Guest Review: Veggie Grill Comes to Seattle

Veggie Grill finally opened last week in Seattle. We’re itching to try it out. I’m really hoping for onion rings when we go. I’m in the midst of a long-term onion ring saga. By saga, I mean I crave onion rings weekly and rarely get to have them since most onion rings are not vegan. Today, we are lucky to have a guest post review from the now-infamous Karen and Oliver, with a cameo by Karen’s husband, Jeremy. I think the vegan retail world is making a serious mistake not hiring Oliver as their spokesperson. He could sell vegan food to anyone! Read on for some great insights on the brand new Seattle Veggie Grill: 

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Oliver (6 yrs old):

I ordered from the kids’ menu.  FYI, the kids’ menu is just a little corner of the regular menu.  It features the entrées, sides, and desserts that you can pick from.  What you get to do is you pick one entrée, one side, and one dessert (the menu also includes a drink if you want one).  That makes a meal!  I ordered Chickin’ Nuggets, carrot sticks, and chocolate pudding.  I also ordered a side of mac-n-cheese.  It was very, very delicious and had a good taste to it.  The chickin’ nuggets had a sweet-ish taste to them that I liked.  The mac-n-cheese had crumbs on it, which were really delicious.  The carrot sticks tasted really fresh.  The pudding was sweet.

I like Veggie Grill because it is ALL vegan.  The chickin’ nugget is just because it is like chicken.  And the other ones where the menu says it is animal products are actually just not real.

The service was very quick.  It took about 10 minutes to get all of our food.  When we placed our order, they gave me a pack of Wiki-Sticks to play with.  Since the woman said I was so cool, she gave me a second pack.

Now Veggie Grill is my new top favorite restaurant.  I think you should go there and try it yourself no matter who you are!  If you do go there, you’ll enjoy it!  If you don’t enjoy it, you shouldn’t go there again!

Karen (38 yrs old):

I was delighted to hear the news that a new vegan restaurant was opening in Seattle.  We headed over there today for lunch to check out the scene.  I am happy to report that the place was hopping!  With Amazon, REI, and various other offices in the area, there were many people taking their lunch breaks at the Veggie Grill.  From looking around, it seemed like most people weren’t vegan.  It was heartening to know that those who might otherwise be eating animal products for lunch were eating vegan for their midday meal.

At VG, you order at the counter, get a number, and the food is brought out to you.  The staff was incredibly helpful.  An employee greeted everyone at the door and answered questions about the menu.  While we were eating, someone checked in on us two or three times to make sure all was well.  My husband, Jeremy, and I were surprised with how quickly the food arrived given that we were there during the midday rush.

I ordered the All-American Stack.  It is a sandwich that has their grilled veggie-steak as well as pickles, lettuce, tomato, onion rings, and thousand island dressing.  I chose red cabbage ‘slaw as my side rather than the chili.  Overall, I thought the sandwich was very good.  It had a satisfying crunch from the pickles.  The flavoring of the veggie-steak, though a smidge spicy for my sensitive palate, made the sandwich come alive.  I removed the onion rings and ate them on the side because I have a “no sandwich higher than three inches” policy.  The slaw was fresh, though a bit too sweet for my taste.  I topped off the meal with the chocolate pudding parfait.  It’s chocolate pudding with some chocolate sauce and crushed up cookies and walnuts along with their house made “cream.”  It is possible that I’ve agave-nectared and maple-syruped my taste buds to being overly sensitive to sweetness, because the dessert tasted incredibly sweet to me.  Still, I can imagine that the pudding on its own would be quite delicious.  Indeed, both Jeremy and Oliver reported that the pudding on its own was a tasty treat.

Jeremy tried the Blackened Chickin’ Plate which included steamed kale and quinoa.  Here is his report*:  “The chicken was a Gardein-like patty (possibly even an actual Gardein patty) with a light coating of Cajun seasoning.  The patty is clearly not as receptive to blackening as animal protein and, indeed, the blackening seemed to be a result of a quick char on the grill.  Still, the seasoning delivered a fine mix of smokiness and spice. The quinoa salad was flavorful and the kale was well steamed kale.  It felt like a nice urban village down there with all of the people walking around and the farmers’ market right next door.”

The restaurant was incredibly loud and busy during the lunch rush, so I would not recommend it for a noon lunch outing with a small child who needs to move around during the meal.  Aside from the general chaos of the dining area, however, VG is very friendly for the kiddos and it’s a lovely thing for a vegan parent to be able to take her child to a restaurant where everything on the menu is fair game. 

For Seattle vegans, you’ll find that Veggie Grill is more refined than the Wayward Café.  The menu design is less pretentious than Plum’s.  It is not a fine dining experience like Café Flora or Carmelita, but an excellent choice for mid-week dinner or lunch.  We definitely plan to go back!

* Jeremy objects to supplying his age on the grounds that he is “more than just a number.” 

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Thanks to Karen, Oliver and Jeremy for a thorough, honest and all around excellent review. I felt almost like I was there with you all!