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I've been here twice for dinner and it has never been a disappointment. The last time I went (about a month ago) I ordered the soy chicken with tomato rice and the boyfriend ordered the steamed rice with pan fried soy beef. To be honest, it was very difficult to choose from the menu because there were so many options...which is a good thing. Also, the soy beef tasted pretty similar to the soy chicken, but what do you expect; they are made out of the same stuff! But the sauces and spices make all the difference, which they actually do well here.
The prices are very reasonable and the servings are just right. It's in a good location because there's a good crepe place right next door for dessert!
I totally recommend this place for the carnivores and omnivores out there.
WOW... the food and presentation takes me away... vegan food that looks actually like normal food we order at other restaurant... Healthy foods temp me to come back every time...and of course the companies...
I had been here many times and I always ask whats new on the menu, or what should I try next; just so I can experiences the variety items.. I love TOFU, and tofu anything, tofu everything and I love the food made and taste here.. YOU GOTTA GIVE IT A TASTE!!
They are located in the heart of 'Little Saigon' area off of Bolsa. The restaurant had just expanded and now the place look amazing, and very clean...They are also set up for us to book PRIVATE EVENTS... wooohoo!!
A MUST go... TO EAT Restaurant.. IF you like NEW VENTURE... healthy, interesting food... Great place for meetup; groups and gathering... The food will SURPRISE your taste bud...I have to say very interesting...YUMMO
Returned here after eating at the Crepe Corner (which is connected). We ordered to-go. We got the special on the white board, the fried "chicken" wings. They were delicious! It came with a dipping sauce which made it even better. It came with a decent amount for about 7.00. We also ordered the soy satay beef which was also amazing. The seasoning was great and the texture wasn't weird nor did it leave a funny after taste like other fake meats. I love pho but hate that the soup base is usually beef broth..so I'm excited to return here again to try their vegetarian pho, as well as all the other items on their menu. Oh try their tomato rice! =)
The service is great yet I think the sweet waitress might have had a difficult time understanding us. Try to order by the number on the menu!
If you DO order out you should go next door while you wait and get a tea or crepe! They're yummy!
If you're using a credit card the minimum is $20 for Zen and $10 for Crepe Corner!
I am not normally a vegetarian but I hear such good rave about this place that I had to go see it for myself. The menu is vietnamese food which I enjoy alot. The owner is my ex good friend so she recommended a few things for me to try. My favorite there is their duck noodle soup which I enjoy alot. I didn't even miss any meat when i was eating this meal. I even like it that much where I took some of my friends here afterward. I do like this place alot and I think i can be a part time vegetarian.
I got the coconut juice and clay pot with rice and chicken lemon grass, which is #64. the coconut juice was fairly sweet and had lots of slices of coconut floating along with the ice.. Yum. Anyway, the rest of my party decided to get tea, which was served in shotglass-sized cups, but fortunately there was a nice kettle sitting by to refill :) we also ordered spring rolls for a starter, which was good, but the peanut sauce was a bit runny and wasn't as thick as I'd hoped for.
We also ordered egg rolls with some leafy greens, and that was okay.. The egg rolls were relatively small, but nice and crisp. The greens actually turned out to be mint leaves
However the service was fairly swift, as after the starter arrived, dishes kept coming after we finished them.
The actual dish was pretty good, it actually fooled me for a second into thinking it was meat :) (always a good sign)
I'll probably be coming back for more :D
This is a great restaurant. I always get #45, yellow noodles with tofu "duck" filet, and the fried soy "pork" egg rolls. The flavor is awesome. The steamed rice is also soooo good here. It has a tastier flavor than usual. I recommend. I don't think that they charge for plain old iced tea, either, which is nice. I'm not vegetarian but I enjoy the food here. I leave with a happy tummy and no guilt.
How often can you have live music and food for less than $15 per person in Southern California? The food here is very reasonable and you can enjoy it on most nights while listening to a cool dude playing classical guitar. While we were there on a Tuesday we heard him play Beethoven :) Very cool. Some ladies there seemed to be a very shy singing group out for dinner and took turns teasing each other into going up to the mike for a solo. We heard one lady sing while we were there. She had a beautiful voice and we were really surprised at how cool the music was for the price.
This is probably gonna sound weird to people, since we are at a Vietnamese restaurant here.... but here goes. I lived in Japan for three years and I get to missing the food I loved there. The yellow noodles here taste like really good Japanese shoyu ramen-- better and fresher than that instant sh*te they serve up at the Mitsuwa food court. Add a little soy sauce and some white pepper and you are in business. The yellow noodles are DELICIOUS and cooked just right, not too soggy.
