• 4
• Excellent Vegan Mexican Food

UPDATE: After exchanging a few messages with the owner, I decided I would give it another try. It is definitely worth noting that he was responsive and interested in recovering our experience. He offered a comp meal for a return visit but we did not accept the offer and just returned several months later to try again. We have since been back twice. We are SO GLAD that we gave it another try! The menu has changed and there is a specific section full of amazing vegan meals. The tofu scramble is incredible. Not the standard turmeric-to-make-it-yellow soggy scramble you get at most places that don't know what they're doing. The tofu was cooked to perfection and the flavors were outstanding. We brought friends with us one of the times and we have ordered almost everything from the vegan section at this point. They have all been amazing. The chickpea burrito is HUGE and the tofu tacos are everything you want. I promise. I'm so glad to have vegan mexican food in Olympia and I am reassured that the kitchen and waitstaff knows what they are doing. The vegan dishes the chef has put together are a must have. I felt like I was getting authentic SoCal mexican food. Also, make sure you try their homemade hot sauce. It's much different than anything you'll find in stores. Excellent all the way around. This is our new favorite place and it's AMAZING that they open at 8AM for breakfast. Was really excited to see reviews that the vegan food here was excellent. The Happy Cow app even said that the rice and beans were vegan. We were one of three tables dining with a waiter that was constantly on the phone or outside talking to someone or sitting at one of the three tables chatting with his friends or coworkers. We were told we could sit anywhere, we sat at one of the many empty tables only to be told that it was dirty and the waiter brushed all the crumbs onto the floor while we were sitting at it. Still, the service is not something I would have been bothered enough by to leave a review. Misleading vegans (or anyone with special diet requirements - allergies or otherwise) is very upsetting. There are two items marked vegan that are only served until 4PM. I asked if they were the only things that could be ordered or if any item on the menu could be "veganized" since they had a choice of tofu or soyrizo. The waiter assured us that anything could be made vegan. I ordered one of the two items that was labeled vegan, my husband ordered a sopas platter and asked for it to be made vegan. He was sure to specify that he meant no dairy - no cheese, no sour cream. When his plate came, there was a huge dollop of cream on top. He asked what it was and this was when the waiter realized that his plate was also covered in cheese. FYI to anyone with allergies, this is one of those restaurants that just whisks your plate away and tries their best to remove whatever allergen they have covered your food in instead of remaking it. The plate returned with traces of cheese along the edges. After eating our meal and having to wait a very long time for our waiter to stop having a conversation outside and take our payment, we learned that the rice on the sopas platter was not vegan - the rice and beans is not vegan. After this experience, I wouldn't trust anything else on the menu either whether they say it's vegan or not. I've since learned that this building is a revolving door of eateries, I'm guessing with the management and knowledge of food items that we experienced on our first and only visit there, Hart's Mesa will be short lived as well.