I recently found out that a new vegan restaurant was moving into the area. I was excited! It is not easy for us to find a place that offers a good variety of foods that we can enjoy. So, finally, yesterday hubby and I prettied ourselves up and went all the way to Reynoldsburg OH [35 min drive for us] to check out the new Lovin' Hut.
I have to be honest I did not know what to expect. It is not in the prettiest part of town, but hey, I don't discriminate against good food, no matter where it is.
We walked in and were greeted by a clean place, which is quite natural, since they have been open only a week. At the same moment my nostrils were assaulted by a very distinct, thick smell of fried oil. Not the smell I imagined to encounter coming to a vegan [think: healthy] place.
Then we were kind of lost--we did not know if we were to order at register, which was all the way to the back, or if we needed to wait to be seated. We sheepishly made our way to the counter, where we were told to find a seat and wait for someone to come wait on us. Good deal... we picked a table and waited. There were only 2 more couples in the place so we thought it would take no time. Not so...
We waited nearly 10-15 mins. We had no menus and no one coming to our rescue. If they were busy I would understand, but there was barely a soul in the whole place.
I finally went to the counter to see if we can at least get menus. There were none! Really?! Honestly?! So, the cashier/waitress [yes, one and the same] went over to the other table and took their menus to give to me. I thanked her and headed to our table. Surprise! There were only tiny pictures and titles of each dish, printed on an inkjet printer. No prices and no descriptions. The menu covers apparently had huge price stickers on them--there were huge glue spots on both that were now covered in questionable substances.
We continued to wait. While waiting, hubby struck up a conversation with a couple of ladies waiting for a carry out order. That was a delightful part of our evening. Meanwhile I took myself on a tour and snapped a few images.
Overall, I found that place was way too bright to be an eat-it restaurant. Some touches, like the education shelf, and books on each table about veganism, were nice. The colors of the walls were nice and welcoming. The shadow frames were nice, with various sayings inside. What I found odd, however, was that each frame had artificial flours inside... attached with tape to the mats.
The cashier/waiter, a nice young lady, finally made her way into our area, and went straight for the carry-out customers. I asked her if we could have a menu that we could actually read. It turned out that they ran out of the menus [again, really? all they have is carry out menus?], so the carry-out customers gave us theirs, which had a few food stains on them. It was getting better by the moment. I was now hoping that at least the food would be worth it all.
Hubster picked out veggie burger and fries, and I ordered a Harmony sandwich with a Potato and Kale soup, which apparently was many people's favorite, according to our waitress. I was hungry and ready to dig in, but the food took another 10-15 mins to arrive. URGH! There were only 6 people in the dining room. I could make dinner for 10 faster!
My food finally arrived. Hubby's took another 3-5 mins to get to us. I snapped a picture of mine and, by the time I tasted it and hubby's food arrived, I totally forgot to snap a picture of his. You might think it was because my food was so good. On the contrary. The soup... well, I don't even know how to describe it--it was too bland and watery. The vegan cream cheese in it, was not of creamy substance, but swam around in tiny visible pieces. There was a combination of several different vegetables: potato, carrot, celery, carrot [yes, the carrot was listed twice in the description], onion, soy cream cheese. Noticeably kale was missing from the description, but was in the soup. It turned out that there were also sweet potatoes in the soup--not a good combo for me. Overall, I can tell you that I was underwhelmed and would never eat anything like this again, unless it was the only food left to keep me from starving.
Next was my sandwich. Here is the description from the menu: grilled sandwich bread filled with tofurkey, veggie protein, lectuce [yes, there was more than one misspelled word on the menu], tomato, cucumber and dressing [what dressing? not specified].
I am NOT a vegan substitute user. I don't do tofurkey or veggie protein, I don't do tempeh and I barely ever use tofu. I decided to give it a try, though, to see if it would be worth it. My consensus is--NO! I grabbed the sandwich and brought it close to my mouth to take a bite. The scent of tofurkey hit my nostrils--it reminded me of wet wipes served on airplanes along with food. I took only a couple of bites before pulling all of tofurkey out. And then I bit into something HARD. After thorough examination I came to the conclusion that it could be nothing else but aforementioned veggie protein. It was hard as rock, with a little soft spot in the middle. Needless to say it ended up on my plate, not in my stomach. The sandwich itself was nothing memorable.
My hubby's experience? Let me repeat what he said on the way out: "I had to drown my sorrow in a bottle of ketchup!" He actually did drench his veggie burger with ketchup to send it to its dark grave. The fries were too soft. I actually was hoping he would not eat them, since they were deep dried, which we DON'T DO at home at all.
Instead of waiting for our check we took ourselves to the register. We wanted to get on our way, as hubby whispered into my ear that he was HUNGRY. Urgh! What did we pay for if not to feed us?
It took a while to get our receipt. The cashier was nice and apologized for the wait and delays, because: "we are understaffed," she said. It was hard to believe because I was looking directly into the kitchen filled with 5 people! Understaffed? Six people altogether and six people in the restaurant and you call it understaffed?!
I am all for supporting family businesses [Lovin' Hut is a family owned franchise], but I am also all for super services and great tasting food.
My rating for Lovin' Hut: 1/2 star. That's all I could give them, especially after a very memorable drive home. I would never tell anyone this, but since I am doing a review and have to be honest [I am blushing] I will go ahead and say it. The food gave me gas. I eat a whole foods diet and have for years and yet I NEVER experience anything like this unless I mis-combine high fiber foods [such as beans] and sugars [such as cookies], which I would not knowingly do, EVER. I am suspecting the couple of bites of tofurkey, and sweet potatoes in the soup were responsible for my trouble.
All I can say is that I am glad that I checked it for myself first before taking my non-vegan friends there. I spared myself an embarrassing moment. I know that taste buds vary and some might enjoy their food, but I enjoy dishes that are planned, well combined and well seasoned. My taste buds are spoiled little brats, I guess, and they love to have a party at every meal.
One the way out I coaxed hubby to take a picture. As you can see he wasn't all to happy, so I had to bribe him with a promise of a follow-up meal to get him to smile at least a little.
At home we quickly whipped up a very simple, yet satisfying snack, that rated higher on the chart with my taste buds than the restaurant meal. Hubby had a slice of home-made wheat bread with ripe avocados and a cup of hot peach tea, and I had half of an avocado with a drizzle of raw honey and a dash of Himalayan salt. It was an improvement a good way to finish our night.
