Third time's a charm may an incredibly cliched expression, but I found it to describe my experience at Vegetarian Haven. (Not that the first and second time wasn't wonderful, because otherwise I wouldn't be given Vegetarian Haven 5 stars--in fact, notwithstanding my two 5-star reviews today, don't expect me to give 5-star reviews all that often, and especially not for initial visits, no matter how good the initial visit may be.)
The first time I went to Vegetarian Haven was April 2011, as part of the Veggielicious promotion in Toronto. (Veggielicious was a promotion by the Toronto Vegetarian Association where restaurants in Toronto and surrounding areas would offere deals on selected vegetarian items). I went for the "buy an appetizer, salad or entree and get the 2nd of the same dish for half price" deal on the seared dumplings--and those are delicious dumplings indeed, filled with vegetables and rice noodles and wrapped in a chewy skin.
When I went there again at the beginning of January, I ordered the sizzling seitan steak because I remembered seeing someone else order it on my first visit and thinking that it looked delicious. And delicious it was! The seitan steak was served to me in a hot plate and had a considerably meaty texture. I especially loved the rich, flavourful mushroom gravy, the accompanying grilled vegetables and purple rice (Vegetarian Haven's trademark rice blend of white, red, brown, black and wild rice).
For my third visit, I had a light lunch--the soup of the day (kabocha carrot walnut soup), a garden salad, one tofu drumstick and two seared dumplings--as well as the California avocado temaki. The avocado temaki was a rice-less handroll filled with avocado and other vegetables/fruits such as carrots, cucumber, and apple. The avocado was very smooth and the apples pleasantly sweet, but I'd advise against ordering it if the soup of the day also features sweet vegetables (like the kabocha carrot walnut soup that I had). Garden salad included some grilled mushrooms and bell peppers that I didn't expect in a typical garden salad, which was a pleasant surprise. Finally, the tofu drumstick was crunchy on the outside and surprisingly felt like pulled tofu on the inside.
I would definitely visit Vegetarian Haven time and time again for days--they're officially my go-to choice for vegetarian food. Great eats, cozy atmosphere.
(A possible word of warning to potential Yelpers: Most of the protein offered at Vegetarian Haven is soy protein (tofu/tempeh) or fake meat (seitan). Your enjoyment of Vegetarian Haven may vary depending on whether you like these forms of protein (yep, it's obvious that I'm a major fan of the above-mentioned forms of protein :D ) )