OVO Simply Veggie

Why did this close? my favorite place ever! so sad!!! :(

Nooooo!!! Why did Ovo close? This was my family’s favorite place in College Park, the one interesting eatery that got our teenage daughter excited. She was crestfallen when I told her that Ovo is closed. She said «you mean, I’ll never get to eat their food again, Dad?» Sad.

For food it is 4 stars the corn chicken the bar b q Vege pork the BBQ drumsticks were all good. I hope this place succeeds. My only worry is that service is very slow and horribly wrong the staff seems to have a chip on their shoulder. I got my soup at the end with entrée and wanted it asan appetizer, for entrée which I got as an appetizer with another that I had ordered. Go figure. Also you are tipping at the start of a meal, I was not too happy with service but I gave only 15% as a tip. No love lost. Must also add that though I loved the food wish it could be less salty specially the soup.

I have always been a fan of this place but I have never given it a 5 stars until now. First of all I am NOT even a vegan or a vegetarian. I was introduced to this place by a vegetarian buddy and I drove half an hour one way from downtown DC to come here to eat once a month or as often as time allow me.
I know the place had a new menu, and I decided to give it a try. Now there are more selection on the Appetizers section, and there is also salad bowl and noodle bowl. The is also chilled soup like Mango and cucumber and Steamed Bun Sandwiches as well.
My usual steamed pork dumplings has always been consistently good — it really tastes like pork dumpling even though I know it is a vegan protein! The Enoki fries is worth the calories of fried food. OK I tried a salad bowl, just like the entrée, you can pick 4 main ingredients and then you can add on protein or more expensive item like avocado. I picked the Raspberry dressing, this is so fresh and summery, initially when I saw the size of it, I thought I will never finish it, but it was so good that I had it all. The noodle bowl we had is not on the printed menu on the Facebook page, but it has BBQ inspired Vegan Pork, and Shrimp Dumpling and Spicy Noodle and Broccoli, the BBQ Vegan Pork tastes like real BBQ Pork, it was as good as it get.
My Jasmine Pearl green tea is just what I needed to water down my delicious meal.
Look forward to go back to try more item on the new menu.

This place is alright if you’re a vegetarian looking for a casual meal and want to change up your usual routine. Other than that, I’d recommend Nu Vegan, just a few minutes down the road.
The ambience really leaves something to be desired. The place looks like it’s halfway under construction. and like it’s been that way for a while. There is no menu posted, only hand-​outs available at the counter.
The server was friendly and didn’t mind answering a few questions.
The dumplings were too «meaty» — the texture was off, and there were not any noticeable vegetables inside. I didn’t finish them.
The best dish I tried was the popcorn chicken. The spices were really well done (and not too spicey for my dining companion who prefers mild to medium level spice.)
The green curry tofu was just okay.
I’d give it another try to test out some other entrée options. Maybe I just didn’t order the right thing.
This place is «downtown» College Park so beware of parking restrictions on the side streets.

Hold the damn phone. Ovo just became my favorite restaurant. True, I’ve always loved it, and true, I’ve been there hundreds of times before, but…
Ovo’s mysterious and bursting-​with-​talent chef Derrick recently revamped the menu in July, and all I can say is…
WOW. Got take-​out yesterday and I suddenly have two new favorite dishes: Malaysian curry with buckwheat noodles and the HOLY, SWEET GOODNESS that are the Korean drumsticks. Both dishes are nice and spicy (not too spicy) with fragrant and bold flavors. I have one drumstick left in my fridge and it’s all I have been able to think about. Seriously, book it to Ovo right now and try the whole menu. I plan to go here every week until I’ve tried everything.

A bit of a mixed bag in my experience.
Appreciate the steamed dumplings – make a whole meal out of them.
Kung Pao – tame but well presented.
Hot and sour soup – below par.
Used to have spiffy organic sodas but informed me their source is unreliable, so they’ve stopped offering them. Hope a substitute can be found.
Friendly service. Decent pricing.
Vegans are mostly positive about this spot; carnivores can find satisfaction as well.

