Cinnamon Vegetarian Restaurant

Love this place! Super fresh food!!! Found parking no problem (rush hour) food was great!!! Cactus juice was so light and delicious. And Vegan tamales!!! Heaven! Wish I knew about this hidden gem sooner!!!

I love this place. Vegan food all over the place! Vegan cheese. I want this place to be successful.

Sadly, Cinnamon Vegetarian Restaurant has closed its doors for good.
Adiós Amigos!

I love Mexican food and it’s hard to get vegetarian Mexican, unless you make it yourself. So I was excited to find this place, been there twice to finally come to the conclusion that the food that has «mock meat» doesn’t taste wholesome — they are bland and just not satisfying. The mock beef was plastic-​like, the mock chicken was not impressive.
Sigh. But since I don’t know another Mexican vegetarian place, I’ll come again and try something else.

I love this place the food is great all of it! And it’s really healthy not too salty like other restaurants.

Sigh. Cinnamon, I just don’t know what to do with you.
Okay, their salsa is orange and it is phenomenal.
But like… idk. I just don’t get what to say sometimes. I was so excited this place stayed open and didn’t have to close down. That way my veg friends can get some pretty legit Mexi grub. But at the same time, everytime I eat here their food just ends up being kind of meh. Although, I will say, I was very impressed with their mole. The mole sauce here is really good, but the fake meat chicken was like… bouncy. I can’t even describe it.
I think it’s partially my fault for being a meat eater at a veg establishment.
I will give 3 stars however for their spotty service. Service here is either perfect or horrible.

Many great things about this cute place. All vegetarian Mexican, big servings, some non vegan items. Very nice service. Good prices. Fun diverse menu. Creative Mexican twist to the vegetarian shrimp cocktail. Liked the vegetarian salmon dish quite a lot. The veg chicken mole was ok, decent mole sauce with large serving of beans and rice. Vegetables were not fresh. Beverages were good and fresh, enjoyed the cactus in the vegetables juice. Great veg carnitas tacos. We were the only customers in there on a Saturday night. I would return but did I hear they are closing?

I wish that I could write a more positive review of this place, but I swung through on my last visit to Highland Park. Why they decided to open a vegetarian Mexican restaurant in the heart of north east L.A. is beyond me.
I ordered their empanadas al la vegetariano and a veggie tamales. They were not bad, in fact tasted fairly good. What I was most amazed by was the time it took to get my order. I was the only one there on a Sunday afternoon and I did not get my food for what seemed like forever.
Their chips were bagged and the salsa was rather bland and watery.
The restaurant is clean and well appointed and the two people working there seemed nice enough though they did not say a word to me. Way too low key of place for me especially for a Mexican place.
I do applaud the fact that they are truly vegetarian and I hope they use all organic ingredients but as far as Mexican food goes, I give them 3 stars. 5 stars for trying to be different and healthy and 2 stars for speedy service.
One lethargic hoot.
Hooo

I visited for the first time today, since I was in the neighborhood. I asked the guy who helped me what he likes on the menu. He told me the carnitas, so I went with that.
It was SO good! It reminds me of this dish my mom makes, except with real meat, so it was comforting for me. I also ordered a horchata to go, and I finished it by the time I got back to work. I wish they would offer more agua frescas, but they’ve got loads of different smoothies, so it’s hard to complain!
Looking forward to a return to try more of their offerings.

I was excited to eat here after reading all of the rave reviews, but was extremely disappointed. I was the first one there, and I decided to order the pozole. I have made pozole for myself before and enjoyed the chili soup so thought this was a sure bet. I got the food on time, but it was absolutely tasteless.
It tasted like water. There was menudo and soy beef but it completely lacked any flavor.
The plate of vegetables and garnish were not fresh and the cabbage was wilted.
I waited 25 minutes to get a check. The woman who was running the place was a very sweet old woman and I feel bad about reviewing this place so negatively, but the food was less than subpar. It was the worst food I have ever had. I think canned pozole is better than this.
I paid 8.00– and it was such a waste of money.

I’m DELIGHTED to inform the Unilocal community that Cinnamon is NO LONGER expected to close its doors!
Go Unilocalers! You all made a difference and kept this place alive. Good work.

I’ve been here a few times over the past couple of years and hadn’t been for a bit. So this last time I went in a party of two on a Wednesday evening.
I remembered the service being better before but this time it was just completely disorganized and inattentive. The only parking is on the street at a meter so timeliness becomes even more important but they were really slow. Due to this I was worried the whole time about if we’d need to feed the meter again or if it would run out while waiting for everything. There were only three couples in the place the whole time so it wasn’t busy.
We were waited on by two different people at various times and this led to us being asked the same questions more than once as if there was no communication between the front and back. At one point there were two kids (family of the owners I presume) who awkwardly stared at us while we ordered. They were standing at our table with the guy who took the order. It was a little weird.
At one point during our meal, one of the kids was sitting at a table in the back playing a game which was making a repeated loud noise. Not that the noise really bothered me much, but in reality it was tacky.
This is a restaurant, not a childcare facility.
As for the food, it’s fairly bland. It’s great to have a vegetarian option in the area and I think conceptually they’re really onto something but the execution is lacking. The prices are relatively par for the course.
On the plus side, they have free wifi!