In response to other reviews-- I can't speak Vietnamese to save my life and I haven't had a problem ordering. If you are going to ask a bunch of dumb questions, then you will probably have trouble. So I'll clue you readers in now, so clean out your ears and listen up. YES, this is ALL vegetarian food. The "chicken," "shrimp" and "duck" etc. in the menu is ALL made of soy protein. Don't bother asking about how the food is made and stuff. This will fluster your server, who if she's the girl with the glasses and the ponytail, has limited English-- but she is very nice. There's a woman with long hair who works the register sometimes whose English is excellent. She told me her dad is the gentleman who plays the guitar is her dad. She was really nice and friendly.
Fantastic vegetarian food at fantastic prices! Great remodel, really nice service and it actually makes you full!
I love the "ca kho" and the "ap chao" here.. sooo deelish! and the "xa xiu" is zomg drool worthy
great if you're thinking about going vegan or vegetarian cuz it totally doesn't taste like it at all. :)
What a nice restaurant. Sure, it doesn't have much floor space, and it may get cramped when full, and the service is a bit lacking (seriously, no refill on my water and hot tea, really?) But, half the food was really good, and half the food was disappointing.
The Good:
1) The Spring Rolls with Faux Shrimp was really good. It had a filler of a vege meat slice in it but that's fine, because it was really delicious. I didn't have the sauce, because, well, I'm allergic to peanuts.
2) "com bo luc lac" -- the steamed rice with pan fried soy beef was a hit, and was very tasty and done well. The texture and the taste didn't taste like soy and that was good.
3) "com ga siu siu" -- the soy chicken ginger rice with steamed soy chicken and vegetable was also really good. the texture looked like shredded chicken.
4) the tomato rice that came with "com ga chien don" was also very tasty.
The Bad:
1) the "com nuong suon ram" -- clay pot rice with soy barbeque ribs was a disappointment in contrast to the pan fried soy beef. it wasn't as flavorful or even as tasty compared to the pan fried soy beef. fun fact: the "fake bone" of the ribs is edible.
2) the "com ga chien don" -- the soy chicken was cut in to slices, so it didn't look like the fake chicken in the pictures, and that was disappointing. the faux chicken was fine, but not impressive. and we really wanted to see the fake chicken shape. i mean, really, if you are going to have soy chicken in the shape of a half chicken shown in the ad, please server that to people who order it. i didn't get my half chicken looking soy chicken.
3) the service wasn't great at all. we didn't get refills easily. my water was empty lots of the time and so was my tea cup. and they weren't even that busy at times.
4) the parking sucks a bit. if you come later in the afternoon / early evening, parking is easier, but there's so many time limited parking at the shared plaza parking, that its better to park across the way or on the street side.
The food that was really good was really good. The food that wasn't so great or good was just okay but not really crappy either. The service can be slow, even on a slow cycle, but if you are there with friends and/or family and are talking a lot, time will zip by fast between food settings and getting the bill and such. And, if you sit there for an hour, after ordering and devouring food, and not really order anything for awhile, and just sit and talk, they don't seem to push you to leave either, which is cool.
(And next door is a crepe cafe...)
Language barrier warning---unless you're Vietnamese. Which you probably aren't, which I will then ask how in the world you ended up here, which you will politely respond with, "Champ, your review was so well written I had to come to find out on my own". Anyway, bring Vietnamese speaking friend if you want to make it as far as ordering your food.
BTW* They finished their remodel/renovation, now they have a big dining area, and the to-go food stand is now in the new section. I miss the old Zen.
Bizarre environment, amazing food.
I've been on a Tofu diet lately, and all I do is come here at…
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The fiance and i needed a vegetarian place near to a friend's house and a yelp search turned up this gem.
The customer service was stellar--from calling in the order, to picking it up a mere fifteen minutes later. The food was very good--outstanding for the price!
We are looking forward to eating Zen again. :)
They've just finished remodeling their restaurant & expanded their dinning in area...It's very nice, very clean & open decor =) The dine in food is just awesome, very healthy, very close to real meat dishes & very pleasant dinning experience with waitresses being very friendly & nice. =) A great overall place for vegetarians & non-veggies..=)
The Veggie food here is VERY good & very authentic REAL vegetarian food here & great kunch… Read more »
This is my friend's mom restaurant. I love her mom cooking! So good! My favorite dishes is Bun Bo Hue!! I always asked to give me extra noodles! LOL! They just recently just remodeled and expanded the restaurant. Half of it is the restaurant and other half is Crepe. Yummy Crepe! Best vegetarian food that I have so far and it is close by! =)
I had to check this place out once I found that they have Pho on their menu (I gotta go!). I was also curious about this quirky looking place seemingly sitting right there on the sidewalk.
And I gotta go I did yesterday.
I was also feeling clogged and wanted something light and healthy (The veins, not the intestine. My cholesterol level is a wee bit high at 320). I'm also beginning to like vegetarian places simply because sometimes they have shockingly tasty food, tastes I have not yet experienced, which make it great fun.
