Elite Event @ Veggie Grill

Thank you, Katy H for another awesome event. My husband and I were both able to attend bc we’re both Elites! :) Vegetarian + vegan is totally the way to go — I grew up vegan, so my body loves me when I follow it.
Food was pretty good — reminded me of my younger days eating meat substitute products of chikin and veggie dogs. I much prefer the salads there === the All Hail Kale was ammmaaaaziiinnnggg. No need for chikin on top or the tofu thing. I intend to get that salad again soon. Get the dressing on the side — they pre-​dress the kale overnight, and it is plenty. I rarely use dressing on my salads, so I found it to be more than enough without the extra sauce.
Sweet potato fries were good. My husband liked the buffalo chikin and macaroni and cheeze (not real cheese). The teas and lemonades were delicious.

The Elite Event at Veggie Grill was a fun, intimate event, with a pop quiz twist.*
I’ll admit at EEs, most of the time I tend to chat with those I know-​know or those I just know, but this one encouraged more mingling, chatting, and plain olé goofing when you were sleuthing out which Unilocaler matched the bingo squares. Interactions ranged from a quick Q&A to a lengthier convo, asking for more details on the person’s fun fact.
We were served a couple appetizers – buffalo wings w/​celery and ranch dressing and sweet potato fries with a chipotle ranch. Both were delicious. The buffalo wings had me fooled. It looked, felt, and tasted like boneless chicken pieces. The two dipping sauces contained no dairy but tasted perfectly rich and creamy. The fries held up well, after a decent amount of time of grazing. The first and last fry I ate was pretty much the same (which is to say, good). Gotta give some love to the celery too; I munched a few pieces and they were crisp and fresh!
We were given free reign over their fountain drinks, which had lemonade, strawberry lemonade, passionfruit tea, peach tea, and iced tea. It was so tasty mixing flavors.
After a while, we were seated and given a brief talk from Katy and 3 members of VG (Ryan and two other cool dudes). You could tell they were all genuinely excited to have us here AND give us free stuff up the wazoo. Everyone walked away with a $ 15 giftcard in addition to the meal we enjoyed — any entrée, any side, up to 2 fancy drinks (included wine, beer, bottled sodas), and a 3 dessert sampler! I’d estimate the meal we received was $ 20+, which is super generous. Ordering was pretty simple: one line, order at the register, take your number to your seat, food is brought directly into your face mouth. Throughout the evening, the employees made sure we had cups/​silverware, chatted with us about their menu, asked for comments/​feedback on the food, and offered GREAT service.
I ordered the Chipotle BBQ sandwich and a side of mac&cheese, with a Scuttlebutt Blonde to drink. The sandwich was good and messy, exactly like a BBQ sandwich should be. The chipotle sauce was flavorful, had a little kick. It was a generous serving of «meat» and the veggie toppings were fresh. The mac&cheese was yummy. not quite the same as the boxed stuff (wink), but I wouldn’t turn down a whole pot of VG’s mac&cheese! I’ve had the Blonde before, and it’s light and crisp, which was perfect for a warm evening. Of the dessert sampler (carrot cake, chocolate pudding/​mouse, and chocolate chip cookie), the carrot cake wins, hands down.
The two hours flew by, and if I didn’t have a hungry hubby waiting for me to bring him food, I would have lingered a bit longer too. It’s a testament to the success of this event that folks left in a very slow trickle, everyone saying good bye to at least several others on the way out. I happily ordered the hub VG’s Blackened Chickin’ Plate (chicken, topped with papaya salsa, over steamed kale, and a quinoa pilaf). Without all the extra stuff (sides, drinks, dessert), the entrée was a reasonable $ 10. He demolished it when I got home and we’re talking about coming back here soon.
Thanks to Katy, as ever, for another great event! And to the staff at Veggie Grill for their kindness, generosity, and yummy foodstuffs.
ps: There will be a location in UVillage, soonish! I’m excited. :)
*Sorry to the folks (which was like, everyone) I told I didn’t submit a fun fact. Turns out I was the «first concert was Weezer.» Katy is so tricky! And I’m a little senile if I didn’t recognize something on my own profile.