This is a charming family owned place with a very kind staff. I’m a big fan of classic Mexican dishes, and starting to lean more and more in a vegetarian direction. It’s not often you can fulfill both interests at the same time, but you can do that at Cinnamon. Since I live in the neighborhood, I can avoid the tricky street parking by walking to the restaurant. If you do public transportation, it’s only a couple of blocks from the Highland Park Gold Line station.
I really enjoyed their «chicken» mole, my girlfriend liked the pozole, and I’m looking forward to trying out more of their quite low-​priced menu. I’d like to see them bring out some fresher, more flavorful salsa with the chips, and the seasoning of their dishes seems to lean a little mild. Next time I go, I’ll ask for whatever I order to be on the spicier side of the street and see what happens.
I disagree with the recent review calling this a «sketchy» part of town. Of course, I live here, and I’m someone who finds the more bougie scenes in LA kinda «sketchy» for their own reasons. There’s some poor people living here, but, you know, welcome to the United States, there’s poor people all over this country! I find this to be a friendly and peaceful community.

Meh, this place is OK, but nothing at all spectacular or worth returning.
I’ve been here twice now and both times have had the same experience…
Their food is alright, nothing spectacular or that I couldn’t just make on my own at home.
Salsa had no kick, chips were generic, the employees needed a smile and it’s street parking…
Being vegetarian doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor! Someone give these people some pepper and spice!

Before reading know that I was not offended by this place. The service wasn’t good but it didn’t upset me. What gives this restaurant a 1 star review is the fact that the food is exceedingly bland. Only purpose of writing this review is to confirm your fears, or possibly if the staff is reading to inform you that JUST BECAUSE WE ARE VEGETARIAN DOESN’T MEAN WE HAVE NO SENSE OF TASTE.
It is blowing my mind that I’m seeing so many great reviews here.
The food looked great. The first red flag was the tortilla chips. Yellow coarse «generic tostito» syle. Which is fine if you are bringing it with some wicked salsa, which was NOT happening here. Flat, tasteless and almost colorless dried chili + water salsa.
Chicken Mole — This main dish had some flavor, probably from the mole paste used, the tofu chicken itself was soft with a salty taste that didn’t have any real evidence of flavor outside of watery salt flavor. The spanish rice was cooked well, but had absolutely no flavor. Color, Peas, Carrots, no fucking flavor. Black beans, straight out the can possibly 5 mins on the stove… MAYBE half of a clove of garlic was cut up in this bad boy… other than a hint of garlic, nothing.
So, recap, main dish is a salty piece of tofu (with skin) with sweet sauce (which is good) with flavorless rice & canned beans.
Pozole. Red water with flavorless corn kernels and flavorless meat. I mistakenly added a little mexi oregano into this broth. Since there was absolutely no flavor in the broth, the entire dish became the flavor of stale bulk ditch oregano. After a few more bites (taken only in disbelief of the raw vacuum of flavor) I gave up. Added some salt, then it tasted like oregano and salt. OOF. How did they get it to turn red? Watercolor?
Carnitas Sope. the crust was good. a little heavy but a sturdy sope shell nonetheless. The carnitas, same salty nothingness void of all flavor imagineable. Looked good. Topped with shredded lettuce and a fake guacamole. Took a couple bites. Did one where I just tasted the guac on top… Nothing. Just water based green colored paste. Not even salt. Just nothing.
I am vegetarian and I cook mexican food, mainly soups, all the fucking time. It is very very very easy to pump tons of flavor into soup. Oils, peppers, roasted tomatoes… bay leaves… jesus christ please help the staff of the Cinnamon.
We determined that the staff is most likely not vegetarian, and actually highly likely to not taste the food.
Go anywhere else but here for vegetarian mexican food. Even a fucking taco truck will hook up something better than this place. Any day, any time. Good lawrd.

This place lets me have my favorite Mexican meals, and still be vegetarian! I knew it was possible, I just needed to find this place :)
A friend recommended this restaurant and all it took for me to go here was hearing the words «Vegetarian» and «POZOLE» in the same sentence!
I am so thankful to have found this place. Obviously, I had the pozole and was very very pleased. I could have done with a little less of the «meat» in it, but the flavor of the soup could fool anyone! The waitress brought out a tray with all the toppings I love — lettuce, radishes, lime, etc.
my boyfriend (who is not vegetarian) had the carnitas sopes and really enjoyed them. although they are in the appetizers section, they are regular size and you get 2 with your order, which is a good amount of food.
there are so many things on the menu that I can’t wait to try and prices are good too!

