Black Leaf Vegan Cafe — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Some helpful criticism...the restaurant business isn't for everyone. It takes cooking skills, decent recipes and the right temperament.

I ordered "the best vegan mac & cheese". It tasted terrible and the texture was pure wet mush. Very soggy and absolutely disgusting. I can not stress enough how horrid this stuff was. This was the worst vegan mac & chz I've ever had.

The sandwich had an ok mix of flavor but the texture of the veg chicken (frozen?) wasn't cool. It tasted mostly of processed veg chicken, Daiya Blue Chz dressing and slaw. It was tough and hard to chew (microwaved?) .

The sweet potato fries weren't fully cooked, had that still not unthawed cold watery taste and the sauce it came with tasted like salad dressing.

The brownies probably would have been ok if I liked bananas, which I don't. I was hoping for a chocolate flavor. They were, very light and healthy tasting. I'm guessing they use banana in place of some not so healthy ingredients.I think most people would actually like these.

This meal, other than the brownies, tasted like something I could whip up from the freezer dept. at Kroger and if I wanted to cook pasta in cold water and Let it marinate in water all day and tossed in a few bad flavors I'd get the mac & chz.

My partner who picked up our order said the restaurant itself looked nice and the service was very friendly. Although I see by the restaurant's response to negative reviews...they aren't quite so friendly if you tell the truth about their food.

My message to new vegans or people trying a vegan restaurant for the first time: Don't let this place discourage you. Vegan food and restaurants can be incredible and usually are.

To the owners who I've seen fail miserably in their responses to negative reviews...the only proper response to a negative review like mine is an apology, a thank you for the time it took to write an honest review, an offer to return our money and promise to do better...

I attended the jazz performance on May 20th and it was my first time attending the restaurant. I must say the music was awesome. However, the service from the staff was awful. I am unable to offer comments on the quality of the food or drink because it was nearly impossible to get an order filled. The entire team seemed to be disorganized and unable to accomplish simple tasks such as preparing a smoothie or cooking a burger in a reasonable amount of time. I was told it would take more than 30 minutes to prepare a burger! my assessment of the chaos and disorientation starts from the top. The gentleman who self identified as the owner needs to fix his attitude. His customers were rightfully frustrated with the inability of the staff to complete an order in a timely manner and the owner responded to customers in a rude and condescending manner. I witnessed this on several occasions. When it came time for me to place my order I was told I could not order a burger, although at least eight were visibly cooking on the griddle. When pressed on way I couldn’t get a burger his reply to me was because they were not supposed to be selling them! But they were selling burgers. Anyway I returned to my seat and enjoyed the music. Other customers were still waiting for the meals after the show was over and many said they had been waiting for the food they purchased for over an hour. Totally unacceptable and a prime example of a restaurant owner who was disorganized and unprepared for the crowd that came out to enjoy and afternoon of food and music. a crowd that came out to support a locally owned black business. I am giving them one star because of the music only. Next time the owners need to be prepared to serve the customers who patronize their business with courtesy and a clear goal of providing excellent service- not the mess that was delivered on Sunday,...

I am convinced that they have friends and family writing false good reviews for them. (In fact, on other sites, the reviews are literally spam posts with 5☆s). I'm in my 40s and have worked at restaurants for decades, so I give a LOT of grace. This, however, was the worst dining experience of my life. EVERY SINGLE ASPECT was AWFUL. The service, the food, the staff, the wait time...awful. The cider is good, but we ended up trashing $75 worth of food, part of it cold, after waiting well over an hour for a small order. They were beyond rude every step of the way. They had a young child in the kitchen, which is ridiculously unsafe as well. Another patron stopped us in the parking lot to tell us how she saw how long we waited and how rude we were treated, and that she had just eaten by herself after they messed up her daughter's order and made her late to work. A simple professional "heads up" about the food wait time, and we could have had other options. Instead (even though we were obviously not the only guest with problems), they took the time to be rude to us, then emailed me to defend their actions, lying in the process. They were embarrassed that their service and food were awful and didn't want to admit it...and if they had offered to fix anything, Maybe it would have been the silver lining. Instead, they caused my friend's panic attack and wasted all of our money for our daughter's 6th birthday (and my 44th, it was our celebration weekend we had planned and saved up for for many weeks), who spent hours still starving after leaving, and upset that her aunt left in tears. DON'T GO THERE. There are several other vegan small businesses within 10 miles to give your money to. I've been vegan over 40 years and could give anyone a list of other...