Tian Ran

Always good food, but do not expect to arrive to your takeaway ready even if you give them double the time the quote you... as a long time customer i am continually disappointed with their takeaway service it feels like they serve people dining in and put take aways on the back burner. Overall great food service is lacking... i have had this problem time and time again often complaining about my problem with takeaways.

This place is unbelievable. The food is incredible and affordable. The staff are lovely. If you're travelling to the Gold Coast, visiting Tian Ran is a must!

Amazing food! Sweet and sour chicken is amazing! Friendly owner!

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Variable - A few times I've been it's been brilliant, and a few other times it's been pretty mediocre with food and service.......

NEW REVIEW: Great, has improved over the years. All vegan. New lunchtime opening hours are very handy! Love the eggplant hotpot. Friendly staff.

Tian Ran was the first vegan restaurant on the Gold Coast. Thank you Tian Ran for paving the way!

They focus on Chinese food, and feature a number of 'mock meat' dishes. If you're into mock meat then this is an excellent place to visit (i can eat it, but i'm not such a fan myself, though they do have some things i like too).

They have plenty of choices other than 'mock meat' oriented ones, though - you can get a good sense of their menu by following the link given above to their site, which shows pictures.

They also have a kids menu that i've been wanting to try but never have: fish or 'calamari' with chips or nuggets and chips. I may get to that one day.

The restaurant's small, tidy and unpretentious. Servings are generous and the price is reasonable.

Being unable to buy a chinese meal in our home town, we jumped at the opportunity while holidaying in Surfers Paradise. This restaurant did not disappoint. Large sized meals at reasonable prices.

Excellent service and Delicious food. Old fashioned Chinese Restaurant with a fantastic menu selection.

Small, family run Chinese shop. Always delicious. Very friendly staff. I love the Satay "chicken" and veggies and sweet & sour "pork".

Good to find a vegetarian restaurant in Gold Coast, and one which has been serving the veg community for so long. Food is great, a variety to choose from.

Was there recently for dinner. It was full house so we knew it would be a long wait. Besides all the tables to serve there were also many take-aways. Watching how the manager handled all of it and still kept his cool and smiles was just amazing. In the end our food came. It was nice and fulfilling, worth the wait. The interior set up was simple but we don't mind at all. We go mainly for the food anyway.

Will be back the next time we come back to Gold Coast.

The service was friendly and food was great!

I have taken people that eat meat here and they have though it is real, especially the chicken (always seems to be that way). I stopped eating Chinese when I went vegan because I used to only eat sweet and sour chicken, and I got nervous about things like fried rice because of non-vegan ingredients O didn't know about, but going here is completely amazing. The owner is fantastic.

It's a typical looking Chinese takeaway/eat-in "restraint", so I wouldn't go her for a formal meal, but the food makes up for it completely.

If you're opting for a healthy meal, make sure you skip any fried entrées as they are fairly oily, but I can't say I skip them myself- too good!

Having only recently moved to the Gold Coast, Tian Ran was the first restaurant I had visited and I can't stop going back. The menu has a wide variety to suit anyone. I have taken my non-vegetarian friends there and they love it too. The atmosphere is very peaceful and the staff are lovely. The entrée that I usually order is the "chicken" drumsticks and they are very satisfying. For the main meal I always order the sweet and sour "chicken" with a side of rice and it never disappoints. Dessert is a difficult choice between the sago and soy ice-cream or the banana split and soy ice-cream. For a vegan restaurant the pricing is inexpensive. This is my favourite restaurant on the Coast by far.

Tian Ran is such a great Asian style restaurant!!! My husband and I visited this place almost weekly when we spent a year living on the coast and were never, ever disappointed. My husband really loved to visit when he missed the idea of meat and it really hit the spot.
They have such a great menu, we ate there so often and didn't manage to try every dish. The prices are great, the food is SO tasty and the owner must be the nicest man on the planet. He always welcomes you with such a big smile and such friendly service!
We have seriously considered moving back to the coast just for this food!

We have only got takeout from here on numerous occasions. I am not sure why we havent eatin in but anyway the man that works the counter which I believe is the owner is always so nice and the food is extremely good. We havnt been dissapointed with anything from here. Definitely recommend

We went to Tian Ran for New Years eve and it was wonderful. Our host (lovely man) and waitress looked after our every need. We invited a non-vegetarian and everyone enjoyed the wonderful food! The Olive Rice was something truly wonderful and most mains were just lovely! You should give this place a try as a Vegan or Vegetarian or any lover of food. Just a great place - we drove from Brisbane and it was well worth the trip.

A regular place we visit, the food is always top notch, there's an interesting dish - the olive fried rice, which is really delicious and an unusual take on fried rice.

All the mock meat dishes that I've tried have been very tasty, with ample amounts of fresh vegies. A good place to take meateaters to as they should be satisfied with the choices.

The main man on the floor is very friendly and smiling, his good nature is contagious and you just can't help having a good time here.
Updated from previous review on Friday April 13, 2012

We had a seafood hot pot and the salt and pepper chicken and really enjoyed our food. It's a typical chinese style mock meat restaurant and we were very happy with the quality of our food and the quantity of the portions. It's well priced and it's seems to be a quite popular place. We were the first people showing up for dinner and it quickly filled up. We'll be back!

