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Great Food!

4 Posted on 09 / 08 / 2012

As a vegan it's hard to find good food especially in the middle of nowhere. This place is a gem! We tried to go to Ritual Cafe but they closed their kitchen hours before time posted. They were nice enough to direct us to the best Vietnamese food ever! Large portions with finely cut vegetables. The owner was a sweetheart and loves his orchids! This food tastes like they put love into it!

Pros: Tastiest Food, Staff is nice, Ready fast
Cons: Language barrier, They don't tell you to pay at the counte

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Extensive Vegetarian Menu

4 Posted on 03 / 28 / 2011

So many choices that A-dong actually has a seperate vegetarian menu. Fav include 22c, 27c and 21c! Curry and the fried eggrolls are also fabulous. The service is friendly yet sometimes absent, however they get the food out fast!

Atmosphere is large and open which can get rather noisy when busy. Server does not bring check to you which can be confusing if you think you need to wait for it.

Overall great experiences and is one of my favorite places.

Pros: Selection, Egg Rolls, Friendly staff
Cons: Noisy

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Best vegan-friendly restaurant in Des Moines

4 Posted on 12 / 03 / 2010

The staff has always been knowledgeable and helpful when I've asked them about the vegan-ness of any menu items. If you love ginger, try the ginger tofu. Another favorite of mine is the vegetarian fried rice-just know that it normally is cooked with butter, but they will use oil instead if you ask them to. It has a great ratio of veggies to rice, and is absolutely beautiful.

The eggrolls and spring rolls are vegan and come with 2 sauce choices. The plum sauce is vegan. The lemon sauce may have fish sauce in it, or so a server told me, so I just always get the plum to be on the safe side.

A-Dong's prices are great, especially considering the high quality of both the food and the service!

Pros: Knowledgeable staff, Price, Vegan eggrolls

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A Dong

4 Posted on 09 / 27 / 2009

A Dong
515) 284-5632
1511 High St
Des Moines, IA 50309

It was someone at the Ritual Cafe who recommended A Dong as they had just shut down the kitchen. Sometimes timing is everything when you fly airplanes around the country and I missed the cutoff by 10 minutes.

This meal was to be eaten on the trip home, probably somewhere over Ohio and one of the concerns, since we don't have a tray table, is how messy are we going to get in the cockpit.

Well, I ordered the spring rolls and another dish with a sauce and rice. I had them mix the rice in the container with the sauce and I must say that the gentleman waiting on me was incredibly meticulous and taped down the lids of every spill-able item. And it worked like a charm.

The spring rolls, although perhaps a tad thicker on the dough than I'd had before was nicely chewy and the inside was crisp and delicious with a nice mix of ingredients.

I can't tell you what I ordered because I sort of mixed and matched off the menu to create a dish which had the ingredients and sauce that I wanted and this certainly gets a few extra points when I can literally prepare my own dish. It was delicious and I did something I rarely do in the airplane...I taped the lid back on and took the leftovers home.

Big Big Suggestion.

Get a menu online. People need to see that you have a specific vegetarian menu!!!!

Marty
Visit me at my blog: http://martysnycveggiereview.blogspot.com/
Marty's Flying Vegetarian Review

Pros: Good Food, Friendly

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love = A-Dong

4 Posted on 06 / 03 / 2009

They have the freshest most energizing food, consistently serving the highest quality of food available in Des Moines. it's fantastic! My favs are #s 16c 21c 25c and to share with a friend the veg firepot. If you're vegan vegetarian or just love real food eat at A-Dong! unsure of some of the ingredients just ask, the staff is very helpful and considerate.

Pros: fresh energizing food, natural and healthy, best in des moines
Cons: zero cons, zero cons, closed on mondays

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veg I think

3 Posted on 03 / 05 / 2009

I stoped in tonight and picked up some food to go. the 2 guys at the front counter were VERY friendly! I ordered off the vege section of the menu...and had a conversation about how I saw them on happy cow...mentioned no fish sauce. got back to my hotel with my food and dug in...it was GREAT!..but did I get a piece of sausage in my food? Maybe it was some sort of greyish not- sausage...but I wasn't going to drive back there after getting back to my hotel & 1/2way through my meal. hmm :(

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Sooooooo Good!

4 Posted on 07 / 12 / 2008

While it is not %100 vegetarian or vegan, I went there as a vegan and came away quite happy. They have a fairly large vegetarian menu, with plenty of vegan options on it. You will not be disappointed (unless you hate Vietnamese food, but then what would be the point of going in the first place?). I don't remember what I got (I couldn't pronounce it so I just ordered by the number...) but I know it was a delicious soup type thing with tofu chunks, veggies, and beautiful hints of lemongrass and cilantro. Also, I had yummy vegan spring rolls for an appetizer.
This place as really good food, excellent service, and I can't wait to go back!

Pros: Large portions, Yummy food, Friendly staff

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NOT Vegan (and I would say Vegetarian) friendly

1 Posted on 11 / 19 / 2006

I went to A Dong thinking it would be vegan friendly as this website and friends had mentioned that it had a large vegetarian selection. While it is true this restaurant labels a lot of dishes vegetarian every single one of them contains fish sauce! I asked if I could get a dish made without and the staff did not think that any of the dishes would taste good and highly recommended that I not omit the sauce. I stated that it was not a choice. It took about 20 minutes of the waiter running back and forth from the kitchen to my table to determine if they could accommodate such a request. I did not like the dish I finally ended up with and would NOT recommend this restaurant to anyone who avoids fish sauce.

Pros: Helpful staff
Cons: Fish in all Veg items