15 responses to “vegan field report: red velvet in las vegas”

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  stacieXXX March 20th, 2010 at 07:54

  this is hilarious. ima vegan new to vegas so i will check out red velvet today. hopefully your cute field reporter will be there 🙂

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  David March 20th, 2010 at 07:55

  This place is great…but I when it comes to deciding between a vegan red velvet cupcake and a Ronald’s donut…there is no doubt it’s time for desert at Ronalds

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  Lowen March 20th, 2010 at 07:59

  I have friends in Vegas and the last time I was out that way, we all ate at Red Velvet. The food was pretty good, I had the chocolate chip vanilla cupcake as well, for dessert, which was very, very sweet, but good. My only complaint is that the field operative is spot on about the service. Everyone was really nice, but it took forever to get our food. This is a good place to hit up for lunch in Vegas.

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  random_task March 20th, 2010 at 08:01

  FINALLY we get to see what somebody who writes for this blog looks like. He he really quarrygirl? I always wondered if quarry”girl” was really a girl.

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  Kelley March 20th, 2010 at 09:15

  I remember when your operative was in Vegas and had NO CLUE where to eat there and I suggested a place before he’d fainted from only consuming lettuce and booze for two days.

  Now….he’s got that town wired!

  Good job, Operative! Lemme know when you can all come see me. 🙂

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  brittany March 20th, 2010 at 09:23

  i am going here in a matter of weeks and this time it WILL be open or i WILL break in!

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  ASB March 20th, 2010 at 09:40

  How does one pass up anything with the words churro & chocolate in the title?

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  Gauri Radha March 20th, 2010 at 10:36

  The tuno sandwich, that avocado business, those cupcakes, cinnamon swirl thing, blueberry crumble pastry, wow!! All of it looks amazing.

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  veganbears March 20th, 2010 at 18:14

  Make sure to try the red velvet cake, it’s amazing!!! My only complaint is why serve real meat products? You can get anything on their menu with real meat, or vegan style and the owner was really proud about telling us this when we went. I would rather it be all vegan. Regardless, it’s a great little cafe and the people are very nice. There aren’t that many vegan choices in Vegas.

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  VeganiVegas March 21st, 2010 at 20:04

  I am blown away by the desserts. I wonder how they can taste so darn good and be soooooo low in calories???????

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  raspberryrush March 22nd, 2010 at 08:38

  Sounds awesome. My only question is, what are they using to get the red velvet cupcake so red? I personally don’t have a problem with artificial colors, but the only “natural” food coloring that works for baking is carmine-based. Red food coloring that holds up to being baked is sort of the holy grail of “natural” colors.

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  Amanda May 8th, 2010 at 17:48

  I’m sitting in Red Velvet Cafe right now, and I must say that I’m sadly disappointed in the quality of the service, the hours of operation and the strictly enforced hours for the “dinner” menu – entrees cannot be served before 5:30 pm. We never found out the name of our server, but after he took our order, he completely disappeared and it was very difficult to get ANY server’s attention to get refills on our drinks, or to get boxes to take home our leftovers. It was also nearly impossible to get our check. Although the service was horribly inattentive and slow they were friendly.
  The food was good, but overpriced for what it was. We ordered the vegan chicken soft tacos, veggie grill panini, vegan chicken teriaki bowl and fire fries. I might consider eating here again since the options in Vegas are slim.

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  dave May 8th, 2010 at 21:07

  Service is… needs to be improved a little. Kitchen is only open to 8, so it doenst really matter that the restaurant is open until 9. Why would You go somewhere at a time that you couldn’t order anything? Food was ok but didn’t amaze me, but that could Just be my tastes. My bar is set pretty high so I would expect most other people to review the food a little higher than me.

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  David W. May 9th, 2010 at 17:28

  We have been eating here since this place opened.

  At first, we were thrilled to have the kind of food so readily available to us in other big cities in which we’ve lived on our side of town; as a vegetarian/vegan couple it certainly seemed to most number of menu offerings in the city!

