MJ'S café — Restaurant in Baton Rouge

No longer a vegan restaurant. They reinvested what the predominantly vegan clientele from their old white star market location had put in, into a new restaurant where cruelty is now being served. There are vegan options, but knowing that the hard earned money that you intended on investing into a vegan business is now being reinvested into exactly what we DO NOT SUPPORT is a bit too much to swallow.

I cannot continue to support this business. In every aspect it still appears to be a vegan business all while still funding torture, and cruelty. Being a predominantly female business with a female owner and the dairy industry as well as other animal agriculture businesses being a direct feminist issue, you would think they would care a bit more since reproductive exploitation and suffering is a huge issue here. They are not looking out for the community, not caring about the clientele that kept them afloat at white star, all while not truly caring about health, the environment, the planet, the people, or the non human animals here with us. I don’t understand what changed from here to there, but I think it’s time everyone knows the truth and has the power to make an informed decision on who and what they are actually funding. It’s time for transparency.

Though the website and the menu that follows make it appear that this restaurant is still indeed VEGAN, it is NOT. Very much a bait and switch tactic. Going from a regular at their white star location, speaking with the owner and connecting about veganism and how important it is, it really seemed like she got it, like she truly understood— that she would continue improving and doing better for the community, for the future, for health, etc. I remember it was such a victory when cheese finally got removed from the menu and they made that switch to vegan- why chance cross contamination?

While crosscontamination is an important factor, and always a worry, what’s worse is losing your morals and values for money. I always thought of mjs as forward thinking and caring, but they went the opposite way on this one. I hope one day they can once again align both their morals and values to what kind of future and world they want, that’s beneficial to all.

“you can go all vegan or compromise your morals to pander to people doing harm in this world. You have a choice to do better. I hope you go back to being fully vegan, we can’t support you otherwise because we refuse to fund any “food” industry that harms innocent beings strictly for the pleasure of taste.

Sentient beings are not food, nor are their excretions- when you support dairy, fish, etc., you are voting for the kind of world you wish to live in. I refuse to support an industry based on reproductive exploitation, abuse, and suffering. What’s happening to this planet, the people, and its diverse sentient beings is unacceptable and all of our responsibility to deal with.

Suffering does not need to be on our plates or your menu. We can get these same tastes, and more nutritional value being fully plant based- choosing VEGAN.

Please consider taking pain and suffering off your menu and out of your restaurant. As a small business owner, you have the moral obligation to do better. The old mj’s(vegan) was a place to feel good, safe, healthy, happy, all while not funding such atrocities. We, as well as many others miss that safe space you created, but unfortunately that is no more.

I cannot pay for the “VEGAN OPTION” while funding the things that are not vegan- I don’t want my money reinvested into something we are fighting so...

Tried MJ's cafe for the first time today. The place is a vibe. Beautifully painted from the outside with colorful vegetables that look inviting and refreshing are sprawled across the large picture windows at the front of the building. The sign outside is faded and we almost missed it driving by twice. Parking is around back.

The back entrance sports several pots of lovely purple flowers. A brighter, more colorful sign invites you into the restaurant. A faded, albeit, still cute photo op of butterfly wings is right outside the back entrance.

Inside is spacious and bright, funky and chill all at once. Oddly calming. We scooped up a table and we're immediately and cheerfully greeted by an employee.

For lunch, I opted to try the cauliflower soup. The soups are du jour, and I neglected to ask if it was made with vegan mayo, and it did come with a sauce. They very politely exchanged it for me. The soup was warm and comforting. Next time, I will ask for no parmesean extra extra red pepper flakes as they just made the soup pop with a burst of spicy flavor. The hot sauce really rounded it out. A nice and comforting cup of yummy goodness.

I also tried the avocado toast with coconut bacon and pickled onions. Absolutely scrumptious. The coconut bacon didn't taste very smokey but was light and crisp and enjoyable. I didn't care for the oil drizzled on the plate, but the rest of it was amazing. Best part was the sweet serenade from a kitchen full of employees milling about and enjoying life, the universe and everything. Cheerful and uplifting environment. I recommend everyone (even meat eaters like me!) to pop in. They will absolutely...

MJ’s has always been consistently wonderful until now. I have kept coming back and ordering the same things from the Jefferson location, the whitestar location, and now this location.

This time, however, was extremely disappointing. There seems to be a huge operations issue that is throwing a wrench into everything. The French sandwich came on white bread and had very little goat cheese and barley any apple slices, the grits were watery and undercooked, the veggies atop the grits were still crunchy. Everything we ordered were things that we had ordered before and loved.

The server who greeted us was really rude for seemingly no reason. I have been in the food service industry for years and I actually can’t think of anything we did to make her upset. She spoke to us in a condescending manner and gave us dirty looks. It took forever to get our drinks. When we finally got them, we mysteriously had a new server. I watched our original server continue to take other tables in the dining room and she was actually nice to everyone else. I have a feeling that we were “profiled”.

The new server was actually very nice, prompt, and attentive.

I have brought friends to this restaurant, and I have constantly recommended MJs to friends and strangers alike. I will no longer be doing either of those things until I can come back and see that...