The soup was light but had depth to the flavor and a clean aftertaste (Nice). Halfway through I added lime juice and it was great, the soup works really well with lime (Very nice).
Pics: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
The vegetable-chicken was pretty good as well and was very edible (I assume it's made from skimmed tofu called Yuba, never cared for it but this chicken was good as I said).
It was lightly flavored and it was not shockingly tasty (Like at Bo De half a block south) but the texture was pleasant to chew on with just enough flavors and it was satisfying and addictive (Very nice nice).
The noodles were average. They crumbled apart somewhat easily and were on the soft side but tasted good otherwise (So-so nice).
Mild gripes are the soft forgettable noodles (Why can't I have hearty strong firm noodles?) and the soup that quickly lost heat (A tad more piping hot would be appreciated).
Halfway through, the lady there talked to me in Vietnamese (when she saw the Fish on my table which I also ordered), then walked away with my fish (Untouched at the time). What just happened...?
Question marks sprouted from my head while I continue to slurp the noodles and watch her walk away with the fish, nonchalantly and in no particular hurry from what I can see. No problem, I was in no hurry as well so I decided to be patient.
Okay....maybe they brought the wrong item, that must be it.
But nothing came back. I decided to ask nicely when I was about done with the soup (The veins on my forehead might have been bulging out a bit but I didn't feel it).
She was just asking if this was brought to me in error it turns out (She thought I said no when I started to say that I don't' speak Vietnamese, the innocent lost look on my face not withstanding. The innocent look stops at 20? Ok, but...my fish...).
She gave it back to me promptly after we conversed in English, the same exact item, same plate, the Vegetarian Fish with Lemon Grass.
It was ok IMHO, tasted mostly of tofu but no offending taste anywhere and I devoured it all.
So it was nice? Yes I guess.
Bizarre looking thing though, freaked me out (Yikes...!). Pics posted.
So it was a minor distraction to otherwise peaceful lunch but no biggie at all. She thought it strange one person ordering 2 dishes; well if she saw my pot belly she'd think strange why I'm not ordering 3 dishes maybe, ha ha... No, no my belly is not so bad and I look cool when I'm not naked, yea, where's my shirt? I have to go to the usual spot on the sidewalk to inhale some nicotine.
I love Vietnamese food and Vegetarian food, so when I saw this restaurant while driving through Little Saigon, I had to give it a try. The restaurant was mildly busy at lunch time. The menu is colorful and has photos of the different dishes, which is very helpful. They have a lot of rice & vegetarian meat replacement "meat like" dishes and also Pho's and other dishes. I ordered the chicken (Not real chicken) with Lemon grass. It came with white rice (cooked perfectly) and the dish tasted great. It tasted very close to chicken and was spicy and flavorful. . I look forward to going back with friends or myself and trying the different meat " like" places. I think if someone is a vegetarian, they'll really enjoy this restaurant. It's located with a Crepe & coffee shop type place next door to it and the crepes look amazingly good and it's nice to have lunch and then walk a few feet and get a tasty desert or tea drink. They also have free Wifi. There is an excellent Vegetarian place in downtown HB and now people have another place to try if they're up in Little Saigon. It's great. Even if you're not Vegetarian, these dishes are very healthy and taste like or better than the real thing. UPDATE: I've been there like 5 times now and each time the food has been excellent. Going to 5 stars on this one. Try the "beef" ribs. They're excellent, not real beef, of course, but the taste is amazing and the bone in the middle is bamboo. Again, excellent food and great service. P.S. If you don't feel like sitting down dining, they have a almost Chinese fast food set up where you can get the food to go and the prices are a deal.
I love the food and the service here. It's all about the quality to me. It's clean and the owners are super friendly. I love their BUN BO HUE (Vegie beef noodle soup).
Depending on what day you're going, you might get a cold waitress. However, the owners will come out and greet you all the time. Highly recommended to those vegans who are thrive to try something different. :D
Oh before I forgot, if you're lazy to cook, stop by this place for cheap TO GO lunch. How can you say no to TOFU meat?
This review is from a non-vege who occasionally do enjoy vegetarian food made by family.
After my week of meat eating, Zen Restaurant was a nice break. We ordered Tom Yum Hot Pot....yeah the portion was not as big as your regular Thai place, but for a non-shrimp dish, it was actually pretty good. As for the Ginger Fish...I thought it was just ok...I would much rather eat my aunt's version of Vege Ca Kho To.
We sat outdoor, which I thought was rather nice. Our lady server was pretty friendly.
