Veggie Garden Restaurant

Really good. I was so pleased to find fresh high quality cooking at a reasonable price. Admittedly, the area doesn’t look so nice but it is quiet and clean inside (I LOVE that they don’t play music, it’s nice to eat in quiet!)
I had a veggies/​chicken entrée with rice and coconut water. Served fast, cooked perfectly.

Veggie garden is awesome. The food is fresh, fast and super affordable. If you are a vegetarian you NEED to eat here. Do it today!!! You will not be disappointed. The lemon chicken is my favourite dish it is so juicy and wonderful. The only downside to this restaurant is that it is in a super shady area. They frequently leave their door locked when they are open (but are super quick in coming to let you in!). For this reason I prefer ordering take out. Veggie Garden PLEASE PLEASE move to a different location. I would love to visit you more often :(

This restaurant only takes MasterCard, not VISA, which is probably important information in our card carrying society. It does take debit which is rather useful. It’s a tiny little place and I’ve had fond memories of it for years so when I visited recently I was happy with my experience and my return to good memories of their food even if I did have to play the cilantro avoidance game (note that if you hate cilantro as much as I do they have cilantro cakes here rather than green onion cakes! — of course if you like cilantro, you might find these awesome!).
All their food is affordably priced, provided in good sized portions and vegetarian. The diversity of the menu is extensive and while I know that nearly anything I ordered would be good I had a hard time choosing just one dish, and so I had a couple of dishes rather than just one for my dinner.
The one thing that one might find a bit odd is that although they’re open during their operational hours, their front door is often locked to prevent the entrance of too many non-​customer visitors. Be sure to knock loudly to gain entrance. The staff members are really helpful and I know that this is a frequent haunt for many who eat out in this area. Quite honestly it’s a great little place, even if the neighborhood is a bit sketchy from appearance.

After much procrastination, my husband and I finally made it here today.
It’s location makes it a bit difficult to find but once you walk in it is a cute place!
We went just after the lunch rush so it was very quiet. Our server was attentive, helpful, and kind.
We love how basically every item on the menu is vegan except for two. We both ordered #23, which is the vermicelli bowl, since you get a little bit everything– You will not be disappointed!
If you are looking for an affordable place to get delicious Chinese/​Vietnamese food, this is it!

Yeah but I really can’t believe it’s not real shrimp and vermicelli I think it’s worth the price since we don’t get this at all Edmonton. It really lean

So it’s vegetarian, but they are so well versed in making meat style dishes that the substitutes they put in are almost identical to the real thing. My girlfriend could not believe that what she was eating wasn’t actual meat. The prices are some of the best I have seen anywhere in Edmonton, and what you get for those low prices is beyond belief! Not only this, but the service is phenomenal, and super friendly.

I love this place. Come here. Eat here. This place is why I love being vegetarian. There, I said it. It’s cheap and amazing.
It’s quaint, with little papers telling you that you should be vegetarian. The owner/​staff are so adorable, friendly, and helpful. I’ve been here a couple times and I adore everything they have. I love the green cilantro cakes, lemon chicken, deep fried wontons (my personal favourite!)
I’m not super into the coconut rice that everyone loves, so I just avoid that. It’s just a tad too creamy and heavy for me. I love everything else. It’s also touching how generous with their tea they are. We got so many refills that the lady suggested she replace our tea leaves. Thank you for the lovely and attentive service.

I love this place! All the soups are awesome, especially the tom yum. The vermicelli bowl #23 is so good, better than the meat version, and I’m not a vegetarian. And I always crave their salty & crispy shiitake mushrooms. If you order the mushrooms, make sure to ask for some vermicelli sauce to dip them in. It’s such a good combo!
Every time me and my wife go, we have a feast and then are always surprised by how cheap it is. I don’t think the bill has ever been over $ 30. But one of the best things about this place is how nice and cute the owners are!

Nice friendly staff. Food is ok not more than that… Real food are pretty good… False (pretend) food made from soy are not so good… Why making some (pretend) food in the first place??? To salty and to sugary overhall… Ok but surely not a 4 ½ stars…

Great veggie option with interesting ‘meats’. The phó was quite nice, but the cilantro cakes were outstanding

Tucked into an older strip mall just north of downtown, Veggie Garden is such a hidden gem. This all-​vegetarian restaurant is sort of a Vietnamese version of Padmanadi (one of the more popular veggie restaurants in town).
One of my favourite restaurants in town, you can’t beat the prices (low low low, even after they recently raised them a pinch). The ladies who run it are adorable and so nice. Once, we accidentally showed up before they were open, and they let us in and served us while they set up for the day.
Highly recommended are the vermicelli bowls (I love the #23, which has veggie versions of chicken, beef, *and* shrimp. You can order different combinations of these.) The chicken is so good, it keeps me up at night. I also love the fried rice.
Rumour had it recently on social media that this business has been struggling a bit financially, so everyone should go there and support the wonderful people behind Veggie Garden. There’s parking right out front, and no excuse not to.

Tasty, delicious, cheap food here! Highly recommended, even though it’s in a very rough area of the city…

Being vegetarian for years and years, finding a restaurant that not only accommodates my dietary needs, but fulfills my inner foodie, is difficult, at best.
Not only could I order anything on the menu, the selection was overwhelming, but the variety of dishes was impressive.
We ordered basically everything our family wanted, and then some extras just in case. The sweet lady running the front seats you, takes your order, serves you and takes the monies. She does it all, and is polite and efficient. I’ve never stayed in, only ordered out, and been amazed that she is running the thing by herself!
Ordered one item in particular, it was an egg noodle with veggie ham and was served in a broth. It was a ramen of my dreams. This place is so underutilized, i wish they were better known. Time to go exploring in crack town, but it is worth the adventure, and check this place out.
Worth the drive and the money. I may consider dining there next time just to see if anything changes, like portion sizes or garnishes.

