It’s always a good feeling when you go to a vegan restaurant and are pleasantly surprised with some or all aspects of your visit.
Case in point, there’s a vegan restaurant here in Las Vegas that’s been around for a few years now. My wife and I have passed by this establishment too many times to mention.
But, we never had the desire to try their food. We’ve looked at their menu numerous times, but, the main reason is that their food is mostly what I call “Carnival” Food. You know what I mean!
They are the types of foods that make up about 90% of most vegan restaurants’ menus such as burgers, tacos, quesadillas, beer-battered mushrooms, and the like. In most cases, the burgers or meat substitutes aren’t made on-site but rather they sometimes use Impossible burgers, frozen vegan beef or chicken strips, Beyond Burgers, or Just Eggs.
But on this particular day, for some unknown reason, we decided to take the plunge and give the place a try. Like any new restaurant that we are planning to try, our strategy is always to order something small from the menu.
Why spend a lot of money on something that isn’t going to be good?
My go-to sample food always seems to be French fries in some capacity. So much so, that friends joke about how much French Fries I eat. This time was no different. I ordered the Carne Asada Fries, which consisted of cheeze sauce, plant-based steak, pico de gallo, guacamole, and chipotle sour cream.
My reasoning for the fries sample is if you can’t do fries right, how can you prepare anything else good? This has always been a good indicator for me, remembering limp and undercooked fries in other restaurants.
The 5 things that I look for in a good Vegan restaurant are:
- Good Food
- Decent Service
- Decore / cleanliness
- Portion Size
- Costs
To my surprise, the fries were not only good but over-the-top good! The service was great as well, being greeted with warm smiles the minute we walked through the door, which continued throughout our meal. And Clean!
Another turn-off is walking into a restaurant and immediately seeing that cleanliness isn’t number one on their list, or seeing flies buzzing around, or dirty tables, floors, etc.
This place had a great décor, bright, clean tables and floors. It was also great to see that they had an open kitchen, which allowed you to watch them preparing your food if you wanted.
Another pleasant surprise was the portions. The last time I used my “French Fries” test at another restaurant, I was greeted with a minuscule-sized order of limp fries. But the portion size at this restaurant was heaping big! So big in fact, if we didn’t have another errand to run that afternoon I would have gotten a to-go box.
Of course, I ate it all, stuffed, but pleasantly surprised by how good it was. The fries were crispy, the in-house-made vegan steak was moist and tasty, and all the sauces and guacamole were the way they should be! And finally, the cost was just right.
Some vegan restaurants have a habit of really overcharging their customers. Should a stack of 3 pancakes really cost $19 when the main ingredient is flour?
Although my wife doesn’t use the “French Fries’ test, she was also pleasantly surprised with her order of the Crispy Chick’n sandwich which was also served with fries that she really liked. Having eaten in numerous vegan restaurants in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Portland, Baltimore, Long Island, and places in between, it was a good experience to be pleasantly surprised when trying a new vegan restaurant!
Of course, these things shouldn’t be surprises at all, they should be the norm for customers, and every restaurant should be a great experience for their patrons! A recent study found that 86% of consumers will pay up to 25% more for a better customer experience. It’s even been said that customer service is more important than the quality of your restaurant’s food.