Crossroads Kitchen — Restaurant in Los Angeles

My partner and I are both vegan and have been on a trip around California, seeing the sights, and enjoying the range of vegan food this part of the world has to offer.

Even in Yosemite they served up a strong oyster mushroom taco which was very flavoursome and surprised us considering we were in the middle of the mountains.

When we visited San Francisco we enjoyed 9/10 sushi, 9/10 chicken parm subs as well as other delicious foods. When we arrived to LA we were surprised at how many vegan options there were and were especially excited about visiting crossroads as it seemed to be hailed as THE GO TO VEGAN RESTAURANT. The menu itself looks pretty incredible and got our mouths watering with delight from the night before we left London to travel to the US. We booked it as our last night venture so we could have a meal to remember as we sadly left our adventure behind…but how wrong we were.

Our waiter recommended everything on the menu which made us excited as if everything is objectively delicious (8/10+) then we’d have a good time. We ordered the calamari, the impossible cigars, the caccio e pepe and the aubergine short rib. Let me tell you, all these meals were below a 6/10. We originally were lusting over the truffle tasting menu and were willing to shell out for the mahusive $135 per person menu. Bullet dodged like Neo from the matrix.

The calamari dish was quite big (which is great) but essentially it was a lot of small rounded deep fried mushrooms, with not a lot of flavour, not a lot of seasoning with a very lack lustre tomato based sauce on the side which I could have whipped up if I opened a can of chopped tomatoes and put in a fancy dish. 5/10

The impossible cigars were nice, essentially a long thinspring roll with the impossible meat contained inside. I had wanted to try the impossible meat due to its rep and it was as good as they said. However I thought they may add more seasonings to make the cigars a bit different but it seemed as if it was just the meat inside and that was it. The side sauce was also very flavourless. 6/10

The aubergine short rib. This was literally a soft un seasoned vegetable with ZERO flavour served alongside mash and gravy that felt like it came from a very average pub back in England. The lack of genuine flavour really took us by surprise , given the price of the dish. This felt more like a school dinner than an LA classic. Our BA flight server us tastier and more flavoursome food. 4/10

The cacio e Pepe, which the waiter kindly corrected me on the pronunciation of the dish, was again very lack lustre. The actual pasta was excellent as it was clearly home made but the sauce was lacking a real punch. I make cheese sauces at home and I think I could have gone into the kitchen and whipped up something tastier in about 10-15 minutes. It would have saved us a fair wack of cash and we would have eaten something that didn’t taste like a meat eaters attempt at a vegan dish. Cacio e Pepe is supposed to pack a punch of peppery silky goodness but this dish lost by TKO. 5/10.

We also ordered mock tails. As they are essentially just juices and herbs and sugar syrups minus the alcohol, it seemed like a safe bet for something tasty. Again, our mistake and a foreshadowing to the disappointment above as it was not very nice. 4/10

A nice atmosphered restaurant that feels like a fancy west London establishment however if you want something that will change your vegan world and experience a variety of taste profiles, go somewhere else. This is only going to set your wallet aflame and cause you extreme anger and...

Everything at Crossroads Kitchen is vegan. Curious as to whether something might have dairy or any animal product in it? Not here. Rest assured, all of your questions have already been answered. The “cheese” is vegan. The Ice “cream” is vegan. The “meat” is vegan. You are completely covered here with a plethora of small and not as small delicious plates to choose from. My wife and I headed here for our 15th wedding anniversary. We’d never been. We love new places, and we especially love places where we can eat everything on the menu!

They greeted us at our table with a couple glasses of complimentary champagne as they saw on the reservation that we were celebrating. That was so sweet and thoughtful!

Everything we ate was beautifully presented and tasted really really good. I started with the Wooden Nickel cocktail. They said this was their version of a Manhattan and it tasted a lot like a really good Old Fashioned to me with a happy cherry surprise waiting for me in the martini glass it was served in.

I also had the chilled cucumber melon soup which was really refreshing, and thick too…it was kind of like drinking foam and it had a lovely melon ambience.

