Meek's Vegan Pizza — Restaurant in Houston

My family and I stopped by this place while we were in Houston some time last month. We don't have many vegan eateries where we live (near Galveston) and usually have to drive to Houston for Vegan options. I suggested a few places that I found via Instagram and when I mentioned Meek's, my mom hastily said, "Let's go there! They have really good reviews and their pizza sounds and looks good!" So that was where we headed. Once we got there, we placed our order at the kiosk. Their prices are pretty high, but we figured it was due to the ingredients and that everything could have been made fresh, which is great. After placing our order we waited for almost two hours. Our three pizzas and bell pepper appetizers were still not ready. There was another guy who had placed an order from an online ordering platform, whose food wasn't ready while we were waiting. He seemed upset due to the time, however since he came in during the 20min mark of our wait, I thought that he was just being a difficult customer. He got his pizzas 30-40mins afterwards. By this time, it had hit the hour mark for our order. We kept seeing the lady who gave people their orders sitting and waiting and I assume the kitchen staff in the back who would talk her occasionally. Then the 1hr and 30min mark came for us. At this point, my little sister is in tears because she is so hungry. My mom is upset because we've been waiting so long and my sister is hungry and crying. I'm trying to still be optimistic. Once I truly put myself in my mom's shoes, I realized that I would never allow my child to be in tears due to hunger because of a long wait for food. I have worked in the restaurant industry before, so I was shocked by the fact that the food wasn't prepped so customers wouldn't wait. My mom asked for a cancelation of the order and a refund. The lady that was giving orders to people, was nice and informed her manager via text. I am not sure to this day if my mom got her refund or not.

We we EXTREMELY disappointed. We are really big on supporting Black Owned Businesses, however, this type if business behavior left a sour taste in our mouths. We arrived and Meek's around 8pm and left around 10pm. Foodless and starving. We drove a 45 minute drive back home and were just flabbergasted by the fact that Meek's was still open for business. I don't care how "good" your food is, is your customer service, time management, and communication is NOT on point, I refuse to support it.

We also checked Happy Cow and more Google reviews after leaving. There are some mentions of the time that it takes to get your food being a HUGE issue. Unfortunately, it still hasn't changed based on the dates that the reviews were posted. I also realized why that male customer was upset. This was one of the worst experiences that we have ever had at an Eatery. We definitely will NOT be returning. The turnaround times for food are absolutely...

Quality:

The Pizza crust is not crispy and light with air pockets, it is super dense and tough to chew. This happens when dough is over-worked and under-proofed. It's also pure white flour, so the worst type of dough when considering your health. Having said that, they cooked it all the way through, and there was some type of dried herb on the crust, although, it was dry. I would suggest adding a vegan butter or EVOO

The Pizza sauce was bland, nothing special. There was also a lot. I've noticed I tend to like more sauce than other people, but this was bordering on too much for me. This makes the top of the dough collapse, which adds to the problems with the crust.

The Pizza toppings were ample when it came to the veggies, but the vegan bacon was a little sparse. One square per slice. (see pic). The bacon is hard to eat with the pizza, so you end up just picking it up and eating it on it's own. It did have a great flavor and smoke to it, although it could be cooked better as it was dry for a bacon substitute.

Price:

I ended up paying about $17 total after I used their $5 off offer for first time buyers who spend more than $25. I also had some door dash credits that I was able to use to bring the price down. Had I not had those credits or their $5 off, I would've paid over $30 total.

This pizza is barely worth the $17 I did pay, but definitely not worth more, and certainly not over $20. They charge artisan pizza prices while giving you the quality of a cheap pizza.

If they were somehow able to cut their prices in half, I would get their pizza on occasion, but baring that or a drastic improvement in quality, I won't be back. "For those reasons, I'm out."

EDIT Reply to Response:

Quality ingredients aren't the issue, though. If they aren't prepared in the right way, they aren't* worth the price, or enjoyable. Go ask Mellow Mushroom in the Heights how they do it, and try their vegan thai dye. That pizza is worth $20. Best of luck...

When I tell people I’m vegan, they often say, “I could never do it. No way could I give up pizza.”

Trust me, I haven’t given up pizza.

We have a lot of vegan pizza options in town, with pies often made with cauliflower dough and topped with vegan cheeses. There was a time not that long ago when vegan cheeses meant glops of something repulsive that had the texture and taste of an unmeltable chunk of plastic that when masticated vigorously might, with luck, start to disintegrate into powder in your mouth. Not anymore. Vegan cheeses these days, particularly from a company in Austin called Rebel, will leave you speechless.

The only all vegan pizza joint I know of in Houston is a little spot next to HCC in Midtown called Meek’s Pizza (1113 Holman). Open every day from 11-11, Meek’s serves up some amazing pies.

We started our meal off with an order of oyster mushroom “wangs,” featuring a basket of baked ‘shrooms served with a side of exceptional vegan ranch punctuated with fresh dill, Italian parsley, and chives. They have several pizza options, and we went with the most expensive of all, the $33.99 X-Large 16” stuffed crust “Meathead Pizza,” which features a perfect crust that is just the right mix of crunchy and chewy topped with seitan pepperoni, beyond sausage, impossible burger, and the store’s amazing cashew cheese. The crust, too, is loaded with this cheese. When we return, we’ll just go with a regular crust instead of the stuffed version—it really was too much of a good thing. Cheese (vegan, of course) was basically coming out of our ears. Take a look at the crust in the picture and imagine it being ready to gush out rivers of mozza. But even though the crust was huge, it tasted fantastic.

Meek’s does a few other tasty sounding varieties, and you can build your own as well. And if you have tree nut allergies, they can use a coconut cheese instead of the...