Souley Vegan — Restaurant in Oakland

This food made me vomit !

I am a dietary Vegan. I am also an Image consultant who runs my own marketing agency. I review vegan restaurants and how they market their food and if I approve I promote their business to my thousands of followers. I also let people know when they are false advertising. I went to Souley Vegan because I had some people saying “ your vegan you should try this place” while others said , “ they have fallen off and stopped cooking “REAL food with real ingredients. In this case I had to try for myself. I went there and first I was turned off by the fact that they collect your money first by making you stand in line like a to go person before they seat you. It’s very bad way to start a dining experience. Second my food came out cold as if they already had batches sitting on a line for hours . I sent it back and it came out more cold the second time. They advertised sizzling hot Mac and cheese but then don’t use actual macaroni noodles which is very misleading and Is bad marketing . My macaroni and cheese came out cold , and disgusting . They didn’t use macaroni , instead it was this fat overcooked rigatoni noodle for pasta that was so over boiled that it broke apart into mush and was covered in a artificial cheese sauce. It has not been freshly baked in an oven and there were not any sign of real cheeses used , as soul food originally uses multiple authentic fresh cheeses. I sent it back then paid an extra $15 to try the pesto Mac and it was even worse. Overcooked. Enlarged pasta that was covered in a green sauce that looked like vomit. I was so disgusted. The fried tofu tasted like it came prepacked from a freezer and was so large and big it looked unappetizing . The black eyed peas and the collard greens were full of salt and they added tomatoes sauce. I was so confused , and so turned off by the lack of quality and culinary skills that this restaurant fell to. I am not only a 10 year dietary vegan I am a gourmet chef in my own kitchen. It was deplorable and should never be served or called soul food . This was unhealthy, hard to digest and my digestive system was hurting after the third bite that I had to leave everything on the table. The owner charged me $43.00 and never offered me any service to rectify this. They do not understand what vegan cuisine is about . They are just profiting from celebrity approvals and the green market with marketing as if they can deliver high quality food and they cannot . I took photos and you will see how poor quality the food is. I would never go back there and if your looking for authentic vegan soul food this place is worse than KFC and they use all artificial ingredients and a fast prepackage deep fry system to stage themselves as a real soul food restaurant when they are fast food with deplorable presentation . Real vegans please don’t go there !!!! Overpriced and food looks like it’s already been chewed and thrown up. Look at these photos , absolutely disgusting . The owner needs to answer to why the food quality is so deplorable and whether she cares about real vegans and their dietary needs ? I told her I was a distant vegan and she said she didn’t even know what that was. My question to the owner is are you even vegan ? Or are you just profiting from the green market and vegan market ? You should be ashamed of yourself and where is the social responsibility to create food that is wellness for vegan consumers or do you care more about marketing and catering to non vegans who thing their eating vegan food when they are actually eating slop? How do you justify these photos of your food ? They don’t even look appetizing . Why is the pasta overcooked? Why does it look like green vomit ? Why haven’t I been refunded ?? What a terrible...

Souley Vegan is a soulful space with a next door garage feel to it.

The food is the main reason people come to visit. They have numerous options. The build a plate combos are a sure bet with 3 options to choose from.

My friends had these and I had the super salad. The cornbread is an extra for those combo plates and comes with vegan whipped butter. They had mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, mac-n-cheese and grits.

The mashed potatoes had a tiny amount of gravy. Hopefully this happens less often than last night. After driving several hours, I had to accept that some nights are less exciting than others. The salad gave me some energy and since it was raw with optional ingredients added for those being raw vegan for the night, I was happy about that.

The mac-n-cheese was something I was excited about trying but like homeroom a mac-n-cheese house in Oakland, I was not impressed with this version of mac. In fact the noodles weren't even macaroni noodles. The flavor wasn't bad though, but the overall look was more like pumpkin colored and dark.

The cornbread and butter was epic though. And the yams, although quite sweet, were overcooked.

The grits were good though.

We kind of ate and ran because the decor was something not too comfortable and we had to jet to a dance anyway.

Oh yes, and my other friend ordered the steak seitan burger to go and we were all dismayed to find it had been deep fried. The numerous vegan items need to be organic, brighter, less cooked, more colorful, and more whole foods plant based. Don't get me wrong, it is all vegan here, just that the vegan needs more brightness, radiance. As does the decor.

The staff was fine. All black so not much colorful options for people as well. I'll probably be called racist for this remark, but honestly, we all need mixing if we are supposed to abide by the insanity of multiculturalism.

I honestly never like to be called 'Ma'am. It always sounded strained and crass. Just me.

So all in all, the reasons I gave this place 4 stars is because 1. They they are entirely vegan. Being vegan is the single most important thing you can do for everyone, including yourself. Because the staff wasn't mean to me because I am white skinned. Although our order was later than others behind us, I sensed this was probably just an innocent mistake. The food is soulful, homemade tasting and simple. The food is delivered hot and quickly. There are a lot of options.

Why I didn't give 5 stars is for the reasons stated here above but also because there were just too many deep fried things and deep fried doesn't need to be used to make vegan foods taste better. In fact deep fried fats are very dangerous for your health.

But I would come back and my vegan friends dine there regularly so we will all be back.

Maybe my feedback will give some ideas for future betterment of this already established...

Update:

I went back with the same group as the first time and two items were missing from our order. It wasn’t handled professionally. We won’t be coming back here for a while if ever.

Take out only.

Pros: Chicken and waffle. 5 stars and I’m not vegetarian nor vegan. The taste, texture, and look was more like a fried pork chop than a piece of chicken, but it tastes amazing. No complaints.

Red beans and rice. 5 stars. Quite flavorful.

Cornbread. 5 stars. Real cornbread. A lot of restaurants use the Jiffy-brand mix or some variation thereof. This is like cornbread that my grandma and aunt used to make.

Sweet potato pie. 5 stars, but the size is laughable. (See attached pic for size reference. Notice the standard-size fork.) Three bites and that’s it! Someone commented that you can get a bigger personalized size at Nations, which is close by.

Strawberry Ginger drink. 5 stars. The perfect blend of sweet and bite/kick. This is really, really good and it’s made in house.

To improve: Messy - the syrup leaked through the container and bag and spilled on my leg on my way home. I had to put my food in a Trader Joe’s shopping bag. This was easily solved, but maybe try a better condiment container.

Online ordering only, with a $3 service fee. While I was waiting for my order, someone’s phone died and they couldn’t order. The person at the window only then assisted with ordering. It’s audacious to limit the ordering to online orders and also charge a fee. It’s like telling customers that they can only park in the business parking lot and then charge them for parking in the lot. Because of this, I most likely will limit my ordering here and try other restaurants. It’s the principle. The food was so good that I won’t take a star off for this major annoyance, but where is this $3 going? Granted it’s not a lot of money, but it’s irritating.

Also, I did not get a confirmation text (with pick up time) as instructed, so I went to the window to make sure my order was placed. Also, this happened to another customer behind me. This adds insult to injury, so on top of the $3 fee, the system doesn’t even work like it’s...