  Unfortunately, despite developing an affinity for certain favorites (the taco salad, pizzettas, certain wraps and the red velvet cake are all extremely tasty), the rest of the menu is fairly uninspired and the grilled panini sandwiches kind of mushy and flavorless. (or I should say, the flavor of the mushy bread overwhelms the ingredients within).

  The specials are ridiculously overpriced for what they are, and the prices in general are a bit high considering the scant use of organic ingredients, the overall starchy nature of most everything, and the reliance on commercial soy products for mock meats…..these things are of questionable nutritional value (other than being lower in saturated fats, cholesterol, maybe in calories) because they’re highly processed forms of soy……which at that point yields a substance that may taste salty and chewy but is regarded by the body as something akin to plastic.

  In a place like L.A., only the cheap quick vegan eateries do that. It allows them to keep prices low and find a middle ground on taste, texture, and presentation. Red Velvet Cafe, however, charges up the wazoo for these things ($15.00 or more for some soy fish on brown rice with some overcooked until shriveled, thin, bland asparagus? Really?).

  Nevertheless. For a times when we were very busy and didn’t want to deal with food prep (sometimes veggie food takes a lot of ingredients!) or when friends and family were in town we happily continued to frequent the place, and spent quite a lot of $$ along the way…especially when ordering the food in bulk for a party! WOW!!!$!$!$!

  What has finally killed it for us, no matter how delicious that darn cake is, or how much I long for a turkey wrap that isn’t Tofurkey (much as I love and should own stock in that stuff), is the absolutely appalling service!

  NOT just when it’s busy!

  ALL THE TIME!

  Starting with the chef/owner. While her husband is gracious and engaging, helpful and affable, she has never once smiled at me in all the times I’ve been there (what has it been now, nearly 2 years now?), which, as a fellow industry person, loyal customer, and part of what was keeping the lights on, thinks is a pretty poor excuse for manners.

  I’m in a customer-service based industry; you don’t get to be crummy towards your patrons unless they get crummy with you — and even then sometimes you’re expected to take it, with that whole “customer is always right” nonsense! 😉

  It’s a bad vibe, and it’s a bad look for her. I know she works long hours and has a lot on her shoulders, but that’s no excuse for thinly veiled hostility or at best, diffidence to one of your early adopters and strongest supporters!

  The service there is a real paradox! The actual people are perfectly pleasant and seemingly quite intelligent. How then does a new group sit in your station after strolling through the front door of your fairly small restaurant and not get menus, water, or service for up to 15 minutes?! It’s ludicrous! And, it’s costing them money……a small group I’d brought walked out.

  I watched a customer in line at a Subway give up and walk out yesterday….after maybe 5 or 6 minutes. You have to wonder after 10 minutes or more who has left RVC in a huff as my group did? That is money down the drain. If they do stay, they might not come back.

  And most tragic of all, even those of us who have tried to get used to it are despairing and MOVING ON.

  The food is not THAT spectacular to have that poor of a customer service experience, sorry.

  I will miss the grub, and even some of the people, but I will not miss being made to feel like somehow they were put upon to have to sell it and serve it to me.

  We’re taking our restaurant business elsewhere.

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  Aimee July 12th, 2010 at 09:10

  FYI – made Red Velvet a first stop on our weekend Vegas trip. The food items shown in your pics (besides the dessert) is no longer available, which is too bad cause I wanted those avocado strips! We ordered a spicy “chicken” wrap which consisted of soy chicken nuggets, a few bits of “cheese” lettuce and tomato wrapped in a tortilla swimming in tobasco. It was nasty! Tobasco should not be used as a main flavor – it was so much that I just picked the nuggets out of my wrap & ate it w/ the side salad. I notified the waitress who let me know that the menu did say it was spicy but she didn’t understand what I was telling her is their combo of flavors was killed by a flood of tabasco saturating the whole thing. Love spicy but this was the wrong way to do it. Really bad. After that I certainly did NOT want dessert. Not going back. Had to leave still hungry from that crap lunch!

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