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vegan eats at the waffle in hollywood
16November 12th, 2008LA restaurants, the waffleUPDATE: since writing this post, i have found out that the soy cheese and fake bacon at the waffle are NOT VEGAN, although the menu advertises them as vegan. this is very fucking upsetting, and i suggest you don’t eat at the waffle. if you must, avoid the veggie bacon and soy cheese. ugh. original post below.
the waffle in hollywood is swanky little hipster diner on sunset and vine that serves up comfort food and breakfast fare from the early, early morning to the wee hours of the night. they have huge home-cookin’-style portions, snazzy decor, and super-trendy clientele—it’s a little bit of an a-hole fest. however, i have been intrigued and anxious to try the waffle because i heard that they were pretty vegetarian-friendly.
turns out the waffle dedicates a whole section of its extensive menu to vegetarian items, many of which even have the word “vegan” in their title. hell yeah, i was super stoked. because i have a hard time dragging my husband to any fast food/guilty-tasting restaurants other than the amazing vegan spot, i set up a lunch date to check out the waffle with my mom. it is located right next to my work after all…how convenient.
we both ate vegan (thanks for being such a sport, mama!), and i opted for the vegan cobb.
the vegan cobb was pretty big…but don’t let the picture fool you. 70% of the huge bowl was lettuce. there wasn’t really much faux-fowl, and the vegetables were eaten up pretty quick. people always rave about the vegan cobb over at swingers, and i’ve never had it…but i gotta imagine it was better than this. it just didn’t feel right forking over 12 bucks for a huge bowl of lettuce with some shredded tofurkey. don’t get me wrong, i really applaud the waffle for even catering to us vegans at all, but this is definitely nothing to get excited about.
my mom, being from the south ‘n shit, of course went with the waffle’s take on vegan chili: the vegan bowl of red. not bad at all!
the chili didn’t arrive with onions, as the menu advertised, but a pot of jalapenos instead. whatevs, we were flexible. the vegan bowl of red was pretty tasty…it tasted exactly like the trader joe’s vegan chili they sell by the can. i think morningstar farms has a brand as well that is also comparable. so again, like the cobb, her meal was pretty good…but $9?!?!?!!? for real? this was a six buck meal at the most…especially considering it almost certainly came from a can.
the service at the waffle was also lacking. our waitress was nice, but the food took forever to arrive and when it did, they’d FORGOTTEN our order of waffle fries. instead of spending 2 hours trying to flag down a server, we let it slide…but they still tried to charge us for the fries anyways. bastards! at the end of the day it all worked out, we didn’t get charged and we had enough to eat…but still. not great service on their part.
the waffle also offers vegan milkshakes which i was super pumped to try…until i found out they were $6.50! for realz? if john travolta can be shocked by a five dollar milkshake, i can be straight-up pissed about one that costs $6.50. and it’s not even like they charge extra for the vegan version—the regular milkshakes are $6.50 as well! jeeeez! i wanted to keep the meal under $30, so decided to pass on the shake. i’m sure it would have been awesome though. i just can’t justify spending almost seven bucks on some soy ice cream that’s been through a blender. please.
so overall, the waffle wasn’t bad. it was just really freaking expensive and had crap service. plus, seriously, the food is nothing to bust a nut over. if you have to go to lunch with a bunch of omnivores in hollywood, the waffle is PERFECT! you will be grateful to see a whole safe section of the menu you can order from. but if you are scouring the city for good vegan food and wanna get as tasty as possible, put the waffle way down at the bottom of your list. i guess what i’m sayin’ is, it’ll do in a pinch.
Tags: chili, hollywood, salad, vegan cobb salad
15 responses to “vegan eats at the waffle in hollywood”
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That’s sage advice! It’s too bad you had a blah experience, but it’s so nice that your mom ate vegan with you!
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The thing about the Waffle is that its open until 4:30am on the weekends and 2:30 on the weekdays!!! I hit this place up frequently after going out on the town with friends. I always get the Rueban w/o cheese. They don’t have vegan cheese there last I checked. They always forget to put the vegan 1000 island on the rueban, too, so its just TOfurkey and Kraut, but combined with Waffle Fries and a night of drinking its pretty damn fantastic. The MilkShakes are decent, too. Just split one and the price cuts in half 🙂
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sandra November 12th, 2008 at 18:25
this place bites… it’s way overpriced and so mediocre. for having an exclusively vegetarian menu, it sure is a big letdown!
however, i’ve never actually had their waffles.
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Sandra you’ve got to take into effect the fact that its open after midnight. I’ve never go there if anything else was open, but when you factor out all the options then its golden. Kristin and I always split the Rueben its plenty of two and the price drops in half 🙂
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I love diner dives. Maybe my nyc roots are too blame but damn I miss goin’ to a greasy spoon. I’ve tried to hit up some diners here in LA – with no luck finding vegan offerings (with the exception of swingers that is) Yay! a vegetarian place! woooo a new place to try and scratch my dive diner itch!
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Happy Herbivore I’ve heard about “The Nickel Diner” in downtown, which is supposed to be divey and have vegan options, but def do your homework before going!
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D.Train August 18th, 2010 at 03:23
I know this comment is two years late, but I used to work for Gavin Polone, the owner of The Waffle. He is a total toolbag, and I don’t doubt that he supports shady practices in the restaurant. I used to work as a receptionist in his office, and he did not allow me to look him in the eye the entire year and half I worked there…even if he was speaking to me directly. I was ordered to look at the ground rather than make eye contact, or else I would be fired. And that’s just the tip of the iceburg. He is a douche of a human being. So, yeah, I’m not surprised The Waffle lied. Don’t eat there.
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rawnchy October 22nd, 2010 at 17:39
i drunkenly ate the vegan reuben here the other night and since i was FUCKING STARVING for gnarly food ignored what i thought was a buttery texture to the bread…
i felt so gross afterward. can’t truss it -
Sheesh May 3rd, 2011 at 21:28
I really wish you’d stop telling people to boycott restaurants entirely just because they screw up on calling something vegan. Of course, that’s a huge bummer. But they are still miles ahead of the restaurants that don’t give a flying fuck whether they have vegan stuff. It’s okay to get confused about soy cheese and fakin bacon… they just need education and support.
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Vegyogini November 12th, 2008 at 09:37