Pepper Tree Veggie Cuisine

This place is completely understated. It's in a little strip mall next to Chipotle across the road from Costco. The food is entirely plant based and delicious. You can choose between a buffer or order a la carte. They have a great website. The couple who owns the restaurant is seems just wonderful. I love that they are sharing their culture's food in a plant based form. Such a nice example of how unnecessary animal products are for uncompromised taste.

The good here was fresh, delicious, and had great flavor. A quality place and most importantly 100% vegan!

I love going here for the buffet, the food is good, it's not too expensive & the staff is very nice

Love the option of a buffet. Delicious and tasty.

Updated from previous review on 2016-09-28

I have had both takeout and the buffet from Pepper Tree. I always enjoy the taste and quality of the food. The buffet is worth the price! Vegans and non-vegans would love this.

Updated from previous review on 2016-08-12

I had this takeout style once and it was great. I had the lo mein with vegetables and the veggie dumplings. It was great and tasty, they offer very nice choices. Someday I will try the buffet. That is on my to-do list definitely.

One of my favorite place to eat, especially on the weekends when they do their buffet. It's great going to a place where I don't have to worry about the food, make inquiries and watch to make sure what they serve is vegan.

The salad buffet is pretty good, every veggie tasted fresh and the place was simple and clean. I paid $11.99 + tax for my buffet and proceeded to gorge myself.

I really liked the dumplings and the fried sesame balls. The plant-based meats were pretty tasty too.

Best Asian Fusion buffet around! Begin with salad fixings, fresh lettuces including darker greens, spinach, kale, peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, chopped vegetables & fruit, add a good choice of dressings. Steamed and fried rice, pakora, mock meats. Excellent flavorful vegetable dishes, steamed eggplant, squashes, spring rolls. Miso, "egg" drop and vegetable broths/soups. Desserts, which I seldom try since I've filled up on the veggies. There is also a menu to order from that includes most of the buffet items. Very affordable prices.
In a busy strip center of restaurants so parking can be tight.

I absolutely love this place. especially their buffet. the buffet has a little more choices on the weekends and cost a little more on weekends. Buffet has a nice salad and fruit bar, some sweets and lots of steamed and fried veggies that are to die for. you can also get fresh fruit juices. i find that nice, because usually you get only sodas and ice tea around here. they do have an à la carte menu, but I must say that I have problems to make a choice from there. there are no pictures and the dish names are Taiwanese if I am not wrong (I might be wrong). from the descriptions I do not really understand what to expect from the dish, but that is a user issue. the staff can also be sometimes a bit strange. maybe super shy. not unfriendly by any means. the owners are usually there and always super nice and more outgoing. they are closed on Mondays and around lunch time it is always hard to find a parking space. so come a little earlier or later. they are also quite full around lunch.

Absolutely love this place. A big, tasty selection of all-vegan Asian-inspired foods. Delicious! My advice - Go for the buffet during the day in the week or at the weekend rather than ordering a la carte. Much more choice :)

Heard about this place via a google search for vegan friendly restaurants. The buffet is absolutely wonderful - it's a bit on the smaller side but each option I've tried has been full of flavor! It is a great value and I would recommend it to anyone. The staff is extremely friendly and has no problem answering any questions you may have. The vegan coconut cake is an absolute must!

Pepper Tree was reccomended to me by my health conscious aunt when I moved to Houston in January and I have been a weekly buffet goer ever since. I will admit, I have only been to the buffet but ever visit is a delightful and delicious experience.

The food is incredible and fresh. I enjoy the buffet because it stays the same so I know what to expect every time I go, however I can see how this might be boring to some.

I would highly recommend Pepper Tree to any vegan in the Houston area!

This was one of my favourite spots to eat in Houston. Overall the food quality was pretty good in regards to buffet standards. Due to how delicious much of it was I never felt compelled to try the menu items. There is much variety in their buffet which make it hard to get bored from eating there. I recommend anyone to go here for some cheap and delicious Asian/Chinese food fix. I appreciate that the food actually tasted fresh and well made opposed to those terrible asian buffet places that love to pour lots of salt, grease and soy sauce making you want to throw up after the email. Overall a great restaurant alternative for everyone and the people working are polite and accomodating.

