Vegan
American
Organic
Organic vegan cuisine. Sister cafe to Candle Cafe and Candle 79. Reported closed, Aug 2019.
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2427 Broadway (at btwn 89th and 90th), New York City, New York, USA, 10024
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Last update on 06 Aug 2019 by Poundie
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Added by steveveg on 23 Apr 2012
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31 Reviews
First Review by steveveg
allhess
Points +5269
Fancy and Wonderful! - Edit
We celebrated our Main Street Vegan Academy graduation here. The Candle Cafe West staff took brilliant care of us - highly recommended!
Read morePros: 100% vegan, Worth the price, Creative menu
Guest
Poundie
Points +13540
Arguably the best of the Candle restaurants - Edit
I have been going to Candle Cafe restaurants, started by Bart and Joy, for about thirty years, ever since their beginnings as a storefront takeout place on Lexington Avenue. I always enjoy them, this is perhaps my favorite of the three Candles in NYC--not so fancy as Candle 79, not so crowded as Candle Cafe East. Having eaten here many times, I have had only good experiences here: I have found the food and service always to be good, and my friends have enjoyed it also.
Read morePros: Delicious food, Nice surroundings
Cons: Not cheap--not for those on a budget
Guest
Luproch
Points +393
Yummy, High end pricing, great service - Edit
Candle Cafe is one of the fancier vegan restaurants in the city. We arrived as a group of 6 - including a 2yo. Staff was very patient with us since it was his first restaurant experience. We got a high chair, kids' menu, crayons and a coloring book (crayons ended up everywhere but paper). But I gotta say that their Parata Pizza kept the little one busy and quiet. Also the soup of the day - Matzah Ball was a success.
Read moreI had a "Seitan Piccata". The Seitan felt too salty for me, but mashed potatoes and creamed spinach were on point. I really enjoyed it and I couldn't say a difference between dairy and vegan version.
And desserts were the best! I tried Banana chocolate cake which was probably my favorite. What an amazing combination of vanilla coconut ice cream. Peach pie with Vanilla ice cream was also delicious and I can highly recommend. We also tried "Coconut bliss trio: vanilla, dark chocolate, and cherry flavor. They were all very good, but we all agreed that the dark chocolate was a winner.
We came on Sunday afternoon, it wasn't very busy, the service was great. After the main course, I asked them secretly to bring dessert for one of our friends who was celebration bday, it went smooth and it was a beautiful surprise.
Low lightening makes it feel cozy, but some of my friends had a hard time reading the menu. Also, the restrooms are located downstairs, which is can be a problem for people with disabilities.
Updated from previous review on 2018-09-10
Pros: original recipes, delicious, great staff
Cons: restrooms downstairs, pricey, low lightening
Guest
dbader13
Points +2059
Wonderful and classy vegan restaurant - Edit
This Upper West Side restaurant is a great place for fine dining out! Tonight I had an amazing Impossible Burger as this evening's special. Highly recommend!!
Read moreGuest
artist4peace
Points +35
Yum yum yummy ! - Edit
The beautiful environment was perfect in every way for seeing friends l hadn't seen in over 25 years. Seated in back cubby was private, cozy & perfect for conversations and enjoying our dinner and drinks❤️thank you! Visiting from Houston, Texas.
Read moreDalzenia artist4peace
Updated from previous review on 2018-06-07
Pros: Every morsel was delightful Love ❤️ the food, Great atmosphere , Great service
Cons: Was a tad pricey ( worth every bite...), 45 min wait ... l would do it again!, Bathroom downstairs/ steep stairs/ l use a cane :(
Guest
veganrunning
Points +578
Best organic Vegan Restaurant on NYC Upper West Side - Edit
Awesome Vegan Organic Gluten Free Restaurant on NYC Upper West Side. Highly Recommend.
Read morePros: Great Food , Awesome smoothies/shakes, Vegan Gluten Free
artist4peace
AGREED! XOX
Read moreGuest
rogueavocado
Points +147
One of the best meals of my life - Edit
I had the ravioli appetizer, seitan picatta, and apple crumble pie. Service was impeccable and every bite was spectacular. I will dream about this meal for years to come. Not for the faint of heart are the prices, but if you are able to eat here, it is well worth it.
Read morePros: extensive menu, great service, fantastic food
artist4peace
YOU NAILED IT! my experience also Flawless..
Read moreGuest
JoelNolasco
Points +69
WOW - Edit
The food taste great. My first experience with a vegan restaurant and I felt guilty because the food was so good.
Read moreGuest
ariyava
Points +48
the best - Edit
candle cafe is the best vegan place in upper west, we ordered quinoa salad, vegetable ravioli, seitan piccata and carrot cake, everything was DELICIOUS, love this place.
