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The Original Buddha Bodai - Kosher Vegetarian Restaurant
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Friend
Vegetarian
Vegan-friendly
Ovo
Chinese
Delivery
Take-out
Asian
Catering
Kosher
Chinese vegetarian restaurant est. since 2004 and is not affiliated with Buddha Bodai on Mulberry St. Offers vegan dim sum until 4pm, plus a wide range of faux meat dishes. Reported uses egg in a few dishes and mango pudding contains dairy. Kitchen stops 9:30pm. Open Mon-Fri 11:00am-9:00pm, Sat-Sun 10:00am-9:00pm.
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5 Mott St, New York City, New York, USA, 10013
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- Wheelchair accessible
- Accepts credit cards
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Last update on 13 Nov 2024 by hugemittons
Update business info
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116 Reviews
First Review by A.Z.P.
warino
Points +154
How much do I love this place? - Edit
Best vegan dim sum in the world. Is that a fair assessment? The bbq meat is alone worth the trip.
Read morePros: Food, Food, Food
Cons: Service, Bathrooms, The other customers stick their noses in your food
Guest
8r1dg3t
Points +77
BBQ meat fried rice - Edit
This is my go to place for work lunch and it is the perfect greasy Chinese food without having any worries it’s cross contaminated with meat. The soups and desserts aren’t great in my opinion but every entree and dim sum I’ve had has been amazing!
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2026-01-14
Pros: Options!
Cons: Bad soup, Bad desserts
Guest
Bella&Ollie
Points +1667
Delicious Food & Clear vegan options - Edit
I had a lovely experience at this restaurant. There are ample vegan options in their large menu. The menu has the vegan options as the norm and clearly indicate any non-vegan dishes. I had a Ho fun noddle dish with barbecue faux meat which was delicious and filling. I highly recommend visiting this restaurant and I will surely return to eat more of their dishes.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2026-01-11
Pros: Separate gluten free menu, Delicious food, Clear non-vegan indications on menu
Guest
AngelesHoyos
Points +230
Vegan and GF - Edit
I ordered the fried rice and spring rolls—super tasty and really good! The rice was just a little bit oily for my taste, but overall it was pretty good. The only downside is that the service can be little rude at times.
Read morePros: Good prices , Tasty , Fast
Cons: Sometimes services
Guest
AmandaLehman
Points +97
My favorite dim sum! - Edit
I've never been here for dinner, but I love getting to sample so many buns and dumplings and other small bites (on the dim sum menu, almost everything is vegan, and there are a few clearly marked items that contain egg). My favorite dish is the sweet sesame balls for dessert :)
Read moreGuest
Emlette
Points +112
Fried rice - Edit
Best fried rice everrr. Have gotten a few other dishes--tried their soup dumplings, which were a worthy effort. But nothing beats their fried rice!!! Such a good lunch deal too.
Read moreGuest
Mr.Palomar88
Points +34
Essential to Try - Edit
This restaurant is one of my all time favorites. The dim sum (BBQ Veg. meat, soup dumplings) is very good, they do some great versions of classics and also a few standout dishes that aren't as common, such as Three Cup Chicken, House Special Tofu, (Contains Egg) Laksa Eggplant, and Cedar Tofu.
Read moreA tip: Pay attention to their specials; the seasonal menu items are usually some of the best things you can order.
Pros: Food is excellent, Great Specials, Family Style Portions
Guest
mershka
Points +58
NYC classic - Edit
Fantastic spot for a fake meat extravaganza. Really diverse menu with so many gems to try. The Laksa soup and black pepper soy chicken are not to be missed!
Read moreGuest
LaNog
Points +191
Delicious with so many options! - Edit
Amazing food with tons of options (some have eggs or dairy so just make sure). They're doing all sorts of subtitutes like chicken, fish, pork and more. I had the chicken and vegetables in curry with rice which was perfection!
Read moreIt was super packed and with a long wait but probably just because it was Christmas Day.
Highly recommended!!
Pros: Many options , Variety
Guest
cwl666
Points +1440
Great Chinese - Edit
Lots of nice mushroom dishes
Read moreGuest
miju
Points +128
Decent but there’s missing something - Edit
Unfortunately we were not welcomed very friendly. We decided to have a lychee ice tea and buns filled with matcha paste. The buns tasted fine and the ice tea was okay but was served in a disposable cup. As far as we are concerned, there are better options in Manhattan with a fully vegan menu for a nice price and atmosphere.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2024-10-29
Guest
MacVegan
Points +113
So disappointed! - Edit
We were really hoping this was going to be good - and perhaps we didn’t choose well, but we all thought the same. Got the veg noodles (I suspect the were egg noodles - forgetting this is a veggie not vegan restaurant) and the tofu with Thai basil. Tofu was really weird and sauce lacked flavour. The soup dumplings weren’t as I remember. No ‘soup’ in them and kinda tough. Also got the shiitake mushrooms with crispy seaweed and pine nuts. It was ok, but with so many awesome restaurants (fully vegan) why would you choose this?
Read morePros: Speed of service
Guest
Marta_C
Points +273
Lovely food in Chinatown - Edit
Most items on the menu are vegan and there is a generous selection. They also offer a dim sum menu. We shared a portion of steamed dumplings and had a main each from the lunch menu (about 9 USD each) and that was plenty. I fancied a pudding and ordered the peanut coconut mochi. They were the biggest mochi I have ever seen and so yummy! Staff were absolutely lovely and efficient despite the restaurant being very busy. Finally, if you pay cash you will receive a 10% discount on your bill, which was a nice touch. Recommended.
Read morePros: Most food vegan, Staff, Discount with cash payment
Guest
Nico.G
Points +126
Classic spot - Edit
One of the best options in Chinatown, good food, good service, affordable. Highly recommended.
