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Great Food.

5 Posted on 03 / 14 / 2013

I went here 3 times while I was in SD on business.

I had the Crispy Rolls, Jumbo Drumsticks, Clay Pot Sensation, Lucky Mongo, Pandan Cake, and some cookies.

I thought the food was great, this is my favorite type of Vegan food. Mostly Asian style and the use of a lot of mock-meats. I liked the Lucky Mongo most, and the Clay Pot Sensation was good as well. I wish the Clay Pot Sensation came with more veggies, but not really a big deal.

The desserts were ok, next time I will just save the calories for something else.

The place was more crowded than I would expected, I went during late lunch (East coast dinner), but wasn't so crowded to be bothered.

I would definitely go there again, next time I am in SD.

Pros: Mock-Meats, Prices
Cons: desserts

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Not up to Loving Hut standards, in my view.

2 Posted on 02 / 08 / 2013

Ironically, whereas one of my favourite vegan restaurants ever is a Loving Hut on Spadina in Toronto, this Loving Hut was my only negative experience ever among vegan restaurants. I found several of the dishes quite startling in their absence of appeal, including a broth I found virtually tasteless, won tons and some kind of mystery meat in the won ton soup I found sharply unappealing in taste and texture, french fries I found unusually dry, and a burger I found rubbery in texture and peculiar in taste. The whole-grain brown rice was a nice healthier option, and was moderately palatable, but I gather that management directs staff to limit sauce portions, as the waiter brought me a minuscule amount of plum sauce for the rice, and a minuscule second portion when I asked for it. As well, the operation appeared quite disorganized, as my friends and I had to request missing veganaise approximately six times, and one of the staff came across to me as less than pleasant (another employee was entirely pleasant). My friends did enjoy their burgers, however, so there may be variability in items' appeal, and of course there's the factor of personal preference. In addition, prices are rock bottom, and service is fast. Overall, though, I couldn't recommend this restaurant.

Pros: Cheap, Fast
Cons: Poor taste in certain dishes, Skimpy sauce portions, Disorganized service

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Perfect!

5 Posted on 11 / 12 / 2012

This restaurant just gets it right! Each dish has it's own distinct flavors and textures.

Pros: Variety of flavors, Friendly staff, Excellent food

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WTF?

2 Posted on 08 / 04 / 2012

Whatever is playing on the television is strange and distracting. The food was good, but not amazing. Service is odd and it's always packed. I would pass.

Pros: Affordable, Easy to locate, variety
Cons: jam packed restaurant

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excellent experience!

5 Posted on 06 / 29 / 2012

During a visit to San Diego, my husband and I tried this restaurant and we would rate it highly. The beautiful pictures on the website and menu were impressive, the dining area big enough, the waitstaff very friendly and quick to respond to requests. The food was delicious, generous and was delivered quickly. We tried the pina colada, special roll appetizer, vegetable platter and chowmain plate. All was divine. We would be regulars to this restaurant if we lived in the area.

Pros: picture menu, low prices, great food
Cons: limited parking

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Popular with locals

5 Posted on 06 / 29 / 2012

I had read about this place on happycow and ate here in June 2012. Here's my San Diego Loving Hut review.

We arrived on a Friday early evening and could see through the front glass windows that the restaurant was totally filled with diners. A good sign. It's obviously popular with the locals for reasons.

We opted for take-out. Got the cold dish of vietnamese crispy spring rolls & faxu meat over rice noodle. This is one of my fav dishes to order at Vietnamese food restaurants. Well, this particular one was outstanding. Very flavorful and delicious! We also got some vegan oatmeal cookies to go.

The menu dishes are accompanied by photo images so you can see what appeals to you. The prices were cheap for the large portions you get.

Pros: providing vegan food

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Great food & Great price

5 Posted on 06 / 27 / 2012

I have been a vegan for over twenty years and this is one of the top five places that I have had the pleasure to eat at. All the food dishes we ordered were fantastic as well as the dishes being delivered to all the full tables that surrounded us.

Pros: Food, Prices, Service
Cons: none, none, none

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This Place is on Point!

5 Posted on 02 / 25 / 2012

The food is delicious and the service is warm and friendly. On our latest visit, we had the Pho and Lucky Lemon Grass and we think they not only taste authentic, but arguably better than the regular, nasty meat versions in Vietnamese restaurants. For our fellow Filipinos, you have to try the vegan Buko Pandan cake - It's LEGIT!

