Nature Vegetarian Restaurant — Restaurant in Oakland

I wanted to give this place at least 4 stars but the food is lacklustre.

The giant pieces of veggie beef, bell peppers, and other veggies in the dishes make it difficult to appreciate the complexity of flavors in vegan and vegetarian cooking.

Vegetables need to be showcased in their beauty by chopping into smaller sized pieces so they mix well with the flavors and do not come off as another hunk of plain vegetable. The size of the beef in the beef dishes was gigantic and one would need to cut pieces with a knife to be able to pick them up with chop sticks. The flavors were also lacking. The vibrancy, the decor of the room, and the staff was off putting.

The stars I can give this place come from the fact they are pushing non violent food is worthy to patronize the place.

However, also the faux meats were ALL soggy, lacked flavor, did not have the texture of meat, and the flavors were not close enough to be called plant based meat, the way Beyond Burgers taste. We tried the shrimp and pumpkin dish, the Mongolian beef, the brocolli beef, the fried rice, the steamed pot stickers, the rice noodle soup and a few others as part of a large group. As a chef myself, I am the most critical pallette around and so I know that my critique is more nuanced here.

I do hope they will take some of my suggestions and cut the veggies smaller and make the faux meats more crisp, taut and less soggy as well as sliced smaller.

If they can do these basics, they will appeal more often to more critical pallette of those who can help this...

This is absolutely gourmet food! A must try is the Roast Duck which is thin layers of tofu, mushrooms and a crunchy slightly sweet skin. In season pea sprouts are bright green and fresh, cooked with a choice of ginger or mushrooms . We will order a huge complete feast, then have a lot to take home. We bring our own containers and enjoy it for almost a week as lunch or even breakfast. The Vegetable Mushroom Chow Fun comes piping hot and delicious with a variety of mushrooms and bok choy in a savory gravy. The Won Ton soup in a flavorful vegetable broth with carrots cut into hummingbird shapes and fresh bok choy is unrivaled anywhere. Other favorites are BBQ Pork Fried Rice, Chinese Broccoli with pork ham, Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken Chow Mein. Mind you, this is all completely vegan. There are even fluffy soft pork bau buns which I order to go. The chef is so skillful that even my meat loving husband loves this food. The restaurant itself is clean, comfortable, peaceful and the staff are always welcoming. We are truly blessed to have a restaurant like this in the Bay Area. Edit: New dish alert! The talented chefs at Nature Vegetarian have created a steamed sticky rice dish with a vegan pork filling that is piping hot and delicious and a deep fried pork dumpling with a crispy rice shell that is such a special treat....

They do the catering for the Animal Liberation Conference held on the Berkeley campus in June. I like the pumpkin curry. The sweet n sour chicken and general tso's chicken are tasty with not too much sauce just enough to coat the pieces. Portion sizes are generous. I like the mu shu vegetables with paper thin pancakes and plum sauce. The potstickers are also good. Have yet to try the won ton. It looks like the tofu rolls are fried. There is a dish I had with crunchy lotus root and wood ear mushrooms. I should be more daring and try more dishes I tend to order the same thing when I like it I stick with it. It's really authentic in here like being in a monastery with music sung by monks and incense and a buddha figure when you walk in.

The food makes you feel good. I don't want to hurt animals anymore just to have a meal and should be eating only vegan food. It's time for a vegan grocery store, isn't it being well into the 21st century. The restaurant is located one block away from the Oakland Tribune building on the edge of Chinatown. They are doing takeout...