Emily "Mutaaaaants!" C.'s Profile

We had a late lunch here over the weekend after taking a long walk around Pt. Lobos. Busy day in the park, not so much in the Barnyard shopping center. Everyone in our group was pleased with their food and the waitstaff was friendly and quick with a water refill. I had the vegetarian platter, which was a ton of food but not necessarily exactly as described on the menu (certain vegetables were mentioned but not included), but the basic arrangement was veggie fajitas (bell peppers, onions, mushrooms), grilled whole scallions, thick zucchini slices, corn on the cob (mmm, buttery and carbony!), and half a plaintain cut lengthwise (rather nice and quite different from having it fried) with a few big slices of mediocre tomato and fat chunks of avocado, with a side of warmed corn tortillas, green rice, and black beans. My only real complaint about this place is that it's expensive, but I'm just a cheapskate. Considering the quality of the food (it's good!), the quantity (it's a lot!) and the location (it's in Carmel, for the love of god), you can do a lot worse on cash.

I really want to like this place--it's not far from me, it has good prices, and it has a massive menu of Vietnamese-style vegetarian food (without being Supreme Master-associated, from what I could tell--these guys had only straight up Buddhist iconography in store). Clearly the thing to get is a soup, but which one? There's so many. SO many. I think the one I ended up choosing was a special something-or-other with a spicy broth and wheat noodles. It was good--not the greatest, but good. Vegan boyfriend was less pleased with his, citing what he might call off flavors. Still, I think we owe these guys a second chance--on an order of something with rice noodles.

Came here craving zaru soba and they delivered. Chilly, sturdy soba with a not-too-salty broth and a little bit of extra flavoring--scallion, sesame, seaweed, wasabi. I could have used a little more of that, really.

From the reviews, it sounds like this is a good sushi place, it just goes "vege-whaaaa?" to people like me. There's a few things we can order, and they're of varying quality. They are fresh, though. Fresh, but...okay, how hard is it to make an avocado roll? The rice wasn't great and they overstuffed the nori so it didn't even go all the way around. Weird and oddly bland (even for what it was).

Service was friendly but a little slow--though probably we're just speed eaters.

Decent prices and quick service for okay chaat. Like many quick serve chaat places I've been, the food is brought out in styrofoam, so if you're trying to be an environmentalist it isn't the best bet. The items we tried--samosa, sprout bhel, pani poori, a dal, etc.--were good, but items with sugar were a tad too sweet for me.

We came at an odd hour, so service wasn't a problem, and the food was good. On par with Vegetarian House, its sister restaurant, so it's what I expected. I tried their version of bun bue, which hit the spot (I was feeling under the weather). There are many places to get this type of veg*n Asian food in Silicon Valley, so why go here? Well, if you're in the area, it's as good an option as any. It's new, so it hasn't had time to distinguish itself, but with Lu Lai gone, I'm happy to still have a good place to go (East Asian) veg in Milpitas.

Just an update that the strip mall these guys are located in is under construction, so they've moved...across the parking lot. The new location is more spacious and cheerier, since they painted it a nice yellow and added wall decor, but the menu and the owners are the same team that's been behind Habibi all along. (I did overhear the owner say they can't offer hookah anymore, though, and there's no porch off the new unit.)

Fried cauliflower was added to the meze menu since we last ate here--it's delicious! Not greasy, just good cauliflower with tahini sauce.

I enjoyed the food here. It wasn't the best Thai food ever, but it was more than acceptable. There were a few things that made the overall experience better than average for me, though:

1. They were easygoing about vegetarian options. (Not uncommon, but always a plus.)
2. They spiced it up for us really well.
3. The server was SUPER friendly and the food came out fast--no doubt in part because we were just less than an hour before closing, which I hate to do, but they were accommodating regardless.
4. The decor is cute--simple, but you know at least a little effort went into it.
5. Prices were reasonable considering the quality of food.
6. Veggies were NOT overcooked.
7. Brown rice. Again, not rare, but I always give points for it.

We grabbed a takeout menu and I'm sure we'll return.

We finally made it to this relative newcomer to the South Bay Asian vegetarian restaurant scene (a bigger scene than some might assume), and we liked it quite a bit. Inside, it's one of the better-looking veggie places--colorful, with red pendant lights over each table instead of bright fluorescents everywhere. The food was good, too. I'm sure we'll be back.

We tried the potstickers, which...were actually deep-fried dumplings, so not what we expected and not our favorite, but still decent. The wonton soup was a reasonable entry, with a broth that's a touch sweeter than some places would use and a ton of veggies--bok choy, broccoli, and carrots. The spicy green beans and tofu was good--my boyfriend loved it; I thought it was a tad oily and salty.

The Vietnamese crepe was a large, crispy plateful of crepe stuffed with bean sprouts and diced...other stuff and another plate of red leaf lettuce, mint, cilantro, and a tangy sauce with shredded carrot and jicama (or maybe radish). It was not served with an explanation of how to eat it, exactly, so we ended up slicing up pieces of the stuffed crepe, ripping up the greens, dressing it, and eating it almost like a salad. Sort of. At any rate, we have no idea what we should have done, but this way tasted pretty good.

And I'm sure once I finish reading all 65 Yelp reviews I will be put to shame regarding how to eat a Vietnamese crepe.

I just can't give semi-major chains more than three stars. It might be totally hypocritical (I haven't cross-checked all my reviews), but right now I just can't. That said, if you're gonna do chain fast food, you can do a hell of a lot worse than Chipotle. I've been here a few times and eaten once because a former coworker of mine is obsessed with the place. The food components are good and you can get exactly what you want, the way that you want it, and it's pretty inexpensive.

Once their credit card machine was down and they gave my friend her lunch for free: That's the kind of service a big chain can afford to give that the little guys can't.

BTW, the parking here is stupid. There's a huge lot apparently reserved only for the Sherwin-Williams paint next door, a bunch of 30-minute spots along the back wall, and a weird garage under the condos that people in SUVs are fighting over all lunch hour.

This place *seems* fancy. It also seems much more geared toward the meat eater than any Indian restaurant I've been to before. The veggie section is almost paltry and there's nothing earth-shattering therein. Even so, the food we did try was prepared very well. The parathas (we tried aloo and mint) were flaky and crispy, really quite lovely. The okra masala was very tasty and the dal of the day was good, with at least one flavor note we're not used to noticing (fenugreek, maybe?). They'll bring papadums and chutney (good stuff) to your table right off, and the food comes out quickly. It's all pretty good, just standard (to my mind).