My review below needs to be reviewed, because my last two visits to Tian Ran have been very positive. Same great service, but I've been more impressed with some of the food as well. We enjoyed a wonderful Cashew Chicken on our last visit, and our kids devoured the Sweet and Sour Chicken as well. The dumplings were nothing special, but on the whole, the food was fresh and tasty. Impressed that the Cashew chicken was super flavourful, yet not drowning in sauce. I will definitely come back here, and recommend it to others.

Updated from previous review on Wednesday December 16, 2009
I had a nice dinner at Tian Ran. The place is very straightforward in terms of decor, but there is a nice varied menu with lots of options. The food was a bit hit and miss. Lots of fake meats on the agenda, of course, and some were better than others. The highlight of the night, by far, was the Ginger Chicken. This was a real winner, with a great sauce, and lively flavours. The spare ribs were so-so. Flavour was better than texture, and I've had better ribs of this sort. THe two veggies dishes were just poor, as is often the case with these types of places. Boring sauces, boring veggies - some of which looked to have come straight out of the freezer. The owner was very friendly though!

I ate at Tian Ran on a recent visit to the Gold Coast, and have eaten there before many years ago. Great food, and the staff at this restaurant are so lovely and friendly!

They have a really big range of fake meats, as well as vegetable dishes, soups and hot pots. Everything we had was delicious.

They were also happy to accommodate some special requests from our group, and happy to explain the dishes that did not contain gluten (always a concern for me when I eat at vegetarian restaurants that serve fake meat).

I first tried Tian Ran in 2002 and it quickly became my favourite spot to eat. I had just turned vegetarian so this place made the transition so easy with their delicious 'fake meats' made from soy protein, mushrooms, seaweed and more. My favourite dishes there (which I always get and they NEVER get boring) are the incredible chicken and vegetable curry and the sweet and sour chicken. The chicken and corn soup always makes for a nice entree and the sago and soy ice cream is the pefect way to end the dining experience. They are always reliable for good taste and quality ingredients!

We had a lovely meal at this resturant tonight, 2 adults and 4 of our 6 children. Entree's were tasty. Kids had kids meals and were happy. We had Chicken and Cashews - very tasty, Beef adn Black Bean nice except for the capsicum, Tom Yum Fried Rice - lovely flavour.
Also enjoyed coconut icecream - various flavours.
The waiter / owner has a lovely smile and is very happy.
We would highly recommend Tian Ran

This place is open for dinner only.

The service is friendly and the food is reasonably priced.

Everything I've ordered has been tasty but sometimes it can be a bit oily.

The best thing on the menu is the wonton noodle soup.

I have been here since the day they opened and i have not one bad thing to say about this place.. only good. I love the people that work here! it is like a family environment! My fave entree is the curry puffs and the shanghai dumplings. Mains are black pepper beef, veggie curry chicken, veg chicken with gong bao. I could go on! I have brought so many omni friends here and they all come back again and again! Superb!

very tasty food, great people.

tian ran is a good place to go. The food served is beautiful and the service is lovely. Despite the traditional menu of "chicken","fish" and "beef" dishes- there is not one scrap of meat served in this restaurant. You can choose from sweet and sour pork-to black bean chicken-to vegetable curry...there is a large variety of food to decide upon. It is the perfect restaurant to order a whole bunch of dishes and pick little bits from each. They also have beautiful vegan icecream- made from coconuts, i think its called cocolicous...

We had a nice dinner at Tian Ran while holidaying on the Gold Coast recently.

We went there on Good Friday and very much appreciated that the restaurant was open on a day when many restaurants / shops are closed. For a while we were the only customers and we were happy for the owners when more people arrived a bit later in the evening.

The decor is simple, the service was prompt and friendly.

We had the Wanton soup, Creamed corn soup, Nasi Goreng, Salt and Pepper Tofu, Mixed Stir Fried Veggies and some fruit fritters for dessert.

Everything tasted very nice and there were plenty of other dishes on the entirely vegan menu which we would have liked to try.

First and foremost - there's no buffet.
Having said that, food was nice. Price not bad for GC.
It's not a huge place. It's quite a cosy little eatery.
Good for couples out for food (not for romance) and small families.
We had their set meal.
Downside: location. My advice, drive.

All I can think of are positive thoughts for this friendly little restaurant. The food is delicious and extremely well priced. The staff are always very helpful and friendly even when they are rushed off their feet they are still lovely. The food is always cooked fresh so may take a bit longer which I don't mind waiting for. Due to great demand they are now open every evening, including Sunday nights.

My partner and I had a great experience at this little vegan restaurant. Absolutely no animal products used in any of the dishes on the menu that were tasty and even though our meals were served very quickly the team were apologetic for the time it took.

It seems like a lovely family business who are very keen to help out and make sure you enjoy your meal and have a healthy experience at the same time.

Maybe I'm the odd man out, but my visit was far from enjoyable. Brought a bottle of wine with us and was promptly told they have no BYO license, and please remove the said bottle promptly from the table. Only one other table occupied on the Friday night we were there, but the waiter slow to get our order, and when entree arrived (mixed platter sounded good) we were presented with 4 oily little numbers which could have been a spring roll, dim sim, samosa and a wanton. Wife & I tied a bite out of 3 of the 4 which simply confirmed they were not worth eating. On that basis we cancelled the rest of the meal. Maybe I've eaten too many great meals at good vegie restaurants. Sad too, that there appears to be no other vegie place on the coast

Great fake meats and great real asain style dishes.Nice staff and very tasty food!! My new boyfriend is tuning vegan and this really helped him to see there is more choices if you really want to find them!