The Purple Mint Vegan Bistro — Restaurant in San Diego

I've been here 3 times over the past 2 years or so and each time has been a very good experience. This is a vegan/vegetarian restaurant, but I think it is very high quality food that mostly anyone can enjoy.

My most recent visit here was for a friend's birthday. I ordered the summer rolls, double delight spring rolls, and wonton soup. The rolls and their accompanying sauces were so good and fresh that my friend and I ordered a second round of the double delight spring rolls! The wonton was also really good, the wontons themselves were very flavorful.

Everything I've ordered here seems to have a good flavor profile that's well-balanced. I've also had the pho tofu & vegetables, pho "chicken", house combination fried rice, and kung pao "chicken", all of which I highly recommend.

The decor of this restaurant is also absolutely charming! There is a tiny river you walk over on a litle wooden bridge when you enter. There are mock grated windows and hanging plants. Really nice atmosphere, and quite spacious.

You won't be disappointed trying this spot out!

Update: Came back to The Purple Mint tonight with my parents. This was my first time visiting their reopened storefront on El Cajon Blvd near Talmadge. The new store is very nicely decorated inside, and fairly spacious, though perhaps not as big as the first (now closed) location.

We ordered jasmine milk tea, passion fruit iced tea, avocado rolls, kung pao “chicken,” yam & sweet potato curry, and Chinese broccoli & shiitake mushrooms. Everything was really tasty and fresh, though I especially liked the kung pao and the Chinese broccoli & shiitakes.

The portions were fairly large, so we were able to take a good amount of food with us when we left. Although it was fairly busy, there was no delay in receiving our orders and our waiter was attentive and helpful.

It seems like this new location is probably going to be better for business, since it’s located off a very busy street in San Diego’s famous “Little Saigon” area. I’ll definitely be back again...

I was super excited to try this place out and I really appreciate the options they offer. It is cool to see a vegan Asian food place as I don't see these often. I looked into the place a lot before going and was excited that they have a men online as well as pictures/reviews of their food. The food was good but I was very disappointed by the service at the restaurant. We called in a pick up order and they did not tell us the price over the phone. We should have prodded but the guy hung up very quickly. They also did not tell us that we would be up-charged for brown rice. When we got to the restaurant, I was surprised by the charge because the prices didn't match what I had seen on their website. They told me that their prices had changed quite a while ago (so why not update the website quite a while ago?!) and that brown rice was an additional charge which is in the menu and online. I have searched online extensively and have not found anywhere that they add a charge for brown rice. This would have been totally fine with me if they had mentioned it but this in addition to ALL of their prices being wrong online is quite frustrating. I would have changed my order had I known that the prices online were incorrect. They were very dismissive in the restaurant and clearly not willing to admit any fault on behalf of the restaurant. I have reached out to the restaurant about this but have not heard anything back. I think others should know to be wary of this place and definitely check that you are being charged correctly.

Update 8/28: no one has contacted me back from this restaurant regarding my experience and communication with the staff. Certainly wouldn’t recommend going here when they can’t bother to reply to customers who have...

This bistro was a lovely surprise find. A family member lives right around the corner so we walked on a whim to find dinner, not knowing at all what to expect. Inside is very pleasant and nice and clean. Our server was attentive and on point, not needing to take notes and getting everything right for our party of three ordering appetizers and entrees. And the food all tasted quite nice. We got the avocado rolls and the "chicken" lettuce wraps for appetizers. The rolls were nice and fresh, the cucumbers and bean sprouts all had a great crunch to them, nothing old or mushy. The wraps were even better in my opinion. The serving size was quite large and more than enough for the three of us. For entrees, I got the mapo tofu, my husband got the "steak", and his cousin got the yam and sweet potato curry. The mapo tofu was good but if you are ordering it for the first time, don't expect it to be like traditional mapo tofu at all. I would think of it as more of just some tofu stir fry. However, I still quite enjoyed it. The "steak" was good, it comes on a small skillet with onions and mushrooms. And the curry was tasty; if i were to get it I'd make sure to have them make it without cilantro. We all got jasmine tea and at one point two of us were running low and the server refilled without us even noticing, which was great. The server was very friendly and prompt.

Overall, very positive experience and we were all happy with the food and would go again. I'd like to try quite a few of...