CLOSED: Red Lentil

Great food that even carnivores enjoy. Good prices, too.

The vegetarians/vegans of New Haven were *so psyched* when this opened in summer 2011. Claire's Corner Copia is of course a New Haven mainstay for vegetarians, but is a casual cafe. This was New Haven's first fancy-type cloth napkin & white tablecloth (non-Asian) vegetarian restaurant. And when I say fancy, please note that the most expensive dinner entrees are around $16, with several available at less than $10.

This place is awesome!! Great for vegans, as (almost) everything on the menu is either vegan or can be made vegan with no fuss (not the scrambled eggs, of course!). Also a great place to take your omnivore friends, as there are a number of omnivore-familiar dishes on the menu like quesadillas, pizza, risotto, and shepherd's pie.

A simply decorated but attractive restaurant, great for dinner dates, lunch, or weekend brunch. Brunch, served from 9am-3pm Saturday and Sunday, deserves special mention. Brunch is often a tricky find in New Haven for anyone, let alone vegetarians! The prices here are wonderful, and it's a great novelty for vegans to be able to get a tofu scramble out in New Haven. Red Lentil is also across the street from New Haven's only downtown movie theater, Criterion - make it brunch & a movie!

Totally awesome, highly recommended vegan/vegetarian restaurant. Their specials are worth checking out, and even long-time vegetarians have a chance to expand their horizons with macrobiotic options. Please go eat there so they manage to stay open!! We like them so much, we're considering having them cater our wedding.

Red Lentil is a vegetarian restaurant long needed in and overdue for New Haven. Its menu is more eclectic than ethnic, but with a leaning toward Asian Indian, and with a small helping of dishes lifted from the menu of It's Only Natural (ION). Portions are generous, cost is moderate, and food mostly is good. Exotic dishes are excellent, and the more extraordinary the dish the better it is likely to be. But more conventional dishes do tend to fall short of my expectations. For instance, in the category of fried food (true confessions! though i hardly hunger for it, in my feeble old age i have relinquished abidance to my usually high nutritional standards, and i have been eating fried foods, but only at vegetarian restaurants, because you never know what else has been fried in that oil), their Gobi Manchurian (fried cauliflower) is outstanding, but their Sweet Potato Fries are disappointing, especially when compared to those served at nearby ION or G Zen. In Red Lentil's favor, theirs are half the price. On account of a multiplex movie theater directly across the street, even at night the street parking, in a word, sucks. As you usually must resort to the cavernous parking garage directly overhead (really!), parking also is expensive, but compensated by the cost of the meal, which is moderate. Seating is spacious and comfortable, especially if you are seated at a booth, and the wait staff does not rush you out of the place, not even when nearing closing, so you leisurely can sit and enjoy your company and the food, except for that dang parking meter.

I was excited to hear about this new vegan restaurant in NH. It's been a long time coming. I only just discovered it a week ago so I've been here only once so far, and I hope it sticks around. The decor is warm and modern with soft lights, high ceilings, spacious and comfortable. The menu is extensive and diverse - unusual even by vegan restaurant standards. We came for lunch and I had a tempeh reuben, excellent. The sweet potato fries were wonderful - and my kids enjoyed the grilled tofu and soy chiken strips. We also had some phenomenal desserts: chocolate pie and coconut banana cake. Keep up the great work, Red Lentil! I will definitely be back!

I first visited Red Lentil in Boston (Watertown) area and I loooooved it! I even take all my non-veggie friends here and they love it as well. Do yourself a favor and go to the brunch on Sunday, it's amazing. The french toast is great but the pancakes are better than any pancakes I've ever eaten. My non-veggie friends have stated time and time again that the pancakes here are their favorites too. Love the homefries and sweet potato fries with their homemade bbq sauce. Many, many choices and I have yet to try something that was average...all of the food is exceptionally well cooked and the portions are very generous.

My husband and I have made this our official date night restaurant because the food is inspired and it's right across the street from the Bow Tie Criterion Cinema. It's on the pricey side (nothing completely outrageous, though), but the menu is incredible, they label everything, and the staff is nice. I only wish they had more things for brunch that didn't involve eggs!