Good Karma Cafe

Vegan crack. But high-quality crack. Gotta check out the Crunch Wrap breakfast burrito. Everything here is phenomenal, and because it's crack we keep coming back. Addicted.

Delila is the best waitress!

Food was great with Awesome service

Their menu is great and the food is even better. Very large menu with various items ranging from appetizers to desserts. All the food is prepared fresh and taste delicious. It can get very busy during certain times and you may have to wait, but its worth it :)

There's a good reason that vegans smile when you mention Good Karma. It's simply the best, hands down.

Ive been to a handful of vegan restaurants since becoming vegetarian, and I have to tell you, this one beats em all by a long shot. I've tried 3 different entrées as well as 2 appetizers and the cheesecake for dessert. It was all flawless, the kind of food you scrape the bottom of your plate for to ensure you've devoured every last bit of flavor and crumb.
I Highly recommend this joint, and will definitely return again. Happy Cow Approved :)

very good food. friendly service. only bad thing is it's very small so sometimes you have to wait a while to get a seat

Pros:
-the juice & twinkies were great
Cons:
-the tacos*** Were slices of mildly warm tofu on cabbage. Did not look like a slight resemblance of a taco.
-the lasagna has something sour/pungent inside and was therefore inedible. When I told them this they replied "have you had it before?"
-the buffalo tenders were almost ok, if they weren't cold.
-they forgot to give me my soup & Twinkie.
-they did not offer utensils or napkins.

My friend and I are not from this area but we decided to stop by to grab some lunch since we were nearby. This was our first time at Good Karma and it definitely exceeded our expectations. We shared a slice of their krusty krab pizza and it was amazing! She ordered a southwestern bowl and I had the kimchee bowl and they were both delicious. We will definitely be making the 1 hr and a half trip again to try some more items off the menu.

This is by far my favorite place in New Jersey for vegan food! So far everything I have gotten from there has been amazing. I've stopped by for some shakes too after a workout at the local crossfit gym, and it was glorious! I've tried a few of the baked goods, awesome, some of the unbaked goods, awesome. I've also tried their raw and baked entrees. Perfect!

Only downside is that everyone knows this place rocks, so it can get crowded fast and super busy. So I would recommend coming during off hours or ordering for pick up. Maybe one day they will move to a bigger location.

my partner and i will drive two hours to eat here- the food is SO GOOD. i have been to countless restaurants that serve raw food and feel as if good karma has spoiled me.... wish they had more locations (currently thinking about the raw nachos and salivating....)

The food was great especially the black bean soup. I had the Vegan lasagna and it was light and loved the cream they used in it, as well as the Parmesan crisps. The live lemonade was amazing. Great place for vegan food.

great foods lots of choices. great raw foods. staff friendly.
Updated from previous review on Friday August 28, 2015

Top notch food that any vegan or non-vegan can enjoy!

...come in small packages. And this place is no exception. It's a very, very small place. They don't do reservations or call ahead seating so your best bet is to plan to wait for a half hour (during the busier times it can easily go over an hour), swing by to put your name/number down, and do something else until they call you. Be prepared to dine in close proximity to all the other guests, which has it's pros/cons, depending on your personality type. The food is excellent. They are constantly updating the menu and offering up delicious specials. The steak sandwich is pretty good...I like that they don't use Daiya cheese and instead use their own, homemade cheese. Everything I've tried there has been delicious, including the desserts.

Also, parking can be a pain. There is no lot so you have to find a spot on the street. It's all worth it though!

Wonderful food. You will feel pampered and healthy after eating here. The place is small and you might have to wait to be seated...but it is worth it!!!

