• 3
• Healthy pizza in an unappetizing setting

This counter-service pizza restaurant sounds really great on paper, but the actual experience was disappointing. The space is small, inadequately lit and kind of dirty seeming. They do have lots of interesting vegan pizza options, including unusual, healthy ingredients and a variety of different crust options. I shared a slice of daiya cheese pizza and a slice of "seitan dream" with my husband. Viva's "slices" are enormous, so if you would normally eat 2, 1 will definitely suffice. The whole wheat crusts were hard and dense. That made the daiya slice less appealing than it might have been. The toppings on the seitan dream - artichoke, onion, etc. - all kind of blended together into an unfortunate mess of tomatoey blandness, but seasoned with something spicy. The onions were a little undercooked, too. One of the really nice things about Viva is their house-made beverages. I enjoyed a watermelon coconut water, and they had other interesting options as well. The dessert fridge was filled with delicious-looking vegan treats, but it could have benefitted from being displayed nicer, instead of just a bunch of desserts in plastic boxes crammed into a gross looking fridge. With so many vegan options in the East Village, I think it will be a while before I head over to Viva Natural again.