OVO Veggie feels a necessary void in the College Park area, considering vegetarians have to be a significant part of the student body at the nearby University of Maryland. However, the area has it options but nothing quite like this place.
OVO is Asian-​influenced and pretty varied. There’s tofu, yuba, soy protein and other options with a dizzying array of sauces and preparations. I get the soy protein bbq dish, which actually has WAY too many onions so next time I order, I’m subbing that out. The dumplings are probably the best I’ve had in the area and both the wonton and hot and sour soups are delicious.
Just about everything I’ve ever ordered is good. If you’re in a munchy mood, the Enoki Fries are amazing. Make sure to ask for more of the dip that goes with it. They get a little squishy about so just tell them you’ll pay extra before ordering. Service can be slow as turtles and it takes a while for your food to get prepared but it’s always worth the wait.

Trying to eat healthy in College Park? Hard to do when we now have 7 pizza joints that are all bunched together on Route 1. But, if you can resist the temptation, OVO is a great choice for vegetarian/​vegan food. My office orders here a couple times a week because its that good! Here’s what I’ve tried so far.
+ Steamed Dumplings — kind of a strange texture inside. I also wish there was some fresh veggies or herbs inside, instead of just whatever meat substitute is inside. I’d say skip it.
+ Vegan Wonton Soup — this soup is amazing! The broth has a nice flavor and the wontons inside taste great! If you get the large it also comes with noodles.
+ Cold Pickled Daikon, Carrot and Cucumber — I love this salad! It’s very refreshing and has a great vinegary taste to it. It can be off-​putting to some, but if you love Korean food, then you will probably love this as well.
+ Fiery Kung Pao — I’ve ordered this several times with the soy protein and brown rice on the side. It’s pretty spicy (duh), which I love. Its served with zucchini, peanuts, bell peppers, onions and celery. I do wish it was served with broccoli. I’ve never had kung pao at other restaurants without broccoli. But, if you do want to sub out any veggies there is a .50 cent charge.
+ Ginger Scallion — This one has a sweeter taste to it. It was served with mushrooms, onions and scallions. This one is good, but the kung pao is still my favorite.
+ Sodas: Well, for the past two weeks, the Oogave Organic Soda has been out of most of the flavors. There was only root beer (blech) and grapefruit. The grapefruit is pretty tasty though!
As for customer service, I’ve only gotten to-​go orders, but the staff are pretty nice and they haven’t messed up an order yet, even with my orders for several people. A couple things to note: 1) They removed the Jicama Rolls from the menu 2) they don’t have a website, so you have to check Facebook for their menu and 3) they are prepping to start serving Asian-​style shaved ice, which should be available in the near future! Can’t wait to try!

Awesome food, freshly made and delicious! The staff was very friendly and answered my questions about the menu and he also suggested something that turned out to be great tasting! Definitely coming back here

It was so delicious I made my (non-​vegetarian) friend go back with me the second time.
Mushroom with Black Pepper — 5 stars!
Mushroom with Coconut Green Curry — 4.5 stars
Mushroom with Ginger & Scallian Sauce — 4 stars
Tofu with Eggplant and Basil — 4 stars
Great staff too!
Looking forward to trying Seaweed Yuba with Sweet & Sour as well as the Enoki Fries next time…

I went on 2÷5÷15 and had a pleasant time and date ;). First, any spot that has a CLEAN restroom gets one star from me. We ordered the Fiery Kungpao protein, Sweet and Sour yuba and enoki fries. I got a salad with my meal and he got soup. My salad was in a small bowl, but was filled to the rim. I mean that bowl was packed with lettuce. Everything was tasty, but I want to try the mushrooms next time.
This spot is cute and quaint. There’s a parking garage within walking distance, but we parked across the street and simply walked over.
The cashier was sweet and she also brings your food out and checks on you.

