$$ - average
Chinese
Healthy Chinese food
Guilin is a very veg-friendly restaurant, with 2/3 of the menu comprised of vegetarian or vegan options. They offer many faux meat dishes, as well as an extensive array of vegetable and tofu-based meals.
Oil-free cooking is available upon request.
Near Speedway and Country Club, across the street from the Loft Cinema.
- Delivery
- Quiet
Added by Suzanne on Jun 9 04 (updated Nov 8 07)
Reviews
This is certainly a unique restaurant, and there are some really interesting dishes available. My favorite is the sweet and sour chicken, which is like orange chicken made with breaded and deep-fried mock meat. The moo shu veggies are also very good.
One complaint is that not all vegan items are clearly marked. There are three separate menus: an omnivore menu, a vegetarian menu, and a "vegan meat" menu. The latter only includes mock-meat items. Some items on the vegetarian menu are vegan, but they are not clearly marked. Servers are not always able to give accurate information on which vegetarian items are vegan and which ones aren't. So I generally limit myself to the "vegan meat" menu, which sort of bums me out as I'd like to feel more confident about vegan possibilities on the vegetarian menu.
EDITED TO ADD: Apparently their "vegan" drumsticks have whey in them. The other mock meats should indeed be vegan.
This restaurant is like a lot of vegetarian restaurants I've been to in the Chinese areas of L.A. (Alhambra, Rosemead, Monterey, etc.) in that they use mock meats. They give you plenty of green vegetables, but sometimes they seem to go a little heavy on the grease, and my favorite dish, the shrimp w/broccoli, is pretty expensive. I don't recommend this place if you're on a low/no oil diet, but it's pretty tasty in general. I haven't had anything that I did not like, in terms of taste.
Only restaurant I've found in Tucson which has mock meats. Their mock meats are pretty good, not the best I've had anywhere, but pretty good nonetheless. I personally think some of their sauces (kung pao, szechuan, brown sauce, white sauce) are kind of gross, but some are great. My favorite dishes there are Mongolian Veggie Chicken, General Tso's Veggie Chicken, Sweet & Sour Veggie Chicken, Curry Veggie Chicken, Fresh Tofu Skins & Chinese Greens, and Vegetable Lo Mein. Oh, and try their Vegetarian Drumsticks, they're delightful! I've never tried their veggie seafood because they're a little too expensive for me ($12). The great thing about Guilin is that you can request "no-oil cooking," and they will omit the oil from your dish. And they don't use MSG. They offer free delivery to a huge swath of Tucson, and they always have free egg roll coupons you can use. Here's a link to their menu (which includes the egg roll coupon): http://www.tucsonweekly.com/binary/7382-299-1/GuilinMenu.pdf
I love Guilin's. A previous reviewer mentioned that the menu doesn't clearly mark most vegan items--that's true. I have had at least two waiters who were able to tell me which mock items were vegan, so you might be able to rely on that if you're not going with something obviously vegan. Not sure if all the waiters know, though. Still, everything I've ordered has been delicious, though the sauces can sometimes have a little bit of a weird chemical taste to them.
(Honestly, I haven't tried ordering off of the vegetarian menu out of the same fear the previous reviewer had, but someday I will trust my waiter...maybe. =) Until then, the vegan menu has quite a few items to choose from.)
That being said, I love the vegan cashew dishes. One small point to make is that if you're not much of a veggie eater (or if non-veg friends you're going with are looking forward to a lot of meat over vegetables), you're going to be somewhat disappointed. The balance leans toward vegetables over meat, mock or real. I'm sure that isn't a prob for most people reading this site, however.
I LOVE GUILIN. Love, love, love.
When my husband and I go out for dinner in Tucson, we generally go to either Guilin or La Indita (Mexican food). Guilin has so many excellent vegan dishes! Two-thirds of the menu is vegetarian or vegan, with a full page devoted to faux meat dishes.
As varied as the menu is, we always get the same thing. (It's just so good.) Fried tofu with spiced salt, vegetables with crispy noodles, and veggie drumsticks. (I would also recommend the General Tso's vegetarian chicken.) With brown rice, which costs an extra dollar but is worth the expense. Green tea is a dollar or so a pot. Sadly, the fortune cookies are not vegan.
Guilin also has a large free delivery area, so if you don't feel like heading outside, you can call in your order.
This is a fantastic family-run restaurant. In the past, it's been voted Best in Tucson for vegan, vegetarian, and Chinese. I'm not surprised!
Good food, good prices. Lots of Vegetarian meat selections.