Willow Vegan Bistro

490

Mac and cheese at Willow Vegan Bistro in New York City

Jackfruit crab cakes and taquitos at Willow Vegan Bistro in New York City

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Willow Vegan Bistro
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Vegan

Vegan

American

International

Beer/Wine

Gluten-free

Vegan bistro in Chelsea serving American comfort foods like burgers, flatbread pizzas, lasagna, pastrami sandwiches, "steak" and fries. Est. 2021 by chef/owner of NYC's Beyond Sushi. Open Mon-Thu 4:30pm-10:00pm, Fri 4:30pm-10:30pm, Sat 11:30am-10:30pm, Sun 11:30am-10:00pm.

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191 Reviews

First Review by TrashPanda

Results

robpaterson

Points +221

Vegan

17 Jan 2021

Not A Great Start, Hopefully It Will Get Better - Edit

We really, really wanted to like this. The photos and site are amazing, and the descriptions are very enticing. However, our enthusiastic expectations were not met, at all. We will chalk up a small part of this to this being delivery rather than eating in the restaurant, but even considering that--and the food arrived lukewarm to cold, BTW, but we won't even comment on that--it still wasn't good.

Here's why...

Beginning with the appetizers, we ordered the Cauliflower Wings--$15, BTW, so definitely not cheap. (For comparison, at Urban Vegan Kitchen, they are $10, and at Mthr Vegan then are $9). The cauliflower wasn't that bad, but the "blue 'cheese' dip" had a runny consistency, almost like soy milk, and the buffalo sauce was fine, but was basically just Frank's Red Hot Sauce, so nothing special. You have to wonder: have they ever had Daiya or Follow Your Heart vegan blue cheese dressing? BTW: I'm from Buffalo, so I know what I'm talking about re. Buffalo Wings, I grew up eating those, and know what vegan and non-vegan blue cheese dressing should taste like.

Next, we had the Truffle Mac and 'Cheese'. It's difficult to understand why they called it that: again, very runny consistency and not cheese-like, like liquid rather than cheese sauce, and if there was toasted panko, not sure where that went, but it wasn't there. There was a hint of truffle oil and smoked paprika, so that was nice. but we couldn't finish it. One plus: the portion size was enormous, but who cares if you can't eat it?

After that, we tried the Buttermilk Fried Chick'n. This actually wasn't bad, but also not amazing. Accompanying this was an order of wedge fries. They were not crispy at all (again, partly due to delivery), and were incredibly grainy, verging on inedible; way too huge and not satisfying. Again, we couldn't eat these, in the garbage they went.

Then we tried the 'Steak' Frites. At $26, this had better kick **s, and well, it didn't. The dark "skin" on the hunks of seitan was a nice touch, but the seitan pieces were just too porous and bread-like. We've eaten plenty of seitan dishes over the last 20 years, and granted seitan steaks are difficult to pull off, but again, we're sorry, but this wasn't really that good, and certainly not worth $26.

Finally, we tried the Vanilla Bean Cashew Cheesecake. This was actually not that bad, and hats off for serving a homemade dessert, but we've had better, all over NYC and elsewhere. This tasted more like sweetened, condensed yogurt

Pros: All vegan, Creative selections

Cons: Overpriced, Not tasty

TrashPanda

Points +120

Vegan

16 Jan 2021

Refreshing takes on classic bistro - Edit

Ordered for delivery and it came on time and was delicious! At first the Caesar salad seemed frsh but plain, but the grilled chickn that goes on top OMGGG. Also I think I'm addicted to the taquitos now, and the king trumpet calamari is the best vegan take on calamari I've had--the texture, flavor, perfectly crispy without being oily, and also addictive. The pastrami sandwich on rye was decadent and messy, just like a classic pastrami should be, with a refreshing and crunchy slaw that makes it even better. Also got the jackfruit crab cakes, and like Willow's other fried items, it was just perfectly crispy and not too oily.