Sage Cafe & Kind Kreme

I absolutely love Kind Kreme. Though I’ve tried a variety of pizzas they have as well as tacos, I am hooked on the Brazilian Burrito. It’s extremely tasty (make sure you order it with MOLE). They have a variety of bowls which I can say are all good. In addition, they have a great variety of vegan ice cream, which many times they change flavors. The staff is great, the place is clean, and I frequent this place often, so I can definitely recommend it. If healthy eating without sacrificing flavor is what you are looking for, try this spot.

Delicious, good prices, good service. Everyone who works there cares and it shows. I love the pay at the counter format. I love the Brazilian Burrito and the eggplant pesto pizza. The jackfruit nachos are a good share plate. Eat here!

Updated ¼/​2016
We gave this place a second chance. We are there this time and the food was actually pretty tasty with no hairs lol. My husband ordered a pizza and it was super delicious. The waitress was nice friendly. I def will come back and try their nice cream.

Really enjoyed this place for a while, but now they have cut down the portion sizes to very small and it is very expensive. $ 12 for a plate of tiny nachos… either increase the portions again or lower the prices. I did enjoy this, but probably won’t come back anymore.

I came in hoping the coconut soft serve would be available but it wasn’t (sad face). BUT Arianna was so sweet, helpful, and sold me on a really great date shake with coconut! It was delicious. Thank you!

The employees were okay. The food was okay as well. Ordered the jackfruit nachos and a pizza. Neither dishes stood out. The flavoring was a bit dull. Overall, nothing was bad.

I honestly expected a lot more from this place. I ordered a soup of the day which was most likely some corn chowder and a Brazilian bowl. Both were heavy and very blunt. My 1 year old actually loved the food so that’s a good indication of how mediocre the taste was. On top of that the cashier seemed very angry and unpleasant, I won’t be coming back.

Sage is one of my favorite healthy places in LA. I come here about once a week for the raw bowl (amazing!) and often have a scoop of the vegan ice cream which is always a treat and doesn’t leave me entirely guilty. Everything I’ve had here has been really good and even my meat loving friends really enjoy this place. The atmosphere isn’t great, it’s kind of café style, but it’ll do and the foods so great who cares? Ive also been to the echo park and culver city locations which have a much more extensive menu and are nicely designed so check them out as well. I usually go to the Pasadena location because it’s biking distance from my house, but for a nice lunch or a date I would recommend one of the other locations over Pasadena. Tip: also try the Brazilian bowl, the BLTA pizza and ask for their habanero sauce if you like spice! PS the menu online is the larger menu at theo other locations, Pasadena has a limited menu which I’ve included pictures of since it’s not posted online.
UPDATE JAN 2016 — I love sage. The food is amazing. The décor is mediocre which is fine, it’s café deli style. I totally am okay with that. But unfortunately they seem consistently under staffed. Tables are often left dirty and you can feel he stress of the girls working. It didn’t help that they took away the bus your own table concept because it’s gotten worse since. Another issue is when I order to go I always have to check because various ingredients sometimes don’t make the dish like avocado, plantains or hot sauce which is a huge bummer of you realize it after the fact. I still really love sage and only write this in hopes that the issues get resolved.

The bowls are good. Food is interesting mixed of vegan and gluten free. There is a lot of variety and it’s organic. Sometimes I do customize my order to remove certain ingredients, but the cashier always seems to get the order wrong no matter how many times I repeat it. Hence, the 3 stars. They need to work on that. I prefer take-​out as to eating in. Overall, good place for take-out…just make sure that you repeat your order to them.

Even my meat eating husband is in love. The jackfruit Nachos are insanely flavorful. He kept saying, «I think this is meat!» Haha! The Brazilian Burrito is really good too. Nothing like fresh coconut water or «The Alkalizer» green juice to wash down a delish meal.

Ordered the BBQ jack fruit sandwich which was delicious, I really liked the roll they used. My gf ordered the California avocado pesto burger which she said was great as well. We ordered over the phone to go and they had it ready about 10 min later when I arrived to pick it up. The cashier Ariana was so friendly and inviting. Great experience all around. Definitely coming back for more food and to try the ice creams!

Website says they open at 11am. I’m excited to try the food here for the first time. I arrive and the worker/​manager tells me they are cleaning and will not be opening until 12. I ask if during regular hours they open at 11am. She says yes, but for today they are not. No apology or a sorry for your inconvenience.
I probably won’t be back if they open and close on a whim despite having posted hours. It’s kind of inconsiderate to customers. Wasted my time and gas to come here.

Everything here is DELICIOUS. Incredibly great tasting and all quality ingredients. I just recently stumbled upon Sage Café, and I just keep coming back. My go-​to option for those that want vegan raw: Raw Bowl. There is SO much flavor and, clearly, much thought has gone into the variety of ingredients and preparation. I leave full and with tastebuds satisfied!

Sage in Echo Park is my favorite restaurant, so I had to check out the café in Pasadena, and I’m glad I did!
My partner and I shared the broccoli white pizza, as well as the blta pizza. I especially loved the pesto on the white pizza and the ranch of the blta pizza.
The person who helped us was very friendly and accommodating.
I think that the only thing that keeps it from being 5 stars was that some of the tables were dirty. Other than that, we had a very pleasant experience!

I love this place! I fell in love with the Echo Park location in LA so was pleased to find this spot. I was really disappointed to see they didn’t have the amazing appetizers that the other place has, but they make up for it by having pizza. The eggplant pesto pizza sounded good but it was really unbelievably delicious. I am still dreaming of it. The jackfruit nachos were good but I felt unremarkable (I could have made them at home). I also had the BLTA pizza which sounded interesting but was a bit odd when it actually came out (lettuce on pizza is just weird).

