The Vegetable Hunter — Restaurant in Harrisburg

I was so excited to visit this restaurant!  I’m disappointed to be writing this review, but I hope it helps the owners improve the business.

My husband and I visited on a Thursday evening. Neither of us are strictly vegan/vegetarian but we love trying new foods and supporting local businesses.

The place is TINY.  No one acknowledged us when we walked in so we stood around awkwardly.  We grabbed one of the only clean tables that was out of the way. Unfortunately, it was also next to a speaker blaring music so we quickly moved.  The only other available table was sandwiched between the front door and the basement.

The menu is creative with great options, but not extensive. My husband ordered the Tempeh Reuben sandwich but they were out of tempeh.  I tried to order the raw Brussel sprouts salad, but they were out of Brussel sprouts.  Again, the menu isn’t huge.  It wasn’t like they were running a special of the Tempeh Reuben sandwich or that the place was overly busy.

Our table was also tiny, with a bunch of unnecessary decorations, like some random craft that looked like a child’s pool toy and two mason jars for water that went entirely unused.  No one approached us with water, no water was available, and we gave up the idea of asking for water when we saw a few people attempt this without success.

The atmosphere is chaotic.  The two employees were overwhelmed and under experienced.  We were sitting across from the kitchen and I watched the cook throwing forks into a huge pile on the counter. The entire kitchen area was a mess.  One of the cooks came out of the basement and started making food.  I didn’t see employees using any sort of sanitary gloves and I hope they practiced proper hygiene prior to handling the food. I saw them handling credit cards/money and then going straight into prepping food.

THE FOOD: My husband’s Korean taco bowl was okay.  The toppings were good, but the huge portion of rice beneath it was half-cooked.  He kept running into huge clumps of hard rice and eventually just gave up.

My “crab cake” sandwich was the highlight of the visit. Deliciously rich and creamy and well seasoned. My kale salad was okay.  I expected it to be a bit sweet because it had dried cranberries in it, but it was sour.  After a few bites, I gave up; it tasted like I had ordered pickled kale.

I also had the vegan mac & cheese, which I was really excited for.  What I got looked like mac & cheese that had been sitting under a heat lamp for hours.  The “cheese” was dried on every noodle, like someone added powdered cheese to the noodles and forgot to add milk.

The Good: My crab cake pita sandwich and a large cookie I grabbed on the way out.  The Bad: Everything else.

There are other great options in Harrisburg where you can eat vegan/vegetarian and still support a...

Being a lifelong vegetarian, I was very excited to try this place after hearing so many good reviews, and when I finally went, the atmosphere and staff were quite nice, however the food...not so much. The first time I went, I ordered the spiced tofu, and sweet potato wrap. It came with two sauces on the side, a green one and a red one. While they were okay, the wrap itself was made up of 70% sweet potato that tasted like it had been boiled without any seasoning. It had minimal to no tofu, and the tofu that was there was dusted in spices, and had no real flavor. I didn't end up eating the second half of the wrap because of how bland it was. The second time I went I ordered the grilled cheese, I saw that this came with a side, but declined to order one with the meal because none of them sounded good to me (my personal preference), but then was charged $10.55 cents for JUST the grilled cheese. At the time I thought this might be because of the size of the sandwich, but after opening it once I was back to work, I realized I had paid 10 dollars for the smallest sandwich I have ever had. I could have fit both slices of the grilled cheese in one palm. The bread was soggy and very thin, and the lettuce they had put in the sandwich before grilling it was limp and chewy. I was disappointed to say the least. Hoping for at least half decent food for the price this place charges, I got average or below food for $10 and up. There also didn't seem to be a wide variety of options for the menu, as well as the sides. I want to support any vegetarian/vegan place because anyone who's been meat free for more than a year knows the struggle of finding good tasting, well priced food anywhere, but it feels like the only reason this place is doing so well is because of lack of better options. I want to like this place, but it feels like it caters to one type of person only, reflected in the kale and quinoa sides and raw brussels sprout salads. And while that is all great food, I would really like to see a more diverse selection on the menu, for people and vegetarians (myself included) who have gotten bored of the bland options that are constantly offered, and who want to start holding establishments to a higher quality of flavor. I would consider eating here again if the menu was updated with more options, but until then it’s off to find a different...

A friend and I were driving back home from a long trip and stopped in the Harrisburg location for what we thought would be some good food.When you walk in, the place looks very unkempt and dirty and no one greets you. When we ordered, we asked for the brown sugar coconut latte and the worker made a comment saying “I think I know how to make that.” We continued to order the Peruvian potatoes, a bahn mi and the chicken bacon ranch sandwich.

We waited over a half hour for our food as we overheard the workers talking about “new management, being understaffed, the managers husband is a chef and if he saw this kitchen, what are they going to to do fire me.. go ahead I’ll find another job in 3 days.” It was all very overwhelming. When our food was finally brought over we asked about the Peruvian potatoes we ordered and the waitress responded “oh yeah, thanks for reminding me, I forgot to make those. Would you like a dessert in place of it instead?” (The desert in the case was a sad small donut and an old looking cupcake with melted green frosting.)We asked if she could just take them off our bill and she said that the had to see how she could do that.

As we sat there looking at our food, it was pitiful. My bahn mi was definitely not a bahn mi, it was a large piece of break with a couple brown pieces of tofu and some sauce and a little bit of old shredded carrots. My friends sandwich was just a chicken patty with some sauce, a piece of lettuce and tomatoe. It was not cheap either, so that was not what we expected.

As we sat their deciding what to do, the chatter and throwing around of items from the workers continued. Then I hear water dripping and I look up to find that the roof is leaking right next to our table. We asked for our money back and just wanted to get out as soon as possible. The other worker had no problem giving the refund, she did not even ask why or anything. Just did it like it was a normal every day thing. Whatever this location was raved about being, which is why we made the stop, it no longer is and that’s too bad. Would highly NOT recommend. The staff is not properly trained and this place looked extremely uncared for. If I could give no...