Great vegan cuisine
Gotta try the enoki fries
SCRUMPTIOUS
The mushroom protein with black pepper and mushroom tastes like pepper steak
Also the seaweed yuba with sweet and sour is AMAZING
GETS MINUS ONE STAR FOR PLUM SAUCE!!!
thanks
Cindy
The long time counter help/​waitress

A new vegan restaurant had opened in College Park, Maryland back in January of 2013, but I never made it out to check it out. I recently realized this and decided it was time so I reached out to a friend and we headed over.
The restaurant is vegan and is oddly named Ovo Simply Veggie. «Ovo» means egg in several languages so why one would name a vegan restaurant after an egg, I may never understand. What’s interesting is when we asked this question, the guy that was working the front of the house, stated that he didn’t know either, but suggested it stood for «Organic, Vegan, and Oogave» (a brand of drink they sell there). It sounded like he made that up so I called the next day and asked if any of their food was organic. They said only some of the teas. So if the food is not organic, then why name it Ovo? I still don’t understand.
It is a very small café in a college town with a pretty cool décor. There is a waterfall on the wall when you first walk in, modern art on the rest of the walls, and white chairs with dark tables. It was pretty cool looking, actually.
The menu is unusual in that there aren’t set entrees to choose from. Instead, you first choose your protein or veggies: either seaweed yuba, tofu, mushroom protein, soy protein, or field vegetables. Seaweed yuba is made of seaweed and tofu skins — the filmy skin that develops when making tofu. Mushroom protein is made of mushrooms and soy fibers. Recommended sauces are listed under each protein and vegetable. You can choose any sauce from any category though. With that many choices, I found it very difficult to choose! You can also choose the combo, which comes with a soup, salad, or beverage. We finally placed our orders and took a seat.
I went with a tea and the combo complete with a soup and entrée. The tea was served first, as appropriate. It was a delightful organic fruit and flower tea served in a double-​walled glass.
Then my soup and entrée were served together while my friend waited five minutes for her meal. That was awkward. So I ate my soup while she waited. I got the wonton soup. Each wonton was filled with soy fiber and scallions. It was rich and satisfying. I really liked it.
For my entrée, I went with the mushroom protein in the black pepper sauce. Oh my goodness, was this good! The mushroom/​soy nuggets were hearty and tasty and the sauce was rich with black pepper goodness. Served with the mushroom protein was green peppers, mushrooms, and onions. They gave me some sriracha on the side as well. Served with brown rice, this was a very filing meal. Not to mention that the presentation was quite nice for a $ 9 meal.
My friend’s meal was equally as good. She got the seaweed yuba served with baby corn, bamboo shoots, and green peppers in a coconut green curry sauce. The sauce had just the right amount of flavor and the seaweed yuba was amazing. I was very impressed.
For a small café in a college town, this place has exceptional food. The prices are incredibly low as well. I only wish they would source non-​GMO proteins. They said their tofu was non-​GMO, but they were unsure about the other products, which probably means they are GMOs. I hope they source non-​GMO in the future. Either way, I really hope they someday expand to DC, but for now, I’ll be making the trek to College Park. This is definitely one of the best vegan restaurants in the DC metro area.

I wanted to hate this place, I really did. They were out of at least 3 of the items I wanted: cold pickle daikon radish, vegan wonton soup, and coconut green curry flavor. When we got there they were out of white rice. What kind of asian restaurant runs out of rice?! Plus they didn’t call to let me know or bring this up when I was making my order. I was annoyed by the time I got my food home. BUT, the food was AMAZING. It was so good! It was almost obscenely flavorful. I went from «I’m never going back there again!» to «maybe I’m not going back there» to «oh my god we need to go back!» Service was meh, but I’m not going to let meh service get in the way of such good food!