Sage:
Healthy, yes.
Delicious food? Ehh, not so much.
My friend and I came here for dinner as she liked the culver city location. As in trying to eat healthy again, I was excited to try sage.
First, my «chili bowl» came in a plate. Was it even the correct order? I was too hungry to confirm and wait another 20 mins if it wasn’t. Crowed down anyway. Chili itself was mediocre, although the toppings (avo, chips, beans, dressing) were pretty good. Even made the kale taste better. You can get a side of rice or quinoa. Don’t even bother asking to sub that with more tortilla chips because apparently you can’t. Ain’t happening. Damn yo, they’re just chips!
My friend had the garlic pizza and that was mediocre as well. I think it’s the cheese that throws it off. Then again, vegan cheese doesn’t normally taste very good. Pretty bland. We added some salt, pepper, and parm which made it better.
Bowls and pizzas are about $ 11-​$ 15 each. Probably might be worth it if it tastes better. From what I had so far, not worth it.
Kind Kreme:
Vegan ice cream! Good news for all the folks who likes ice cream but does not like diary (like myself). Think they use coconut milk as the base, could be other milk alt. depending on the flavor.
The coconut blueberry was pretty good. So was the strawberry. We ended up going with the «vacation», which was banana, cocoa nibs, and some other stuff and the blueberry. $ 4 for one scoop (but it’s actually a pretty generous scoop) or $ 8 for two.
Ask for samples, you can even try em all!

I was very impressed by my first visit to Sage Café. I should note the reviews on Unilocal reflect this café’s former status as a vegan ice cream store, before they added the savory foods from their parent company Sage, so it’s basically a whole new restaurant now.
Pros:
+ Good variety of foods, from Mexican (jackfruit tacos, burritos, and nachos), to Italian (pizzas, eggplant parmesan sandwich) to bowls with various themes.
+ The jackfruit nachos were outstanding. Each chip had plenty of toppings available, they arrived hot and steaming, and the portion size was very generous. I really liked the smoky slightly spicy flavor of the jackfruit, and the cool guacamole and vegan sour cream facsimile balanced out the spicy cheese, jackfruit and jalapenos well. The marinated cabbage was also an interesting addition which went great with everything. Highly recommended.
+ The eggplant parmesan sandwich was also very good. Piping hot, thick slices of eggplant with a crispy parmesan crust, with a combination of what I assume was marinara, alfredo and pesto sauces in a fresh French roll.
+ They also have varied dessert choices, from their in-​house vegan ice creams and soft serve to vegan cheesecakes, crème brûlée and truffles. I recommend the dark chocolate with nibs, as it’s a little darker and less sweet than the chocolate with chocolate chips. Some of the ice creams were too sweet, but they will let you sample before you commit to one.
+ Service was very friendly and professional, and the cashier was happy to talk over many of the options on our first visit, as well as her recommendations. She was also very knowledgeable about the various ingredients and preparations, and gave me a nice tour of the dessert fridge.
+ Prices for the ice creams seem a little high, but prices for the food is very reasonable for vegan food and is on par with Veggie Grill or Native Foods.
Cons:
— The side choices for the sandwiches could use a little more variety, but as it stands you get to pick salad, premade chips (not made in store) or rice and beans to go with your sandwich. I’d love to see a vegan potato salad, vegan cole slaw, etc. as an option.
— I wish more of the desserts and ice cream gelato pans had labels explaining what things are. The staff did a good job of explaining things, but if they’re busy it’d be nice to know what everything is at glance.
— I appreciate they serve kombucha, but some more drink options would be welcome as well.
— A homeless lady was camped out on the table outside, but I think that’s just Old Town Pasadena leaking into Sage Café.
Overall we were very impressed with our first visit and we will definitely be back to try more menu items.

Love love love this place.
It is the only refuge for someone looking for clean, organic, vegan, gluten free healthy food.
What I love the best are the people who work there; personable, friendly, quirky, and really nice.
People who lean toward this lifestyle can be difficult customers and the criticisms on Unilocal are unwarranted. They are awful black hearted bitches whose eating habits are control issues manifest than living well.
Visit this place today. You will be hooked

I normally go to the one in Culver city. I been raving about this place, and my hubby wanted to try it. so I took him and my son to the Pasadena location. It turns out that their flavor wasn’t the same. I know they used the same ingredients, but I was really disappointed in their mac n’ cheese, it was really nutty. :(
Here is what we ordered:
Jack fruit nachos:
So good, my hubby really enjoyed it too! I was satisfied with this dish. It tasted the same at the culver city location.
Bowl of chilli:
This is my first time ordering this dish, it was ok.
Mac n’ cheese:
Very disappointed, too nutty.
Drinks:
Raw coconut water: I LOVED IT!
Peach Better Booch: Not a fan

Small overpriced vegan place. That’s normal. At least you know the ingredients are the best. Came here for the ice cream though, kind kreme. Very interesting flavors and you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy ice cream!
Each scoop is about $ 3.99. We tried a lot of the flavors here but in the end, got the tumeric coconut icecream, which tasted like a subtle icy coconut curry. The other was the superfruit, which tasted like a dark chocolate, probably has maca, goji berries, and some type of nuts. It was good but when I asked the male server, he didn’t really describe it. I’m familiar with the flavors so I had to dissect it myself.
Overall pretty good, the guy did seem a little out of it. High probably? Clear that the employees were more on the hippie side.