Kate’s Joint

i’m still upset about this… dammit!
how and where will i ever get to see MOBY randomly while listening to the RAMONES whilst eating mock popcorn shrimp with a twist of lemon and ahab’s secret yummy sauce, all while waiting for my awesome unphilly cheese steak sammiwich with vegan cheese on a foccocia roll with caramelized onions, and a side of mash with vegan brown gravy?
And then there were the breakfasts…
it will never happen again…
my stomach growls at the memory
weeps
please open somewhere else dear Kate
;-(

Nooooooooooooooo! Why are you closed? Big, major sad face.
This place will always be dear to me because we used to live right around the corner, but more importantly, it’s where we had our «Surprise! We got married!» party.
We had fun talks, serious talks, and fights in that dining room.
I sat at the bar and studied. I sat at the bar the day Michael Jackson died.
I’m devastated that I can’t come back when I visit NYC.
Goodbye, my McKate.

Since I’m always on the hunt for great vegetarian restaurants for those days when I feel like reliving my college days I wanted to like this place. I really really did!
But I just can’t.
I tried.
I guess the lettuce was fresh and eggs were cooked ok.
I guess price wise it aint bad and I guess, well, well… sigh
I can only assume even the greenest of grass eating vegetarians leave this place wanting meat, or anything else rather then eating what Kate is serving up.

I have been a supporter of Kates since it first opened. I remember leaving ABC No Rio a little early Just so we could get a seat. The place was so damn small but it’s was amazing to finally have a vegan/​vegetarian place downtown
However, over the years as more and more vegan places popped up it appears that Kates Joint has slowly gone to the dogs.
A place I used to go out of my way to go to I barely eat there any more because the food as gone from great to mediocre.
Plus the damn wait staff is so damn spaced out they forget there are people there waiting to be served.
I don’t know what the prerequisites is to become a waitress there but you certainly do not need a high school diploma.
Telling people things were vegan when they weren’t.
Maybe if they would care more about the upkeep of this place, more people would support it.
I mean, CBGBs had a nicer bathroom.
Sorry Kate, I’ll be taking my vegan self elsewhere.

I had the Un-​turkey club today, and I have to say what a lot of people already know: Un-​turkey® is so much better than Tofurky®. (I mean, if you get to choose.)
I know I gave a not-​great review a couple of years ago, and the recent prospect of Kate’s possibly folding (Nooo!) has me going there several times in the past couple of weeks. (
) This neighborhood is changing rapidly, and not always for the better; the nursing home a block away on 5^th street and avenue B is scheduled to become luxury condos pretty soon, for instance.
When Kate expanded into the corner space and added a bar, I thought for sure she’d always be able to make her rent. I’m pulling for her and would love to have her add a vegan bakery – the next step, she says, after she squares it with the creditors.
I’ve been loving the food and am hoping she pulls through; I’m looking forward to going there in the morning for a muffin.

Please, if you love Kate’s Joint like I do, help save it! The EV can’t afford to lose another amazing vegetarian establishment.

I love this place, although I haven’t been in about 10 years. Kate’s is a monument to vegan/​vegetarian dining in NYC/​LES. Please help save it!

Do you like riff-​heavy hard rock from the 70s a la Led Zeppelin with your tofu scramble burrito? Of course you do, especially if you wash it down with a healthy screwdriver and some good company. Great vegetarian/​vegan joint. Service a little slow, but so are you when you are hair-of-the-dog-struggling-to-make-sense-of-why-your-Sundays-can’t-be-more-productive-when-you-really-just-need-to-detox. Or maybe you’re just a healthy kinda person. Either way, enjoy this place. Don’t look at the yellowish glare of the 3 ½ stars that the average Unilocaler gives this place. Or do look at it, and eat here regardless@!
I hit ampersands when I type exclamation points. I’m going to stop editing my flubby fingers because I think it works.

I came here on a Saturday morning and thought it was closed. The entrance is a little strange and there is a heavy curtain hanging just inside the door, but it was open! Yes!!!
I had a DELICIOUS tofu scramble and sat in the sun reading for an hour.
My check was only $ 3.55 AND they played Talking Heads and M83. Loved it. Maybe I should find reasons to head over to Avenue B more often.

