Vegetate

This place is the saddest excuse for a vegetarian place I’ve ever been to. Ever since it opened, they’ve had a measly one vegan option. Today I was in the area and didn’t get breakfast, so I figured it was a good choice. NOPE, turns out they don’t even have that ONE vegan breakfast sandwich anymore. I asked if there was anything at all that was vegan and the cashier looked confused for a few moments and said «bagels?»… Come ON you guys, it’s really truly not hard to make vegetarian menu items vegan. If they cared at all, they would only have to take out the cheese or eggs, or whatever is even in it that makes it not vegan (which is completely unclear). I used to ask for more vegan things in the suggestion box whenever I went, that obviously went ignored. Now there isn’t even a suggestion box anymore. I left hungry and empty-​handed. Vegetate sucks, take your money elsewhere.

Excellent vegetariand and vegan food and for a great price! I usually spend about $ 16 for lunch, which gets me a meal, a smoothie, and dessert. Honestly, everything I’ve had here has been great, but my personal faves are the vegetacos and the vegan pancake sandwich. Smoothies are also good for the price, since most other places overcharge for then. Service can be a bit slow, but the staff is really nice and helpful! And make sure to try their vegan cupcakes. These are decadent, and they stay soft and moist for a long time.

I heard this place was horrible, but I’m still glad something like this at least exists for vegan/​veg Drexel students. I’ve been trying to eat less meat lately so I decided to try this place out a couple weeks ago. Should have listened when I was told not to eat here, but I was tempted to find out first-​hand and it’s just so close by to the academic buildings.
I had the tofu bbq ciabatta. Wasn’t really sure what I was expecting (I had this weird nostalgic longing for tofu alternatives from when I was a vegetarian) but this definitely wasn’t it. The tofu was flavorless on the inside and almost inedibly tough on the outside. It was like someone slathered bbq sauce on a piece of old tofu and put it inbetween two buns and microwaved it.
It’s a shame that the food sucks here, because the employees seem very nice and helpful, and it’s never too busy so it’s a good place to sit down and get work done. Like most of the places that take Dining Dollars, it’s pretty overpriced. Drexel’s mandatory first-​year dining plan, everyone!
Probably will eventually return to try something else off their menu or get a smoothie. Hopefully I can find something I actually like here.

Vegetate went downhill FAST after its grand opening in 2013, But I still pop in once awhile to get my favorite Sweet Potato Cupcake and Warm Bread pudding for my sweet tooth fix. Some employees definitely are not as enthusiastic as others. And I also noticed that they changed managers, too, which impacted their management style. I do hope they step up their game and make this golden property (Chestnut Square) on Drexel worthwhile.

This is my second time at vegetate, the first time I was so disappointed with their menu that I left. At a place called vegetate I expect them to have salads and fresh vegetables, but instead they mostly had prepared food and if didn’t seem too healthy. This time I went and ordered a create your own salad and it is indeed lackluster. They had limited options for toppings, three of which were cheese and again, for a place that advertises healthy vegetarian food, their salad options were pathetic. Will not visit again.

I’m so glad that they have this place on Drexel’s campus. Although they’re a bit pricey they take dining dollars so it’s okay! As a vegan student with very little options in Hans as well as most everywhere else, this place is a gem. Most of what they have is just vegetarian, and only a couple menu items are labeled vegan, but if you ask for anything without the dairy, it’s a quick fix.
Also, the menu changes with the season and if it’s still autumn when you read this, the Vegatacos are fantastic.

Read some of the negative reviews but know this. the employees are rotating students and it’s a Drexel operation not some private business with an owner. That said, it offers the food I love. like fresh combinations, simple ingredients, healthy choices, and favs like tofu and seitan. I find every time I go there to be incredibly flavorful. Some chef at Drexel must be vegetarian bc it’s very spot on flavor wise. I dunno, I can’t really complain when before there were limited vegetarian foods to choose from. To be honest, initially they had some kinks to work out but I feel they responded to those. I notice the website menu does not match the store menu so don’t rely on that unless they have a date on it or something.

Went here for lunch today. Some of the disorganization problems other reviews have mentioned are still in effect. Staff are very nice and helpful, but signage is confusing and it’s not clear how much everything costs.
For instance, the digital menu had no price for smoothies, and smoothies were listed as having 3 types of components (fruit, greens, and base), but actually you could just combine anything you wanted. Also, labeling should be updated to explain why some food is vegetarian but not vegan.
However, the four stars are because the food itself is really delicious and a refreshing contrast to many other university city offerings. Staff were helpful (the chef came out to talk to us about what was in the food) but I imagine it’s hard to order if you don’t know the menu and it’s during lunchtime rush.
A few organizational and labeling improvements would make this place great. Baked goods are also very yummy!

