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| - Despite the "Vegetarian" listing and name here on Yelp, Green Lotus markets itself as a vegan restaurant. Before you even enter the door, they have printed on their window-front: "Vegan Cuisine," "No Animal Product," "No Dairy, No Egg." Next door to Green Lotus is Pho Bamboo, which not a veg*n restaurant. They have the same owner and once inside, the two restaurants are only separated by a partial wall, so you can walk back and forth between the two. That being said, they share the same kitchen, which is located on Pho Bamboo's side.
A group of us came here last Thursday for the Veg-Curious Night Out UYE. This was my first time here. I did my research ahead of time so I knew that there were 2 vegan menus: 1 American menu; 1 Vietnamese menu. Both menus are said to be 100% vegan, but the Vietnamese menu is more extensive. (I took photos of all pages on both menus; see photos.) If you "appear" to be non-Vietnamese, you will receive the American menu. (And believe me, you'll be missing out.) So I asked our waiter for both menus and he was happy to oblige, although it appeared that he may have been scolded by an older woman (owner?) for doing so. She then came over and asked one of my buddies if he was Vietnamese, to which he replied no. She appeared to try to take away our Vietnamese menus. I told her that I'd requested both menus. She just smiled and nodded her head (her English is limited), still holding out her hand out for the menus. I held tightly onto mine, but she took the rest. Why do they have 2 different menus? The Vietnamese menu still has English descriptions for every entry, so that perplexes me. Upon further inspection, I did discover that some of the dishes in the Vietnamese menu were cheaper than its American counterpart. e.g. Com Chien Thap Cam (Combination fried rice), Com Chien Thai (Thai fried rice), and Com Chien Thom (Pineapple fried rice) are all $8.95 in the Vietnamese menu. In the American menu, Thai fried rice is $9.95, Pineapple fried rice is $10.95, and Combination fried rice is $11.95. That's up to a $3 difference. Now in all fairness, there could be a reason. Maybe the American menu offers a larger portion, because...ya know, Americans? I will dig deeper into this and report back.
KING EGG ROLLS $5.95 - American menu. Comes with 3 large & crispy "egg" rolls, filled with veggies and tofu. It came with thin light brown/yellow sauce that did not taste like sweet and sour sauce. Another mate had ordered the crispy Pub Wontons (Vietnamese menu), which came with a red sweet & sour sauce. I think that sauce would've been better. The egg rolls themselves were cool, but I'm a sauce person; the sauce is just as important, if not more, for me.
GA RAM $5.95 - Vietnamese menu. Fried soy chicken appetizer. It reminded me more of vegan shrimp than faux chicken. It had a wiggly consistency. The flavor was ok, but I couldn't get pass the texture.
CA MUOI XA CHIEN $8.95 - Vietnamese menu. Marinated soy fish deep fried with spicy lemongrass. The dish had great flavor but the soy fish did not appear to be deep fried at all. Pan fried, maybe, but not deep fried. Also, there was no hint of the lemongrass flavor. This dish came with jalapeños, minimal broccoli (maybe 2 pieces), green bell peppers, and onions, served with jasmine rice. Again, yummy dish, just not what I expected.
RAU THAP CAM XAO GUNG $9.95 - Vietnamese menu. Fried ginger "chicken" with mixed vegetables. By this dish, I've discovered that when they say fried, they mean stir fried. Served with jalapeños, green bell peppers, onions, and ginger. Served with jasmine rice. This dish was also very good and flavorful. I requested spice level 4 (on a 1-5 scale), but it was not spicy at all.
HOT & SPICY GREEN BEAN $9.95 w/ Soy Chicken + $2 - American menu. It's supposed to be sautéed in a chili paste. I requested spice level 4. It only had a hint of spice. Maybe they gave me the American spice scale instead of a real spice scale? Nonetheless, excellent dish that bursts with flavor. It came with mushrooms, which was not mentioned in the menu description. I dislike mushrooms, so I had to pick those out, which is a shame; I hate wasting food. Served with brown rice.
VEGETABLE FRIED RICE $9.95 w/ Soy Chicken +2 - American menu. Excellent flavor in this dish as well. It comes with lots of green onions, which I love.
PROBLEMS! One of my dinner mates ordered the Vegetable Pho (Vietnamese menu) and was served REAL MEAT! How can this happen? Because as I said earlier, it shares a kitchen with its neighbor, Pho Bamboo. For this reason, I have a major problem with this establishment marketing itself as a vegan restaurant.
When vegans see the "vegan" label on an eatery, we eat there knowing rest assured, we'll be served a 100% animal and animal by-product free meal. That security is false at Green Lotus. Aside from investigating further, I won't return to Green Lotus unless they become completely independent from Pho Bamboo.
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