Go Zen

Ah ! Veggie Paradise has closed down! There is a new vegan restaurant in its place called «go zen». Have they closed down completely or are they opening up in a new location?
When did they close? This used to be one of our favorite restaurants!

I’ve been here so many times having dated a religiously pushy Vegan and partially having lived the lifestyle for months. VP2 is Vegan cuisine with a soylful asian twist. They serve alot of Chinese style dishes (like chicken and broccoli) soy based with soulful edge.
The ambiance lacks here. Alot of reds and black.
The size of the restaurant loses the 5^th star for me. Typical of West Village resturants but this place is crammed. I believe we visited once for Dim Sum because my Ex loved their dumplings. I ordered the Soul Nuggets with a vegetable mix of carrots and bok choy. Very flavorful but simple. I prefer Red Bamboo ’ s menu but VP2 is a nice little spin on Chinese style vegan meals.
What I have learned about vegetarian meals is that they fill you up alot faster with more wholesome content. When on the West Siiiiiide give V2 a try.

Went here for a dinner with a lot of others.
I wouldn’t recommend sitting in back as there is an occasional heavy smell from the bathroom. It’s assumed but something should be fixed back there.
Had one of the «sizzling dishes,» which was «Pressed Bean Curd black mushrooms, Chinese seaweed and mixed vegetables.» I think it was 12.95 which isn’t bad. Large portion of food. The flavor of it was a bit bland outside of the tofu but I didn’t mind for the price. Maybe around 3.4−3.6.
From the appetizers, I tried their soul nuggets as well as their Scallion Pancake. Soul nuggets, as everyone else has noted, taste eerily like chicken and the giant portion size leave it was a solo dish option for an appetizer alone. Highly recommended.
Scallion Pancake was a bit hard compared to normal. I don’t recommend it as much outside of the large portion.
Allagash Witte for ⁶⁄₇ bucks isn’t bad either.
I probably would have given a 3 but those nuggets, oh my.

I like his place better than red bamboo. Both are great, but vegetarian paradise 2 has more authentic Asian food. Red bamboo is more white washed versions of Asian foods.

A surprising discovery. Quite good, actually. The vegetarian chicken was extremely realistic – had the texture of thigh meat. Decent prices.

Best place in all of Manhattan to get Eggplant. I’ve searched high and low — this always ends up being the BEST ever! Service is friendly and fast. I love this place. I’ve ordered other things that were delicious too!

Oh vegetarian’s paradise, you have a new fan! We recently came here for a meet up to celebrate thanksgiving and I was happy to discover that everything on the menu is vegan. Not only that, I was pleasantly surprised with the meal we had here. We had several dishes with mock meat, one that stood out was the paradise turkey dish! It was flavorful, and the texture was uncanny. The accompanying sides were just as good. What really impressed me were the portobello fritters! It was tender inside and extra crispy on the out.
With excellent service, great food, and even better prices I would not hesitate recommending this restaurant to those looking for a great cheat meal ;)

This is one of my favorite vegetarian/​vegan restaurants in the city! Prices are amazing for what you get.
The food is very good and their menu is enormous. Despite the gigantic menu they bring out food very fast.
Everything tastes fresh and I never had a bad dish here.
It’s also perfect for large group (if you make a reservation), but in general I never had to wait for a table.
Desserts come from Red Bamboo next door and vegan threats in Pennsylvania. The peanut butter bomb is my favorite.
The only negative point is that the décor is not very nice…
Be prepared to take home leftovers!

I’ve been going here for at least 20 years. Awesome Vegetarian and Vegan Chinese and American dishes. Soul Nuggets are awesome! Generals Supreme is spicy deelish!
I’ve had a lot of the VEGAN items and I like them all.
Vegans take note to the * for some items that contain dairy.