Loved the freedom to eat the entire buffet spread (if I wanted) without anxiety or fear of eating something non vegan.

We were in Houston for a concert and Pepper Tree was close to the hotel. Dinner was wonderful, tasty and clean. We started with the steamed dumplings, and got 2 combos so we tried the eggrolls, sweet and sour soup, miso soup, kung pao tofu, and another broccoli and tofu dish. All fabulous! I will recommend to my friends and return whenever I can. I'd like to try the buffet some time so I could try everything. The owners served us and were very nice.

I am currently in Houston visiting for a month and recently transitioned over to being a vegetarian.

I must say "The Pepper Tree" was the 1st Vegetarian/Vegan restaurant I visited. My boyfriend is not a vegetarian but the second time we returned was because of him. He was craving the food. Of course I was too!

I love the Pepper Tree! I hope that when I move to Houston one day they will still be around.

My partner and I went for my birthday dinner and both had the buffet. He is a meat eater and I am vegan. We both loved it. I'm sure I didn't eat $15 worth of food, so a little pricey for me. Not every dish blew me away, but overall very tasty and lots of options. What a treat to have everything in front of you be 100% vegan and get as much as you want of whatever you want. I recommend it, and I plan to go back.

This restaurant is clean. The staff are friendly. My experience is mostly with the buffet. There is always a very large selection to choose from and just when I thought I tried a little of everything, a new dish is brought out! I would go there everyday if I lived closer.

After seeing so many great reviews on yelp and happy cow my husband and I drove more than an hour to Houston to eat at Pepper Tree for my birthday. Pepper tree is located in a strip mall and the interior is very boring/fast foodish. When we walked in the employees just stared at us while we tried to figure out what to do. After 10min someone finally serviced us. This would have all been excused if the food had been good or even descent but to be quite honest it was downright horrible. The buffet was super small, expensive, there was no flavor in any of the dishes and almost everything was served cold. I would love to write a good review for this place because it is vegan but that would be a lie. My husband and I both left extremely disappointed.

Along with friendly service and delectable food. The freshness of our meal really stood out. Try it out!

I was taken to Pepper Tree vegetarian restaurant for a lunch by my son. It's a small place, appeared very clean and they have a buffet but you can order off the menu. We had the buffet. The food was a bit simple for my taste. They had stir fried and tofu dishes that were OK. The buffet was more vegan than vegetarian. If I go again, I will order off the menu.

My best friend introduced me to this place before I had become vegetarian, and I was pleasantly surprised! I ordered the General Tso's chicken plate with the drink and soup for $10.99, and it didn't stay on my plate for very long..I cleaned it pretty quickly. >.< So good. My best friend usually gets the buffet and goes through four plates.

Since then, we've gone several times. The location is not bad at all, and you can usually find parking if it's not busy. I just wish I lived closer!

I didn't have problems with parking here and I went there right at the start of rush hour. The owners are über friendly and I love that they have so many options. The food was okay, too. I had the dumplings and some fried rice. I also ordered the miso soup for later. Not terribly impressed with my choices, but would still recommend this place to others as the food also wasn't bad. Now, reheated-the fried rice hit the spot the next morning. Definitely a place to try if you're in the area.

My husband and I discovered Pepper Tree a couple of weeks ago and have been back several times since. We've only ordered from the menu so I don't know about the buffet but everything we have ordered has been delicious (we try not to order the same thing twice so we've tried a variety of their dishes)! The staff are all very friendly. This is our new favorite restaurant for sure!

Pepper Tree is great. I'm actually a bigger fan of their regular menu than their buffet though. Try the cashew chicken combo with their hot & sour soup! My favorite. And their sesame balls (filled with red bean and served with chocolate sauce to dip in) for dessert - a must!

