Almost V'Gan Lounge — Restaurant in Cincinnati

We had high hopes for this restaurant. Our friends visited and enjoyed their experience a few months back. I am a foodie so I always read Google reviews. I was not impressed with the reviews and clearly this establishment had issues but I chose to go as my friends had first-hand experience and raved about the restaurant. We arrived on a Friday for 7pm reservations. There were a total of five people dining in. We were seated and ordered drinks. It took over 20nminutes for the drinks to arrive which is unacceptable for an empty restaurant. All four of us proceed to order and of all the things we wanted they only had the catfish. So I suggested to the server it would be better if she let patrons know up front what the kitchen does not have. We ended up setting for the potroast empanada, catfish, cauliflower, and tofu slider. The catfish was served on a uncooked bed of kale. Why waste kale when you can simply sauté it, especially when you don't have many vegetables options available. My catfish was salty. We waited for my friends empanada order and when we asked we were told that my husband and I got the last order, so we shared with our friend. The empanadas were bland and had very little potroast inside. My friends were apologetic for bringing us to this lounge to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday. To compensate for not having 75% of what we wanted and ordered, they gave us truffle fries which were also bland.

Ordered more cocktails and still took a significant amount of time to get to our table. The server was great and the lady we spoke to stated that both owners were out of town. This experience demonstrates a definite need to reevaluate their inventory and improved communication between the front and back of the house. Most of the sauces they served seemed to be a ketchup base, not true unique sauces. I can't recommend this place and it is unfortunate because they have the potential to be amazing but this lounge needs a...

The bar tender made us some pretty good cocktails (bartenders special), I love the atmosphere, however this is the second time I’ve been here and the second time I had pretty average food, (the first time I was in I had nachos that were soggy and uncooked, the ‘executive chef’ came out to apologize… he was very cool young white dude though ) the foods presentation was nice and the staff is amazing however some kind of leak occurred in the ceiling and water POURED on my sweater and pants. The staff was super apologetic and ran a couple of towels to me (it didn’t matter bc I was soaked down to the front of my t shirt and underwear in the spot it hit before I moved) a woman came out, also apologetic, and offered to comp our last two drinks… yes 2/3 Drinks… I was so angry and busy trying to hold my tongue from taking out this incident on the staff, that I didn’t argue, I’d also assumed that maybe by the time the check came they’d be like “just comp their meals” … NOPE! Look I hate to do this to a black owned establishment with amazing people (like really the people in there are super nice) the only thing I can imagine is that they must have assumed I didn’t get as wet as I did, but this was my second time in and I will not be back. Which is crazy considering they’re some of the few (mainly) vegan places out here AND they are black owned but no. I genuinely feel like I got a prank pulled on me or scammed… I can’t believe I paid 103 dollars after water poured on me from a crack that opened in...

We came in on a Saturday around 7pm, and our server told us it was their busiest night since they opened. Woohoo! So glad to hear business is doing well. Definitely an upscale vibe with super beautiful decor and atmosphere. At first, we thought the portions were small relative to price ($23 for 2 tofu sliders), BUT the sliders were out of this world delicious, and I would pay that price to eat them again 😂 two of us split the sliders, jackfruit tacos, and sweet potatoes fries. All delicious (the jalapeños on the tacos were too spicy for my companion, but I loved the heat), and we were quite satisfied. The chef was super sweet and came out to chat with us and get our feedback. All the ingredients were fresh and sourced locally, which we love. My only suggestion: We sat at the bar, which only had QR code menus (not sure about the other dining spaces), but QR menus are the worst. I misunderstood most of the menu (like that nachos are a Sunday special only and the caesar salad can be made vegan with vegan cheese), and we started our experience out on our phones, which is not pleasant. Please can we forget QR codes ever existed 🙏

All in all, we were very pleased with our experience. Please go support this restaurant so we can watch it grow and flourish! It's very hard to come by a restaurant that both vegans and omnivores can enjoy that also feels like a fancy night out. They've got something special here, and I can't wait to see what our young chef...