Native Foods Cafe

First off, I’m not a vegetarian, nor a vegan.
I ordered the Native Chicken Wings and the Avocado Kale Cheese Dip. The wings are tossed in a buffalo sauce with a side of ranch dressing. The «chicken» is made of soy, wheat, & pea protein. It’s free of cholesterol, trans, & saturated fats. Guilt free chicken wings?! I’m in. They were pretty tasty. Try not to compare it to regular chicken wings because it is free of fat. The Avocado Kale Cheese Dip was guacamole with kale and a cashew dip. The «cheese» dip tasted more like hummus to me. I thought it was ok. My husband can’t go without meat for lunch or dinner & really enjoyed the Portobello & Sausage Burger. I think what made him really enjoy it was the garlic cloves in the burger. Lol!
Native Food is a great healthy option for when you can’t make food & need something fairly quick.
FYI! Outdoor patio is dog friendly.

this is okay if you’re out and about and you really need to get something to eat. It’s like the McDonald’s of vegetarian food. Many of the items are kind of unimaginative like the steamed vegetables are broccoli cauliflower and carrots. The food did taste fresh but lacked flavor without the side sauces.

Native Foods! Native Foods! I’m not a vegetarian (i.e. I love steak and korean bbq) but I really dig this place. It’s so hard to believe that this is all vegan because there is so much flavor to all the foods. Seitan (I think it’s pronounced like «Satan»?) is delicious. The faux chicken wings are just amazing.
It is a little bit pricey, but they have frequent specials. Sign up with their free loyalty program (Native Foodie) and you get weekly emails with specials, plus $ 10 reward each year on your birthday.

My food was delicious, staff was friendly and helpful. Only thing keeping me from giving it a full 5 was that even though we ordered the food and picked it up in a 15 minute window, my SO’s fries were cold and soggy. It was probably a fluke because we did order 40min before closing, so we’ll have to see how things go next time :)

Love this place! Perfect spot for vegan or veggie people, even meat lovers will love it! cant leave without dessert

My 8 and 10 year old love your food. The «chicken» strips. My fave is the Ruben

More convenient than the rosecrans location for me. This location is in a busy strip mall with a few bad drivers & parkers.
It was a BOGO day, their portions are small, but filling so I got my other item to go. They’re a bit pricey & the items @ this location appear to cost $ 1 more than Rosecrans, but its a busier location.
The sandwiches are good but one time I had the Bangkok curry bowl and struggled a bit with the carrots size in the bowl. The Asian sesame chicken bites has a kale slaw that is awesome & tasty.
I recommend trying it out.

This is my 3^rd time to this location specifically. And I’ll be back again soon. The staff here is always friendly, helpful and has made great recommendations. The food is fantastic. I found native foods from a vegan blogger I follow and couldn’t wait to try it out nice I got to Cali. It hasn’t disappointed. I’ve left every time fully satisfied: taste, service and the presentation. As a sometimes vegetarian and vegan (I’m pescitarian) it’s nice to have really amazing, tasty options at food that reminds you of the comforts of meat w/​o the guilt or for someone like me, the digestive side effects. Sometimes, you just want to eat something really tasty and thought out from a culinary perspective while consuming plants. This does the trick for me. Thank for keeping it consistently good, from the food to the service. See you again soon NFC!

Yes, I’m a fan of Native Foods and have joined their ‘Tribe’. Convenient sources of vegan dishes are sorely needed, and Native Foods does a darn good job. Food tastes fresh, and there are plenty of options to try. I’d be happy with original vegan recipes, but it seems vegan restaurants try to market the dishes as ‘faux meat’. That’s fine, but it’s not meat, it doesn’t really taste like meat, and that’s completely OK !! Get creative !
I would love to see many more vegan «fast food» places around. The status quo for fast food is just plain scary, and a tragedy for the poor animals they murder.
Thanks to Native Foods for upsetting the status quo…

3.5÷5 solid stars
Delicious! Come here if you want a healthy meal option!
I love their fresca bar – there is fresh mint for you to put in your drinks! Love it! The frescas were very refreshing and good pairing to go with your meal.
Ordered:
1) BBQ Chicken salad: ³⁄₅ this was okay, but I wouldn’t order this entrée in the future.
2) Moroccan bowl: ⁴⁄₅ yum, this was delicious! I would order this one again!

Love the food here! This was my first time at the Balboa location, We usually hit the one in Rosecrans, but decided to go here since parking there can be a pain.
The guy who helped us was kind and funny. Today was BOGO so we went all out with the native southwestern burger, ranch run chicken burger, fries, chicken tenders and a PB parfait. All great choices! if you want to try a good burger go for the native southwestern!!! I don’t like it too spicy so I ordered it without the jalapeño.

I try to branch out and try something else each time I come here due to loving pretty much everything on the menu.
So many options, they really cover any type of cuisine, so you can eat here not matter what you are in the mood for.
Service was great, food did take a while to come out, but everything is made to order and presented beautifully, it is worth the wait.
Quality is excellent, I love that they make all juices, sauces and even condiments in house, you can surely taste the difference.
I kept it simple with a veggie burger and fries and both were great.
Fries perfectly crunchy and well seasoned, burger filling and full of flavor.
Prices are fair and portions just enough to fill you up, but not weigh you down the rest of the day.
Great stop in the area!

I came here at around 7pm on a Sunday night for dinner and it wasn’t too busy. After browsing the menu for a bit and consulting one of the people who worked there, I decided on the Moroccan Earth Bowl. The food took a bit longer to come out than I was expecting, but when it finally did, it looked delicious. I did end up liking the dish as a whole, but I thought the quinoa was a bit undercooked because it was definitely on the harder side. Everything else tasted good though!
Overall, I enjoyed the food and my experience here. The staff is friendly, the prices are reasonable, the portion sizes are generous, and the food was decent. I wouldn’t mind coming back!