Vorweg, ich bin kein Vegetarier, aber meine beste Freundin, und sie hatte an diesem Abend das Restaurant ausgesucht.
Der erste Blick auf die Karte offenbart: Soulfood-​Gerichte mit Fleisch-​Ersatz aus Tofu und Soja werden hier serviert, und ich frage mich erneut, warum müssen vegetarische Gerichte eigentlich Fleisch imitieren? Doch dann der erste Bissen, und der ist eine Offenbarung. Der Carnivore in mir ist begeistert, das Essen schmeckt absolut lecker, das Tofu-​Hühnchen wie richtiges Hähnchen, die Beilagen sind auf den Punkt… kurz, es gibt hier am Essen absolut nichts zu bemängeln, nur zu loben. Der Service ist ebenfalls freundlich, schnell und zuvorkommend. Dennoch, einen Stern muss man abziehen: Leute, ab und zu sollte man zwischendurch mal die Restrooms putzen…

VP2 doesn’t quite top Buddha Boddhai in terms of vegetarian Chinese food for me, but it comes pretty close. A door down from its sister veggie spot, Red Bamboo, VP2 is set off from the street with a flight of stairs leading down to a subterranean haven that seems to be well-​loved by the NYU crowd.
I expected the siu mai with soy protein to taste like a boiled-​cabbage version of its shrimp-​stuffed brother that you see on Lazy Susans across Chinatown’s dim sum joints. While the interior was a bit too mushy, I did appreciate the hit of umami and the chewy dough wrapper.
I wilted inside at the size of the pressed bean curd clay pot, but it turned out to be a perfect amount of food, after I had helped myself to my friend’s wonton soup. I liked that the clay pot contained tofu skin, so rarely seen outside of Chinese restaurants, and a good variety of vegetables (zucchini! broccoli! green AND red peppers! even the dreaded carrot slices). The one downside was that the actual tofu chunks were weirdly sour — nothing untoward happened the next day, but the taste was a little off. Anyway, I was uncomfortably stuffed by the end of the meal, to the point that I had to turn down the peanut butter bomb for dessert.
A point to the waiters as well — even though there were only two that night, they were extremely efficient and very helpful with explaining what was in each dish, so that a newcomer or total stranger to an all-​vegetarian place wouldn’t feel intimidated. It’s been some time since I’ve seen waiters so on top of their game and making sure that tables had filled-​up water glasses, bringing food out quickly, and indulging all my questions.
NEXT TIME: peanut butter bomb for sure, soul nuggets, fried wontons

Some of the best vegetarian Chinese food I’ve ever had. We started with the Soul chicken and scallion pancakes. The soul chicken was great with a nice dipping sauce. The pancakes were good, but just a little too dense (huge portion though). For the entrée we had the mango chicken which was awesome. It was served in the mango’s themselves and the «chicken» had a nice texture with a great sauce. Good prices and nice service make this little dive a great spot for lunch or dinner…

Food is still great — this from a non-​vegetarian — but place is more dingy. Seriously, almost half the ceiling light bulbs were burned out. Details! Details!

Honestly this place was terrible. The service was great, but the food was yucky
For and appetizer we got this coconut & cashew wontons, they were actually really good.
For a drink i got this strawberry pineapple drink smoothie. I make & buy smoothies all the time. But never had I gotten a smoothie made with spoiled fruit. I thought maybe my tongue was off, but i asked my friend to try it and she spat it right out. They gave me spoiled fruit to drink… Anyways I didn’t say anything to the waiter because he looked stressed out so i drank my spoiled fruit (not to mention it was 6 $ for a «large» that was half way filled, so i just drank it & accepted the consequences)
Im a vegetarian & this food lacked flavor and the soy based coconut chicken i got was absolutely repulsive. It looked beautiful and i was so excited to try it but then i tasted it and I couldn’t take another bite. There was sliced pineapple between each slice of tofu, the pineapple also tasted spoiled.
My friend got the «beef» teriyaki … I tasted it, it was thinly sliced tofu in soy sauce. The vegetables that accompanied this «food» was very good however. Still no seasoning, but anything beats that salty squishy tofu.
We took our food in doggie bags and ran out of there.
I honestly don’t understand the good reviews. This place was awful to me.