To the dude who walked by, pushed over the sandwich board on the sidewalk, then flipped the restaurant off: Wow. You sure showed THEM. I hope your friends were super impressed by your badassery, I sure was. I long to be your baby mama.
What, review the restaurant? It’s so difficult to think when my loins are aflame with passion for a jackass I shall never see again.
Oh fine. So, Cinnamon was empty when Marc C. and I walked in, meaning we could sit anywhere we wanted. The restaurant filled up while we were there.
Much like Andrea D., my non-​meat-​eating self rarely gets Mexican food, due to the meatiness and lardiness of typical/​traditional Mexican fare, so it was a real treat getting to order anything on the menu. And bizarre to be asking for steak fajitas for the first time in almost 20 years.
Less than $ 10 for a big plate of fajitas, rice, beans, and tortillas, more than I could eat. I thought the fajitas were missing just a little something, but I put some of the salsa from the complimentary chips and salsa on, and that fixed it. Marc and I split the fries, which were more like wedges, and had big crispy pieces of fried potato skin included, too. Marc and I are suckers for dessert, so we split the pumpkin pie; it tasted good, but the consistency was odd, somehow a little gummy or springy. There was a bit of coconut cream on top, which complimented the pumpkin, but also half a maraschino cherry, which was just weird.
I will absolutely be going back soon.

In search of animal-​friendly cuisine, my boyfriend and I landed here, the Mexican vegetarian restaurant, Cinnamon. We asked the waitress what kind of oil they used if not lard? She replied, «Olive oil.» My misgivings started there because while olive oil is yummy, it doesn’t have a high burn rate, unlike coconut oil or ghee…
We started with an appetizer of Potato Taquitos — they came out nice and hot, which was to be expected. I ordered the Pozole
with a side of Spanish Rice, while he ordered the Marinated Chicken
. Perhaps I ordered the wrong item, but my food was really bland. I mean, REALLY bland, i.e., I added a bunch of salt, and about 6 squeezed limes.
Parking was easy on the street (meters) but then again, it was a Sunday evening…
Not impressed, nor inspired, and unsure if I want to give this restaurant a second chance.

It was a first for me to see a Mexican restaurant with such a cute name but then again this was the first time my friends and I have dined at a vegetarian restaurant of such cuisine. The four of us were able to beat the dinner crowd by arriving early and the interior was spacious, moderately lit, airy, and vertically shaped with an open kitchen to the right that faced a row of tables stacked against the wall. This restaurant specializes in soy based dishes and uses mole and other sauces as the baseline enhancers to bring about its flavors. We were all super hungry so we decided to share an appetizer and a cheese tamal in addition to our individualized entrée.
At the server’s suggestions, we ordered the Grand Cocktail ($ 8) which comes with sweet avocado, mushrooms, tomatoes, cilantro, cucumber and vegetarian shrimps. The ingredients were chopped into large chunks which held onto our baskets of chips quite well, but the overall taste was sweeter than expected and very bland until we started to layer spoons of complimentary spicy salsa on top. The shrimps looked so real that my vegetarian friends decided not to eat it, and I thought the presence of mushrooms was awkward and didn’t add anything to the overall taste.
The Cheese Tamal ($ 3) was expensive but the best item of the night. The corn that was used was fresh and sweet with a wonderful thick texture and loads of stringy cheeses and poblano peppers to give a savory kick. The Tamal also came with a delicious green sauce at the top and we all tasted the wow factor and agreed this item is a must get.
My entrée, Chicken Tamal ($ 8.25) was covered with a red sauce and served with Spanish rice and black beans. The soy based chicken was too few at the core and the red sauce was mediocre compared to the green sauce that was mentioned above. The sides of black beans and rice were good, and my friends’ dishes that came without soy meat turned out quite delicious. The Enchiladas in Green Sauce ($ 8.95) had perfect texture with a good amount of cheese while the Vegetable Tamal ($ 8.25) and Cactus with Tofu ($ 10. 95) were also off the hook. Other reviewers seemed to have positive experiences with carnitas and other soy meat items, but interested diners should consider skipping the soy chicken dishes and focus on the cheese and vegetable dishes instead.
Service is slow and inattentive. We had to take turns to get up several times to ask for additional chips and salsa and it took forever for us to finally settle the bill. Otherwise, I thought there were some hits and misses with notable highlights from items that either came with a green sauce and/​or without soy meat. I would only return if I’m in the area. 3 stars for a decent meal with a few bright spots embedded.

The food here is so good and the service as well.
The head chef lady, Esperanza was so nice. She constantly checked up on us and even gave us samples of her tea (that she makes herself) and a free slice of key lime pie (which was to die for). Most people are saying that the service is bad, I don’t think they they could be talking about her. I saw her waiting other tables and everyone seemed happy and taken care of.
The food tasted exactly the way I remembered it to when I was a meat eater. Im so glad I found this place, I will be coming here on a monthly basis. Every vegan has to try this place!