My wife enjoyed the Summer Minestrone Soup she ordered. The couscous in it gave it a nice heartiness complimenting the very present tomato taste.

I also have the truffle potatoes which were wonderfully crispy with a delightful truffle flavor. These were perfectly cooked allowing me to enjoy the softness of the potato on the inside as well as the crispiness on the out, and it was topped with a “parmesan cheese”-like substance which was the most authentically vegan parmesan I’ve ever had.

For my main, I had the Italian “sausage” (soy and potatoes based - and gluten-free!) It was served with peppers, onions and a tomato sauce which I thought was very tasty though there wasn’t a lot of flavor in the sausage itself.

My wife had The roasted eggplant which was a large and impressive looking half of an eggplant dish covered with a tahini that was spicier than she wife wanted (It didn’t say anything about spicy on the menu though other menu items did.) They were also nice enough to not include the breadcrumbs to keep it gluten-free for her.

We also shared the Gigante Beans…which were truly GIGANTE…I’m not always a fun of large beans like this but these were delicious and possibly my favorite savory flavored item that we tried.

We enjoyed everything though wife did feel that the meal overall was a little richer than she expected or necessarily wanted, but all the flavors were just right.

We did succumb to the waiter’s temptation and had the cast-iron corn bread dessert. This was downright amazing with a moist and delicious cornbread, topped with roasted brown sugar peaches, with a fantastic vegan vanilla ice cream on the side that was sitting in a little bed of crispy cornmeal. This was indulgent, flavorful and awesome.

Our wandering eyes also were salivating at everything we didn’t order but we saw head out to other tables…the artichoke oysters are definitely in our future. And since we can basically eat everything on the menu…there will be a future. Thanks for a great anniversary dinner...

Looking to find a new Vegan Restaurant to celebrate a special occasion, we came across Crossroads in West Hollywood and decided to go for Saturday brunch. The first thing I loved is that they had outdoor dining in a nice outdoor area in front which was covered and HAD HEATERS (yay!). EXCELLENT. The atmosphere leans towards high end dining yet the prices are happily competitive which was nice. I ordered the Stuffed French Toast which was good but nothing special. I got it because the waiter said it was “stuffed” with “almond cream” and that sounded delectable but it actually came with some kind of vegan butter spread instead with a disappointingly small bit of fruit compote on top (not sure what fruit, but it was golden color). ON the side it came with two IMPOSSIBLE sausages which were tasty but had a strange plastic-y clear wrapping around them that I ended up peeling off in one whole piece. A seaweed based bacon was an alternate choice to the sausages, which I passed on. Someone else at our table had the burrito, which they enjoyed but the best thing I saw at our table was the Chicken and Waffles. The Chicken came in nice big pieces with some breading on it and we were told it was IMPOSSIBLE based. The waffles looked fresh and fluffy. I didn’t order it but if I return for brunch that’s what I’m getting! All of us got a generous plate of fresh fruit as a starter, which was a really nice touch although a tough selection in winter. The plate had excellent blueberries, some green grapes, blackberries and persimmon slices that were hard and unripe, but looked nice on the plate. A waiter circling the restaurant brought over a cocktail cart, serving both alcohol drinks and mocktails, which was really lovely but it was too early in the day for us to partake. If I came for dinner, I would definitely get something. The wait staff was friendly and somewhat attentive, yet our waiter didn’t know the answer to most of our questions and had to “go ask”. We figured he was new. The only off-putting thing about this place was the widely-hated “Kitchen fee” added to the bill (which usually runs about 2-4% of the bill) which is a ridiculous practice and I plan to call out every restaurant that adds that insulting charge to my bill. Thus minus a star on my rating.

Melrose in WeHo is a busy, congested, yet popular part of town and difficult navigating. Parking is impossible although easier on the weekends and they do have Valet Parking for some outrageous fee but we parked a few blocks away, walked, and kept our stay to 2 hours according to the meter.

All in all if they keep their prices competitive I would return if I were in that end...