Very nice restaurant with many options on the buffet

Finding this place was a relief, considering dinner the night before had been met with "I'm not vegan, I don't know any vegans, and I have no idea if any of our food is vegan. You're welcome to look at the menu and see if you want to order anything."

The food was pretty good - nothing that amazed me or that I hadn't had before, but it was still pleasantly filling and had good flavor.

If you're in the area, check this place out.

I have not been here in some while since it's far and pricey. Last time I went, the most of the food was good. They also offer buffets, which can be good when out with a group. It is also 95% vegan which is a big plus. The people who work there are quite nice and the place has a good atmosphere. The prices could be a lot better, especially since the food is not amazing. Some of the food taste a bit weird based on the description.

Updated from previous review on Saturday October 02, 2010

This place is a little out of the way for me, but they do serve pretty good food that's fresh, healthy, and delicious. The service is good - perhaps not consistently, but I don't mind - and the fact that you can have the choice of the buffet or order off the menu is nice. The place is also kept clean.

My only complaint is that the prices tend to be a little more expensive than I'd like to pay, but considering the area and the rent, I sort of understand. Even so, because there are several veggie/vegan restaurants closer to where I live, I usually go there first instead of driving the 30 minutes here.

My boyfriend and I found this restaurant on Happy Cow while visiting Houston and are truly jealous that something like this doesn't exist in our town. It offers an all-vegan buffet as well an extensive menu. You can dine-in or carry-out. The food was amazing and fresh. The atmosphere was pretty casual and welcoming. Check out the website for a full menu. Honestly can't recommend this place enough.

The Pepper Tree is a nice place with a good vegetarian menu. I agree with some of the other reviews here that the tastes are not that exquisite but it's still good overall and worth the visit. I came several times and noticed that the buffet is only during the weekends. They place small quantities of the dishes on the buffet and prepare constantly new so that the items remain relatively fresh. You can ask for brown rice too.

The Pepper Tree lunch buffet has selections pleasing to the tastebuds such as the veggie nuggets, spring rolls, and the General Joe's dish, which deviates from most traditional vegetarian General Joe dishes, yet manages to still taste delightful.

The owners are warm and appreciative of their regulars, and their prices are fair if you stick to the buffet.

Though lunchtime is the best time to go, finding a parking spot in the business strip the restaurant is located can be a headache! I suggest trying to get there around 11:00 am or after the peak hours of lunch around 1:00 pm. Sometimes I forget that they are closed on Mondays, which can be irritating.

Updated from previous review on Tuesday August 23, 2011

Frankly, we can't understand the glowing reviews. We're vegetarians, on the plus-side of vegan. What we expected at the luncheon buffet was a selection of fresh, light and well-prepared foods. What we discovered was an overwhelming array of deep-fried greasy choices, most of which tasted the same (we couldn't get past the first bite on many of them). Batter should be light and tempura-esque. We found all of it heavy, thick and overpowering ... actually negated the taste of the other ingredients. We have no idea how they prepared the tofu curry, but rather than being firm and tender, it was tough, chewy and virtually tasteless. Desserts were palatable, although the sesame balls were also heavy from the oil used to deep-fry them. Miso soup was fine; hot and sour was awful. The only "cold" beverage available is room-temperature water. The couple who operate the restaurant are lovely people ... the food they serve should be half as good as their service. At $10 per person, we expected far better fare, both in terms of variety and preparation. Overall, we were hugely disappointed ... we won't be returning

Houston's Vegan scene is exploding! The Pepper Tree's buffet is fantastic and affordable. There are so many different dishes to try.
Car pool/van pool, walk, bike, or ...ride a bus(which one(s)?) because on crowded days parking can be a challenge.

I have been mostly vegetarian for about a month now and wanted to go to a vegetarian restaurant to get an idea of what kind of foods to eat other than tofu which I'm not a big fan of. What they have at Pepper Tree seems to be tofu, tofu and more tofu and rice along with green vegetables. I was hoping for some other type of grains maybe. Maybe some creative types of nut or peanut dishes. Maybe something with other types of grains. Also, the dishes were very bland and boring.

