Loving Hut - Garden Grove — Restaurant in Garden Grove

Beautiful new Loving Hut!

The wall of windows in the front bring in a lot of natural light, which is always nice unless you're a vampire. The green, white, and wood decor with large pots of Thai orchids and potted plants bring a clean, cheery, bright look to the cozy restaurant.

I originally came in to scope out the place for a veggie Meetup, but ended up caving in to the cravings as I saw so much delicious food on the tables and cooked up in the kitchen. I ordered the Pajeon starter, a savory Korean pancake ($5.50) and sweet potato fries ($4.25, and I never pass 'em up) with a rose lemonade ($3.50) to-go because I had already eat a few bites at Vegan Pizza and it was HOT outside on this Saturday afternoon. I waited about 15-20 minutes, not bad for a new place that was 15/16 full for the lunch rush. The food was packed in brown paper, eco-friendly containers and the cup was made of biodegradable plastic. All withstood a 20-minute drive through the streets of the local 'hoods and was still tasty upon home arrival. The sweet potato fries were understandably soft by this time, but still darn tasty--even when I put them in the fridge as leftovers and got them out to have few more cold. The Pajeon was covered in a surprising white, creamy vegan sauce and complemented the chock-full-of-veggies pancake perfectly. I was so full from eating a corn dog and breadsticks from Vegan Pizza just a few doors down (I know, carb-overload today), but I just wanted to eat every bite of that pancake despite my food-induced coma coming on. However, in the name of charity, I justified saving some of the fries and the pancake bites for my brother. The rose lemonade was refreshing and super sweet...a bit too much for me, but that's because I don't usually eat anything with sugar at home, so I just watered it down to get more mileage out of the cup! Better more than less, this time!

The staff are still finding their way as the restaurant has only been opened a week, but they are very kind and attentive, i.e. refilling your water while looking after a steady flow of eat-in and take-out customers through the door if you're patient. The manager said that it's been busy ever since they opened and they are trying to keep up with soaring demand. I hope that you will try it for yourself, go early or go late if you don't want to wait too long, and enjoy a meal at the new Loving Hut as much as I did! Repeat visits...

A delightful little restaurant with savory, tangy, spicy, delicious and fresh food it made the idea of being a vegan seem so easy. They use a variety of plant protein to replace meat that you don't even notice it is vegan (vegetarian). The lemongrass "chicken" was so delicious and savory; the tangy orange "chicken" was just like sweet and sour chicken with pineapple, bell peppers and onions, only it tasted better than any Chinese restaurant's version with real chicken meat, especially since there were no gristle or tendons or chunks of fat to deal with. I really enjoyed the orange cream drink. It was made with a blend of orange juice and soy milk, but there was also an option of almond milk or coconut cream.

Their customer service was excellent and service was quick, too. The food came so quickly after ordering.

My friends and I enjoyed dinner at the Loving Hut so much that we went back the next night to have dinner there again.

While we mostly ordered entrees that were Asian fusion we also enjoyed chicken tacos, and they also offer vegan burgers and deli sandwiches. I hope to try their vegan bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich "B.L.T." next time.

Everything was so tasty that we didn't even miss having real meat. Their plant protein meat-substitutes are excellently prepared and have the texture and flavor of their carnivore dish counterparts. They offered plant protein flavored and prepared like barbeque beef, fried chicken, or sautéed shrimp, just to name a few. Everything we ordered was so delicious I thought it would be easy to become vegan if every meal...

Each Loving Hut is unique and I always order items that I can’t get at other establishments. So we got the tangy orange and fish tacos.

The tangy orange is supposed to resemble orange chicken but it was nothing at all like it. It’s all in the sauce to mimic that dish and quite disappointing. It had a very sweet thick consistency like cherry syrupiness. We got brown instead white rice and it came with a side of salad but no dressing.

I got fish tacos. It came on flour not corn and the flour tortilla was like store bought. It cracked the moment I picked it up. Also seemed old because it was chewy. It didn’t break when I bit down. The battered fish resembled the real thing but lacking sauce. Had lots of slaw and pico de gallo but barely any of the white cream sauce. Which made the whole thing bland and dry.

I didn’t think I would get full on two of the fish tacos and had ordered a side of steam mixed veggies. That box was a decent size and was probably the best meal out of all.

Overall, these two dishes were a flop. I wouldn’t...