Vegetarian Bistro

Okay, I’ve noticed here a few mixed reviews so here is the scoop: with all due respect to my carnivore fellow-​Yelpers, Vegetarian Bistro is one of the best vegetarian/​vegan restaurants I’ve ever encountered. I should know, my mother is a professional Chinese chef and I am a hardcore carnivore reluctantly turned vegan.
It is important to know how to order at Vegetarian Bistro. Generally speaking, traditional Buddhist vegetarian dishes (e.g. simmered mock chicken or lily bulb and gingko nuts) are expertly excecuted and delicately seasoned. Americanized standards, on the other hand, received uneven treatment and are usually worth avoiding. Cross-​over dishes from the meat-​eating world (e.g. salt-​and-​pepper tofu) can be excellent. Then there is the world of Vegetarian-​Bistro creations; new recipes created by the owners some (but not all) of which are excellent.
Here are my recommendations:
Soup: Seaweed and tofu soup, sizzling rice soup
Dim Sum: Rice steamed in lotus leaves, radish cake,

Who in the world recommended me this place for dim sum?! They are obviously a frenemy.
Vegetarian Bistro is only recommended for vegetarians that have forgotten (or never known) what meat tastes like. The dim sum on offer are only a pale imitation of their meaty counterparts (one exception: deep fried mash potato). If I had my memory erased, I would enjoy eating here.
I sat there and I thought long and hard about what this restaurant is trying to be. The interior is upscale but completely empty. The exterior is low-​key. The service is attentive but borders on needy. At its heart, the food is flawed. The décor and the prices and the name of the restaurant sets expectations high; I want to see beautifully executed vegetarian dishes that makes me re-​consider being a carnivore. It’s not. It’s down-​to-​earth homestyle cooking that you find all over the ID but, if you’re willing to eat meat, you can find better quality for a lower price within a stone’s throw.

The other day I had plans to meet a friend at Phnom Penh Noodle House for lunch. Unfortunately for us it was on a Wednesday and guess what that’s the one day they are closed. So with only an hour for lunch we decided to hit up Vegetarian Bistro right next door. Now I’m not a vegetarian and I don’t like fake meat but I decided to give it a try.
We sit down read the menu and I have a bunch of questions, see there are a handful of veggies I won’t eat and when the menu just states mixed vegetables I need to know what vegetables they are talking about. So I finally ask the waitress what’s in certain dishes and she tells me and after a few minutes of analyzing the menu options we pick some dishes, I ask to double check if there were celery or bell peppers in the dishes and was told no I said good because I HATE celery and bell peppers. Our dished come out vegetable chow mein which we wanted soft came out crunchy was filled with celery, and Ma Po Tofu which was suppose to be spicy but wasn’t. We also orders some green onion pancakes too. The green onion pancakes tasted like they bought them frozen from Uwajimaya and microwaved them for us. I wasn’t impressed.
Maybe it’s because I’m not a vegetarian but I didn’t like this place one bit and I won’t be going back anytime soon, plus the service was odd, very, very odd.
Anyone who puts celery, bell peppers or cucumbers in my food when I ask them not to automatically gets one star, they have to earn more and Vegetarian Bistro did nothing to try and earn anymore from me.

Whether you’re a strict vegetarian or just like to have a vague sense of what substances you might digest before you go «all in» with dim sum, the veggie dim sum option is a great solution.
All the foods we tried were delish, and the staff helpfully offered suggestions on what we might like to try, how much to order, etc. in a way that enhanced the experience. The radish cakes and pear-​shaped potato fritters were two particular highlights.
A great way to while away a rainy Seattle afternoon, working your way through pots of hot tea and rotating the lazy susan to sample the menu’s offerings with a group of friends.
We were shocked by how low the bill was when we were done given how much we ordered — a great value! And good for large groups!

The food is good but the service is lacking.
Being the only vegetarian in the group I thought the food was good. It was nice to be able to go to dim sum and have multiple options. My non-​veggie co-​workers also seemed to enjoy their meatless food.
I was here for lunch with my co-​workers and although we had a larger group (7 of us and one kid) the waitress didn’t seem to think we had ordered enough. She kept coming back and pressuring us to order more saying, «that’s not enough for all of you, you want to order more?» Of course one of my co-​workers being the sucker that he is kept ordering more despite objections from the rest of the table. We ended up with more than we could eat.