Ate at there location in Boulder Colorado, so when I found there also in San Diego I was Happy Happy Happy! My son whose a carnivore even eats here and loves the chicken run ranch sandwich, my favorite is the Chicken, bacon, avo hold the onions and tomatoes.
Eating here just feels good!

After eating at Veggie Grill the previous day I have a good idea of the differences between the two similar vegetarian/​vegan establishments.
In many ways they’re the same with a slight edge to Native Foods feeling a bit more authentic Vegan. Both have several good options and both have great beverages (teas). Perhaps an edge goes to Native Foods for desserts. Prices are slightly higher here at native foods.
Chicken, Bacon & Avo Club
Chicken, organic tofu bacon, avocado,
chipotle sauce, romaine, tomato and carrots.
Served on multi-​grain ciabatta. 10.29
The price point is a little aggressive seeing this is still strip mall, order up front eatery. Figure about a buck more than Veggie Grill. What I ordered would be considered a «safe» item and one I would recommend. I’ve had more diverse items from the Palm Springs Native Foods and they were too vegan to be enjoyable to me. The seasoned fries were a winner.
— Team members here are a little more militant with their Vegan beliefs.
— Eating at Veggie Grill and Native Foods back to back days will get you a Carrot Unilocal Badge.

3.5
Kinda pricey for the quantity and ingredients. Yes, everything is fresh and organic and healthy, but when it really comes down to it, I can spend $ 10 and make a better salad at home. Good for a light meal on the go. The Ensalada was fresh and lightly dressed, which I like, but the mango-​lime flavor just wasn’t there and it was missing a protein. Definitely not substantial. I’d rather get a more filling, better tasting, two-​meal burrito bowl (okay, I eat it in one… So?) and spend less.

Came here a few times now. We waited forever for them to open because we really liked the one in Orange County. They had some bumps while they were still new but that’s okay. I tried getting the Mac and cheese the first time but they ran out. Then I found out it’s only sold in the kids size which is really tiny… Such a bummer because rarely do I find gluten and dairy free mac and cheese.
My boyfriend has yet to find something here he really likes. I found one thing and stuck with it which is the tacos with blackened tempeh. I love this dish! It has so much flavor. But everything else I’ve tried is ehh. And I’m not a fan of the specialty drinks… Not enough flavor for me.
The ambience here is great and it’s usually very clean even when it’s busy. The suggestion box is cool but I have yet to find a pen available there.
I’ll come back for the tacos and to try some seasons things but I’ve decided to stop dragging my boyfriend along.

Came here last night with my love. This was my first time trying Native Foods (NF). I’ve driven by a few times, just never tried it. I don’t mind eating healthy and I try to do so as much as possible. I was actually vegetarian for a short time and vegan for an even shorter while. This place is great for healthier eating with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free (GF) options.
I’ve dined at Sipz and other places that serve mock meat so I knew what to expect. NF is great because they serve a wide variety of different dishes: American, Asian, Mexican, fusion… there’s something for everyone.
We weren’t too hungry, so we decided to split something. Looking through the menu, it was difficult for us to decide what we wanted. The wraps, salads, and burgers all sounded good, but we finally settled on the Korean BBQ sub.
It was quite good, although it got quite messy when cutting it in half. Next time I’ll have them do it since I’m sure they have sharper knives in back. The seasoned fries were crispy and we’ll seasoned.
We sampled several of the drink options: blueberry lavender lemonade, watermelon fresca, and organic green tea, but settled on the green tea. The lavender in the lemonade was too overbearing for my taste and the watermelon fresca was a little too sweet. Diluting them would have worked, but after trying the green tea, we found the winner.
The peanut butter parfait was quite good. The combination of banana bread crumble, chocolate chips, and creamy parfait provided different textures and a nice taste experience.
I plan on returning to NF. I’d like to try a salad, wrap, or burger next time.

I have come here a couple of times since moving to SD as it was one of my first meals in town, and I am still loving it. I love that they are all vegan, since it is so hard to find veggie/​vegan meals at other places. Even the nachos are made with cashew cheese. Love! Plus the cashier was so friendly and gave me a list of other great vegtarian places in town. This place is pretty similar to Veggie Grill, another favorite of mine for those of you who have been there.
The first time I got the Nachos, topped with vegan faux ground beef, and they were huge and amazing. Couldn’t even finish half of them, but that’s not a bad thing. I am not vegan and eat cheese and was shocked by how good the cashew cheese and fake sour cream was. Since then I’ve also had the buffalo chicken wrap and the meatball sub, both good, but not as good as nachos of course. As a side dish, I highly recommend the Kale Slaw, it is so fantastic, I really want the recipe so I can make a big bowl for lunch every day :)

Whenever my craving for a chicken, bacon, and avo club sandwich calls, I answer! I don’t know what it is about the combination of ingredients, but I am in love with everything about it. It always tastes fresh, and for me, this really does have the texture a very juicy piece of fried chicken in a sandwich. The flavor isn’t like fried chicken, but it is still so good that I can’t resist my craving for it.
I got a free side salad today. It was a basic side of greens and carrots with a little container of dressing. I used just a bit of the dressing and it went a long way.
I have had the nachos, as well as the lavender lemonade. Not sure what it is about it, but the lemonade gives me a headache. It just feels like too much sugar. Still good, but it’s not something I ever order. The nachos are bomb! They separated the ingredients so you have to add whatever you want to it. I have NO idea what was in the original order, so I just get everything on it.
Good place to try. This location has never been packed when I go for lunch, so it’s definitely a good place if you are in a rush.