Pokez
$ - inexpensive
Mexican
Mexican cuisine
Veg-friendly Mexican restaurant. The servers are extremely knowledgeable about the dishes' ingredients, and vegetarian and vegan options, of which there are many, are clearly marked on the menu.
Downtown at e street between 9th and 10th.
- (Mostly) Organic
Added by fakey fakerson on Aug 25 03 (updated Jan 2)
Reviews
The food is not bad (it is not really good, either), but the service is. Always slow and usually surly. If there is something wrong with your order, do not expect a correction, and brace yourself for a confrontation should you bring it up. Apparently they decided to drastically reduce their customer service in order to keep their prices very low.
Vegan-friendly restaurants should be encouraged, but with shoddy service and spotty food, I would recommend dining elsewhere.
This is a funky place. Word is that the wait staff is mostly volunteer and work for tips. It doesn't have the cleanest feel, but they seem to keep that "A" placard going.
The food is good (I wouldn't say great), cheap, and plentiful. By the way, it's not exclusively veggie, but they have lots of vegan and vegetarian options, all marked on the menu as such. They are famous for their potato (or potato & tofu) tacos. Very tasty indeed.
Contrary to other reviewers, I never had a bad experience with the service here. Often they have gone above and beyond for me -- for instance, once a waiter noticed that my take-out order had cheese on it, which I wouldn't have noticed until I got back to work. Maybe it was because I was an incredibly frequent customer, but I was impressed that he remembered I was vegan and had an eye out for me.
Also, since the waiters work exclusively for tips and the food is so cheap, I've always tipped pretty heavily -- 20% minimum and usually more -- so maybe that's another reason why I haven't had bad experiences.
Vegan items are plentiful and clearly marked. The waiters will know exactly what you're talking about when you ask about vegan items. My personal favorite is the bean and vegan chorrizo (sic). The sauce they serve it with is amazing, and I wish they bottled it. They also have a great cabbage side salad.
If only they had desserts.