Whoa … i haven’t been to seattle since i lived there a few years ago. I am visiting next month. All i can think about is veggie dim sum!
I wish i could offer a more useful review… i can’t because it’s been 3 years. i mostly remember that the service was OK, everything i tried there was either great, even for carnivores or i disliked it mostly because of my personal taste.
love love love the ‘pork’ bun things.
i can’t wait

I really don’t know how to handle this one.
The food. Pretty good. My boyfriend and I have been there twice and only one thing made us raise an eyebrow… the steamed veggie dumplings came, and would have been good, if they’d not been half frozen in the middle still. Disappointing, but otherwise the food has made us both quite happy.
The service. Tanks! Inattentive! Sadly, disappointing at best.
Every time we go, and we’ve gone during «dinner-​hours» both times now the place has been almost creepy-​empty. Us and one other couple each time. Thats it.
Nice Décor and at least its a nice quiet atmosphere. But still… the service is pretty terrible, leaving me less interested to go back.

We came here the other night with two vegans and two carnivores. Everyone felt this was the best dim sum, and in fact the best overall Chinese dishes, we had ever had. The orange fried «chicken» has a light flaky crust, the steamed barbecue «pork» buns are sinful, and anything with their fresh mango must be superb. It can be a little hard to decide since not many menu items have photos, but we ordered 10 items, and all exceeded our expectations. Another Seattle gem!

I love Vegitarian Bistro! The owner is very friendly and accommodating and will most likely remember your face if you’ve dined at her restaurant before.
Though I like the entrees more than the Dim Sum, Vegetarian Bistro offers a lot to vegans and vegetarians alike with favorite Chinese dishes made sans meat. The setting is very serene and the service is prompt and friendly.
This is one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants of all time. I will never get tired of going there! My favorites on the menu: Pan-​Fried Green Onion Cake, Pan-​Fried Radish Cake and Fried Enoki Mushrooms.

I had a really good experience here with a few friends and some young ones too. Their vegetarian dishes seriously are some of the best that I’ve had. The restaurant was pretty empty, but that doesn’t indicate a bad restaurant. The staff was always ready and available to attend to us when asked.
The General Tsao’s Chicken is bangin’! I loved it. I will go here again, over and over.

My first time in Seattle, and I will definitely be back. Especially for the General Tsao’s Chicken. I’ve been a vegetarian for 13 years, and have never had mock meat this good. It was incredible.
Perfectly crisp on the outside. Tender (not chewy) on the inside. We were the only ones in the restaurant, but I’m not sure why. The food was fantastic. Later, several Asian families joined us — which I found to be a good sign. If the Chinese families gave their seal of approval, then I could certainly be on board! :)
I was excited about the vegetarian Dim Sum. I ordered 3 or 4 kinds. All were great, but had the exact same filling. (Which I found very disappointing). I expected some to have mock meat, some to have tofu and veggies, some just veggies, etc. However, all were stuffed with mushrooms and sometimes a mushroom/​waterchestnut combo.
That would be great if you like mushrooms, but I’m one of those rare vegans that hates the shrooms. I ate the Dim Sum anyway, as they were perfectly sauteed and/​or fried. The Bean Curd dim sum was incredible. The outside was fried-​egg-​like in texture — in a good way — and crispy outside. Even with the mushrooms, I found it to be delicious.
I’d give the restaurant 5 stars — because it’s clean, friendly, and delicious, but the fact that all the dim sum options had the same filling was slightly disappointing.
Other than that, I would have given it a perfect rating. Food, service, cleanliness, etc. were all perfect.
I will definitely be back!!!

I’ve tried this place twice (dim sum; lunch). The atmosphere is pretty, and the service is good. The food is so-​so. The soup which automatically comes with lunch was very bland — we barely ate it. The entrees were ok, just not great.
It’s good to have a place in the ID that is veggie-​safe, but based on food, I’d rather go to Bamboo Garden.

Tonight we set out on a hunt for the rare elusive veggie meats. Nothing but a piece of gluten magically transformed in every kind of meatish product would do. Just to be clear though no amount of crafty cooking can make mock meat real and the best mock meat have the texture or slight taste of meat without being too meat. sounds odd but once you’ve had the good stuff even if you are a happy carnivore like me, you’ll understand.
Driving around International District we thought we had hit pay dirt seeing the name Vegetarian Bistro in the window. But it was not to be our nirvana.
The place was dead, no one except us. I was totally excited for all veggie dim sum and we had three kinds, the shrimp buns, pan fried radish cakes and deep fried spring rolls. while the fried food was good the shrimp buns were cold and taste less.
We also order a plate of the broccoli and «beef». The was super rubbery and we left most it. It was hard to judge the taste when you are chewing for so long.
Alas our quest for the tasty mock meats continues.
the food was very affordable (3 dollars for each dim sum) and most stuff under 10 dollars but if you can’t eat it, it’s not worth any money.
Will I go back? no thanks?