I went here for lunch, and the best I can say about it was that it seemed to lack direction. There are a bunch of tasty looking ingredients on display, but it’s almost up to you to create a meal from them. I felt like I was a contestant on Top Chef or something. There is a menu on display, but it is pretty short and not that interesting– the rest is up to you. I ended up haphazardly ordering a pita with quinoa, which wasn’t bad (except they didn’t actually put the ingredients in the pita, which was puzzling), but I don’t think I would go back. I would suggest making less of an issue of displaying ingredients in the glass case, and more focus on options for salads and sandwiches.

I had really high hopes for this place, but it was incredibly disappointing.
The staff members were rude, unresponsive, and incredibly lacking in knowledge as to what was in any of the menu items. I asked «what makes this sushi not-​vegan?» and the employee replied «The soy sauce.» Guys, soy sauce is vegan.
I don’t understand the concept of this place. Yes, all «vegetarian» is nice– but what, then, is the purpose of labeling a few, and only a few, items as vegetarian? Isn’t that obvious? As a vegan, however, things were very confusing. Only a few items were labeled vegan, and of those that weren’t, I couldn’t see anything apparent in the ingredients that would make it non vegan, but yet they were either unlabeled or labeled as «vegetarian».
I literally asked why they bother to label ANYTHING as vegetarian and the employee said «the bread is vegetarian.» Oh good, I can eat bread without worrying about getting bacon stuck in my teeth.
Never going back unless they clean up their act and get serious and legitimate with vegan options.

Place is def not ‘vegan’. They barely have any vegan options at all. I checked and even the tortilla wasn’t vegAn. Give me a break! Why not cater to all and have an all (or at least some) vegan menu. What a missed opportunity.

I went to Vegetate twice, and I will never go again. I went once on a Tuesday and got excited about the food prospects and wanted to try it all. I had a pita with tempura fried quinoa that was good, but dry without any tzatziki. I also had the green beans which were way too oily and I couldn’t finish them.
The next day I went back in for food again and realized virtually nothing in the window had changed except there was less vegetable lasagna. This really concerned me as it was now 11:50 am and I didn’t think a lot of people would have eaten it already. I then realized that probably none of this stuff was cooked very fresh and it was oily as a way to preserve it.
I got the vietnamese tofu sandwich with whole grain. They nuked it in a microwave and I had to wait five minutes for it to cool down. The bread was really dry and hard and flavorless. The tofu had no remarkable flavor, and the carrots were seemingly doused with chili to make the flavor of the whole thing. I couldn’t eat the sandwich and ended up eating the tofu out of it and going to Joe for a croissant after to be full enough to wait for dinner.
The employee there was really not wanting to help in any way shape or form. She looked at me annoyed when I asked for a cup of water. I paid cash which she looked at me annoying because she didn’t get to just swipe a card and then when I had change of 1.09 she used one hand and slowly took out nine pennies using one hand acting like she couldn’t even use the other hand because she didn’t want to wash it again to go back to preparing food. When I asked if I could instead have a nickel and four pennies, she just looked at me and said «no.» This was pretty ridiculous as the register had about 15 nickels in it and she just didn’t want to be helpful.
I won’t go back. There’s Magic Carpet for vegetarian food at 34^th and Walnut. I’ll go there if I ever want something, they’re cheaper, nicer and fresher. This place should close and be replaced with some place that wants to give fresher food and better customer service.

After reading about and seeing the vegetable timbale, I wanted to try one, but unfortunately I was told it was removed from the menu recently (it may return sometime soon). Instead, I ordered the portabello mushroom, red pepper, and asparagus sandwich in a tomato wrap rather than a bun. The balsamic vinegar dressing tasted really good with this combination and while the portabello mushrooms and red peppers were juicy, delicious, and fantastic, sadly the asparagus was overcooked and stringy. One bite pulled a bundle of asparagus right out of the wrap! I tried to chew through the asparagus, but it just wasn’t very good. I also got a sweet potato cupcake, which I thought was very good. I’d like to try this place again because there are so many thoughtfully-​prepared options. I’ll just write it off as a bad day for asparagus. Easily 4 stars, but I’ll give it 3 for now because of the bad day.

Very tasty vegetarian options. Good prices. Friendly staff. I had the vegetable timbale and it was amazing. Husband had grilled vegetable wrap and he said it was delish but not as filling as he would like. The toppings bar is great with lots of sauces and extras. Highly recommended for a quick lunch bite.

I stopped in today after class to grab a quick bite. I’m new to the area, and still finding vegan options that are both close in proximity and economical. While Vegetate is not something I could justifiably budget on a daily basis, I found their prices to be in line with most of University City. I had the grilled asparagus (delicious), and a veggie wrap (surprisingly well flavored). This came to about $ 10.75 after tax. The whole experience, from ordering to walking out, took about three minutes, so it is definitely somewhere I would go in a time crunch.
The service was excellent, attentive, and cheerful. My only wish is that they had a juice bar of some kind, which is what I had initially been looking for. I will return.