We got take-​out from here tonight, first time in nearly a year I think — so I could not think of what to have, off the top of my head and then choosing what to order took me quite a long time… there might be too much choice for me in an all-​veggie restaurant, when I’m so used to being in places that restrict me to only a couple.
Everything tasted fresh and seemed carefully prepared. Service up front was very friendly, and accommodating. Despite the shabby exterior and the rough neighbourhood, the dining room was very clean and tidy — not exceptionally decorated, but I appreciate how clean it is, the seating is cozy enough, furniture is quite new, and I love all the plants.
We ordered 4 entrees, a soup and two appies to split between two adults and a tween, and we will obviously have mountains of leftovers for tomorrow — our bill came to just over $ 50, very reasonable for the amount of food we got.
I absolutely loved all of the entrees, I was not overly keen on the deep fried wontons, but that might be more of a matter of personal taste than any fault of the way the wontons were made… they are just nothing like the pork ones I had when I was growing up.

For the sake of follow-​up I’d like to add that two years later I still love this place and eat here on the regular. The owners are fantastic and the food has been consistently amazing. Hot & Salty Tofu, tom yum vermicelli soup, cilantro cakes and chicken vermicelli bowl are my faves!

I grew up eating Vietnamese food, and unfortunately this isn’t real Vietnamese food. The owners are Vietnamese though. I had the lemon grass chicken Vermicelli and my boyfriend had the beef one, both were imitation meat, of course. The imitation meat was pretty good, but the sauce was not a traditional Vietnamese «vinegar and fish sauce». Also the vegetables weren’t pickled and the variety of herbs that come with Vietnamese dishes were also missing.

I’m not sure how I’ve managed to go this long without reviewing my favourite restaurant. I make a point to stop by here every time I visit Edmonton and I’m constantly gushing about it to anyone who will listen.
Veggie Garden is tucked away on a side street in Edmonton’s China Town. Don’t let the somewhat grungy exterior of the neighbourhood fool you, this restaurant is a hidden gem.
While the décor is somewhat strange and eclectic, the service here is always fantastic. The same woman has served my table every time I have eaten here. It is a true family-​run business.
The lemon chicken is an absolute must for anyone eating here. Normally I shy away from faux-​meat products but this tastes just like the real thing. I also recommend any of their vermicelli bowls and green onion cakes. Deeeeelicious.
Not only is everything here vegetarian, it’s also some of the best tasting food I’ve ever eaten. I can’t wait for my next trip back to Edmonton!

Last night was my second opportunity to enjoy some eats from Veggie Garden! The first time I visited this restaurant was last year. This spot was initially tricky to find, although I suppose you could use the homeless shelter as a landmark. Seriously, this little area of downtown appears like an episode of The Walking Dead– all the creepy barbed wire fences and people mindlessly crossing the street without watching where they’re going…
Anyways, the first time we visited, we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time. Service was attentive and lovely. Seriously so friendly. Everything we ordered was delicious, though a bit of a blur to me now.
Last night, while in disbelief that my other half hadn’t tried Veggie Garden yet as we are huge fans of Pads and Loma, I decided we would have take out. It was a rainy drizzly day, and to be honest the location leaves a lot to be desired (including parking at the time). We picked up some vegan lemon chicken, tofu curry, coconut rice, and cilantro cakes. AHHHH EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD. While the tofu curry wasn’t the best I’ve had ever, we loved all the bamboo shoots included. The cilantro cakes are totally unreal. I just wish they came with something to dip them in, as I found myself alternating between the yellow curry sauce and lemon glaze. Our entire meal came to under $ 30!

I love Vietnamese cuisine: it’s healthy and refreshing; usually non-​greasy. I’ve been here twice within the span of a year; the first time I was here, I had one of their vermicelli bowls. (So good!) The second time was a very cold day, so I had Phở.
For appetizers, we shared salad rolls; the peanut sauce had a nice kick and complemented the salad rolls really well. The Tom Yam Phở was very spicy, according to my cousin who is a strict vegetarian. She enjoyed it a lot as it was very delicious. I had the mock chicken Phở; the broth was very light and refreshing. Of course, vegetarian Hoi Sin sauce (made from mushrooms) was a really yummy condiment with the tofu in my noodle soup. $ 6.99 for a bowl of noodle soup (Phở) is really good value.
It’s very hard for me to take vegetarian friends/​family to Vietnamese restaurants as most would put fish sauce in almost everything. So, with confidence, Veggie Garden is a restaurant that has been greatly enjoyed by both non-​vegetarians and vegetarians in my family.
So, bring on Meatless Mondays! Definitely give this vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant a try!

Once again, relying solely on the advice of Unilocalers, I’ve ventured (somewhat) to try somewhere new.
The sketchiness of the neighbourhood tempted me to turn around more than once, but I pressed on and found myself in a small restaurant completely alone — as in the only customer, which surprised me a bit after having read the reviews.
And based on sed reviews, I ordered the cilantro cakes, lemon chicken & coconut rice.
I dont normally order chicken at restaurants, as I find more often than not it comes out disappointingly dry, and am certainly not a fan of lemon chicken anyway, but I couldnt just ignore so many rave reviews. My point being: I’m still not a fan of lemon chicken. However, whatever this place is using to substitute chicken is far more tender than most (actual) chicken dishes. I found the sauce to be too sweet — more sugary than lemony — and couldnt finish it all.
The cilantro cakes piqued my initial interest in this place (I LOOOVE cilantro!) and I was a little disappointed. It was a very mild, almost undetectable, flavour.
The coconut rice was the best part of the meal hands down.
The meal was OK, wasnt blown away; am indifferent to returning.