Refocused Vegan — Restaurant in Baltimore

Spoiler Alert Lengthy review. So I've been trying out different vegan spots as of late, and this place was on my list. I have mixed feelings on this business. On one hand, I commend this black owned business for wanting to provide a different food solution contrasting the greased down, oily, asian carryout and fried chicken box circuits. They are catering to those with a vegan lifestyle and I take my hat off to them. However, I must be honest.

Just because you are "vegan" or eating something labeled "vegan" does NOT mean you are healthy or eating healthy.  In my opinion Refocused Vegan is for the 'junk food vegan'.  Much of their food tastes highly processed. Yes, I know some will either disagree or don't care, and I'm cool with that. For those who do care, this is my personal assessment of Refocused Vegan.

My other concern is there is no mention of what their "meat" ingredients are made of. I want to know what their "shrimp", "chicken", "steak" and "crab cake" is made of. What are they making my food with?  I tried the fried shrimp, BBQ wings, crab cake, steak quesadilla, mac 'n cheese and chocolate chip cookie. The shrimp reminded me of imitation lobster meat. The breading was good. The BBQ wing sauce was good, but again, the meat tasted processed. The steak quesadillas were runny with cheese or whatever they used and not my favorite. The crab cake was decent but I tossed the bun because I wasn't confident their vegan brioche bun did not have dairy in it. I wasn't a fan of the mac n cheese either. My son liked it though. My daughter and I thought the cookies were delicious.

All in all, it was worth a try, just not for me. This place isn't necessarily bad. If you are a junk food vegan then this is the place for you. If you eat strictly whole foods plant-based then this is not the spot for you. At all. Just my dollar's worth.

My response to your Business Reply: I asked over the phone and when I arrived to the register. Your cashier didn't seem too confident with the response and had to yell to the back to ask a question. The response was it was 'vegan'. Well, I think I had that part down pat already.

When I said I wanted to know what certain dishes were made of and what my food was being made with, I wasn't asking for precise table and cup measurements of your ingredients. Example: (Vegan shrimp: king oyster mushroom stems) would have sufficed.

The only thing your menu is detailed about is vegetables: peppers, onions, carrots, lettuce, etc. If it was as detailed as you say I wouldn't have asked the questions in the first place. On a select few dishes I saw Gluten Free (GF) and SF (Soy Free).

There's a difference between assuming and being precautious. I said I wasn't too confident, which means I was being precautious, not assumptive. Since you are a renowned bun expert, then you know there's something called "hidden dairy". Many seemingly dairy-free products actually contain some form of dairy, whether it be in the form of whey or another dairy derivative. But, thank you for clarifying your buns are beyond questionable dairy free.

You never addressed my positive comments, but decided to cross examine me. Here's a business rule: In business, it's OK to respect differing opinions - everybody has them. However, unless your customer is outright lying, it's never OK to challenge your customer. You know why? Because the customer puts money in your bank account. I know in this day and age humility is darn near non existent, but oh, how it can make a difference.

A response like: "We appreciate you commending us for wanting to do something different for our community. We are also glad you liked______. However, we are very sorry your experience did not work out...while we do not profess to be WFPB, we do strive to deliver quality, vegan and dairy free food to our customers. You can email us at:_ if you have additional questions or concerns. We would love to hear from you." The End. Your business tone can...

I visited this place tonight for the first time. It was very clean and cute inside. The girl waiting on me immediately struck up a conversation realizing it was my first time. She recommended several items. I ordered several for myself and daughter. I ordered the Mac and cheese, loaded Mac cheese with cheesesteak, fried shrimp, chocolate chip cookie, and sausage with green peppers and onions. I must say I’m not vegan but I often eat as such and love both types of food. The Mac was good. It did have a strong spice that I wasn’t a big fan of, but still pretty good. I loved the shrimp and cheesesteak. My daughter loved the sausage and cookie. I even had a smoothie that was delicious. Prior to trying my food and pulling off in the car, I realized I initially did not have my complete order as they left my shrimp out of the bag. When I went back to the store, it was a man behind the counter. During this Covid pandemic, he had no mask on. He was picking up cookies without gloves on. I really wasn’t going to say anything as I’m not very vocal nor do I normally write reviews, but this really stuck out for me. He asked could he help me? I told him about my shrimp and he said ok. I signaled with my hand indicating he should have a mask on. He came from out the back and I said to him “you should have a mask while in that kitchen” He leans on the table and gets his mask. He looks up and says smartly “that’s what I’m getting.... I’m the owner, I know about masks!” WOW REALLY! ... I said nothing else as I wasn’t trying to be rude. The nice girl who initially took my order, smiled and handed me my order. I thanked her and said “ it was no reason for him to be rude as I’m here supporting his business “. 3 stars food, 4 stars because the girl was very professional and pleasant. As an African American business... I always support but it is people like that owner that give us a bad name. Be proud of what you have accomplished but not so arrogant that you have to be rude. I’m only trying to help him and his business. I saw him sitting inside when I initially ordered ... WITHOUT a mask on, but yet all his workers had a mask. Does he feel he is excluded because he is the owner? If anything, set an example! How does he think it appears as a new person visiting his restaurant and they walk in seeing him behind the counter. Plus, you never know who is coming into your restaurant or their background. He should want to protect himself from others. I am one of the docs at Patient First. I had just gotten from work and decided to try this spot for the first time. I’m not saying my background to brag but yet to state my concern. I see and diagnose Covid19 all day long. I’d rather promote him wearing his mask, rather than seeing him in my clinic as my patient. Long post... sorry. I don’t post but I had to share my experience. I’m not saying I won’t return as I often let things roll off and keep moving but... please think about how you speak and present yourself when you are the owner of a business. Your attitude can make or break a person’s desire to support your...

Visited during their "grand opening", which felt much more like a soft opening, based on the level of disorganization and the general sense that staff and management seemed overwhelmed and/or out of their depth. When we arrived there was a child, no older than 10, running the counter, who truly was the smartest person in the room and the most pleasant part of the experience -- other staff (who were fortunately older) were unsure of how to place orders and process payments. There was a man who seemed to be the manager/owner, who presented as disinterested and mostly just milled about chit-chatting with guests that he knew, rather than helping with taking orders -- at one point, he even rather rudely responded to another patron who was in line ahead of me who wanted clarification about prices, which I didn't think was an unreasonable question considering a plain burger is $11 (the man gave only the explanation that vegan products, like vegan cheese, are expensive). Their prices are high, which isn't unusual for a vegan place, but I wouldn't say the food merits the price. Not to mention, we did opt for the add-on costs of cheese and bacon on the burger we ordered, but the bacon was not on the burger when given to us. When we pointed this out, the man in charge took the burger back to the kitchen to be corrected and when he returned, he asked us to open the burger to see if everything was there, but walked away before we could confirm. My family and I visited to support a black-owned, vegan business but left feeling disappointed and ripped off for the over $80 we spent that evening.

In response to your reply: We were never greeted by the chit-chat fellow, though he did walk past us several times while we waited for our order. It wasn't until we noticed some of what we paid for was not included in our order (this was clearly a mistake, we did not think it was intentional, to be clear) that we stopped him to ask if it could be corrected -- that was us bringing up our concerns with management -- but as mentioned in my review, he walked away before we could even answer his question. It was just a very odd experience for us; we came in very excited to support and eat some good vegan food, but it did not meet expectations. To end on a positive note, the little girl is a joy. Best wishes...