A vegan's dream
5
Posted on 06 / 20 / 2008
To begin, this restaurant is quaint. They have amateur photography (that you can bid on to buy) hanging as decoration. They are very knowledgeable about what is in the food. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
Their menu isn't posted on their website as of yet, but I just ate there 3 times the for the past 3 days while on vacation. Almost everything is vegan and the few items that aren't vegan usually can be made vegan by substituting for soy milk for milk or their own vegan nacho cheese for any real cheese.
I was lucky enough to go with some friends each time, so I got to sample a lot from their menu. So, I'll tell you what I thought...
Peanut Butter Baked Tofu: I can see why some people didn't like it. I liked it, but it had a very strong PB flavor. If you order this, order a small portion or you may want to ask for a sample on a toothpick or something.
Kale: this was my first time eating kale, but it was awesome. It had a little garlic flavor to it. I only wished I ordered a bigger portion.
Tempeh Reuben: I taste-tested this one compared to another nearby veg restaurant's vegan Reuben and came to the conclusion that I liked Rosetta's better. However, neither tasted anything like what I remember how a real Reuben tasted. But these sandwiches were very tasty, even if they didn't taste like the real thing.
Buddah Bowl: this is a sampling of various side items like smoked tofu on rice with a Koren BBQ sauce, a portion of salad with sliced avacado and tomato, and something they call "sea veggie salad" which tasted great, but had no 'sea' taste to it at all. It seemed to be a dark leafy-green veggie with carrots and some other veggie I couldn't identify. But I didn't care because it was great.
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy: you must taste this. Get a bowl of this as a side item if your meal doesn't come with mashed potatoes. It is just THAT good.
Chili Cheese Fries: remember to order the vegan cheese. Topped with homemade chili with a their homemade cheese sauce (not a perfect faux cheese, but not bad either). It's a messy thing, so you'll need to use a fork to eat it after you pull out the loose fries. It's a meal in itself.
The Mountain: rice topped with some really awesome tasting marinated tempeh cubes (fried crispy). Served with kale on the sides of the dish.
To conclude, I tried 3 restaurants in Asheville and this was my favorite. I came here 3 times and only 1 time each to the other two. That should tell you something.
Pros: Vegan friendly to the max, Great tasting food, Good deserts
Cons: You must bus your own table
Wow! And to think that I would normally consider vegans somewhat pacifists since the goal is to use NOTHING that comes from animals. Wrong in your case I guess. Even if I don't take into account the profanity laced diatribe and the complete lack of respect for someone that runs a business that tries to do the right thing with both her food and her environmental impact, I get the impression you have an agenda here. I have only met Rosetta once, but she seems bent on doing the right thing and working hard at it.
While I agree that the description should have listed cheese, if I were a vegan that is as passionate (if that is the right word for it - militant might be a better word) as you are, I would look for the word VEGAN on the menu. Because most of the food is vegan does not mean all of it is. Maybe your hunger and the resulting dizzyness kept you from actually checking, but your error in doing so does not mean the restaurant was lying to you. Did it say "vegan"?
Your review actually prompts me to want to go to Rosetta's. And I might as soon as I finish my dead turkey sandwich with swiss cheese from brutalized cows.
An imperfect entity yea... we are. A house of lies? nope!!! The basic Burrito is supposed to be vegan, but it was a brand new item on our brand new 5$ and less menu (trying so hard to keep it real) but when you got it the cook wasn't familiar enough with the new items and he added cheese by mistake.
I know what your feeling, i still remember biting into a beef filled burrito years ago that i tried to get beans only on at at Taco Bell..... it grossed me out. However, i know that we fixed you a new burrito for free, and apologized profusely at the time, you seemed fine then.
We did mess up, but, we have several vegans on staff, they help us keep tabs on all the small print and hidden ingredients...that most restaurants overlook when they declare something vegan....... we are not a house of lies!
Please be nice. And we are really sorry.
Sincerely, Rosetta Star
good grief- get over your dramatic self. When eating habits yield such neurotic, fascist, and mean spirited behavior, they are completely counter-productive. Food is meant to be nurturing and sustaining, not grounds for moralistic bullshit. As a professional cook, you are the type of diner I loathe having to feed.
Well that sucks for you "the truth". Mostly sucks that you will not get to enjoy Rosetta's Kitchen anymore. I can relate to chomping into a wrap or burrito only to end up with a mouth full of meat or other undesirable elements. It SUCKS.
However, the restaurant operates with good intentions and in good faith. I ordered some tacos a few days ago and they had cheese in 'em even tho the menu says nothing of cheese. I did not mind, but if it did bother me I'm 100% certain that they would have made me new tacos.
Rosetta's Kitchen is far from perfect (just like ME AND YOU) but the last thing they are doing is intentionally lying in order to feed cheese to vegans for crying out loud. Maybe everything there has beef broth in it. Like a big conspiracy to fuk over us crazy veg-heads.
And you are correct in the lessons learned... ALWAYS look at what you eat prior to driving it down your neck in a feeding frenzy. Unfortunately you are stuck trusting others with your food unless you grow all your ingredients and make everything yourself from scratch on property that no one else can gain access to.
I wonder what I will get at Rosetta's tonight! Prolly do like usual and spend over $30 for two of us, but it is soooo worth it I can't help myself. I prolly spend enough there to pay their power bill as we go about three times a week!
I don't know why I spent my time typing this as anyone who reads your review will not take you seriously. I guess I just feel bad for you "the truth". At least the restaurant wont blacklist you like the Soup Nazi would.
Wow, I read this after I posted my review, and I find it horrifying that people want to act like this is not a big deal. Rosetta's needs to be very thankful this person ordered what was advertised as a vegan product because they were, in fact a vegan and not someone with a milk allergy. Would you dare to "shame" this guy for complaining and respond with some kind of "aw, be cool" response if this person had to pull out their epi-pen and make a trip to the emergency room??? It has happened, there is a restaurant in Austin, TX that is a prime example ... they served "vegan" chicken nuggets that they actually contained a milk product and a little boy that was dining there because he had a milk allergy ended up in the hospital! They almost killed the kid, and that is no joke! Rosetta's, thank your lucky stars the same didn't happen to your business! This IS a big deal, and it is a HUGE problem if the kitchen staff and management doesn't take the seriously fact that what they serve can make someone very, very sick.
OK, it was a mistake. They should have at least comped the meal.