Zen Palate

This is vegetarian food? Why is everything so processed and over fried? yes you’re using vegetables but that doesn’t mean you have to make it greasy as hell. I didn’t really enjoy this. I went with my friend who stated that she felt healthy when she ate there, mind you she couldn’t even find the restaurant either. But I highly doubt over fried food = healthy. Even though its a vegetable, doesn’t mean you get to fry the hell out of it.
The food was bland, the raspberry ice tea came in a paper cup. Very classy. There was a fly around our food. What is this? Plus the waitress wandered off, leaving us there trying to get her attention so we could get water and the bill. Over hyped. There are better vegetarian options out there, and they aren’t chain restaurants.

Mediocre at best and now it is closed. I shed no tears…

The 2-​Star (as opposed to 1) rating is a reflection of the fact that at least 1 out of 4 plates could be deemed as being pretty good. The three other dishes were just, well, odd. I mean, it was edible stuff, but the whole fake meat business («mock duck,» «soy chicken,» «soy ham,» etc) is weird to me.
I love tofu and all types of vegetables. Try doing something interesting with fresh veggies, man, I don’t want fake meat.

seems like i’m starting to rate my places according to the company i have.
anyway, autumn rolls have my favorite fungi-​wood ears, so i definitely recommend it.
the waitresses were very attentive and friendly.
the water was filled regularly and it was nice and icy.
the food was a nice portion, and we lounged for 3 hrs and they said nothing, were still friendly when we left, which was nice.
good ambiance too, should try to get the «seats near the outside but not outside». reminded me of parisien cafes.

I have passed this place about a gazillion times and have never even thought of trying it. I don’t know why, I just haven’t.
Well I’m attempting to eat healthier and a friend and I were meeting in the area for lunch, so the natural choice was… Zen Palate.
I was thrown off by all of the Soy items on the menu. I don’t know why and I know that it’s that sort of restaurant, but I guess I’m more use to Vegetarian than Vegan.
I had the Felicity Mushroom and it was good, not great and a lot more filling than I thought it would be. My friend had the Curry Supreme and I’m pretty sure he hated it as he mentioned really enjoying the carrots and then proceeded to only eat those.
I mean it was okay, but I would go back to try a few more things off of the menu.

Yucky, bland, and subpar food!
Never will I come back here!
BLEH!

Zen Palate Menu
Sawdust and hoiSin sauce $ 20
Hoisin saUce and fake meat $ 21
Flavorless ChunKs of tempeh (hoisin sauce $ 1 extra) $ 19
Wood shavings with naSty brown sauce $ 22
Gnarly tAsting tofu that’s supposed to look like chicken $ 20
Other soy-​based textured protein that tasteS like rubber $ 22
Diced Michelin all-​weather radialS over wheat gluten $ 21
Barf bag $ 30
Poseur Ambience Incl.
Look for the secret code (hint: follow the misplaced capitals) within the menu. Very unusual that a restaurant would do this sort of thing.

The food is pretty good, although it’s a strange mix overall of healthy and… junk food? Like, deep fried tempe covered in sweet and sour sauce with steamed plain broccoli and brown rice? Ok, so that’s my favorite dish at ZP, but still, it’s kind of strange.
Oh, and the seats they have are not very comfortable. Still, good place to go and pretend you’re eating right, and of course, vegetarian friendly but even meat eaters — like myself — will find something enjoyable to eat :)

I used to date a vegan girl (against my better judgement), so everything I ate was vegan for the five months or so we were together.
It was hell.
When I would ask her about why she was vegan, she would reply with the stupidest shit I’d ever heard. «Milk is for baby cows.» What the hell does that even mean? But I tried to deal with her weirdo self-​imposed dietary restrictions. She was really cute, and honestly, the vegan stuff was the least of the obnoxious nonsense i had to put up with from her.
Anyway, my options for dining out were basically Zen Palate, or Zen Palate. Luckily, Zen Palate is pretty darn good.
Hopefully I will never have to eat there again, but it has nothing do with the food or the service. I just don’t ever want to date another vegan, and as long as I’m eating out, I want some red meat on the plate!

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in vegetarian restaurants (being vegan myself), and have this to say about Zen Palate: anyone who can figure out how to make yam fries taste like Krispy Kreme donuts (I’m not kidding) gets my vote.
The prices are a tad high for what you get. Yes, I know it’s NYC. But $ 9 for a veggie burger, $ 6 for two spring rolls, and $ 3 for a *small* bottle of S. Pellegrino seem a bit much.

ugh. I really really dislike Zen Palate. More than any other vegetarian restaurant. Their food tastes like variations of paper, so many to choose from, cardboard, carbon paper, laserprint, copier, vellum, cellophane, packing peanuts texture, that is crunchy and bite-​able. Add rice and some kind of soy sauce based sauce to that and you have an accurate idea of what the food tastes like. I love vegetarian food and they give vegetarian food a bad name.
I think you either hate or love this place, as many friends of mine who I adore and who share my taste buds, love this place. So, maybe you should still go, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Wow, Unilocalers, what’s with all the hating of Zen Palate?
I have not been to any other outpost of Zen Palate, just the UnionSquare one, but I have eaten there probably 15 or 20 times downstairs and never had a bad meal. I eat here with Kosher and Vegetarian friends, primarily, but I have taken people who love their red meat here too, and everyone has had a good experience.
I love the black bean sauced artichoke hearts and tomatoes with fake chicken. My friend ordered a special one time with gingko nuts that was nothing short of wild. Rose petals, vege loaf, croquettes, are all fine. The hot and sour soup is excellent, and the taro spring roll that comes with whatever plate you order is fine, nothing thrilling. Dumplings and yam fries vary from knock your socks off to lukewarm, depending on how busy it is. I find that the busier it is there, the better the food is.
I am certainly no authority on vegetarian food, so my basis for comparison against some of the beloved NYC institutions isn’t large, but if you’re in Union Square and you need or want a fast cheap and tasty bite, I haven’t been disappointed with the flavors or the quality of the meal.

