Green Earth Vegan Cuisine

Was visiting Ottawa from Philadelphia to catch a Sens game (they lost, business as usual) and had lunch at Green Earth. We were a little disappointed to find out the buffet wasn’t available, but the lunch menu offered enough choices to keep us happy. We both really enjoyed our lunch and even ordered a banana split for dessert which was extra tasty. If we ever venture back to the frozenness that is Canada, we’ll be back to Green Earth.

I’ve been eating at this place pretty regularly for about 2 years and I can honestly say that the food is great! It’s tasty and super healthy — a rare combination. I’m a vegetarian so my opinion probably doesn’t carry much weight with some, but my boyfriend is a meat eater and he also loves this place.
We regularly order takeout from here because it’s delicious but I also have zero guilt for eating out because of how carefully prepared (healthiest options) the food is. My personal favourite is the Rotisserie — great taste and texture. My boyfriend has tried a bunch of things and liked everything he’s had (curry, chow mein, lemongrass tofu… can’t remember any others off hand).
On top of good food, the service is always really friendly and the restaurant is super clean. You can’t really ask for more from a restaurant.

I’ve been to Green Earth a few times. It’s close to my yoga studio where I practice with my vegetarian friend, so we have gone here a few times for lunch. I’ve only ordered from the menu previously and have been pleasantly surprised with the taste, quality and price of the lemongrass tofu. I like that it’s served w/​brown rice and it’s so good that I always end up going back to it. My friend is the same with the BBQ tofu which is also deliciously tasty.
My first negative experience with GE was with their buffet last week. I went on a Thursday around 12:30 with a small group (6) of colleagues. We were in training that day and had exactly one hour for lunch. We figured a buffet would be a good idea as we wouldn’t have to wait for food to be prepped in the kitchen. Sadly, we were mistaken.
Upon arrival, most of us helped ourselves to a bowl of Tom Yum soup which was delicious. Hot, full of vegetables and perfectly spiced. When we returned to the buffet for our main course, all that was there was a rice cooker full of rice, several slices of watermelon and some french fries. All of the other stations were completely empty and the restaurant was only 25% full (at most!). We approached the server to inquire about the wait for the dishes and she left to check with the kitchen. A good 5 minutes passed before she returned with more fries… food slowly trickled out, but each dish was brought out individually, then 5 minutes would pass before another came out. Several items didn’t appear at all.
It was beyond disappointing and frustrating that at 12:30pm on a Thursday afternoon in a restaurant less than half full that this was the pace of food replenishment. Even more annoying was that the serving containers were barely half full when they came from the kitchen. I can understand wanting to minimize food waste, but this was crazy.
The food itself was good — tasty and fresh and the price is beyond reasonable, but it would have been nice to have several flavors on my plate at once. Instead I took probably 5 trips to get the equivalent of one plate of food.
Needless to say, our lunch went well beyond the hour and we all left a little annoyed. Staff was friendly, but not particularly accommodating.
I’ll return for the a la carte menu, but wouldn’t bother again with the buffet.

We were on the hunt for good vegetarian and discovered our original choice was closed so we headed over to Little Italy for Green Earth.
I have to say I was really impressed. When we first got there it was unclear if they were open or not. Once the server noticed us all was good.
We were seated and ordered quickly. They have a huge menu. Most of the items can be made gluten free and they even have some soy free items for people with a soy allergy.
I ordered the spicy Lemongrass Tofu and was really impressed. The food came quickly and was really flavourful. It was served with tomato, lettuce and cucumber. Along with a bit of rice.
It wasn’t super spicy which was nice. I was expecting very hot, but it was really flavourful so that was great.
Our server was really attentive and lovely and the service was really great.
I’d say it’s going on my «I’m going back» list. The food was tasty, the price was right and I was happy!

The lunch buffet lacks consistency from day to day. I believe a different chef cooks every day. The best day is Friday. Service is good, although the food trays empty fast and are not refilled with great haste. The food is OK, but it lacks seasoning. If you enjoy bland food, you’ll love the Green Earth.

I came to this restaurant, a little skeptical of what I was going to find. Going for lunch with my vegan best friend was a little scary, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The affordable lunch buffet was tasty and didn’t taste like what I was expecting. The flavours were enough to make me a fan of this place. I wouldn’t hesitate to go back, even without my vegan/​vegetarian friends.

Green Earth is a restaurant on Preston street, in Ottawa’s Little Italy. It’s family owned and offers a mostly vegan menu. Organic ingredients are used whenever possible. Dishes range from 8 to 12 $ a plate.
The restaurant is decorate with tacky art and various religious posters. Some people take issue with issue with the fact that they’re affiliated with a religious organisation, suma ching hai. If you google them, the discussion even describes the religion as a cult. I take no opinion on this matter and chose to evaluate the food rather than the politics of Green Earth.
The menu seems disjointed, offering vegan Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and «Canadian style» food. When asked about the menu, I generally describe it as «mostly Asian-​fusion».
I’ve had a chance to try about half a dozen dishes on the menu. They all shared one thing in common, they were all bland. Despite promises of healthy, fresh ingredients, everything kind of tasted like flavorless tofu with various uninspired sauces. I was so disappointed with the food that I avoided desert all together. I’ve tried to give them multiple «second chances», but the food is always blah at best.

I give this 4 stars because the food is great, the menu is extensive and the price is very fair.
The dining lounge is sub-​par overall though. I don’t think they serve liquor. Clearly these two particulars bring the star rating down a notch.
But hey, it’s the various menu choices that really do it for me here. Oh, and desert choices and/​or good smoothies don’t hurt either. I don’t think this place sees the volume of business it should.
I hear they have a good lunch buffet. I assume the price on that is also very fair as i do find the cost of this restaurant quite reasonable.

Nice clean restaurant and reasonable presentation.
Unfortunately, the four dishes we tried were all very bland and devoid of character. The attempt at mock meat was weak without looking, tasting, or feeling like the meat it meant to simulate.
Service was friendly but poor. I received and finished my appetizer before my date received her soup. Entrees were also served separately.

Almost everything here is vegan. The items on the menu that are not vegan are clearly marked. The menu is pretty extensive and a lot of the dishes are Asian-​inspired (although you will also find some Mexican and a few varieties of veggie burgers).
I work across the street from this place and each week day they have a lunch buffet from 11 – 2 which I’ve gotten ‘to go’ a few times. Everything on the buffet has been delicious, usually it is mainly the Asian-​type dishes. Sometimes there is a curry. I think the lunch buffet is $ 11 or something like that.
Staff is usually pretty friendly.

My girlfriend (the vegetarian) and I decided to check out this restaurant for lunch after being given their pamphlet menu. Arriving, it appeared tiny, but is much larger on the inside. The décor is nice — while we were playing there was an eclectic mix of music playing in the background, and the staff were friendly. Service was a little slow, but we were told the head chef had been sent home sick (and really, I’d rather have slow service than a meal cooked by a sick chef).
The menu at Green Earth is huge. They’ve got a dizzying array of appetizers, entrées, house specials, etc, and dishes based on a variety of cultures, rather than picking one only. I had a mixed vegetable dish, and my girlfriend had a fajita, and both were quite good. Prices were quite reasonable, too.
Overall, an excellent lunch experience.