Pros: Tasty, Inexpensive, Vegan
Cons: none, nada, nil

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Loving Hut

5 Posted on 02 / 22 / 2012

I always order the large "Healthy Fried Rice" whenever go with my family to this Loving Hut in San Diego. As a little baby I've always been a rice lover and this has been one of the best rice dishes. As for it being vegan, it's a big plus because I now I eat it with no worries. Everything on the Loving Hut menu is 100% Vegan and as well as desserts. The Healthy Fried Rice is dry but with a variety of cut vegetables on it. Other foods like the "Pho soup" is also quite filling and warming. All in All I love this place and wish I can come more often, considering I live 2 hours away from this place. I love it. I also love watching "Supreme Master Television" on the 2 plasma screen tv's in the resturant. Loving Hut will give you a wonderful vegan expirence and as well as educate you on our current issues with the enviorment. Waiters and waitresses always treat you with respect and always have a big smile on there face. This place is awesome!

Pros: great food, healthy, friendly staff
Cons: Nothing, I can, Think of

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Wow!

5 Posted on 01 / 19 / 2012

My fiancé and I who are newly vegan went to this place for the first time and it is awesome! We started out with the Summer Rolls which were very tasty. For dinner he had the BBQ Noodles which was fantastic and I had the Tangy Orange oh so yum! Then we took it over the edge and ordered the vegan German chocolate cake, so flavorfull and moist!. With a meal like this i'll never miss animal products! and all that for $21.00!
The place was packed and the small wait we had was worth it! Go check it out!

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Busy Loving Hut

4 Posted on 04 / 16 / 2011

Apparently this is a popular Loving Hut, as I've never seen one so busy during dinner. All LH's generally have an Asian menu and a western menu, I usually order from the western side because I find that LH's tend to make great burgers. We started off with the crispy wonton appetizer consisting of vegan ham paste, dried mushroom, and plum sauce - they very tasty and my two non-veg friends said they wouldn't have known they were vegan. I decided to deviate from my norm for my entrée and ordered from the Asian side of the menu, both my friend and I ordered the Lucky Lemon Grass consisting of soy chicken, cucumber, tomato, cilantro, and brown rice - it was pretty good but I just wasn't too keen about how fried everything was, it also wasn't spicy as the menu indicates. My other friend ordered the Spicy Cha Cha consisting of soy shrimp, bell pepper, garlic, and brown rice - she loved it and I enjoyed the taste I had of it too, although I'm not sure I would order it for my meal. Overall this is a good Loving Hut with good food, definitely recommended!

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Most awesome restaurant!

5 Posted on 05 / 11 / 2010

Loving Hut is the best restaurant anywhere! The food is fresh, very tasty and in generous portions. They have a good variety of items. Their mock meats were found to be of the highest quality by a national independant study. Their Clay Pot Fish is the best mock fish around. Service is quick, courteous and friendly. Their prices are cheap, cheap, cheap...check out their menu. Where else can you get a juicy veggie burger and fries for $4.95? 12 Spring Rolls are only $3.25! Everything is spotlessly clean, even the bathrooms. It is the perfect restaurant in every way!
BTW...try their Pandan Cake...it's to live for!

Pros: Food, Service, Price

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Loving Hut

5 Posted on 04 / 04 / 2010

Excellent place for one-hundred percent vegan food. Food was really good, I had the chicken plate. Excellent service.

Pros: Reasonable price, Friendly

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Good Food!

4 Posted on 03 / 26 / 2010

I just stopped in here for dessert and also got wontons.

The cheeze cake had a lemmony taste, but it was still really great. My sister had chocolate cake and she said it had a strange refridgerated smell, but it was almost close, and she said it still tasted really great.

The wantons were awesome with sweet & sour sauce!

As far as the TV station playing goes, I love how it has subtitles in so many launguages, but I didn't find it destratcting or anything.

This place has great prices, I'm going to check out the one in Arizona soon!

Pros: Good Dessert, Clean, Friendly Staff

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Vegan and you wouldn't even know it!

4 Posted on 03 / 22 / 2010

I had the crispy dumplings and the Spicy Cha-Cha. If I didn't know better I would swear that they were using real shrimp in this dish! It was absolutely excellent, with none of the guilt and cruelty of being a meat-a-saurus. This is one of my favorite food chains...wish they would come out to the east coast.