On my second day of touring Seattle, my girlfriend and I came across Vegetarian Bistro in the International District. As vegans we figure it’s always safe to bet there will be at least one vegetarian joint in every town’s Chinatown. Voila. Sold.
Nice décor. Loved the dishes and such. Bathrooms clean and bright and graffiti free. Wait staff nice enough. Food, however, not so good.
When the waitress was taking our drink order, she offered us Pepsi or 7Up. I stuck with water, but my girlfriend requested a Diet Pepsi. A few minutes later a very expensive can of Caffeine-​free Diet Coke was delivered to the table. Eh, whatever.
I avoided the complimentary tea (CaffeineXFree yo!) although my girlfriend said it was fine.
The included soup was salty as hell. I couldn’t eat it though my girlfriend did eat hers, only saying «Well I wouldn’t come here for the soup.»
Unfortunately the boiled dumplings ordered as an appetizer came out after the meal, and even then they were rubbery and held pockets of dull corn, carrots, and peas. it was like a Del Monte medley from my 70s elementary school cafeteria had been resurrected.
The lunch special of Mongolian «beef» was cold, and tasted like I was chewing on tires. So not a fan. The included spring roll was wicked flaky, greasy, and delicious though.
My girlfriend’s «beef» and broccoli was better, but still, nothing to write home about.
Finish it with a couple of fortune cookies and that’s the end.
I think it was $ 19 for the two of us. Not bad, but I’d definitely try somewhere else if I were in the I.D. again.

I’d say this restaurant is all right. I’ve been there couple of times, because I like their black bean sauce fried taro fish– but the more I came back — the less I’m liking the dishes I ordered.
However, the salt and pepper tofu is probably the best I’ve had.
Mongolian Beef was not very good– it was like eating a rubber–
Although– the shrimp was very tasty– kind of taste like eating the real one.
Overall, I would say food 3 – 4 stars, and service 4 stars
Service was good– always very friendly and nice. Food came fast too.

Vegetarian dim sum! It is so exciting! Small buns of meatless delight.
I’ll add another star if they start using the little cart instead of menus. Dim sum needs the little cart. It is necessary.
Addendum: it may be true that there are not enough people here for the little carts. Solution: everybody go and have dim sum here and then it will be a party! And there will be carts!
Addendum the second: I don’t care about the little carts any more. This place rules.

This place is fab-​delicious. HOWEVER, I do second the opinion that I was mildly disappointed to find out that the dim sum doesn’t come around in little carts. I had a heated philosophical debate with my friends about this issue afterwards. If it doesn’t come around in the little carts — IS IT DIM SUM? Some were of the opinion yes, because it still comes in little threes. Plus, they reminded me it’s a lot fresher this way and NOT EVERYONE IS A VEGETARIAN LIKE YOU so this place just isn’t as popular as traditional dim sum places. Touché. Point well taken. I guess it’s better than having the food cold. But there is something so fabulous about the little carts. I don’t know the names of everything, but the hum buns were GREAT! And we got some other great things too. I am still trying to decide if I should retract a star for the lack of carts.
Thanks Shoshanna for finding this!!!

I LOVE IT HERE.
Growing up I was not allowed to have american chinese food for many reasons I will not dive into.
I ached for Sweet and Sour, General Tso’s etc. etc.
Also, I become a vegetarian and more restrictions applied. UNTIL I CAME HERE!
I had me some General Tso ‘chicken’ which was really flavorful and the fake meat wasn’t bad either. It even pulls apart like meat. how do they do it.
The service was really prompt and polite as ever, oh the chinese!

*Disclaimer*
This review is written by a meat lover and a very pregnant woman with an attitude.
*End of disclaimer*
We ended up here not by choice and I went in knowing it was veggie munchers. But after reading up on the place here and trying to be open minded, we went prepared for an experience.
I tried everything put in front of me and in general, felt like I was eating wet waded up paper or couch cushions. The potstickers were filled with some sort of white mushy thing and could only be consumed with loads of soy. The «shrimp» balls were not shrimp but some sort of hybrid that made me gag. And the steamed hom bow contained flavorless fake pork BBQ. Most of my food ended up on the boy’s plate and I left hungry. The boy was nice enough to buy me a roast beef sandwich later.
As for the good things, the décor is lovely, the wait staff accommodating, and the location is great. From the array of dim sum, the radish cakes were fairly good. Thick and flavorful without the need of soy. And the General Tso’s fake chicken had an incredible sauce, mostly due to the peppers, that hid the fake chicken enough for me to consume more than one.
I’m sure all the vegetarians you know will adore it.

Not a bad place to enjoy vegetarian fare.
I’m not a huge fan of Chinese food or dim sum for that matter, however, I thought this place was pretty good!
We ordered WAY too much fried food, but it was all quite tasty & filling and we will prolly go back again to try out other dishes.
Things of note to eat:
Fried mash potato stuffing — oh yah, that’s comfort food for you!
General Tso’s «chicken» — flavourful
Enoki mushroom — our favourite!