Pepper Tree has the best Asian food buffet in Houston, available during lunch on weekdays and all day on the weekends. Great variety of tasty dishes on the buffet, lots of them not on the regular menu. The water here is filtered and clean-tasting - an excellent thing. The regular menu is very good also, though I prefer the buffet. The only drawbacks, and the reason for four instead of five stars, are that it's quite expensive here, especially the weekend buffet, with menu prices consistently climbing, and the very limited parking can sometimes be a real pain in the apple.

I just took a very non-vegan friend here, and the General Tzo's chicken impressed him very much. For my part, I enjoyed the non-fried spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, and the passionfruit smoothie. I would agree that it is a bit pricy for the atmosphere, but simply being able to choose from so many options is worth the extra money.

I love Pepper Tree. I discovered it a few years ago and make the pilgrimage about once every two or three months. If I didn't live 50 miles away, I'd visit more often. The food is always fresh and there is great variety. I tend to always get seconds when I'm there. I agree that their miso soup is delicious. I can't say that I have a favorite dish as everything I've tried has been good. I highly recommend a visit.

The food is wonderful. I enjoy the buffet at lunch at least once a week. I can walk there from my office. What joy! The food is never disappointing. All food is well prepared and interesting. I get there early for lunch because it gets very busy at noon. I love to take something to read and take my time.

I cannot say enough positive things about Pepper Tree. My only regret was not trying it sooner. As soon as we walked in, the owners greeted us and asked us if we had been there before. We decided to order from the menu this visit (next time will do buffet) and we were beyond impressed with the food. It's hard to believe that food of this caliber was so reasonably priced. Wow! We were brought out a free appetizer since it was our first visit. A very nice gesture that definitely made an impression. I cannot recommend the vegan coconut cake w/ chocolate sauce enough! What a treat. We do not live close by, but definitely worth the drive. If you are going to give vegan food a try, this establishment would be a great start. If other eating establishments would serve food of this quality with this much variety for people like us, we would go out to eat more often! I am going to recommend this place to everyone I know. Thank you Pepper Tree.

Most asian veg restaurants I've seen only have soy-based mock meats, but I'm glad to see Pepper Tree has wheat gluten as well. Along with a variety of sushi and desserts at the buffet bar, I'd pick this place hands down over any other chinese place in Houston.

Peppertree is my happy place where I go when I'm sad and in need of some comfort food. I always start off with a big plate of raw veggies and fruit, some veg sushi rolls with ginger, a spring roll, and a small cup of miso soup. I make sure not to pass up the peanut sauce tofu slices with cilantro. That dish is like candy to me. Then I grab another plate and go in for the hot comfort food. The eggplant dish and spinach ravioli dish and the veg meat and pineapple dish take priority on my plate on top of whatever new green dish they have prepared (usually with bok choy or chinese cabbage). They often experiment and have new dishes to try every time I go. I make sure to experience them all. Recently they did a dish with squash that I couldn't stop eating! I rarely ever have room for dessert, but every now and then I will snag a sesame bean ball, or I'll grab a small cup of their other soup - hot and sour, or I'll grab whatever new sushi they just put out on the table. If you are concerned about price, you get the best deal on the buffet, although people with over-eating tendencies when presented with a glorious veg buffet (guilty) should pace themselves and drink lots of water a few hours before to get the metabolism working strong and offset the sodium intake that comes with the territory of eating comfort food.

I went here while in houston and was very glad. This was my first time going to a veg buffet. It was great!! It's inexpensive, fast and the food is delicious. I ate until i couldnt eat anymore. Definitely go here if you're in houston

I am not sure why prior reviews were so negative regarding the physical appearance of the restaurant. For one thing it's in a strip-mall so don't expect it to have the interior of P.F. Chang's ! Second, it's CLEAN, well organized, and FAST so get over it. The cost is fair when you look at the quality of the ingredients. The owner was so very pleasant and quite accomodating. We took friends from Chicago that were traveling through Houston on their way to New Orleans and they were pleased with the meal and thanked us for choosing a wonderful place for lunch that was tasty and healthy at the same time. :)Though it's not close to where we live Pepper Tree Veggie Cuisine is at the TOP of my list of Houston's best options !

