Vita Cafe
Hours
Profile
Neighborhood
- Northeast
Smoke-free?
- Yes
Reservations?
- Not Accepted
Wheelchair Accessible?
- Yes
Accepts
$$ - average
American, Indian, Mexican, Thai, Eclectic (Fusion)
On Alberta Street
A funky sustainable cafe serving, mostly organic vegan-vegetarian food, new cocktail list a house made wasabi spiced vegan bloody mary, and a good selection of biodynamic, organic and vegan wines.
Family happy hour, kids eat for a buck from 5 to 7 pm every night.
There is a great out door dining in large garden patio, with bocce ball court. Check out our web site www.vita-cafe.com
Located at NE 31st and NE Alberta street.
- (Mostly) Organic
- Brunch
- Kid-Friendly
- Large Group-Friendly
- Outdoor Seating
Added by Moxley Stratton on Jul 1 04 (updated Feb 22)
Reviews
In as much of a vegan/vegetarian friendly city Portland is, it is still rare to find a restaurant that truly understands what it is to be vegan. Since the launch of the Vita Café, I have been a frequent diner. As a vegan, their solely vegetarian/vegan menu led me to believe that the owner and staff were conscious of my diet and convictions. Well, apparently this is not the case. I dined for breakfast yesterday morning with one of the items being their “vegan sausage”. From a previous visit, I was under the impression that the cook staff was developing their own recipe, so kindly asked the server only to have my heart broken. Can you imagine my horror when I learned they serve Morning Star sausage? I believe it is common knowledge among vegans that Morning Star does not make a vegan product. It is all egg based! This is the most irresponsible and deceitful action a restaurant, supposedly catering to vegans, can make. I am now left wondering what else on the menu isn’t vegan despite its claim. Maybe they use bone filled refined sugar and egg in their vegan biscuits. Well, you won’t be seeing me in the Vita Café any time soon. This is an outrage, and I encourage all vegans to follow suit and let the Vita Café know that their deceit and lack of compassion for our diet will not be tolerated.
The service is to busy being "cool" to worry about anything else. The food is bad and they will never get my money again.
I've just moved to the Portland area and so far this is the best place for vegan comfort food. The food can be a little bit heavy - definitely not lo-cal or particularly healthy - but I really like the service and the ambience. A very pleasant, casual environment. I really like the variety of food available here. Keep in mind, though, that it is not a vegetarian restaurant so remember to order vegan if you want vegan food. (I.e. if you ask for a side of bacon, you'll get the real deal and not the fakin' kind.)
I really like Vita and so do my kids. The corn cakes, "SOS" and vegan nachos are my favorite menu items. The booth seats are a little uncomfortable, the ambiance is pretty casual, and the service runs the gamut from good and attentive to slow and forgetful. Still, we keep coming back. It's a friendly place and we like the food.
I totally enjoyed my experience here. The service was nice and the tempeh chicken fried steak was a great dish! I heard about this place word of mouth and was pleased with it all around, great coffee, great food.
I have not been there for breakfast, which is what everyone raves about, but the dinner was so so. The portions were indeed huge and the service was very good. The place also has a certain endearing quality and I can see it can easily get new fans because of its atmosphere. But all the three dishes I tried at dinner were so so; nothing was bad, but nothing was very good either. I also don't like that the menu doesn't make it clear what's vegan and what's not (which would be easy since the waiters said that almost anything can be made vegan; but some people might not feel comfortable asking). I liked other places in Portland a lot more.
I love Vita Cafe!!!
I've been there several times and wish I could get there more often. A few years ago I took my mom there for mother's day and she enjoyed it! I tell myself to get something new each time, but I always end up getting the delicious Mexican corn cakes with a side of vegan cheese. Would be great to go with a lot of people so I could sample a little bit of everything. Don't forget to grab a slice of tasty vegan cake on your way out.
Just went there on 3-12-05 and enjoyed the yummy sweet potato enchilada pie with a side of rice and beans. It was my first time there for dinner. They had a seasonal menu for winter. It was busy in there as usual. It would be nice if the music wasn't as loud.
Vita Cafe is located in the 'up and coming' Alberta Street area. It specializes in fresh and organic foods. While they are definitely known for their breakfast menu (including their corn cakes), they do have a pretty extensive lunch and dinner menu with a wide variety of food choices.
Portions are extremely generous, so plan to share or take home left overs.
Vita has a number of very good cheap eats options, including a breakfast special for early in the morning, a 'happy hour' for kids meals (where kids eat for $1 5-7pm) and cheap lunch specials that will fill you up for under $5.
While mostly vegetarian, Vita Cafe does serve hormone free, family farm raised hamburgers. So if you've got non-veg friends who can't live without their burger, they can still get their burger fix while you feast on Tempeh Fajitas or Portabello Mushroom Polenta. Who knows, maybe they'll skip the burger and join you in one of many yummy tasting veggie dishes!
Vita also has a great selection of vegan desserts from the Buddha Belly Bakery.
Generous portions, good food, family friendly, a great veggie Portland food choice!
My favorite veg restaurant in Portland! Try the Thai Corn Cakes for breakfast!
As one of the owners of the Vita, I wanted to address the review regarding the non vegan sausage. At the Vita we provide a menu with over 80% Vegan options. Last summer our vegan sausage distributer went kaput and we could not find a replacement. We chose to carry Mrning Star vegetarian sausage instead.
The reviewer is 100% correct this is not a vegan sausage - all of our menus reflect this change and the servers (many of whom are vegan) are very aware of this too. We are TRUELY sorry for your experience and 100% respect your vegan life style choice. I would love to personally apolgize to you for this frustrating experience.
Our commitment to Vegan eating is strong and true. We have so many vegan options even a wasabi spiced vegan bloody mary and vegan wines. Here are just some of the options available.. the choice of tofu or tempeh with each breakfast entree, to the sietan cheese steak sandwhich with a vegan cheese option, the Sweetpea vegan cheese cake, the vegan nachos or the vegan mac and cheese, the super grain salad, the daily vegan soup and daily vegan special. Eight out of nine of our entrees are vegan and all of our starters are vegan.
We work hard to provide a cafe with mostly Vegan choices and I hope that we can serve you soon.
The Vita Cafe