Lions Den Vegetarian Restaurant

Lions Den Vegetarian Restaurant
(4)
3

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Veg-options

Vegan-friendly

Fast food

Juice bar

Take-out

Caribbean

Jamaican

Non-veg

Serves meat, vegan options available. Vegetarian and fish Jamaican food restaurant. Food is pre-made style. Black-owned.

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3347 Main St , Hartford, Connecticut, USA, 06120
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+1-860-241-0220
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- Accepts credit cards
- Last update on 21 Jun 2020 by Guest
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4 Reviews

First Review by Brooksbrother

You won’t be disappointed! - Edit

Great food, great service and reasonable prices.

Pros: Lots of vegan options, No MSG

Cons: They are not in my town

Good food - Edit

Went here a few times. Got a small and a medium box of assorted steamed dishes like steamed veggies, chickpeas in a sauce, rice and lentils, vegetables and veggie meat chunks, bbq tofu (this was my fav). Also tried a couple of the bbq veggie chicken drumsticks which were delicious. Tried samosas, lentil patty, pumpkin patty, all delicious.

Areas to improve:
- The steamed dishes overall needed a bit more salt to me, and at home I sprinkled some nutritional yeast on mine for a bit more umami.
- The menu they have online didn't really reflect the actual offerings both times I went (one time was early in the day). Menu was a little unclear, and it would have been nice to have vegan labels. I think you have to ask if what you are ordering is vegan, as I believe they serve fish some days.
- Would have been cool to have a explanation of what each steamed dish was, or maybe labels. Was very hard to hear the worker talking behind the glass and mask.
- Interior could use a little sprucing up, but nothing was offensive to me

mark m braunstein

Points +462

Vegan

14 Aug 2020

Not vegetarian! - Edit

Ignore the name of this eatery. Do not believe everything you read. With only 4 barstools at a narrow counter, this is not a restaurant, and it is NOT vegetarian. (Nor do lions dwell here.) Codfish swims in several dishes, and that cod is real fish, not mock meat. Pescatarians called themselves vegetarians 70 years ago, but not now.

Located in the North End, where most ethnically white tourists seldom visit, the café is located in a small 3-store strip mall which includes another eatery. There is no street parking here. Its own parking lot is small, narrow, and full during lunchtime, so parking is scant.

Despite the above admonitions, and with the demise of Hartford’s Fire & Spice mothership (its satellite cafe remains open), I entered the Den intent to dine on its vegan offerings. The whiteboard had some half-erased scribblings. There was a single small menu encased in plastic was perched on the very tall counter where you could not read it. So really, no printed menu.

Vegetarian or Vegan? the friendly fellow behind the tall counter asked. I answered, Vegan, and asked for the vegan sampler. Medium or Large? he asked. Medium, I answered. He did not ask, Eat-in or takeout? Styrofoam platter for all. What he dished onto the Styrofoam platter was very Large, and cost only $10. (Cash only, he advised.)

I was served 2 kinds of beans, 3 varieties of mock meats (which I usually avoid), each in its own sauce, collards garlic greens, over a bed of white rice that I wish were brown. Nothing was overly spicy, the mock meats were tender, and the sauces were flavorful. I am sure to eat here next time I am back in town, though as a white honkey that will be a long time from now.

I ate here 2 years ago, so things might have changed since then. One thing changed is my original review written 2 years ago. It attracted the ire of 3 respondents who, during the blossoming of the BLM movement, signed on to Happy Cow solely to anonymously and therefore cowardly post their calumny of me. They objected to me, as a white, discussing Rastafari, despite my reading two books on the subject, my traveling among and interviewing countless Rastas in inland Jamaica, and my writing an article, Rastafari and Vegetarianism, for which Vegetarian Times paid me handsomely. I could have requested HC to delete their personal attacks. Instead, I simply whitewashed and reposted my review, because my intention 2 years ago was to promote a café with a review where HC previously had none.

Pros: inexpensive and generous servings, not too spcy

Cons: needs to change its misleading name

khhipps

23 Feb 2023

Love Fire and Spice and am a regular there. Sorry to hear when a restaurant mislabels itself as it can be confusing at best and can result in much worse if not careful.