Vegetarian House
Hours
Daily
- 11am - 9pm
$$ - average
Chinese
Chinese style vegetarian food
Vegetarian House is a simply decorated restaurant with a really big menu that includes lots of faux meat dishes: beef, chicken, shrimp, and fish (they do not have a faux pork section). They also have a section on tofu and vegetable dishes, one for chef's specials, and one for desserts. All the food at Vegetarian House is vegan except for 2 dishes: the lemon "chicken" and the crab dish.
At the front of the restaurant, there is a freezer with tofu and faux meat products you can buy.
Right in the heart of Chinatown, almost on Burnside.
- Buffet
Added by Kelly Holmes on May 29 04 (updated Apr 27 08)
Reviews
I love the buffet. All you can eat spring rolls, lo mien, tempura, soup, fried rice rice and other new food every weekday. It is the best! I come here more often then any other restaurant.
Wow, this menu is huge!! And it's pretty much all vegan! I felt like going up to other people's tables to ask them what they were having; all the food looked so yummy. I was there three times; the food was always good and the servers were very nice. This is a great place to come with a group of people so you can order a bunch of dishes and share. I should note that they also have vegan desserts!! I tried the deep fried banana with red bean paste and I thought it was amazing; it's definitely worth trying if you have a sweet tooth!
Update: I went there for the buffet lunch and it was not great. It was pretty cheap ($6.50 for all you can eat), but there were not a lot of options and the food was very typical -- fried rice, noodles, miso soup, tempura veggies -- and not that yummy. I still like this restaurant a lot, but I don't think it's worth going there for the buffet lunch. Today I decided to buy a pack of faux meat from their freezer: it's a huge and only $8.50!
This restaurant is ok. The atmosphere is cold and bland, with artificial lighting. The staff is alright. The food is very processed, and some dishes are greasy. The cashew chicken is the best dish on the menu in my opinion. Eat here if you are in the area and there are no other restaurants open.
Compared to other mock meat Chinese restaurants I have visited, the Vegetarian House lacks in atmosphere, as well as flavor. The food was mediocre at best, and I wasn't that impressed with the service. I would recommend Bay Leaf, which has 100 times better food and a comfortable, beautiful atmosphere for just a little more money. For me, the food was just to simple and greasy at Vegetarian House.
I ate here a couple of years ago when I was in Portland for a conference, and found myself sneaking back just a day later for another round.
When I first entered the resturant I was not expecting very much, and the prices also gave the impression that the food would only be one step up from fast food. I could not have been more wrong; I would put this among my top 5 vegetarian meals. The food was excellent, and if I am ever in Portland again, I will certainly visit again.
the restaurant hosted me and my 9 friends very well, only one thing on the menu had egg in it, everything else is vegan...the tofu hush puppies were excellent, kind of like a meatball, i have never seen so many fake meat options, the fish sauce scared me but tasted great, so did the orange chicken, fabulous and friendly
Wow! We made a stop here as recommended by other Portland Vegans and were not disappointed. Although it seemed it was in a shady area, the food was superb. Check out the pictures (delicious won ton soup, nuchicken nuggets over broccoli and the spring rolls) - they tell the story. Good Chinese food that's vegan. I'm game. The spring rolls were a bit generic but good. The main courses were excellent. I only wish we had more time in Portland to try more items on the menu. You guys are lucky.
Another Supreme Master Ching Hai place, like Golden Era in San Fran. Most dishes were faux meat-based, but they did have some tofu dishes too. We got vegan pot stickers and a faux chicken dish. The chicken was amazing, and we got vegan fortune cookies (filled with Supreme Master Ching Hai sayings, of course).
The decor was a little bland, and I could have done without the bright fluorescent lights, but service was prompt and the food was good.
By all accounts Vegetarian House is a strange little restaurant. Located right inside the gates of Old Town/China Town (almost right next door to that seedy adult book store) Vegetarian House doesn't have the most wonderful location. (At night you're bound to be rubbing elbows with a few drug dealers and drunks, but it's an experience that's worth dealing with it.)
Vegetarian House is based on an interesting concept - take the menu of a traditional Chinese restaurant and replace all the meat with meat alternative (including various textured soy proteins and other tofu related foods). This means you can go in and order Cashew "Chicken" or Mushu "Pork" and what you'll get is a meatless rendition of the dish that looks alot like (but doesn't exactly taste like) it's meated counterpart. The interesting thing about Vegetarian House is that the dishes are more interesting and tasty in their own right vs. as a meatless rendition of their namesakes. The Kung Pow "Chicken" doesn't taste a thing like chicken, but it is sweet, spicy and very tasty. Potstickers look like traditional potstickers but taste quite different - and that's not a bad thing.
Vegetarian House is a culinary oddity that is worth checking out even if your not a vegetarian. There's absolutely nothing else like it in Portland, and after eating there you might find yourself craving some of their unique dishes and begin plotting your return.
Much, much better than I expected. I have had some unexciting experiences with vegan Chinese food, but this was different. While the food wasn't AMAZING, it was quite good, and I would definitely visit again the next time I'm in Portland, assuming I have the time (there are so many places to choose from; an embarrassment of riches).