This is a great hangout and is good for large groups but the food is pretty average and I think a lot of items are overpriced. I was really excited to try their «shrimp» bites but it was pretty much battered tofu bites with cocktail sauce. The veggie burger is also so-​so; nothing spectacular. Their vegan nachos are good, and their mashed potatoes are amazing, as are the gravy/​cheese fries, but their brunch is totally not worth it (super plain tofu scramble).
Most recently, I friend and I ordered the vegan southern chicken dinner for two (something like that), which came with lots of food: fried tofu, BBQ tofu, collards, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and black eye peas — there was lots of food for about $ 17 but we both thought that nearly every item on the platter was bland.
Their desserts are also not very good – go to Atlas (2^nd Ave btw 4^th and 5^th) for dessert. Last time I dined, they had no desserts and we were told that they sometimes don’t have desserts, as Kate (the owner, I would imagine), does all the baking and doesn’t always have time. I guess that’s okay for a brand new, tiny vegan restaurant, but this place has been around forever and underwent a decent renovation so I’d expect them to get it together and have a consistent menu.

I’ve been to Kate’s Joint several times, lured in by the wide variety of veg foods for whatever I’m craving.
Unfortunately the food is never spectacular. There are so many vegetarian places in New York and this place has a lot of catching up to do. I ordered the shepherds pie once and it was awful.
The décor needs some serious work. The tables and chairs are wobbly and uncomfortable. There are broken window panes. I understand they’re going for a sort of divey-​shabby-​hispter-​chic sorta look but really its a mess. And the music that’s playing from the kitchen is usually competing with what’s on the stereo; not good for the atmosphere.
The service is also terrible. We stopped in mid-​day on a Thursday or something. There were maybe three other customers there. Not only did our waitress bring me the wrong dish, she also gave us the wrong check.

I’m not a vegan. I’m not even vegetarian. That being said, I am into this place.
Brunch, including a pretty serious amount of food, coffee/​tea, and a screwdriver/​greyhound/​bloody mary is only $ 11! I had the huevos with eggs and real cheese, and they were salty and gooey and delicious. Not the best I’ve ever had, but I like it. My date had plenty of vegan options, but went with the tofu scramble that she always gets.
I’m charmed by wobbly tables and inattentive waitstaff. It’s a thing.

Firstly, service is pretty non-​existent here. You walk in, get ignored for about fifteen seconds, and then the bartender notices your awkward presence and casually waves, «Sit wherever you want.»
A commendable thing about Kate’s Joint is that they have a really wide variety of things to choose from. Appetizers, sandwiches, entrees, pastas, pizzas, burgers, salads, everything. The downside is that they don’t really taste all that good. The buffalo breaded tofu was the best dish of everything I tried. Pretty flavorful sauce; nice crispy breading. But the blue cheese dip was a strange, tasteless goop. My waiter also got my order wrong: instead of the meatloaf hero I wanted, I got a meatloaf entrée. He was nice enough and offered to switch it up but I declined.
I have to say, the un-​meatloaf is possibly the weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten. I’ve eaten strange things like pigs’ brains and bird’s nest soup but the steak-​shaped mass before me was the strangest. It seemed to be glued together with a starchy gloop, and in it were some lentils and indeterminate vegetable chunks. The texture was just really gross, and in no way could it approximate meat. I am aware that non-​meat will never taste like meat, but even rating the dish on a vegetarian scale would still yield an ‘ugh”. The sweet potato and mashed potato served with the entrée was tasteless.
I uh… I’m glad Thanksgiving is right around the corner because it means I get to eat actually decent food.