FANTASTIC VEGAN food! I brought my family and some out-of-town relatives, relying on Yelpers to feed their hunger, and everyone in my party of 6 came out raving how much they love the food. We tried everything from spring rolls, to the clay hotpots, to the noodle soups and a couple of veggie stand-alone dishes. All the flavors were distinct and dynamite, even the simple broth that accompanied my mom's lemongrass "chicken"! They even offer 4 different kinds of rice on the menu. The ambiance is really nice as the furniture is new and the tall glass windows give the place a light and airy feeling. Still full after 2 hours later, but not at all heavy. Oh, and service is so nice--the waitress who served us spoke English just fine as well as the other adults behind the counter (perhaps we had a different server than the past Champ reviewer).
My good friend Cyndi and I had dinner here tonight. We were seated immediately by a really nice girl (so glad it wasn't that cold woman the others have mentioned!). We started off with the goi cuon (spring rolls with soy shrimp). I could hardly taste a difference from the real thing! Later we decided to share the com bo luc lac (soy beef with tomato/cucumber slices and white rice). The girl asked if we were sharing, and I said yes, and it came out split for us! It didn't taste like any bo luc lac I've ever had, but it was pretty good. I will definitely be back to try other items.
okay so usually...well from my past experiences..i hate viet food. but coming across this one introduced by a friend (who also ordered for me)...i was very satisfied w/ my meal. i dont think i can be of any help sine i dont know what i was eating (the names of the tofu dishes) but they were EXCELLENT. and we got this...spring roll-type things...but i wasnt fried or nething...super good/healthy. neway..the 2 bad things;
1) fckn flies kept harassing us
2) waitress was very cold
Vegetarian & Vegan friendly. Came here looking for some greasy take out and was surprised by the food quality. Everything that we ordered was super tasty and the girls working were incredibly nice. We were left really full but not in a "we just ate our weight in msg" sort of way...really good full! I would definitely recommend the tofu and vegetable soup!
an example of orange county's secret treasures, zen vegetarian (or Quan Cm Chay Viet Nam) is all smiles and cute decor upon arrival.
then you try the food and you want to move to some hidden all vegetarian vietnam. i like to start with the tofu/pork spring rolls to share. then the soy fish on sizzling plate with vegetables and rice paper is almost too fun, as you make your own "fishy" spring rolls. very delicious.
but don't leave without trying the soy fried fish with lemongrass. this one tiny, yet satisfying dish (with an appropriate price of five dollars) sparked a new period in my life i like to call 'obsession with fake fish'.
aside from that, everything i've tried has been good to great. the chef's special roasted chicken is realistic to the point of shape and delicious to the point of mouth watering. vermicelli bowl with bbq pork is fresh and "meaty" and six bucks and filling. dammit, i am so hungry.
they also have a deli with really cheap food you can take home because, i assure you, you will want more for later.
The vegetarian foods are pretty good here. I usually just get the togo and have yet to dine in. Their menu does carry lot of variety dishes. I'm a fan of Goi Ngo Xen (Lotus Root Salad)! Service is good, very friendly people and the place is clean.
Dined in a few months ago. Food was bland, flies flying everywhere, service non existent. I was sorely disappointed.
I found out about this place through a close friend of mine. I honestly do know a little about vietnamese food as I have quite a few vietnamese friends. I must say though that I was very skeptical about soy meat products. I am very happy to say hough that the soy meat products they had were simply excellent. I found myself forgetting that I wasn't eating meat quite often, and to top it off, didn't miss eating meat at all while I was there. I've been back quite a few times since my first visit, and have been trying many different dishes on the menu, as they have a wide selection of choices. Another thing about the restaurant is the atmosphere. There are paintings on the walls by local artists, a piano in the back, and the patio outside looks like a parisian bistro from out of a Monet painting. It really is a charming little place to have lunch or dinner, or even some cafe su dat (vietnamese coffee.) The vegetables are fresh, the sauces are tasty and the wait staff is(are) charming; One young lady in particular whose name escapes me was particularly adorable ;-) I guess I just can't say enough good things about the place. One more thing is that the food tastes very authentic to my knowledge, which is something I find to be very important. I highly recommend this establishment for anybody looking for a great vietnamese vegetarian experience!
i haven't been here in a while, and i'm sitting here wondering why. it's really not that far and the food is amazing. all of their fish is fantastic. especially the plate that comes with all of the ingredients to make your own spring rolls, including really saucy vegan fish. kung pao chicken is REALLY good. there's also like a chicken roast thing. that looks like a whole chicken. it's pretty good but a little sweet for my tastes. they also have a deli case with a bunch of warm food you can take home. the people are really nice and always willing to give you samples of the food. i've never really gotten anything here that i didn't like. i hope i can go back soon to experience everything else it has to offer.
Westminster, CA
Category: Vegetarian
Westminster, CA
Category: Vegetarian
Huntington Beach, CA
Category: Vietnamese
Huntington Beach, CA
Category: Vegetarian
Fountain Valley, CA
Category: Vegan
Garden Grove and Westminster, that's it (that's…
Vegetarian / Vegan Restaurant options from…
