Beyond Vegan Cell Food — Restaurant in Portsmouth

Slow service, TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE, and lack luster plates. Visiting the area from out of town. As plant based eaters, there aren’t a lot of options so we decided to come out here from VA Beach. We placed our order at 5:56pm and waited over 30 minutes for our smoothies until I went up to the counter to see if we could get them. “We were going to wait to bring it out with your food, but we can bring them out now.” Is what one of the cashiers told me. I am so glad we asked for the smoothies at least because it wasn’t until after 40 minutes that they told us they had to go to the store for an ingredient for the chicken+waffle sandwich. Yes...... they went to the store and did not even communicate with us that they ran out of the ingredient OR what we were waiting on until we ASKED.

I read the owner’s responses to previous reviews stating that they are short staffed due to a family medical emergency which is more than understandable. What isn’t understandable is that they didn’t tell us anything about our order but let us sit in a dining room with only 2 other patrons waiting, that they had to leave the establishment to get ingredients. WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE is when they gave us the smoothies, told us what we were waiting on and give us THE OPTION to alter or cancel our order. It’s not fair to those coming to the restaurant expecting service but not receiving any type of communication regarding the food we paid for!

It appears that long wait times for the orders are a common occurrence, so maybe they need to be a pre-order only and have the waiting time placed to an hour to honor folks time? Customers can’t sit in a place for close to an hour for food and it takes less time than that to eat it due to the small portion sizes.

When I received the food, literally after an hour, I didn’t receive an apology for my wait or ANYTHING. They really need to train their staff better.

Please be weary when choosing to come to this restaurant. It appears they have good intentions but if you are expecting fast and communicative service, this may not...

Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining three of my amazing girlfriends at lunch here.

Three of us ordered their Philly Steak and Cheese Egg Rolls, and two of us also ordered Truffle French fries for Appetizers. Two ordered the Steak and Rice bowls, one ordered the Chicken and waffles. Everything was SO FILLING AND DELICIOUS!!! I also ordered hot Elderberry tea to drink. Agave syrup is offered to sweeten it. It wasn't sweet enough for me, but I was so hungry, I just drank it with the one serving of syrup that I was offered. The tea was delicious too, I want to add.

I'm not eating completely Vegan or even Vegetarian for that matter, but if I had cuisine like THIS to choose from on a daily basis, it would certainly make me a convert, and change my mind!!!!

Owner, C. Jackie Jackson, allowed me a bite of everything from the menu, to sample. I was ABSOLUTELY blown away, especially by these four dishes: Vegan Sausage Gumbo, Vegan Tuna Salad, Vegan Chicken Salad, and the Mushroom Soup. EVERYTHING tasted delicious, but I was TRULY impressed that these dishes weren't made with "meat."

To dine here is the $$$ level, but considering the loving care that is taken to prepare all of the dishes, it's well worth every single penny. I would suggest that for the price of the egg rolls, that at least 4 are served or the price lowered. (The exhaust fan in the kitchen should also be checked so diners in the restaurant don't have to smell like fried foods when leaving. This was a huge turn off for dining in the restaurant for me, having asthma.)

FOOD SAFETY NOTE: The one observation that I want to share, it smells SO GOOD, and you want to immediately DIVE IN your plate, but your food arrives to the table PIPING HOT!!! Be prepared to BLOW on every bite before eating!!!!

Thank you, Mrs. Jackson and your VERY FRIENDLY/PERFECTLY TRAINED waitstaff AGAIN for such a OUTSTANDING first time dining experience at your restaurant! I look forward to ordering food from her more often!

Photos shown: Soursop Margarita, Chicken and Waffles, and...

I'm not vegan but I love vegan food done well. When I moved to the area from San Diego, I was disappointed to find not only a lack of Vegan restaurants, but a lack of good restaurants in general. They're here, but hard to find. That said, this is hands-down the best restaurant I've eaten at so far in Virginia. I had the Be-Vegan burger, side salad, and the "Flu shot" immune booster juice.

The honey mustard dressing on the salad tasted in-house. Based on the fact I couldn't taste any fungicides on the grape in the salad, (fungicides have an extremely strong bitter flavor to my sense of taste that cannot be washed off or masked if present) I would say that they must source organic label or direct from farmer clean and high quality ingredients.

The burger is one that won't fool a carnivore, but is flavorful and delicious in its own right. There is a good variety of veggies in the patty and house-made sauce on top. Consistency is similar to a crab cake or a thick hamburger cooked medium or medium-rare. I had to stop eating halfway through so it wouldn't be gone in the time it takes to prepare my juice, because it was just melt-in-your-mouth goodness!

The "Flu Shot" immune booster juice is kind of brown in color, but don't let that fool you! It's good too! It's primarily ginger flavored, a lot stronger than ginger ale, but not quite as strong as ginger beer. It also has a bit of fruity flavor to it. If you like healthy juices but aren't a fan of green vegetable juices, this one's for you. Nothing weird, just the perfect amount of ginger flavor. The foam at the top will taste stronger.

I met the cook too. She's a nice lady. She said she went to Los Angeles to learn how to make good vegan food prior to opening the restaurant. Portion size is appopriate to healthy caloric intake needs. It could seem on the small side until you consider that most American restaurants tend to serve more than what is healthy. Beyond Vegan is a little over a half hour from my house, but I'll...