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The Red Avocado
Rating Details »
Category: Vegetarian [Edit]
521 E Washington StSte 3
Iowa City, IA 52240
(319) 351-6088
Winter Schedule
Since we don't serve lunch through the winter, we are offering frozen pizzas, 4-packs of Veggieburgers and a Friday lunch delivery service.
- Hours:
Tue-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Tue-Thu. 5:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
- Parking:
- Street, Private Lot
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
10 reviews for The Red Avocado
While staying in Iowa City a few days, er, during hot August nights/days...my nephew took us to this gem of a vegetarian restaurant for dinner. Katy and I ditched Mike and Kaila for some delicious food and beverage with a few housemates/medical students.
I would say that this place knows what true vegetarian/vegan is...although I am not usually big on purely veggie restaurants, this place was top notch. An interesting atmosphere, you should be sure to sit inside--pretty interesting rooms, we chose outside which was nice on a warm humid evening.
My highlight though was the watermelon, cucumber, apple fresh juice drink. Wow! What a cooling soother for a hot day...YUM!
If you're ever in Iowa City, stop there for some good veggie grub.
The Red Avocado has a simple, hippie sort of atmosphere and serves some really delicious vegan food. We started with the Appetizer Deluxe - three (delicious) spreads - hummus, carrot chipotle, and white bean pate, homemade pita chips and a selection of sliced veggies (which looked a little peaked, but tasted fine.) I would have liked to see a little more dip on that platter given the price of the starter. For mains, we tried the Veggie Burger Platter, which was possibly the most delicious veggie burger I have ever had, and the special of the day - a yummy pasta dish with basil-infused oil, veggies and cashews. The mains were seriously DELISH, which is why I am giving this restaurant a 4 star rating. It wasn't cheap, but it sure was good.
I was quite impressed by The Red Avocado when I first arrived in Iowa City five years ago, but have since become disenchanted with it.
The vegan menu is varied (pastas, curries, stir frys, etc.) and features daily drink, entree and appetizer specials. While I can forgive the fact that the entree special is usually just a variation on a theme, I am less inclined to excuse the chef's weird compulsion to incorporate 15 different items into one dish. (Perhaps the circular dinner plate encourages this?) As Tim Gunn would say, there's just too much going on...edit edit edit!
Of course, I probably wouldn't be upset by the lack of refinement if I wasn't paying prices indicative of a refined meal. Dinner entrees run between $14 and $23, while desserts, starter salads and appetizers are about $6 each. These prices have climbed steadily over the last few years while the portion sizes have shrunk. It is hard for two people sharing a nice dinner to get out of the Red Avocado for under $60 (which, for a vegan restaurant housed in a mostly windowless basement with institutional tables and chairs, is outrageous). I am sad to say that lunch is equally overpriced.
If The Red Avocado could sort through its very obvious identity issues, it could be a fabulous option (like Herbivore in San Francisco, for example). In the meantime, expect a solid low-to-mid-range restaurant trying desperately to pass itself off as something more.
Comment from David B. of
The Red Avocado
9/26/2009
Please note that our dinner menu ranges from $8-$18 and that…
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The Red Avocado offers a wealth of delicious food, grown locally and prepared to perfection. While it transcends the bohemian, eclectic feel of the 60s, the gourmet cuisine rivals some of the best in the 21st century.
If you attend on the last Wednesday of the month, your piece of mind can be filled along with your belly as The Red Avocado makes sure to give back to local charities and works programs on that day.
Their fresh curry danced on my tongue, the couple next to us enriched the conversation and dining experience as we chatted across tables, and the wait and kitchen staff could not have been more accommodating. Bravo!
Wow, I am incredulous; Yelp has made it to Iowa, people!
Located in the bottom floor of a house on a quaint, tree lined block complete with a great co-op grocery and a delightful bookstore, the Red Avocado is a slice of San Francisco in the Midwest. As explained by the insert in the menu, they serve vegetarian, organic food, use safe cleaning products, pay their workers over mininum wage, mitigate waste and compost.
The eats are tasty. I'd suggest the tempeh ruben, chock full of colorful veggies. They also have a great (non-al) drink menu listing fresh smoothies, juices and a killer iced-tea blend. My dad slurped his banana mango shake in one gulp!
The decor is an eclectic mixture of kitsch, cute and artistic. Try the mini courtyard in the back; the trellis is adorned by a lovely trumpet vine. Just watch out for the curious ants!
Oh man, I miss Red Avocado so much since moving away from Iowa City. The food here is amazing, and it's one of the few vegan restaurants I've ever encountered where the service is good and there are a few dishes on the menu that I haven't seen done anywhere else. Many veg*n restaurants have the same old things...tofu stir fries, veggie burgers, bean burrito, etc. Red Avocado has some of those things too, but they also have their own amazing versions of other things. Try the Jupiter's Gnocchi and the Coconut Corn Soup! Actually the coconut corn soup is delicious enough that sometimes I order a second bowl as my "dessert".
Prices are somewhat high for Iowa, but definitely reasonable given that they use fresh, local ingredients as much as possible.
They've got awesome, made-on-the-spot food for fair prices, considering their niche. Don't miss the spiced nuts! You can get them in plastic containers over at New Pi, but the atmosphere of this place is great, very artsy.
One of my faves in IC, although a little pricey for a poor grad student like me. Even though the food is vegan, I never feel deprived via substitutions (except that they don't have honey for their excellent teas: sorghum is just not my thing) -- the food stands on its own. My carnivore partner gets cravings for their gnocchi. The desserts are really good, too; I want to reverse engineer their ginger cake.
My only real complaint is that, while the portions seem appropriate during the meal, I always feel hungry about an hour after.
The Red Avocado is a vegetarian delight in the middle of Iowa. They have a regularly changing, seasonal menu but would make the most ardent carnivore forget the lack of meat. They make a great veggie burger and some fantastic tempeh. Worth a stop in downtown IC!
It can be hard to find veggie-friendly places in the midwest, but not so in IC. There are many options in town here and I can't say I would recommend this as a top choice. The food, although local and organic, was pretty bland and "hippy"-chic style. The atmosphere was strange too, dark basement setting with hand painted cinder block walls and too-small tables. Outdoor seating looks nice though, maybe if I had sat there (during the spring/summer) that might have given me a better overall impression of the restaurant.
