One Veg World — Restaurant in West Covina

Jan 3 a little after 3pm.

I have gone to One Veg World in West Covina many times since it opened. I’m not a vegetarian but for meatless food I think it is pretty good and have recommended it to people who are vegetarian. For forty-one years since I was 14 I have had a lot of restrictions on what I can eat. I recently was placed on greater restrictions, I wanted to eat out but couldn’t decide on what would be safe, I decided on One Veg World and that I’d cheat a little on this day.

Before walking in I bought a 2in x 1in brownie square. I had reservations about bringing food into the restaurant but since it was such a tiny morsel I knew it would be gone by the time I was seated and I had planned on having a large meal with dessert, surely my business would be desired.

Upon arrival with half of the brownie already eaten I was greeted by a smiling young lady who said I wasn’t allowed to bring in non-vegetarian food. I thought she was joking, she wasn’t. She said as a vegetarian restaurant it was a cruelty free zone as animals are regularly tortured. I asked her how she know if animals were tortured in the making of the brownie…she smugly challenged me and asked me how I knew animals weren’t, I told her I didn’t but how did she know? She said it probably was…I told her “probably” is not a yes. I told her that for years I have been severely restricted on what I could eat and I just wanted to have a nice meal. She again smugly challenged me saying that she can’t have gluten, I told this woman who is almost one third my age what I couldn’t have and she quickly ignored and over talked me and it became a contest of who is more restricted in their diet.

Someone else became involved and verified it was their policy, and the original girl weakly said that no outside food was allowed, the other girl said I could finish it outside and then come back. Of course by then I had no desire to eat there. If the problem was with outside food being brought it, then it should have been mentioned in the beginning “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t allow outside food of any kind.” Considering I was two bites away from finishing it I would have simply left and probably not come back, technically a peppermint candy in my mouth would have violated that policy. But that wasn’t the issue, it was the issue of bringing in a brownie that she said she knew was made from abused animals because she used to eat those brownies…brownies which came in plain cellophane with no name or labeling, for all we knew it was a vegetarian brownie. It was a vegetarian/political issue for her that she was determined to force on me.

As for cruelty free I wonder if the coffee beans your bottled coffee comes from is picked by people who are respected and not taken advantaged of? What about clothing, sure they’re not made from sweat shops? Do you ban diamonds, or how about leather jackets? For that matter what if a parent brings in a baby being bottle fed? The issue with that brownie is milk after all. Do you ban parents from nourishing their babies with milk?

This should have been handled in a different way:

Flat out banning outside food vegetarian or not.

Simply sitting me down and knowing by the time I was seated the “offending” food would have been consumed.

One thing which should have never ever been done was for me to be challenged and smugly talked down to, a customer doesn’t jump through hoops and perform tricks in order to be served.

Upon leaving I did something which I have never ever done to a customer service worker in my 55 years of living, I used profanity and called her a profane name. And I questioned why I did this? It was her smug challenging of me instead of simply stating she was doing her job and she was bound by the rules of her employer. Instead she made it a personal issue rather than an issue of...

my biggest issue is their servers. I've been overcharged here on a couple of occasions. 1. their sit down and take out menu clearly state entrees include brown rice, however, they charge $2 when you order from the right side of their entrees stating all entrees include brown rice. their take out menu also reconfirms that entrees include brown rice, however, when I pointed this out it was an awkward and uncomfortable conversation. i was told the entrees to the right side of the sit down menu do not include brown rice even though they're listed as entrees. if you walk into their take out section and grab a "take out" menu the same items on their dine in menu also state they include brown rice. it was only $2 but this leads me to my next example of being overcharged down below. 2.) last weekend I took my little girl to eat as she enjoys the chicken nuggets (trying to introduce more plant based options in her meals) and the waitress charged me an additional $10 on my bill. when I pointed it out to her she simply stated, "oh, let me go take care of that." and then our original waitress came back and gave me corrected bill with voided receipt and correct charge, however, no real apology for the mishap. i normally don't ever check the receipt but after the $2 upcharge i decided to check and sure enough an additional $10 overcharge was there. 3.) a few weeks ago I went in and the waiter didn't give me straws for our drinks. after about a 5 minute wait i got up and went to request straws while he was mopping. he didn't wash his hands and just grabbed a couple of straws with his one hand on the mop and the other hand went into the straw holder and handed them over. it all happened so quickly that i grabbed them, left them to the side of our table, and went ahead and washed my hands. i found it absolutely disgusting that he not only continued mopping but then didn't even wash his hands and continued on serving items, water, and whatever else he continue doing after mopping behind the cash register.

it's frustrating because i normally leave a 20%-30% tip when i go out and eat, which is quite often, but this place seriously makes me not want to tip their staff.

i don't normally have sweets but their carrot cake and cheese cakes are pretty darn good. their food is good too which is why i'm a bit frustrated with the past three visits. the food here is ok but the portions are rather small.

i really want to support a vegan establishment in the local neighborhood, however, when there are three - four people behind the counter and two tables occupied and there is no offer to refill water or cleaning of plates off the tables when they're neatly placed on the side ready to be taken is off putting.

i'll adjust my rating up or down based off future visits. my 3 star rating means i'm neutral on this location as their food is ok but their servers are...

I went to this place shortly after they opened and regularly visited there over the next several years. I was happy to see vegetarian food available locally, and was happy to support a small business. The food was great, as was the atmosphere. The customer service was wonderful, and it was always a family tradition to head over to "One World" a few times per month.

Over the years, the prices rose, but the service declined; especially in regards to the buffet. When they started doing the buffet, only a handful of people were in attendance. Because the food is so good, eventually, they were crowded to capacity. The last few times we went, it was so crowded, it was impossible to find a seat. We ended up having to stand and eat outside, with 2 kids.

We loved it so much, we didn't want to give up, and figured we would get their earlier to ensure we had a seat. What bothered me at the time though, was that they continued selling tickets to the buffet, even when they knew they had no more seats. We got their earlier, and asked if they would not allow us to check for seating beforehand, because we did not want to stand outside with our two kids eating on the sidewalk.

Despite being longtime customers, the older gentlemen at the door refused. We had driven in traffic to get there, and our kids were hungry, so we decided to go anyway, and hoped for the best. We didn't want to leave frustrated, or hungry. Unfortunately, once gain, we were without a seat. You would think that they would stop selling tickets to the buffet once they were full, but sadly, they didn't. Fortunately, about 20 minutes later, we were able to get a seat from someone that was leaving.

When we finished, my wife and I looked at each other, and we both knew it was the last time we would go there again. That final time was it for us. We love supporting small businesses; especially ones that sell such excellent vegetarian food. But unfortunately, they do not have the space to keep up with demand, and don't like to admit that to themselves, or their longtime paying customers. I know other's who stopped going for the same reasons that we did.

Despite having such a bad experience at the end, I am being generous and giving them 3 stars for all the great meals we had there. Had this happened anywhere else, we would have probably given...