Read moreGuest
MiriamHarris-Botzum
Points +13
Fabulous food in a great atmosphere - Edit
My husband and I took our daughter out to dinner here, and the whole experience was terrific. Every dish we ordered was beautifully presented and delicious.
Read morePros: Vegan, Nice bar
Cons: Expensive
Guest
Katyathevegan
Points +104
What a find! - Edit
This place was so amazing! It was an entirely vegan restaurant so there were so many great options! The food was creative and interesting! I definitely want to go back!
Read morePros: Everything is vegan, So vegan desserts and fake cheeses!
Guest
Wendy Vegan
Points +132
A flavorless disappointment - Edit
It breaks my heart to write this, but I must be honest. Four of us were excited to have dinner here, having had wonderful experiences at both Candle 79 and the other Candle Cafe location.
Read moreWhat a disappointment.
To begin with, it was oppressively hot in the restaurant. Even our waiter had sweat running down his face, which is not something you want to see on someone serving your food.
The service was poor and the food was inedible. We began with the avocado tartare and the vegetable quesadilla appetizers. The avocado tartare was a few bites of flavorless mush. How it is possible to ruin avocado, I do not know.
The quesadilla appetizer is only big enough for only one person and it was far from flavorfel - only barely edible.
We also ordered focaccia bread, which was cold, stale, dry and flavorless. Again, completely inedible. We could not believe they even served it.
One person had an entree salad which consisted of a big plate of arugula and a few tiny additions. Mostly just a plate of arugula, despite a long list of things that were supposed to be on it. We were embarrassed for them at this point, and wondered if we were on candid camera.
One person had the daily pasta special, which sounded delectable by the description, but had none of the flavors one would expect from the ingredients. It was marginal at best. No amount of salt and pepper could save it.
I had the risotto, which was the worst vegan meal I have had in my life. It was 100 percent devoid of flavor, much like everything else. Despite copious amounts of salt and pepper on all of our food, it was simply impossible to make anything edible. It was almost as if they have some magical process to drain all of the flavor from the food before it is served.
After the horrific appetizers our fourth person did not even want to order an entree.
One person had a beer, which was served in a lovely bottle with a matching glass. The beer was old and stale - undrinkable. One person asked three different servers for a glass of wine and finally got one 25 minutes later.
This was truly the worst vegan dinner of our lives. The service was poor, the food was worse. I hate to say this, because as a lifelong vegan, I love to support vegan restaurants.
This food was so bad we literally left it all on the table. It was inedible. After we left, we stopped by a stand on the street and bought peanuts and beer, which were markedly better than our $250 dinner.
Run!
Pros: Great location
Cons: Flavorless, horrible food, Poor service, Expensive
Guest
polyglot
Points +36
I wanted to love this place - Edit
This is the most beautiful of the three locations and closest to where I live. Unfortunately we have had so many bad experiences with the service there that we finally gave up on this place.
Read moreNow we just go to both locations on the east side, where not only service but also food is much better.
Guest
CrunchyVeganGal
Points +523
Fine Dining with Fabulous Food - Edit
My favorite meal of my 6-day trip to NYC, by far! While NYC has a lot of vegan eateries, very few are sit down, or this nice. But Candle Cafe West was an amazing experience—from ordering off the all-vegan wine menu to sampling a range of different foods, it was perfect. The atmosphere is wonderful.
Read moreThe food is melt-in-you-mouth delicious!
Pros: Superb food, Atmosphere, Quality food
Guest
veganizalo
Points +54
In love! - Edit
This is the place to bring your vegan partner to fall in love. The food is amazing and the whole atmosphere was magical.
Read moreGuest
JJones315
Points +2034
Another Candle Success! - Edit
I was thrilled when this latest Candle establishment opened near me on the upper westside and they have not disappointed. An elegant space with a great bar area. The food is excellent with a nice mix of options. Best of all, they clearly mark the menu with the gluten free options.
Read morePros: Westside locale, Excellent food, Grown up bar
Cons: Restrooms are down steep stairs
Guest
Oreng1976
Points +214
Excellent! dinner was superb can't wait to come back! - Edit
Service was perfect and classy,the food was delicious and varied.
Read moreThe drinks and cocktails menu was full and contemporary.
We shared many dishes and each one was perfect!
Interesting to hear that one of the specials had Israeli cuscus wondering what that meant as cuscus is Moroccan we ordered it and it turned out to be "Ptitim" something very Israeli not even close in texture,size nor taste to Cuscus but delicious.
The food was awesome!
Pros: Delicious , Big portions, Great Bar
Cons: Not cheap, must order in advance , Makes you crave it's food
Guest
lerussell
Points +389
disappointing - Edit
A hallmark of New York veganism, the Candle Cafe was on my vegan bucket list and I paid a visit during a recent visit to New York. Having eaten their frozen entrees, I was looking forward to trying the real thing, fresh out of the oven. Unfortunately, I did not find the menu to be very diverse or appealing. My meal was good, but didn't offer much in the way of creativity or uniqueness. It felt like the restaurant was relying on its name and fame to bring in customers, without actually focusing on having a creative menu. For the prices I was paying, I really had expected a lot more.
