Karyn's Cooked
$$ - average
Eclectic (Varied)
Conscious Comfort Food
This restaurant is a collaboration between Karyn of Karyn's Fresh Corner and one of the original Soul Vegetarian East chefs. The food is an array of soul food, pizza, fajitas, pasta, burgers, cakes, pies and other "comfort" foods. There is also a raw foods special every day.
Take the Brown Line to the Chicago stop. One block east, on Wells between Chicago and Superior.
- Quiet
- Romantic
Added by Lola on Feb 20 05 (updated Apr 12 06)
Reviews
Karyn's Cooked has a unique combination of qualities from some of the best vegan restaurants in Chicago. It has a sleek decor like Green Zebra, prices that fall somewhere between the Chicago Diner and Soul Veg, elixirs and other health items commonly found at Karyn's and some of the Soul Veg classics. The menu includes items like mac and cheese, sloppy jo, "ribs," vegan pizza, smoothies and key lime pie. All of the food that I had while I was there was very good. The service was fast and friendly. As far as I know, this is the first vegan-friendly restaurant to open up in the heart of downtown Chicago.
I went here with a bunch of friends and ended up liking all of their dishes better than my own. I ordered the veggie ribs, which were highly recommended, but they ended up being really chewy and very un-meat like. One friend had the vegan nachos and another had the raw platter (had various spreads and pates), and both of those were really good. I ordered a slice of cake which was good, but certainly not worth the $7 I paid for it.
My wife and I have been here numerous times since it opened, and we love to bring our non-vegan friends and family, who leave impressed with the variety and overall quality of the food. Service can be spotty--frustratingly so for a place that is not cheap--but we always enjoy our meals. And I can't believe no one has mentioned the raw desserts! They are fantastic.
I went with a six other folks and was able to try a lot of different things. All of the appetizers and entrees, were excellent, though the cake I had for dessert was not quite at the same level.
I really enjoyed the BBQ skewer appetizer, and taco salad was quite tasty as well. I had the meatloaf entree for dinner, and it was really good. For dessert, I had the double chocolate cake. It was good, but the cake was a little dry, and the icing could've had less oil and more chocolate, in my opinion.
The service was generally good, though not amazing.
I'd definitely come back here in the future, but as far as upscale vegan food goes, I still think Counter and Candle 79 in NYC are the best.
i've eatin ' here maybe about 6/7 times- they have a nice berry infused wine, and i love the tofu eggless salad. i'm not too keen on the corn bread and the desserts remind me of soul veg, but not as cheap. the potatoes au gratin is new for vegan tho' - they are pretty good. i would not recommend the deep fried cauliflower- way too salty!
My husband and I just discovered Karyn's about one month ago. We have gone there three times since then, and we live about 1.5 hours away! Everything we have had is delicious. The menu on Karyn's website is identical to the one in the restaurant. Sunday brunch is great. The desserts are to-die-for! We have had the coconut cake, banana cake, and double chocolate cake. The coconut cake was our favorite.
This is one of my favorite veg places to eat at. I don't know why others reviewers were saying this place is expensive, are they looking for McDonald's prices? Also I am always overly full when I leave, most of the time I can't finish everything on my plate. The place is nice and clean, the food is fresh and a great price! The only thing is sometimes the service is slow, but maybe is takes awhile to cook the food because it's made to order. The desserts are awesome. Don't listen to the gripes of these other people go and check it out.
The food here is really good. The lasagna is delicious, as is the meatball sandwich. The service is great, and I really like the atmosphere. My biggest complaint is the price of the food versus the portion size. I don't mind paying a little extra because it's downtown and slightly more upscale than other veggie restaurants. However, if I pay $13 for an entree, I expect to get a filling portion. I got an appetizer-sized portion, which just doesn't cut it. The only side was a couple very small pieces of garlic bread. Everyone left hungry.
The desserts are really awesome! They have lots and lots of vegan cakes and pies. The one I tried -- the German Chocolate cake -- was very good and rich. Everyone I was there with really liked the place. I am not sure if I like it. I love the fact that all the food is vegan and that they have great desserts. But I was not overly impressed with the food, which may simply be because I don't care much for American food (although their mac and "cheese" was very good). And I find the atmosphere of the place a bit pompous and not very comfortable. I also thought it was expensive for the type of food you get (e.g. sandwiches or wraps). But hey, all the food is vegan, and other people seem to really like it so I would take a group of people there if I was to decide where we want to go.
I read the reviews about this restaurant and it really made me want to try it out.
We ordered chilli and lasagna. The chiili was nothing like I've ever tasted before... absolutely awesome!
The lasagna was a little less awesome but still very good.
I'm spoiled by the Vegan restaurants in NYC so my standards are really high. Though Karyn's wasn't like any of the NYC places, it still was pretty damn good.
What I was most impressed with was Tara who took our orders. She was very friendly and when it was time for dessert we each got a tiny free scoop of ice cream :)
Their dessert display is so attractive and it was difficult to choose one particular thing. I had almost decided on German chocolate Cake which looked the yummiest but Tara convinced me to try Peach Cobbler. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!!!
Oh and we also met Karyn.
The location, the people, the desserts.... it's definitely worth going to.
Only thing that prevented me from giving me 10 stars is that I found it a little too pricey for the small portions.
Quantity wise it's not that great but the quality of the food makes up for it.
Incredible. The service was great; the food was phenomenal, and it was just an overall fabulous dining experience. The restaurant is great for a date or a nice outing with friends. Karyn was there when I ate, and she took the time to say hi and ask how everything was! I hope the restaurant succeeds because I look forward to going back.
Phenomenal. Great food, great service.
I've been to Karyn's Cooked three times and had superb food every single visit. Try the lasagne or the green enchiladas or the cheesecake. However, the service has been mediocre at best. Waiters are slow and inattentive and occasionally rude or curt. One time I waited over 45 minutes for my food without anyone telling me that the oven was malfunctioning. And the restaurant had only two customers in it! They did compensate me with a free dessert, but the service should be much better, considering the higher prices and food quality of the place.