Good Karma is a 50 minute drive for us, usually in awful traffic.
We make the journey nevertheless because the food is very enjoyable.
There is a shortage of vegetarian / vegan places in NJ so we often discover that our fellow diners came as far as we did.
They seem to do a roaring take-out trade and I've often thought that if we lived locally we'd be broke from ordering take-out all the time.
My favorite dish is any special entree that comes with mashed potato and greens, they do them really well. I also like their seitan; it's nice and crispy. I've been to too many upscale vegan restaurants where the flavor is good but the seitan is a limp floppy blob. Not in Good Karma! Their seitan and tofu are just right. My daughter who doesn't normally like tempeh tofu or seitan likes the Pad Thai with tofu and my son likes everything on the menu except the vegan cheese. When new braces meant he couldn't possibly eat salad, he still managed to eat a Good Karma salad. It was their ranch dressing that did it. The live lemonade and the Hawaii-5-O (drink) are good too. I sometimes get a takeout Hawaii-5-O as dessert. We always get a takeout chocolate cake. We now keep forks in the car just to eat that cake, because we felt so guilty using plastic forks every trip. We should be feeling guilty driving 50 miles for dinner. It just always feels worth it.

Updated from previous review on Wednesday January 28, 2015

I've been coming here since they opened and GKC is the vegan mecca of NJ. There's a reason you sometimes have to wait for a table at dinner rush times.

I feel like I could write 10,000 words but I won't. This place is vegan comfort food and health food. Everything from their sandwiches to entrees to raw food is perfection. Their weekend specials are always on-point.

My personal favs: buffalo tempeh, caesar salad with tempeh, love bowl, coconut mango tempeh, seitan cheesesteck, banh mi (YES!), chocolate cake, and bliss cup.

Took my non-vegetarian daughter to Good Karma for lunch last week. It was my first visit as well. The restaurant is very small but the food is delicious! I had the Buffalo Soldier Wrap and she had a Grilled Portobello Sandwich. We shared a Raw Pie for dessert although my daughter ate most of it!
Definitely a place I will visit again.

As a new vegan it felt good to be able to pick anything on the menu and know that it was vegan. The food was delicious and I will definitely be going again.

Good karma is like a home away from home to me. Friendly engaging humans stand before you in an open kitchen with the best everyday plant based ingredients and make you this excellent meal from scratch of delicious comfort food, and then smile and tell you good bye by name. The chef creates mouth-watering specials every weekend which are just about as gourmet as you can get, but less expensive than any gourmet restaurant I know. When near Red Bank, Good Karma is almost exclusively my choice for restaurant dining. Note: portions are big so I often split with a friend and we have just about the right amount of entree. We can always split a salad if we are hungrier than usual. If alone, taking home leftovers us s good option but it is not easy to do because the food is so delicious !

I went to Good Karma when they first opened up and was sort indifferent to it. The food was not bad, but it didn't totally wow me.

Fast forward to a month ago. I gave this place another chance and certainly glad that I did. They have improved their game quite a bit. The food is fresh, with interesting flavors and creative presentations. Don't forget about the excellent deserts. Plenty of gluten free options here if needed without sacrificing taste.

I would recommend the vegan cheese plate, the love bowl, any of the cashew-based deserts and if you still have room try the "cotton candy" smoothie. All in all, a great experience.

This is actually the only all vegan, organic, full kitchen restaurant in New Jersey. That said it's still way better than any other "veg option" place in the area. They have a few really great raw dishes as well as healthy macrobiotic type dishes (try the Love Bowl!).

Food is delicious! I keep ordering the pineapple mango tempeh when I go there. It's out of this world. The staff is so pleasant and down to earth. I love the whole look of the place. Very earth, yet colorful, but they may need to move to a bigger spot soon because it is always packed and don't have enough seats.

This place is unbelievable!!!! However small, the menu selection on the raw foods was to die for. Went for a belated birthday dinner and wanted to pick all the items!!!! Had the raw pizza, lasanga, and another item that slipped my mind. Even our drinks were raw and we had kambucha. The service was friendly, and quick. Now if I could only replicate the food I ate here at home. I live too far from Red Bank so traveling a distance to try out the place was very worth it. Do not leave without dessert, I had the tiramisu and my friend had the pudding (daily flavor) which was raw as well and posted pics of it. We had a table right away but because it's a small cafe, it may tend to be very busy. Will highly recommend it.