Read more*rice rolls are a must, can’t go wrong with any of them.
Guest
Profduweb
Points +100
Excellent et abordable! - Edit
Pas cher, rapide, frais et tout simplement bon.
Read moreGuest
111artsgallery
Points +1399
To go order for 6 people - Edit
Had a mix of everything mostly vegans in group everyone surprised how Awsome this place is ,
Read morePros: All vegan/ vegetarian , Reasonably priced , Fast service to go
Guest
lilygauthier
Points +426
great chinese food! - Edit
my second time dining here 🥢! it was good to come back here as my first visit here we unfortunately ordered wrong, and was left disappointed with our meal (our fault, not the restaurants!)
Read moregreeted by friendly staff who gave us a big teapot of house tea, which was lovely. we ordered the sweet and sour chicken, beef lo mein and vegetable fried rice all to share. my boyfriend is a meat eater and he absolutely loved the sweet and sour chicken, which was definitely the best dish we ordered. the sauce was delicious and the chicken is so realistic it's almost weird. the beef lo mein was very nice but i can't say it had the most flavour - i ordered a pot of hoisin sauce to pour over it, which definitely added to an already good dish. the vegetable fried rice was also delicious, but i personally would have liked if the vegetables were a bit softer instead of being crunchy. overall everything was delicious and we cleared our plates! would love to come back for a third time to try some of the other dishes they have on offer 🥡☺️!
Pros: varied vegan options, friendly & attentive staff, quick service , house tea on arrival, delicious food
Guest
rocky-
Points +115
Satisfying the "I Miss Panda Express" Mood - Edit
Disclaimer: I know it's a vegetarian place, I didn't really check if things were vegan (oops), so that's a my bad.
Read moreEver since turning vegan, I do still miss the feeling of swallowing trashy orange chicken and fried rice. This place though satisfies that feeling, although I wouldn't describe it as trashy like Panda Express.
I was surprised at the prices, like $12 (I think?) for fried rice, bro, give me one to go. That was the best part. GET THE FRIED RICE.
The orange chicken had some weird after taste, but surprisingly disappeared when microwaved as leftovers, but it's fine regardless. Very tasty.
The pork ribs (I think?) were alright, but like I said, get the fried rice.
Updated from previous review on 2024-05-20
Guest
NayeliAbrego
Points +3089
First dim sum experience! - Edit
Oh my gosh I love dim sum and I didn't know it. Anything for that fluffy cloud bread 😆 I loooved the vegetable dumplings. Definitely my favourite. Will be back!
Read moreSide note, our waiter was not the best... he was really rushing us and kept coming over to tell us how he didn't like the food here because he likes to eat real meat. Then would continue to describe what eating meat is like and yeah it was not great. Anyway, I write this in case someone from the restaurant sees and can maybe discourage this behaviour as I'm sure it was an odd case :)
Guest
AGV
Points +15
BBQ Pork is my all time fav seitan - Edit
I’ve been here maybe a dozen times and every time the BBQ Pork is just perfection. Highly recommend with fried rice
Read moreGuest
ChiaraConTorta
Points +424
Great Asian veggie food - Edit
I absolutely loved this place! The food is great (sooo delicious), the place is very nice and prices are good considering the rest of places in NYC. If you are vegan and you are in Chinatown, this place is a must!
Read moreGuest
coconutcat
Points +191
Went downhill - Edit
First of all, they have a lot of dairy products. Secondly, they raised their prices considerably, especially for dim sum. Dim sum is only a good deal for tourists. Sad. Used to be a legit place.
Read moreGuest
wanderlustvegan
Points +74
Delicious food - Edit
Great service and great food , so many options.
Read morePros: Food, Service, Atmosphere
Guest
LuisMadriz
Points +50
La mejor comida de Chinatown - Edit
La mejor comida china vegana que he probado en mi vida. No le pongo las 5 estrellas por un incidente con uno de los camareros que, prácticamente, nos obligó a dejar la propina que él decidió, no el 10% típico de New York.
Read moreGuest
Ameisherry
Points +13657
Thank you😄 - Edit
Had my birthday meal celebrate here😄didn’t realize that it’s been around since 2009, Everytime I went passed it’s always under renovation finally it’s opened now :)
Read moreI’m like telling everyone it’s my birthday lol asking for my birthday wishes lol everyone so friendly :)
Veg jellyfish (cold)
Dim sum appetizer (10 pcs) - bbq meat buns(2) , shu mai(2), Cantonese dumplings (2), shrimp dumplings(2), watercress dumplings (2)
#vegan
Wow this one finally opened, I’ve been passing there so many times and it’s always under renovation, this one has been here since 2009 probably the longest😄finally get to try it😄
Not everything here is vegan, they do have dishes that contains eggs and dairy so make sure asking them before ordering it
Updated from previous review on 2023-08-07
Guest
EmdotAlice
Points +6105
The best tofu - Edit
I accidentally reviewed a place near here with a similar name! This review is for the restaurant on Mott:
Read moreCan’t wait to come back here to try their dim sum. Unfortunately we came after dim sum hours, but we were able to get the sampler as an appetizer—highly recommend. I liked the dumpling with spinach the most (wrapped like a wonton) but the vegan bbq pork bun was my partner’s favorite. The bun was slightly sweet and the filling was savory. The tofu skin was amazing and so was the tofu veggie stir fry. Texture and flavor were the best we’ve had.
Note to future self: come in before 4pm for dim sum to try the turnip cake!
Updated from previous review on 2023-02-06
Pros: So many options and large portions, Clearly labels items with egg, Amazing tofu dishes
Guest
Dzzzzzz
Points +20
Delicious! - Edit
Clean and quick service
Read moreGuest
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