Liquid Earth — Restaurant in Baltimore

I generally only leave reviews for outstanding service and won’t say anything if the food or my experiences are poor but I truly felt unsettled after my experience today at this place.

After driving 90 minutes to attend an event at a local Black owned business, me and my boyfriend (both vegan) timed a pick up order so that we could eat in the 30ish minutes before the event. With traffic, time ran more tight so when we came into pick up our nearly $70 worth of food, I asked politely if it was ok if we sat down briefly and ate something from our order as we just got off the road from driving and were headed somewhere else right after.

I know it’s within any business owners right to enforce their own policies but the way we were told we wouldn’t be able to sit down to eat any part of the pick up order we got in a completely empty restaurant aside from one single table of two diners. It was deeply EMBARASSING. We are two Black people and the staff kept communicating this confusing policy and even when I inquired if I ordered an additional thing while at table service could I then eat a little something from my order and we were told no, again. While it felt like the rest of the staff avoided eye contact or engagement with us. All of this in an almost completely empty restaurant. I get it, times are tough, business owners have policies to enforce but we were never told “why” and it would not have taken much to just let us sit down and nibble at the chocolate chip cookie or a bit of the sandwich we just bought. Or just act like they atleast sorta kinda wanted us to be there.

As a black person I only need to feel unwelcome once to never return. This experience plus under seasoned sandwiches (they all desperately need salt and some more fresh herbs). The best sandwich was the Ruben, then the club and the tofu salad is a not to be ordered again menu item. The tofu salad has dry crumbly tofu in big chunks. A quick pulse or two in a food processor to make the chunks smaller THEN adding the wet ingredients would have done wonders. Also after biting into the chocolate chip cookie I double checked that it wasn’t one of their raw menu items because it needed another five minutes in the oven.

Ultimately it’s the service that prompted me to leave this review and I hope it will be received and taken to heart so no one else has to come in here and feel unwelcome. We will try a different vegan restaurant the next time we are in town. Good riddance. Photo of the tofu salad sandwich eaten in our car because of course we can’t eat it in the restaurant!...

So I was a little pressed for time on this one you guys. But, I finally was able to try a vegan Reuben! Yes, you heard right- a vegan Reuben, it exists! According to their menu, the regular Reuben (not to be confused with their Reuben royale) features "marinated baked organic tofu on a bed of sauerkraut with melted Yarlsberg (this is intentional wordplay) and our own 100,000 island dressing on Jewish rye… add roasted onion….add extra tofu". Mmmhmm, sounds tasty right? Well, unfortunately... not so much.

When I received my sandwich it looked so average and the taste mimicked the look. Usually, when I receive vegan food that is supposed to emulate meat and dairy-based foods I am blown away. But, this sandwich in particular really made me disappointed. I was expecting something a lot more tasteful and flavorful, but instead, I got a lot of sauerkraut and vinegar based flavors. I could barely taste the tofu or the dressing.

It is unfortunate because I was really looking forward to the sandwich ad I traveled a great distance for it.

However, this only goes for the one sandwich. The restaurant has wonderful service, it smelled amazing in there, I had a vegan brownie and it was delicious and on top of which there are even more vegan foods I can try next time I go deep into the...

I was in Baltimore and wanted to support a vegan establishment, so I decided to try Liquid Earth based on the great reviews and proximity to my hotel. Although it's on a busier street, the surrounding neighborhood has tree lined streets (some cobbled) with historic rowhouses. I enjoyed my walk exploring the area.

It was a hot day, and I arrived hungry! I started with a cup of the gazpacho. It arrived with a wheel of lime to squeeze on top and some crisp baguette toasts. The gazpacho was so flavorful, cooling, and refreshing. I could feel my vitality being restored as I finished it off.

For the main course, I ordered the Sacred Salad and asked to add a scoop of the tofu salad. This was a power move! The salad was a feast for the eyes as well as the palate- a work of art! The tofu salad featured pleasingly firm chunks of tofu in a creamy base and it was perfect for scooping up with all the fresh veggies and greens. I finished things off with one of the 2oz juice shots, 'the uninflamed,' made with ginger, pineapple, and turmeric. Delicious!

If you're in the Baltimore area, and even if you're not vegan, check out Liquid Earth. The atmosphere is welcoming and homey, service is great, the playlist is on point, and the food here is...