Great place that really caters to a variety of vegetarian taste palettes. You can order everything from soul nuggets and collard greens to shanghai «pork» buns and sizzling Mongolian «beef», and also a Jackie Chan which is fresh juice with fruits and veggies.
Definitely one of my go-​to spots for vegetarian food followed by a night out around the neighborhood (full of bars, live music, hookah lounges and comedy shows).

This is truly a paradise for any vegan or vegetarian. I’m amazed at how cheap their food is while still being of such high quality.
The Peanut Butter Bomb is divine.

Very similar to Red Bamboo next door but just not the same. Menu items were less exciting and there was no ambiance. Literally no one is ever in here. Teapot came out cold once filled with only water. Portion are okay though.

Food was ok. Best was the BBQ spicy wings. Tempted to try other apps. Had the Paella with everything in it like, Crab, Shrimp, beef, scallops and some veggies on top of «yellow rice» but it was actually white rice with soy sauce and consisted mostly of beef and about 2 slices of shrimp. Just okay… I like Red Bamboos shrimp better. Staff was very few. 2 people from what I saw but people werr starting to slowly leave.
Bathrooms were gross.

Yuca fries!!!
I come here way too often, and I do prefer it over red bamboo, which, don’t get me wrong is great, but they don’thave the Yuca…

Old favorite of mine… From the days at Rikers… Took my babe here tonight… Well met her there. Not like I remembered.. Server must have been new as she could answer simple questions like what’s the portion size and had to go check if certain foods were being served.
At least 3 items on the menu that weren’t specialty items were not being served — again bizarre as no explanation.
Food was ok. Still in love with the curry roles and sol chicken nuggets. Had the mangolia pepper steak — new to new and great.
The server was saved by the delivery boy who could answer more questions and knew more about the menu then she did.
I would definitively go back… Ordered curry rolls to take with me… Overall price I think was a bit much. But hey we in NYC.

Better food for a better price. Their service was friendly and efficient and this place was packed when we got there on a Thursday night.
Even though we live a couple train rides away, we are regulars here! I can’t get enough of their soul chicken nuggets! Their smoothies are to die for, and desserts… let’s just say it’s the «cherry on top»!
There are a couple other vegan/​vegetarian places close by that get a lot of customers for their ambiance, but with their tiny portions, Vegetarian Paradise has better food and bigger portions! My partner is a meat eater (and very proud of it) and he even asks to come here! Their «chicken» pleases his palate, even for a carnivore!
Get their groupon deal and check this place out. It’ll make you a regular!

«Paradise» is an understatement when it comes to VP2’s «Soul Nuggets». From texture to taste to appearance this place has cornered the market of imitation meats down to the «T».
I have tried several dishes here, and will highlight each:
+ Stuffed Lychee — Lychee stuffed with sweet chili sauce and imitation chicken. These have an obvious sweet note, backed by a spicy kick and a firmness from the chicken that offers a solid backbone to a tasty appetizer.
+ Sizzling Steak with Yuca Fries — Thin steak grilled to perfection (in my opinion) that comes out literally sizzling, with seasoning and vegetables plus a side of yuca fries that are to die for.
+ Sizzling Steak in Black Bean Sauce — Above, minus the yuca fries, this one comes with potato wedges and a delicious peppered black bean sauce.
+ Soul Nuggets — Pretty much just heaven on earth disguised as the best thing you will ever allow entrance to your mouth.
+ Jerk Chicken — Chicken patties smothered in Carribean Jerk seasoning, a little spicy (though something even the mildest of palates can withstand) with garlic mashed potatoes. Amazing.
I have tried several other things here, but I imagine you can pretty much just figure that this is the spot to go for vegetarians (they also have vegan options!) or even the heartiest of meat-​eaters. You do NOT have to be vegetarian to enjoy this paradise.