My food was cold when I got it and the staff is friendly, but gave poor service. I had half my meal wrapped up to go and ordered a to-go order, while waiting for it 30 minutes later the waitress goes "Oh did I forget to ask if you want tea, coffee or desert?" we ordered tea/coffee and never got a desert menu... the waitress then came back and said she forgot where she put the rest of my meal! And she forgot to drop my to-go order so I wound up waiting an hour and a half for it.!!!

The food was good, but considering it's a vegan restaurant, I expect all vegan items. There is eggs and cheese on the menu...The vegan option I ordered was good, but my food was cold when I got it and the vegan mac n cheese lacked some flavor... and the service was bad....

okay food, bad bad service!

There are few restaurant options for vegans in this area, so I have eaten at Kaya's several times (both in the dining room and take out), each time hoping for better. The food is extremely overpriced for the quality and quantity. My husband and I have tried several different sandwiches and entrees (pierogies, tempeh rueben, island grilled tofu, gluten club, south street philly, veggie burgers, burrito, etc). In my opinion, everything is too greasy and lacking flavor. Vegetables are overcooked and doused in oil. The karma wings and mississippi ribs were a rubbery disaster, not even edible. Kaya's advertises their food as healthy. Just because it's vegan does not make it healthy.

Also... it will take you an hour to decide what you want off their novel of a menu. There are places I have eaten (nowhere in NJ unfortunately... NYC, New Hope, Maine) where you can tell the chef takes pride in the dishes he/she selects to remain on the menu. The Kaya's menu reads like a 24-hour diner menu.

The staff seem more interested in being stoner hippies than in customer service. The food often comes out cold, the staff are unapologetic if you can even get their attention. Also, two words from one "hippie" to another... hair net. I have found hair in my food twice. Unacceptable.

Other than that, Kaya's gets one cow for their onion rings (if you can get more than 5 on a plate) and one cow for convenience of location.

If you're a vegan looking for overpriced, hangover, diner food... this is the place. If you're looking for a healthy vegan restaurant option... skip this one.

So I am a vegan living in Belmar. Kaya's is walking distance from where I live and I have been to the restaurant about 6 times. I normally love it there and their food is fantastic however the service leaves much to be desired. Two separate incidents have happened that have forced me to part with this restaurant. I went one Friday night to Kaya's. My friend and I were the last table there and while we were finishing our wine whomever was working there decided to play screaming music which was so loud we were forced to leave. Then on a separate occasion I ordered take-out, waited 30 min, then I was waiting for about 15 minutes in the restaurant for my order because they were finishing my order however when I got home I found my pizza was ice cold and had to be reheated. I called to give them some feedback and the manager never apologized and justified the reason for the order being cold. No more Kaya for me sadly!!!!