CAREYOU FOUNDATION INC (Used to Amitabha Vegan) — Restaurant in New York

Context: I arranged a going away get together at this location for 9 people including myself on a Sunday afternoon.

Overall: Excellent pricing. For 9 people, only comes to 104.75 if you use a debit/credit card. Large portion sizes for pad thai/chicken. Decent and fair for sushi/burger & rice order. Sweet potato roll/sushi preferable to the avocado but friend still enjoyed avocado. Excellent customer service Quick serving time Could use higher seating for those who are taller Best for 2-4 people Great for takeout, but possible to have decent dining experience Rice was okay for some but I think could have used a little more flavor or salt. Pad thai had too much lime, gave a sour bite towards the bottom of it, but great flavor to start. Even non vegan/vegetarian enjoyed food The sesame chicken was hard for my friend to chew

Detailed review for those who could benefit: I called to have reservations made and I heard the person type into a computer, but I'm not sure if there was an official record of it, since the person who takes orders is in the Philippines. Therefore, I would say, you cannot make official reservations here. It's not the kind of dine in where they set up your utensils and menus on the table as I was expecting, having no foreknowledge of this restaurant. It's more of a takeout place and most suitable for 2-4 people dining in together since the place is somewhat small. They let us use the "employees only" bathroom which was fairly clean. The seats that are not against the wall were a little low for my friend who is around 5'10/5'11 but it didn't keep him from enjoying his time there. They may need higher seating though to best accommodate those who are a little taller.

However, despite the fact that it's not the dine in experience I was expecting, we still had a great time. While this restaurant was not accustomed to serving groups of our size, they only messed up on one order. They were willing to give the correct order free of charge.

The daughter of the owner came out to check on my order three times before serving me making sure not to mess up mine. The brown rice could have had a little more salt or flavor. But the chicken, pad thai, sushi were all greatly enjoyed and we shared it. It was a joy to see my friends enjoy the food. The beyond burger was fine. The owner's daughter also came out to serve us our meals which I greatly appreciated.

They took a nice picture of us with our permission and I'm grateful for that because I don't think we would have had as excellent a group picture if someone else had taken it. They were welcoming, respectful, and very patient with us. We were there for about an hour waiting for those who were very late and they didn't rush us to order. The owner firmly but respectfully insisted we order when it was close to 3pm, but at this point, we had been talking and laughing somewhat loudly for about an hour before this and considering what to order. So I would say she was in the right by not rushing us but also not letting us take forever to order while sitting in the restaurant.

We were able to push tables together and sit together as a family, though we were a group of friends, and we ended up really enjoying our experience. Those who did not eat meat still thoroughly enjoyed their meal. One non vegan/vegetarian actually savored the last bites of his Tso's chicken and we also took gladly took food home. We were there from about 1:30-4:30ish with the majority leaving before 4 and we were not rushed out after finishing our meal even though they gave us a glad goodbye and welcomed us again

It's definitely a good place to return for takeout or could work for those considering a smaller gathering of 2-4. If it's not busy, 9 people can fit comfortably, though the chance of cigarette smoke coming in from outside, as well as the fact that this is primarily a takeout place, may not make this an ideal place for dining in for another gathering for me personally though having a good time and enjoying food is still definitely possible for anyone...

I walk in the restaurant and I hear someone say hello I look around and someone sitting there points a screen with a woman on it. A woman that was sitting down eating soup told me that I have to order from the woman on the screen and was handed a menu by a young man that was sitting there with a laptop. I was waiting for a friend, to come before I ordered. The woman on the screen stayed on the screen the entire time just waiting for customers to come. When asked, she said that she was in the Philippines.

I wanted water, I asked the young man with the laptop and the woman that was there (I’m not really sure what their roles were, the woman asked me a lot of questions, when I asked if she works there she said no, that she helps out.) for water, they had water in a small refrigerator but it wasn’t cold and it looked like a brand of water that I’ve seen sold in a pharmacy. I asked if I could just have tap water and I was told no, they don’t have any to offer me. I eventually saw a big water cooler jug of water with a spout attached.

So, the food came out. My friend ordered a Beyond burger with fries, she liked her meal. I ordered an avocado sushi roll and a mango sushi roll. The woman on the screen said they didn’t have the mango roll, so I opted for a sweet potato roll.

A woman that was in the kitchen came out with the food and eagerly asked me how the food was prior to me even tasting the food. She stood there for a while for me to taste it, then she began talking to the woman that was sitting there in their language and became distracted.

The food: It was okay, I get vegan sushi rolls often and they had very little of the vegetables and a whole lot of rice, it wasn’t really portioned well. I felt like I was mostly eating a bowl of rice with a little bit of veggies. I didn’t really taste the flavors of the veggies or the spicey mayo. I was only provided a packet of soy sauce, there was no wasabi or ginger and the presentation of the food was not good. I was handed a plastic fork in plastic and I asked for chop sticks. I was then told by the young man that the place is not a place where you pay tips or they provide service to you.

The entire time the woman on the screen is sitting there looking out at you and anyone else in the room, as though she is watching a live television show. It was weird and a bit creepy and it felt like big brother (or sister) was watching you.

The chef did come out and we spoke (he was very nice). I asked him for tap water and he did get water from the room temperature spouted water cooler jug - so I appreciated that.

I would not recommend this establishment if you want a pleasant sit down meal at a restaurant. This is more of a take out/ delivery restaurant for those in the neighborhood with...

Truly a disappointing experience. My husband and I supported them throughout the height of the pandemic, and recently decided to try them out again, but the customer service, or complete lack of, is extremely unfortunate. We ordered directly through their website, and received a confirmation saying that our food would take 1 hour. For take out? We had two lunch orders and 1 appetizer. Fine. We live around the block so we went to pick up after 1 hour, and the food was still not ready, and we were told it would be another 5 minutes. 45 minutes later, now almost 2 hours after we ordered, the food still had not come out and at this point we decided to leave without our food and asked for a refund, which still has not been processed over a week later. There was no one at the restaurant besides a computer screen and a virtual cashier taking orders, and no one ever came out to address our concerns after waiting nearly 2 hours for take out food. I really do not like shaming small businesses, but if you are unable to handle something simple like having orders on time without having someone wait nearly an hour in your restaurant with no real person addressing the issue, then you should reconsider your operations, because to me this is...