I enjoy the exotic vegetables that Chinatown has to offer, so I was eager to try the House of Vegetarian. However, I was disappointed by the poor creativity and preparation of the dishes, the high prices, and the blandness of the restaurant itself.\r
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Our appetizer was the mock roast duck (made of two types of wheat gluten to imitate the skin and interior [except no bones of course]). The flavor, while not at all resembling that of meat, was interesting enough. \r
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The other dishes were bad. An order of bean curd in curry had gloppy sauce. Any regular non-vegetarian Chinese restaurant would have prepared it better. \r
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I ordered mixed vegetables in a bird's nest (a nest-shaped thing made of noodles) and while the nest was fun to pick apart, the vegetables were mostly American broccoli and more of that mock wheat gluten stuff -- that's not a vegetable!!! what was it doing in there? There was almost no flavor at all to this dish -- I avoided drinking tea because the ""strength"" of the tea would overpower the food.\r
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Wonton soup was satisfactory but not a good choice because the membrane-wrapped tofu dumplings (or whatever they are) in the soup get all soggy and start to unravel.\r
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I also got Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce, one of my favorite dishes at non-vegetarian Chinese restaurants, but the dish here was bad. No flavor or spice at all except for a strange perfumey taste to the noodles, which were overcooked. The peanut sauce atop them was gloppy.\r
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Prices???? Usually in Chinatown you can get a huge meal with leftovers for practically nothing. But not at House Of Vegetarian. Prices are 50%-100% higher here than at a normal Chinese restaurant, even for standard dishes that you can get anywhere, like Cold Noodles w/Sesame Sauce ($8.00), or Tofu with Curry Sauce (~$10.00). \r
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BTW, there are no decorations at all on the walls so I hope you have interesting dining companions. There are no Chinese customers here. I'm amazed the waitress spoke Chinese.
Cons: Bland, American vegetables, gloppy sauces, boring place with no decoration
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