For a vegetarian, I guess Zen Palate would be ideal. For me (a carnivore), I feel like the food here is missing some flavor. I can’t put my finger on it, but everything I had was pretty bland. The Taro Spring Rolls had some flavor, but I think it was the fried-​ness that appealed to me.
The avocado sandwich — eh, okay. I love avocado, but it doesn’t make a sandwich or my sandwich anyway. Maybe I needed to get one of the noodle bowls, but moving forward, I’m staying away from the sandwiches.
I had a passion fruit tea that was the highlight of the meal. I’d like one of those again, but again, never again will I get the avocado sandwich.

I’ll be honest, I’m really only reviewing two dishes here. Not that I haven’t been to Zen Palate often; I’ve been here at least a hundred times over the last 5 years (easily!), but I always have the same thing! I’ve branched out a couple times, but I always go back to the same things.
That said, the steamed buns and the curry rice noodle soup are fantastic! The buns are soft and not too sweet (denser than you’d get in chinatown, but that’s not shocking) and the soup is huge and hearty for $ 7.50. They make good use of big stew like chunks of potato and carrot and don’t skimp on the texturized soy protein.
However, I’ve heard that in terms of the other dishes, the quality has gone down in the last year and half or two years, since around the time they changed their menu last.
The prices have stayed consistant though, and the service has always been pleasant and efficient, and my soup has never changed, so I’ll keep ZP around as a fallback on a cold day!

you can’t really miss Zen Palate. it’s painted in rich earth-​toned orange, grey, green, etc. it’s a wonderfully-​spaced and nicely located establishment. tables aren’t too hard to get here– the upstairs seating give you great views of Union Square.
i would recommend this place to even a «non vegetarian». with a great tasting menu, you’ll forget this is vegan at all! i love the descriptions on their menu– because you exactly the types of ingredients you wish to avoid and what you’re comfortable eating already.
the curry noodles are delicious. what seems to be everyone’s favorite is the Sizzling Medalions are such an exquisite taste! the veggie burgers w/​fries are my favorite– with a glass of Pineapple Iced Tea. their concoctions are pretty tasty. it’s fabulous that they have a prix fixe menu!

A great place to go for vegetarian meals, Zen Palate offers a meat free dining experience that is hardly rivaled elsewhere.
The price is affordable, the staff is pretty friendly, and the menu is quite diverse. You get more than your standard tofu and noodles mix that passes for veggie fare at most restaurants.
I like the décor as well, sort of a Japanese tea house feel. If you’re lucky and it’s a nice day go to the third floor where you can get a nice view of Union Square; if you want something more intimate try the 2^nd floor cushion seating, very Japanese indeed (especially with a side of green tea ^_​_​^)

I’ve always been to one of the other Zen Palates, so color me surprised when I stop by this one for lunch and see that it’s HUGE and by far the nicest. Guess I won’t be making that mistake again. Stopped in for lunch on a Sunday and it was busy, but we had no trouble getting a table and our food was delivered quickly. I always love the variety of vegetarian food at Zen Palate and I had a tough time choosing my meal, as there were a few things I wanted. Our meal was fabulous and we were quite pleased with our choices.

I’ve got a personal theory that the modifier «wrapped in bacon» is a phrase that when related to food means «better.»
While Zen Palate is not about to wrap anything in bacon, if they did it would be better, which is why they only get four stars instead of five.
I’ve only eaten upstairs here, which is apparently both fancier than downstairs and more expensive. The waitstaff was very helpful in suggesting appetizers for a large group (16 people.) and we all felt very welcome. The food was tasty, their orange juice is GREAT, and it is definitely a place to bring people from out of town, especially vegetarians.
now if only those mushrooms would come wrapped in bacon…

When I first went to Zen Palate, I was new to vegetarian food. ‘Look what they can do with soy!’ I exclaimed, holding my new found foodstuff proudly in the air. ‘Golly-​Gee! Look at me, I’m eating tempeh! A food that sounds like a Yiddish exclamation!”
Over time, however, the food a Zen Palate began to wear a little thin. The dishes began to disgust, instead of beguile, and one day I woke up and decided to breakup with Zen Palate.
Occasionally I would see Zen Palate and think, maybe I was wrong. Maybe we can work things out and our relationship can work out, but a quick lunch special revealed that Zen Palate was up to her old tricks and all those things I hated about the food, were still very much still there.
Unfortunately it’s been about 3 years since I visited Zen Palate and really I don’t think about it much. It’s a restaurant with food I can definitely live without, especially in a city with so many yummy vegi eats.

Whenever I’m in New York I make it a point to head downtown to Zen Palate. Their exclusively vegetarian menu is amazing, as long as you know what to order and what to pass by. The Curry Supreme (soy protein with potatoes & carrots in curry sauce) is delicious and there is always way too much to finish in one sitting. Also not worth missing are the yam fries and the hot & sour soup.
The only complaint I have is that the restaurant itself is a bit crowded for space with staff members and patrons often having near collisions in high-​traffic areas.