My Thai Vegan Cafe — Restaurant in Boston

This place has been on my radar for months - Thai cuisine is generally already pretty vegetarian friendly, but I was really curious about this vegan version.

The tom yum gai definitely stole the show. Since many Thai soups often contain seafood, I've never ordered it before. I was thrilled to be able to try it here, and it was fantastic. Beware - the first few spoonfuls were incredibly spicy!

We also ordered the chicken fingers (8 pieces). It was fried well and the final product was nicely crisp. However, the flour breading was quite thick and overwhelmed what was inside the fingers. Unfortunately, the tofu also tasted pretty plain and didn't resemble chicken at all. The chicken fingers were on the dry side as well, and the accompanying sauce only added to the flavor slightly.

For the entrée, I had the kruang kaeng daeng (red curry) with veggie beef. The colors of the dish were beautiful, with reds and yellows from the curry and bell peppers. I appreciated that the portions were very large and we had a ton of leftovers, but some of the vegetables didn't have much taste and were too soft, as if they were cooked a little too long. I also wasn't impressed by the veggie beef; like the chicken fingers, it didn't bear much resemblance to meat at all and probably needed more seasoning. It's hard to disappoint me with either a green or red Thai curry, but I didn't think this one was very good.

The other entrée was just like Chinese-style chow fun with veggie chicken. It was definitely the better of the 2 dishes. I definitely feel like I could've picked this up from a Chinese restaurant.

The service was okay. One of the servers I interacted with didn't speak English too well, which is typically a good sign for me since that usually points to more authentic food. I wasn't expecting the meal to be considered highly authentic since it's obviously a vegan spin on Thai cuisine, but the server I spoke with didn't say they were Thai, which is unfortunate. Also note that (at the moment), this...

This restaurant is on top of another store and to get to it you have to walk up a relatively dirty and old alleyway but that’s okay! Upon walking into the restaurant, it was very quiet as there was no music playing but it was nicely decorated with lots of plants and lights. The ambience and aesthetic of the place is quiet nice. The menu also appeared relatively priced to other Thai restaurants and portions are also very reasonable and shareable. However, the food here is very bland and does not really resemble that of non-vegan Thai food. Not really sure if the tastelessness of the food has to do with it being non-vegan though? Additionally, the food that is stir fried like pineapple fried rice and pad kee mao were very heavy on the oil, leaving not a very good feeling in your mouth after eating. The papaya salad was also very very bland and just had hints of flavor from either it was mint or basil. The food here at least what we ordered - the spicy green papaya salad, the pad kee mao, and the pineapple fried rice were not super delicious, not comparable to other Thai restaurants in terms of taste. The pad kee mao was definitely not that bland but it felt oily and just kind of different from normal. There are however lots of vegan protein to choose from - vegan chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu, and gluten. Additionally, when we asked one of the servers for some spicy sauce, he seemed to be either drunk or slightly high and was potentially making some joke about himself being spicy which we didn’t understand or find funny. Regardless the other servers were relatively nice but did not attend to us much more than taking our order and bringing us the food. Large and spacious restaurant with pretty decorations but food is mid and service is just okay. Would not come back again but...

It seems that some of the reviews below have been written in AI, so keep reading for the REAL review.

My partner and I visited Boston from the UK a couple of weeks ago and this place was near our hotel, so we headed there. From the outside it looks closed, but we went up the scruffy stairs, and were welcomed to quite a nice large cafe with lots of plants and big windows. So far so OK. The menu offers a large (maybe too large) choice, but we were served quickly and the food was nice. We were in a hurry that day so we paid and left, but made a mental note that we might return.

A few days later we did just that, and took a bit more time over our meal. Again, the food was nice enough and not bad value. However, things quickly took a downturn.

My partner took care of the bill while I went to the restroom. What I saw there was not only shocking but also potentially life-threatening. Firstly, it was really really dirty, with spiders behind the door and all sorts of crap everywhere. Half the false ceiling was missing, and - worst of all - the hand dryer below it was caked in pigeon shit. I couldn't wash my hands as there was no soap, so just rinsed them under the tap and dried them on my clothes, as I wasn't going anywhere near that hand dryer. I quickly left, feeling sick that I'd actually eaten there not once but TWICE. I showed my partner the pictures I'd taken and he went whiter than a sheet.

How any restaurant can operate with a restroom like this I don't know; they're risking their customers getting salmonella, encephalitis and more. In the UK this would be closed down immediately. It's a shame, as the food and service are good, but this one oversight will be their downfall, if it doesn't kill...