GOOD FOOD but WORST WAITSTAFF IN ALL OF NEW YORK CITY
I’ve been frequenting Kate’s Joint for well over 10 years. It was one of the only places in NYC that both meat eating and vegetarian friends alike could agree after going to shows; now in a time where we have more options in downtown NYC that time may be at an end.
After waiting for well over 20 minutes for water and menus in a relatively mild dinner shift (4 tables at most), our snotty waitress messes up our order not once but twice, after asking for utensils, throws our silverware on the table in a fuss. After receiving her wrong order, my friend points out the error, and the waitress again brings the wrong side and huffs «YOURE NOT PAYING FOR THIS SO WHAT THE PROBLEM»
Upon receiving our check, my friend points out her error again. And the waitress demands it was not her fault and she is not adjusting our check. My friend asks why we have deserved such a bitchy attitude for no reason and the waitress LITERALLY TRIES TO ATTACK MY FRIEND. Screams ‘I WORK THIS JOB TO PAY TUITION WHAT DO YOU DO!!!” Throws her boxed food in her face and storms off… all while we are trying to pay our check and leave.
I’m a born-​and-​bred self sufficient New Yorker. I’ve also worked in the East Village in the service industry for over 10 years, which allows me to pay off my tuition and supplement my career goals. Never in my life have I ever seen such an excuse for such abhorrent behavior.
Do us peaceful natives deserve to be treated like pieces of trash by dreadlocked New School Poetry Major Freshman? I think no. Go back to the Midwest, or whatever Burning Man, Peter Tosh loving rock you crawled out from under.
Otherwise, hit the poles, you might do better in that service industry.

As a vegetarian establishment, Kate’s does the job. The food, though somewhat creative is hardly spectacular, and can be summed up as a mesh of standard veggie offerings just enough to keep a vegan satisfied. As a nightlife option, Kate’s is a bit of lackluster and feels remarkably weird amongst the other default bars in Alphabet City.
Having dabbled in veganism here and there, it takes a lot for a vegan/​veggie joint to impress me. Not just for taste alone but their imitations of faux meat-​oriented products (soy bacon, tofurkey, etc) should say a lot about their skills. After a terrible veggie burger and a mediocre meatless meatloaff, the tofu scramble was decent. But like a lot of clean food it lacked seasoning and was subpar on the presentation, not to mention it tasted nothing like eggs.
Disco fries were the most popular option in the house per our waitress, but it looked more like poutine gone wrong. Such a shame too, especially since disco fries are some of my my favorite junk food. The seitan cheese was lacking and the gravy was too light to make a difference. Others found the dish to be the most appetizing on the table, which isn’t saying much, considering it was practically an insta-​fail on the tastiness scale.
When night falls and the kitchen closes, this place somehow becomes a mini dive bar, complete with a DJ and a mix of hipsters and patrons who have no idea what they’re doing there (like me). While they take cards for brunch and dinner service, it during the night they only accept cash for their cheapo drinks. The music wasn’t half bad, though their busiest nights have a real suffocating crowd.
And speaking of suffocating, the men’s bathroom is among the most cramped and foul odor heavy I’ve experienced. There was no soap, various stains all over the floor, and the urinal was situated right next to the swinging door (no handle). At least that may explain the accidental spillage all over the place.
Clean food and nasty bathrooms never go hand in hand and neither will Kate and I.

Comfy vegetarian oasis in heart of Alphabet City.
An easy spot to dine alone or with a large group. Everyday prices are reasonable, and the specials can’t be beat. Service is laidback and just-​friendly-​enough. Coffees (delightfully strong) and waters never run dry, and the quiet bar offers a nice selection of draft beers.
The breakfast special — $ 6 for eggs or tofu + greens + toast + coffee — is the perfect start to the day (as long as that happens before 4pm).
I consider myself a vegetarian chili connoisseur, and Kate’s is way up there. I usually don’t do fake meat, but the protein laced with beans in this smoky concoction somehow strikes a perfect balance texture– and flavor-​wise. Worth the heftier price ($ 5 cup/​$ 6 bowl).
I still have to try their veggie burger…

This place has been around for a while. The first time I had dinner here, it was pretty awesome.
So me and my friend got together, ’cause we haven’t seen each other in a while. He offered to take me out for a belated birthday brunch.
Uh…should’ve known something was up, when I asked for iced tea, and the waitress said none was available yet. Yet it was early May??? So then I asked for lemonade. Again, no lemonade had been made. *Sigh* Alright, went with the iced coffee.
The food itself was okay, but our service could’ve been a bit better. We realized our waitress was kinda-​sorta ditzy by this point, ’cause she took forever serving us our orders. On top of that, we had to remind her about bringing us soy milk for our coffees. She went back and forth from pretending to be attentive to hanging out in the back to socialize with her friends.
To top it off, the bathrooms were STILL dingy after all this time. If I wanted to see a loo with crappy graffiti, I would hit a dive bar, not some vegetarian restaurant. I mean, c’mon! I know this is the Lower East Side we’re talking about, but let’s be real. This area has been gentrified a long, long time ago. The Anarchist Bookstore that used to be open a while back has been long shuttered. The least this place can do is clean up the restrooms. Jeez Louise.
What saved the meal was the company. Having conversation with my dear friend who I hadn’t seen in some time. If it wasn’t for that, I probably would’ve been more annoyed. Knowing myself though, I would most likely try this place again.

