially with all the caramelized onions. The black bean burger came out cold and mushy, but apparently, this is how it's intended, and also quite tasty. It had a bit of a kick with the veganaise, which I enjoyed. The ciabbatta bread was a wonderful addition! I also thoroughly enjoyed the acorn squash soup. The decor is simple (set up from previous Pita Pocket owners) and comfortable. The service was great, very timely, even with a crowd.
I been reading reviews about the dinner menu, and it seems that maybe the night I have dined at Mi Lah, it was a bad night. I have returned to the restaurant during their lunch hours, and it is a totally different experience from what I seen the first time around. The service was quick and painless. The food was incredible, especially the hogie sandwich. The affordability of each item was decent, with good quality.
I would like to give the restaurant an extra star for their great lunch menu. However, it did not make up for the lack of service I experienced previously. I would give a 3 star, but as a vegan restaurant, it did not compete with other establishments nearby. I just feel that serving a hot dish on a metal bowl is irrelevant, and almost pretentious. The lack of common sense outshined it's original intention; so two stars.
I am a proud vegetarian, and I support any vegan restaurant. However, I cannot support such a… Read more »
I took my fiance here tonight for his 30th birthday and we both left full and happy. It was my first time at Mi Lah, and I'd give it a 3 1/2 stars overall. The food alone gets 5 stars as it was delicious, and the service was very friendly. However, in a restaurant that is trying to be higher end and offering expensive food like Horizons, I feel that you cannot charge Horizon's prices without giving a decent ambience. When you are paying $20 for an entree but feel as though you are sitting in a cheap cafe, then you start to feel as though you are paying too much. The ambience, in fact, is about a zero. Michael Jackson albums were playing on repeat and the lighting was harsh. Nothing wrong with MJ of course! But in a "fancy" restaurant? If you aren't going for a nice environment, and don't mind paying, the food (at least at dinner) is excellent. Incredibly flavorful. I had the red curry polenta cake which was amazing, and my fiance had these amazing seitan cakes which were almost "too" meaty! Furthermore the appetizer -- an unusual combination of toast, (vegan) cheese slices, edamame puree, and a roasted tomato -- was unexpectedly delicious. Finally, the fruit tart we had at the end was great. Hard to believe that was vegan. Overall, again, the food was excellent. But because it is fairly expensive, I wanted to feel as though we were in a nice restaurant, if that makes sense.
I would like to take the time to thank everyone who has visited Mi Lah over the past few months and written such wonderful reviews. Unfortunately the Mi Lah you have all been posting about will no longer exist as the casual vegan BYO that it was. The ownership of this restaurant has decided to go with an Asian fusion concept. While we wish the current staff and ownership the best of luck on their new concept, we felt it important to let you all know what was going on. Please feel free to contact me (krystina03@gmail.com) about our next adventures.
Have now been for both lunch and dinner and while it is a little spendy - this place is a must visit for all vegetarians and vegans (and their skeptical meat eating friends).
The soups are delightful and the tempeh appetizer is fantastic. We ordered the special of the evening which was one of the best dishes I have had in Philly. The one disappointment was their portobello pot pie. Not sure where the portobellos were and it certainly was not a pot pie (it had a piece of pita sitting atop a bowl of soupy filling).
The food is extremely fresh, flavorful, and colorful. This is simple vegan food at its best.
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Vegan
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Middle Eastern
Neighborhood: South Street District
Category: Vegan
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Chinese
Philadelphia, PA
Category: Restaurants
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