I arrived for lunch just before the buffet ended but the owner was very friendly and described every item on the buffet that I had questions about. Some of the dishes had run out by the end of the day but she gave me the option of ordering off the menu as well. The salad bar was fresh and had some interesting items (seasoned broccoli stems, kim chi, sesame kale). The hot food was so-so...the fried items were very greasy (oil almost ran down my face when I took a bite) but there was a great yellow-curry tofu dish, cabbage dumplings, and a veggie stir fry that were quite good. Overall, good lunch buffet with lots of options.

I went in October 2009. Had the miso soup. Then had moo shoo veggies and fried chicken (both were on the appetizer menu). Chicken was good but didn't have a sweet and sour sauce as I would expect from a Chinese restaurant. Was served with ketchup. Porton size was good-about 25 tater tot size pieces. The miso soup was good but you know, miso is miso, it's hard to screw up. I got the bowl and it was a HUGE bowl. The moo shoo was good and had some fake chicken in it but wasn't remarkable in any way. Came with four pancakes but could have filled 6. I had the dessert sampler - coconut cake, fried bananas and sesame balls with red bean paste inside. The dessert were the highlight of the meal-they were really good and served with melted chocolate - YUM! Service was slow, you have to pretty much flag them down. I wasn't in a hurry as I was eating alone and had a good book. If you want to get in and out quick I would recommend sitting close to the counter/register area so you can get their attention or at least be in their line of sight. They were very nice and the women working made pilot conversation. The man working didn't speak English (he worked as the server busboy). It was a clean place, nice decor. Not fast food like, nice. Bathrooms were very clean. With a green tea added to the above my total was $30 without tax. Not bad considering that there was enough of everything left to easily feed another person or take home for the next day (ok, except for the dessert, I ate it all!). I'm from ATL though so I'm not sure what restaurant prices are like here in Houston.

I went to Peppertree in Aug. '09. Since we brought a vegetarian friend from Spain I wanted to treat him to a veg. restaurant. Everything about it was very disappointing. Strip mall decor/atmosphere, total silence, cheap! Very poor service, we had to tear the waitress/hostess away from reading her paper to ask if we could order. I asked for recommendations or specials, she had no reply. Never responded to anything I asked. Apparently she could understand our order so she must have understood English? It was very school cafeteria-esque. Food unimpressive, the dish was Asian with white rice and non-memorable. I was very embarrassed about trying to show a foreign guest a Houston restaurant. Better service and food at just about any other restaurant in this city.

Food was tasty, fresh & varied. The lady behind the counter was very sweet & friendly and answered all our questions. It was a little pricey but worth it for the freshness and flavor. We will go again.

When i say clean i mean visually and literally. I can be assured when eating here that there are no animal by products in my food to dirty it up, or fingerprints on my glass.Its almost like they had the place steam cleaned on a daily. Lets start with the smoothies, best i have ever had, and i have tried every flavor, but if not in the mood for a smoothie, the water is quite wonderful and always refilled promptly. I love the use of interesting foods, like jicama, forbidden rice, green tea vegan jello, lightly fried bananas.It is quite easy to eat too much here, because it seems an endless variety of tasty and pretty food. The staff is very friendly and seem to fondly remember its patrons, resulting in a "little mom and pop shop" feel that has me returning time and time again. Even a non vegetarian could appreciate the ambiance, and not feel deprived

We have been going to Pepper Tree since they opened years ago, and while the prices have gone up over the years, the food continues to be high quality and fresh. We support this restaurant because so many of our other veg favorites like Tien Ren, Garden Veggie, Yin Yang and the latest Hometown Vegetarian have all gone out of business. Rent is outrageous for the owners, but they put lots of love into the food and have numerous vegan options on the buffet. The sesame kale, raw salad bar and the 6 styles of vegan sushi are superb! I'm not much for deep fried dishes, so I stick to the sauteed bok choy, veggies and the curry dish. I wish we could afford to dine here more often because the food is wonderful and the owners and staff are very friendly. Even though the price is high, you won't be disappointed. You get the best value on the buffet. I think one of the desserts may have dairy and you have to specify "vegan" when ordering smoothies, but other than that it is extremely vegan-friendly! Now that Costco is open across the street, there is plenty of parking, too.