A neat little vege-​friendly café in the East Village.
Pluses:
–The un-​chicken buffalo wings are great and are also served with a yummy vegan ranch sauce (which is very hard to get right.)
— Vegan un-​turkey club sandwich was aaaaamazing!!!
–Crispy homemade fries
Minuses:
–Dirty bathrooms
–Slow service
–Extra charge for a refill
–Dirty ketchup bottles
–MEH Macoroni
In conclusion, Kate just needs to tidy up a bit and all will be well.
I will be back.

Aaaaaaamazing vegeterian & vegan food!
I had the African peanut soup and the spinach & portabello salad.
Seriously amazing. If all salads tasted like the one I had today? I could seriously live off salads for the rest of my life.
And, my waiter was super friendly!
Definite plans on returning.

Um. Wow.
And I mean that in the bad way.
I’ve been going to Kate’s Joint since it opened in 1995 and it’s been one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants ever since due to its buffalo unchicken wings, unturkey club and fake steak au poivre. Back in the day, if you wanted greasy spoon vegan comfort food served up with a punk kind of attitude, you went to Kate’s. If you wanted expensive, healthy veg food and preferred to mingle with the Birkenstock and head scarf crew, you went to Caravan of Dreams. Not too many choices in the East Village 15 years ago.
Service was never that great, but it never mattered that much. I’d be more concerned with those frightening bathrooms (which are now in the bar area and in their place is this weird counter area with a mirror that doesn’t seemed to be used but for the waitress checking her hair and make up instead of tending to the needs of her customers).
Yeah, I don’t know WTF Kate’s management thought they were doing when they hired that person who waited on us last night. She was more of a space cadet than any of servers you’d ever encounter on month two of a lemonade fast at Caravan of Dreams, even.
When we arrived, she was attentive enough, I suppose, asked us if we wanted drinks, no but we wanted soup and they were out of the French Onion. After we realized our other friend would be late, I then ordered Unturkey soup and an appetizer for the table. Ten minutes went by, no soup (I know it’s back there in a big pot, I mean, come on, shouldn’t that come out within minutes?) Twenty minutes, nada. We were one of two tables in the place. I kept watching the chick go to the aforementioned back mirror and TOUCH HER HAIR which is gross, and then go back to handle the take out orders.
Half an hour, maybe more, I called her over and asked where our food might be, pray tell. I mean, I was at the point of h-​angry (thanks for that oh so appropriate term, Dana H!). She then made a point to ENTER the kitchen and return to listlessly tell us that the kitchen must have lost the ticket that she put up on the counter window to the kitchen… back in 1999, I guess, because HELLO there was a COMPUTER right in full view of us, so I know had she put the order in, the kitchen would have been notified via a ticket that comes through automatically on their end. What restaurant does hand written tickets these days? A more believable lie would be «the kitchen’s computer ran out of tape and the order never went through.» Why, because I’ve used that one myself, after offering to buy a table a round of drinks due to my mistake.
No such offer rectified the situation. Just lies, more lies and then more hair touch ups in the mirror and THEN to add insult to injury, I saw our food come up and she took a to go order on the phone instead of putting them on hold.
Also lovely was when she served a flat soda to Vanessa F and when this was pointed out, the waitress said, «Yeah, the CO tank is out.» THEN FIX IT. Or for the love of god, warn your table of this fact before bringing a flat soda out to the table.
I worked in the industry for so many years. I know there are plenty of people looking for waitressing gigs out there and I cannot deal with bad service. NO TOLERANCE AT ALL FOR IT.
It was almost funny-​but not-​to walk out past the bar and see her chowing down on a meal and ignoring the now half full dining room.
I would give Kate’s one star based on this dreadful service, but the food itself was still quite tasty. (Though I wonder happened to the unturkey that is in the Unturkey Soup? It used to be chunks and now it’s fake deli slices. Sad).