I drove an hour and 20 minutes to get to this place for my vegan girlfriend's birthday, and it was completely worth it. The staff was really cool and we loved everything that we ordered. If this place was closer we would be there every week.

This place in Red Bank has multiple options, depending on what you want. I think the live salad is the best, but the bar-b-q tempeh wrap is good as well. The nice thing about getting a sandwhich here, is you get a tiny, but tasty, side salad. The salad dressings are very awesome. Love the thousand island, lemon dressing, and apple-cider vinegar. Wish they had a few more unhealthy things. Wouldn't mind a good basket of onion rings, fries, etc... But they have a small kitchen. Hopefully they will be successful and eventually expand to a larger place (if that is what they want).

Sad to say I was disappointed here. The restaurant is too small for comfort. We were shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone. People had to get out of their seats for anyone to be seated at adjacent tables. The service was attentive, but the food was indifferently made. My companion's pita was so chewy he couldn't eat it. My burger was slapped together, barely garnished. The patty itself was too thick, making the inside undercooked (wonder if the cooks have tried it). Salad dressings were old and bland. Lentil soup was a pureed mush, leaving it without character. I hate when my cooking is better than a restaurant's. There is something worth saving at this place, but it needs work. The quality of Down to Earth--even when it was failing--is not present here.
Updated from previous review on Sunday February 13, 2011

This little place is excellent! I ordered the spicy peanut satay and enjoyed every morsel of it (forgive the blurriness of my picture). I also had the hemp, chocolate chip cookies. The food is reasonably priced and they offer a good selection of items. There is metered parking all around, so getting a spot isn't a problem. It is a small establishment, though-so you may not want to bring a huge entourage :)

Amazing! The cafe is small and unassuming, but the food is so delish! I started with the Butternut Squash Coconut Soup which was like warm, creamy heaven in a bowl. Incredibly flavorful and easily some of the best soup I have ever had. I followed that up with the Live Nachos based on another review I read here. The staff of ladies working there were also very pleasant and helpful and seemed to truly enjoy being there. I was a bit hesitant because it's cold outside so I debated the raw thing because I was wondering about something hot to help me warm up. I made the right choice. The "Nachos" were unreal. The chips themselves were hearty and complex, and the cashew cheese and guac were so creamy. The sunflower crumbles were so tasty and the pico and lettuce added a nice veggie balance. The cafe is simply and small, but a few well-placed whimsical paintings add a touch of cheer. I will most certainly be returning!

For those that have missed Down To Earth the last few years, this place is for you! Great selection of vegan foods including some that used to be on the old Down to Earth menu and including some raw options. As previously stated the place is small and can be busy so you may have to wait to be seated.

We loved this place. Very cute and in a great location. We work out a few doors down at the Power Center and then have a great meal at Good Kharma. The live nachos were incredible and gave NYC and LA raw food places a run for their money. Way to go!! Hoping to see more places like this to pop up. Thumbs up

The meal I had at Good Karma Cafe was very good. The quality of the food was excellent and it was quite delicious as well! I ordered the Maco Plate which consisted of brown rice, black beans, pickled veggies, a seaweed salad and sautéed tofu. The dish was very well prepared.
The cafe is on the small side, so there was a tiny bit of a wait before we got a table, but it's a nice cozy atmosphere. The prices are a little expensive, but you get quite a bit of good quality food on your plate. I'll be back again, next time I'm in the Red Bank area.

EVERYTHING is made in house, 100% vegan, organic and delicious!! A few live (raw) food options as well. ...And don't skip dessert, you'll be sorry!!! Suggested eats include: Live nachos, love bowl, gado gado salad, and MAGIC COOKIES!

This place is actually 100% vegan, we went there Saturday 3 days after it opened and it was packed the whole time we were there. The staff was great as well as timely, the food was just as great and is not the typical dishes you find in most vegan restaurants. The prices are typical of most vegan places with entrees ranging from $10-15. No complaints about anything except that they are a small place so if going with more than a couple people you should probably call ahead.