I've had the pleasure to eat at PepperTree for a couple of years now and each time I am reminded how much I like it there. Excellent value as the food is freshly prepared, they have filtered water, and it's a gentle, relaxing environment. I'm always surprised at the tasty and flavorful buffet options. I never seem to get enough! I encourage you to visit PepperTree and hope you will like it as much as I do.

I've been to this restaurant a handful of times. IMO the food served on the buffet is better than the menu items, plus I tend to get a little freaked out by the menu items anyway, as they look and taste so much like real meat.
Oh and their miso soup is FABULOUS! Love the "meat"balls, too!

I read all other reviews before writing my own to see if anything said would jog my memory. It helpd..

My last visit was several months ago but I have visited more than once. Many of the dishes are unique in their preparation and are good to very good in taste. It is located conveniently for inner loop launchers.

I would like to go more often but I can't justify paying what I feel is a rather pricy lunch. I haven't seen enough rotation in the variety of foods to make it worth a regular visit.

I do recommend a visit to see for yourself, especially if you are vegan. My rating on a scale of 10 based on the food is an 8. Taking the price into consideration would bring it down to a 7.

I don't really understand all of the glowing reviews here. I like Pepper Tree okay, but I find it a bit over-priced for what it is and I haven't eaten anything here that I think is particularly good. It's all decent, but nothing stands out to me.

The people who work there are very friendly, that is true. The food is decent. The prices are just a bit higher than I'd like to pay. The parking situation is usually a nightmare. About the best thing I have to say about Pepper Tree is that is considerably more conveniently located than any of the other vegetarian asian joints in town. WHY WILL NO ONE OPEN ONE IN THE MONTROSE OR THE HEIGHTS OR SOME PLACE?!?!

I've been a vegetarian most of my life and I can say that Pepper Tree worthy of your business. I love it and make a 35 mile journey at least once a week to eat there. The owners are very friendly and really take care of you when you're there. They have a nice philosophy behind their food. It's also very clean. I've tried other places in the Houston area, but this one is my favorite, hands down.

when I lived in the area I would eat here at least once a week, the buffet always offers an array of diffrent choices and isnt like a typical buffet thats bland greasy and beige in appearance.The buffet offers delicious food from seaweed salad, hot and sour soup, to California rolls. I have a crush on this restaurant and will be returning soon.

I've been here a couple of times and the food is not as good as I had expected from reading the previous reviews. The dishes are also pretty highly priced for such little portions. The staff are friendly and parking inconvenient. Most of the items offered on the buffet are deep-fried, which is a huge turn-off for a health nut like me. Not sure I'll be going back but I grabbed one of their menus anyways on my way out just in case.

This restaurant provides the best tasting vegan buffet in Houston.
- It consists mostly of Chinese dishes.
- It has a choice of cook vegetable dishes, tofu, faux meat, fried dishes, soups, and desserts.
- It always has a great selection of raw food in the salad bar.
- The restaurant is also civic minded allowing vegetarian groups to hold meetings.
- Many of the dishes are as good as any I've tasted anywhere.
- None of the dishes contain MSG, onions, or garlic, although if you have a sensitive pallet some dishes do contain too much salt (soy sauce).
- The price is appropriate for this area of town (~$12 for buffet plus any drinks).
- I do not prefer the desserts or soup.

I just went there today, and it was really damn tasty. I can't really add much without being redundant. Try the vegan sesame chicken, it was awesome.