Red Bamboo — Restaurant in New York

Review of Red Bamboo, Vegan Restaurant in Manhattan

Red Bamboo is an intriguing vegan dining spot nestled in the heart of Manhattan, easily accessible via the One train at West Fourth. During my recent visit, I had the opportunity to explore their unique menu offerings, and my experience was a mix of culinary discoveries and some minor observations.

Vegan Chicken and Vegan Shrimp: The menu at Red Bamboo offers a variety of dishes that creatively mimic traditional meat-based items, such as vegan chicken and vegan shrimp. While the vegan shrimp received high marks for its taste and texture, unfortunately, the vegan chicken didn't quite meet expectations. It's worth noting that creating meat substitutes can be a culinary challenge, and preferences vary widely.

Menu Naming and Expectations: An interesting point raised during my visit was the naming of vegan dishes to resemble meat. It's a valid observation that sometimes naming vegan items after meat can lead to expectations that may not align with the flavors and textures. Offering dishes with names that celebrate their unique vegan origins could help avoid such comparisons.

Atmosphere: One undeniable highlight of Red Bamboo is its exquisite atmosphere. The restaurant boasts a beautiful ambiance that enhances the dining experience. It's a great place to enjoy a meal in a relaxed and inviting setting.

Service and Customer Interaction: While the majority of the staff at Red Bamboo were friendly and accommodating, there was a minor hiccup in customer service. An incident where a server denied a customer a physical menu to take back to the office raised concerns. This suggests an area that could benefit from clearer communication and more consistent customer service standards.

Conclusion: In summary, Red Bamboo offers a unique vegan dining experience in Manhattan, with some dishes, like the vegan shrimp, standing out as crowd-pleasers. It's a restaurant that embraces creativity and innovation in vegan cuisine. However, the naming of menu items and customer service interactions could be areas for improvement. While my initial sampling wasn't entirely satisfying, I'm open to returning for another visit, as the potential for discovering vegan culinary delights remains promising. Red Bamboo's beautiful ambiance and commitment to vegan dining are reasons enough to consider giving it...

My friends & I ordered the following:

APPEYIZERS

Crab Rangoon Really good! It was definitely our favorite & I highly recomme d.

Cajun Fried Shrimp These were really good & taste so similar to shrimp. But if you're looking for a kick of spice, you won't find it here or in the sauce since it's served with ketchup.

Spring Rolls These were pretty good too. The outside roll part was a tad chewy but the inside makes up for it.

ENTREES

Sweet & Sour Chicken This was really good! The chicken was delicious and no complaints there. If I were to order this again though I would ask that they not add the sweet & Sour sauce directly on the veggies but leave it on the side. The sauce was o erwhelming to have on the chicken and veggies.

Macaroni & Cheese I ordered the version with vegan cheese & it tasted like the Kraft stove top versiin. I ead very sad. It was blah and runny and I do not recomme d. Ig anything take your chances with the dairy cheese version as they do have that option.

Creole Chicken The chicken was pretty good but didn't give a spicey kick like one would expect with a creole dish. Also the chicken came in chicken nugget like pieces, not like a larger piece of chicken like we expected. Just still pretty good.

Steak & Potatoes I would not recommend this dish, it was a letdown. If you are a steak lover do not order this, you will be highly disappointed. The "steak" was very small & thin with a glossy look to it. Also .y friend said there was too much rosemary on it. It looked similar to a freezer salsburry steak, no bueno.

Veggie Buger My friend said it was good and that the patty looked just like the steak that out other friend ordered

DESSERT

Carrot Cake This was bomb!

My friends ordered other cakes to go so not sure how they like them.

Overall, the place is tiny so I would suggest snall groups of no more than 4. There were 6 of us and it was really tight at the table but 4 would be good at the most. It was my first time you g and I enjoyed it. The service was good and there were some highs and lows of the good. I would go...

The service gets worse each time I come & I have been coming here for 11 years. Recently, we visited during the lunch special time and we were not given a lunch special menu. We had to ask for it, and the. The waitress had mentioned “let me check what time it is”- mind you- their lunch special ends around 4 and it was before 2pm when we entered. In addition, they seated us against the wall- which I understand, it’s for two people but when I asked to be seated at a bigger table because the restaurant wasn’t busy- the hostess said “this table is for a larger party and its only two of you guys right?”- and again, the restaurant was not busy. That table and other other tables stayed empty for the 1+ hour that we were there. I understand that they didn’t want to turn away potential future customers that may walk in at that exact moment, but there were other tables that were empty and I just had a hard time being seated in the back with my bag and jacket. It was very uncomfortable. Later on, two girls walked in and they were also seated at a table of two next to us- they also asked if they can just put their things next to the table next to them for space issues- the hostess had no issue. At the end, the waitress was nice but we were shocked to see the tip AUTOMATICALLY added into the bill at 20%. The only time I’ve experienced such thing was with a disclosure in the menu and with a party of 5 or more. We don’t want to say that we felt that way because of the color of our skin- we are Indian and we’re the only Indians in the Resturant at the time. Every time we are here and we come because we love the food, but we always face an issue and we see how others are catered to. I am not saying they were discriminating it’s wrong that we felt that way which derived from the lack of customer service. Please understand that customer service is still essential for any business, and I hope this doesn’t happen...