This Unilocal Elite Event at the Veggie Grill made me a believer of 100% plant based food can really taste very good.
I was skeptical because I really like meat but overall, they won me over and I will be back. I like the appetizers sweet potato fries and buffalo chicken wings. I really like the Sante Fe Crispy Chikin sandwich which I appreciate that they didn’t over season so I can add my own amount of seasoning and hotsauce. The dessert was the highlight… I LOVE the carrot cake! The endless fountain drinks… I really like the strawberry lemonade. They also provide two tickets for beer and soda but I skip it.
Katy provided a fun Bingo game that interact with Unilocalers finding their facts. I believe it was maybe 60 people that came so the group was more intimate. I really appreciate the staff of Veggie Grill going the whole nine yards to creating an excellent dining experience and making all of us feel so welcome.
As a healthy person who watches my own calorie count, I would recommend Veggie Grill to provide calories fact numbers of each appetizers, sides, and entrees. This would be most helpful to many people not only vegans and vegetarian who are watching their weight or what they eat.
Thank you to Katy for another great Unilocal Elite Event dinner and Veggie Grill for such a fun time, great food (my belly was so stuff), and meeting new Unilocalers.

Omg… I’ve never had so much food at a Unilocal Elite event before! And delicious food at that!
I can’t believe we got sweet potato fries, buffalo chicken wings, cookies, chocolate pudding AND carrot cake to share PLUS an entrée of our choice with upgrades AND two bottled beverages each! Oh and a gift card for a free entrée next time. The staff at Veggie Grill was soooo generous.
Everything was delicious. My favorite was the buffalo chicken wings. My Sante Fe Crispy Chikin sandwich and mac and cheese side were delicious as well. This stuff really tastes like the real thing! I tasted’ Mandy S’s crab cake as well and it tasted like real crab cakes! The carrot cake and chocolate pudding really tasted authentic too. I also liked the wine selection with the chilled glass for my white wine.
The food arrived super fast and you could tell the staff was really happy to have us there. They are so friendly.
The family style seating was fun and I made some new friends and had good conversation.
My only criticism would be that I wish Veggie Grill featured more besides burgers and salads. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I thought some rice, pasta and other creative dishes could be fun. They aren’t tied to being a vegan sandwich/​salad place right? The sky’s the limit as long as its vegan so I’d love to see them go nuts!
Veggie Grill, you have a fan in me! I’ll be back!

2^nd time at Veggie Grill and really liked what I got this time!
I ordered the Crabcake burger with a side of mac n cheese and really was amazed at the resemblance to real crabcakes! it was a whole patty and the texture and flavor was so similar to the real thing including the crab/​seafood flavor.
I really like the bun but couldn’t finish it, it was soft and chewy for being whole wheat.
There was so much food from buffalo wings, sweet potatoe fries and they offered complimentary drinks along with two additional ‘bottled’ beverages of your choice (wine, beer, gingerale and pelligrino)
My unfiltered gingerale was The BOMB. It had real ginger pieces at the bottom and was refreshing with my crabcakes.
To top it off, we had chocolate pudding, carrot cake and walnut chewy cookies =)
Thanks Veggie Grill for the generous meal and giftcard! We left so satisfied and full for the rest of the weekend.

I work in the same building as Veggie Grill, but I could never bring myself to patronize the place being a hardcore meatatarian. I’d heard decent things, but it just wasn’t something that really interested me. Imagine my delight when I read there was going to be an Elite event there and I could try their food for free!
I really wasn’t expecting much, since most vegetarian joints try entirely too hard to imitate their meat counterparts. VG does do some of this and somehow, they’ve managed to pull off chicken wing-​finger-​things amazingly well. I think that might be a sign that chicken isn’t real meat… or maybe it’s a sign that VG actually knows what they’re doing. A few of their other dishes weren’t *as* successful, but I can see how those who aren’t into eating animals would relish the options. All on all, I think it’s a very good option for vegetarians or those who eat meat and are looking for a change of pace.
Oh, oh… I got to sit next to Katy H at dinner! Be jealous.