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MUST SEE

5 Posted on 03 / 20 / 2010

Despite having a very small sized restaurant, the service was good and the food was excellent.
The most impressive food is the fish selections and the soups.
The soup portion on a medium are HUGE.
At the end, go get desert. The variety of VEGAN cakes will make your mouth water.
This place deserves 2 THUMBS UP!
Great job!

Pros: FRESHNESS, SERVICE, EXCELLENT VARIETY
Cons: Parking, Restaurant size, Hours should be later

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Full of love! I am in love with this place!!!

5 Posted on 12 / 09 / 2009

Tasty foods. Most of the dishes are delicious, especially the soups, crispy wonton, spring rolls, spicy cha cha (mock fried crispy shrimp), cakes, desserts, drinks...
Can't wait to go back there again!!!
Cheap, but high quality and tasty, healthy foods.
I love their decoration, very unique and clean. Nice bathroom too.
Their TVs have some channel on it and I think it is very informational. Lots of subtitles on the screens, many helpful info about saving the planet and how going veg can halt global warming. Very interesting stuff to learn!
Really nice place. Great customer service. Friendly atmostphere! There's nothing I could complain. This is one of the best vegetarian restaurants I've ever visited.

Thanks Loving Hut. I wish there are vegan restaurants like this near my house.

I RECOMMENDED THIS RESTAURANTS, INDEED!!! :)

Pros: tasty food, cheap, clean place
Cons: more variety

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Great food at great prices, friendly atmosphere

5 Posted on 12 / 04 / 2009

My whole family loves this place. There are a wide variety of foods to choose from, affordable and yummy desserts, and very nice servers. The TV can be distracting, but it is on mute and usually shows soothing images of happy animals and Ching Hai talking.

Pros: great food, cheap, clean
Cons: can't think of any

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Decent Place

4 Posted on 07 / 27 / 2009

This place has a lot of good east and southeast Asian vegan dishes, ranging from the commonly found chow mein to the not so commonly found bun hue soup (which I had one time--it's a Vietnamese soup). There are a few Western dishes as well. The portions and price are both quite reasonable, and the food was tasty. The service is fast. It'd be nice if they added a few Malaysian and/or Indonesian dishes (after all, this chain has branches in those countries).

Pros: tasty, reasonably priced, vegan
Cons: could expand variety slightly, no alcohol (not too much of a con)

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You'll have to watch animal abuse videos!!

2 Posted on 06 / 17 / 2009

My vegan partner and I went there tonight, SO excited that a new vegan restaurant had opened in San Diego. Soon after we ordered we realized they were showing videos of horrific animal abuse on two huge wall mounted TVs. I'm talking cutting up live cattle, and other stuff I won't mention. It was surreal!! We jumped up and told the staff we couldn't bear to watch the images. They were apologetic, and one worker said "We don't usually have this video on at this time" whatever that means!

Anyway, we took our food to go. I'm sorry to say it wasn't very good. Perhaps after the restaurant has been opened longer the food quality will improve. The workers were nice and insisted on giving us free dessert to make up for our horror, so I won't comment on the dessert's quality.

On the other hand, the restaurant staff seemed really friendly and seemed genuinely apologetic for the offense we took at having gruesome animal abuse videos playing as we dined, though also a little surprised that we were offended. The restrooms and dining area looked very clean.

It was beyond bizarre--how could the operators of a vegan restaurant possibly think that its patrons want to watch graphic scenes of animal abuse while they eat?

Pros: Friendly staff, Clean, Good portions
Cons: animal abuse videos, food wasn't good

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Yum!

4 Posted on 06 / 06 / 2009

The Loving Hut isn't officially open yet, they still have to finish some items for the inspector. So, they are open for dinner only. The menu has appetizers, soups, salads, and combos. I had the Lemon Grass "chicken". It came on a bed of lettuce, slices of cucumber, and slices of tomatoes. You can get a side of rice, if you want. It was really flavorful and crunchy. My husband had the Spicy Cha Cha, it was also on a bed of lettuce, minced peppers, and breaded "shrimp". He really was impressed on how tasty the dish was. We also got the drumsticks, which was made with mushrooms and an unknown item. We both didn't care for it. The other appetizers looked decent. We will try the other options next time.
The prices are very reasonable, for the both of us it was $20 and some change.
The staff was really friendly. It's nice to have another vegan restaurant in our neighborhood, it will definitely be on our regular rotation.

Pros: Affordable, friendly staff, Flavorful food
Cons: small parking lot