Read moreGuest
baruchadam
Points +406
Top NYC Vegan spot - Edit
Creative, well executed and unusual dishes mark this lovely venue.
Read moreGuest
Pedroafif
Points +17
Deeply disappointed - Edit
Perhaps it is because I had dinner at Candle 79 a couple of days ago and everything was spectacular, but it seems like from appetizer to desert, Candle Cafe West's food lacked flavor and presentation. Specially the carrot cake, it looked and tasted like Olive Garden's.
Read morePros: Awesome music, Good service
Guest
Shamai
Points +66
OMG..I want to move to NYC! - Edit
The food here is amazing...I mean EVERYTHING is amazing. If I had the room in my body, I would have sampled everything on the menu. Every time I go there, I try something different, and I haven't run out of things to try yet.
Read morePros: extensive menu, quality product, fantastic service
Cons: haven't found any yet
Guest
MausEsel
Points +55
2nd visit - Edit
Visited the restaurant for the second time and loved it again. The food seemed to be more creative than last year on my first visit. Good mix of cooked and raw dishes. Had the Indian curry cake and grilled tempeh as mains. Both dishes boosted with flavours and were very pretty to look at. That was vegan food at it's best. No non-vegan would miss their meat. Only the chocolate cake was a bit dry but in combination with the ice cream a tasty dish. Service was good and efficient.
Read morePros: Creative dishes, Good taste, pretty presentation, Service staff
Guest
gardeningone
Points +301
excellent food, shabby service - Edit
Went on a weeknight when a reservation was not needed. Upscale decor, prices, eclectic menu with contemporary flavor combinations. I really enjoyed the food at dinner.
Read moreProblem was the service. Lots of staff just standing around, doing nothing. So many servers, they used a tag-team approach that left customers without anyone to ask for help, no continuity in service. I ordered a drink, then 10 minutes later ordered food. My food arrived, then 5 minutes later my cocktail [weak, couldn't detect a hint of Tequila] was delivered. I started to object, but they were gone. Plate was promptly cleared and I was asked if I wanted to see a dessert menu. I said no, but... the server was gone before I could order a salad-- portions were small and pricey and I left hungry.
The food was very good, but the servers were uncaring despite the large number of them standing around doing nothing but talking among themselves. For a fancy, expensive, upscale restaurant it was terrible to deliver the cocktail after the entree!
Still, the food was so good, I may try it again.
Pros: great food, eclectic flavors, menu, nice atmosphere
Cons: poor, weak cocktail served late, terrible, inattentive service, expensive
Guest
VegHeadNYC
Points +238
Vegan Bliss - Edit
I was THRILLED when I found out that Candle Cafe opened a West Side location. I LOVE the original Candle Cafe and am so thrilled they opened a location closer to where I live. This location is bigger and has a more elegant ambiance than the original UES location. The menus are very similar; the Candle Nachos, Seitan Chimichurri, Cajun Seitan sandwich and Seitan Piccata are not to be missed. The desserts and smoothies are all excellent. I went to Candle Cafe West with my family to celebrate my birthday, and the staff put a candle in the dessert I ordered and wished me a very happy birthday. This is a vegan restaurant you definitely MUST check out while visiting/living in NYC.
Read moreGuest
Brok O. Lee
Points +3380
Superb Gourmet Experience! - Edit
We went here for my sister's birthday celebration and it was an amazing experience. Not only is the place all vegan, the produce is organic. We shared several appetizers and salads to start. I especially loved the vegetable ravioli, which were large and delicious and served with sauteed spinach. Also the roasted beet salad came with a dollop of almond cheese that was out of this world. I had the chanterelle-crusted tofu for my main course and it was divine. The service was first rate. I would heartily recommend this place to anyone, no matter whether vegan or omnivore, who enjoys excellent food. The place is expensive - our bill came to a little over $300 (5 people), including appetizers, drinks, mains, and dessert. Well worth it!
Read morePros: Delicious gourmet food, All vegan, Fantastic service
Guest
rach
Points +144
Fantastic casual dining - Edit
We really enjoyed eating here. Our waitress was friendly and helpful, the food was fabulous quality and the dining experience was great. It is a great casual dining. We had the seitan skewers, nachos, cooked kale salad and the empanadas - they were all really delicious. I would definatley come back. An easy 5/5 stars.
Read morePros: Great quality food, Friendly Service , Comfortable environment
Cons: None come to mind
Guest
MichaelBeasley
Points +37
Outstanding experience - Edit
I arrived for lunch on a Tuesday before the rush. The service was friendly and prompt and the BBQ tempeh sandwich was delightful. Would go again.
Read moreGuest
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