My husband and I were looking for a good vegetarian/​vegan restaurant close to home and stumbled upon this gem. It’s a small, quiet and lightly dimmed place, that has a nice atmosphere. The menu has a great selection of appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, teas and other drinks, all priced very well. They had the best wonton soup we’ve ever had. The hostess told us the chef handmade them, and you can tell (love is in the details). We tried their ginger ale soda, I’m not a soda drinker, but I’m happy we had their organic agave soda. Refills are free of charge and you can try different flavors, which is a bonus. The entrée was amazing and very filling. Everyone there including the customers were very welcoming and nice, which doesn’t exist much in Maryland. I highly recommend this place if you’re looking for good eats, vegan or not.

Hot and sour soup could have used a little more hot and sour.
Enoki fries were good! A little stringy towards the bunched end… but other than that good!
Vegetarian Chinese… I’ll tell ya what. I never thought I’d be enthused. But after places like OVO Simply Veggie, Yuan Fu Vegetarian, and Vegetable Garden– I am totally the loudest one on that band wagon.
What did I have. Well, I already told you about the hot and sour soup… for my entrée I had the Sarcha BBQ. It was like a type of soy protein and it had this delicious smoky, sweet, savory, unique rub on it. It also come with like sauteed scallions and brown rice.
It was tops. I tasted a couple of other dishes my friends were having… and I enjoyed mine the most.
If you’re in College Park and are looking for vege, this is totally your place.
P.S: There is a parking garage right around the corner that I had no idea about! And there is even a little lot. I was always so perplexed about where to park for this little strip mall on Route 1.

I think I basically dared myself to eat here. If I can follow through on «African» and «Filipino» then what’s wrong with «Vegetarian,» right? Well, I’m glad I did it. I enjoyed a tasty and flavorful meal and no animals were harmed in putting it on my plate. Guilt-​free eating, right?
Order and pay at the counter, then the guy brings you your freshly prepared meal to your table. Free refills from the soda fountain. No Coke or Pepsi here instead agave-​sweetened sodas in different flavors. I had the strawberry rhubarb. Interesting and completely guilt free!
Food arrived. Steamed dumplings were stuffed with something that could have been beef but obviously wasn’t. They were still good. The main course was tofu with basil and eggplant. A lot of it. The pieces of red pepper were the highlight here. Very hot, lots of good spice to it and way more than I could eat.
I left OVO stuffed and guilt free.

Pleasantly surprised; for a vegan place they did great and it tastes like Taiwanese vegetarian restaurant fare.
Tip: it’s kind of confusing when you order for the first time. Instead of bottlenecking the cash register, it might help to use Unilocal pictures as a menu because you can see what people have picked and how it looks.
We bit into a dumpling and it looked like the real deal. Only after a couple of chews, we discerned the lack of meat. I would say you should get these, $ 5 a tray.
Our dishes, ginger scallion mushroom protein, and eggplant basil tofu, each came with a serving of rice and cost $ 7.25. It was reasonable for the amount. I wish they cut up the scallion into smaller pieces though it came in chopped, 2 inch lengths. The eggplant and tofu were excellent, both has wonderful, absorbencies and textures.

Based on great reviews, I was eager to try this vegetarian restaurant. I visited just before 5pm on Friday. I ordered an entrée combo which included the coconut green curry mushroom protein w/​brown rice & veggies, a small field green salad with oriental dressing, and an aloe water beverage.
There were only 3 other people in the restaurant when I arrived which was somewhat shocking. My salad was served about 5 minutes later and I received my entrée within 15 minutes which was very reasonable. The food was clean, full of flavor, veggies were crisp and protein had a nice texture. In addition, I was able get all of that for around $ 10!!! I would have happily paid double. Ever since that meal, I have been thinking about my return visit and exploring other menu items. :)
As stated in my tip, there is no parking on Baltimore Avenue but there is metered parking right around the corner. The UMCP students that you may likely encounter are pleasant as well.