Vegan restaurant in Boston Chinatown serving Thai and Chinese food. Menu offers items like pumpkin curry, fried rice, pad thai noodles, tofu chickn fingers, boba milk tea, wonton soup, and spicy curry. Formerly Original Buddha's Delight, same owners with revised menu. Location requires taking stairs up to the 2nd floor. Open Mon-Thu 11:00am-10:00pm, Fri-Sat 11:00am-11:00pm, Sun 11:00am-10:00pm.
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3 Beach St, 2nd floor (at Chinatown), Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 02111
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Last update on 25 Jun 2023 by geometric-noise
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279 Reviews
First Review by tablemoonspoons
Slasha
Points +60
food is awesome - Edit
i havent been dissappointed by any of the dishes so far. big menu, alotta options. definitely a go-to spot when we have friends in town. the service is up and down. usually theyre really slow, especially if youre the only ones in the restaurant, itll take forever for them to even take your order but theyre pretty on the ball when its busy.
Read morePros: lots of options, big dishes that arent super greasy, best CHEESECAKE!
Cons: service isnt always good
Guest
12SaRaH73
Points +130
amazing food but horrible service - Edit
My sister and I went here while visiting boston. The food was delicious and we didn't have to wait long after our placing order. The service on the other hand was not as good. Once you get your food they simply do not come back to check on you. We had to go to the register twice to get someone. The night before we left we were going to order food to bring back to our hotel room. We called 40min before they closed and the guy rudely hung up on me saying that they were closed and not giving me a sec to talk to him.
Read morePros: Delicious food
Cons: Horrible service
Guest
citrusgibbon
Points +68
Good Food, Bad Service - Edit
The menu here has an amazing selection of vegan thai food that is super tasty, but the service leaves a lot to be desired. We went on a friday night. There were only two people seating, taking orders, serving, and processing payments for the entire packed restaurant when we were there. I had to get up and request someone come to our table for us to get water, to have our orders taken, to order dessert, and to get our check (which I took the table myself). I also had to remind someone about my bubble tea order because they forgot it. That being said, the people who work there seem really nice and apologetic, just tired and overworked. In any case, I think there's a ton of people in the kitchen because once I found someone to take our orders after fifteen minutes of waiting at our table with no one coming over, the food was out super fast. I would probably go back on a weeknight because the food was great, but never the weekend rush again.
Read moreGuest
JanetWood
Points +44
best curry! - Edit
Probably the best curry I ever had, both in presentation and flavor! The service was slow and confusing, but food so good that I don't even care.
Read moreGuest
lerussell
Points +389
Boston's Finest - Edit
This is probably my favorite vegan place in Boston -- I wish I lived closer to this place, but my wallet is probably better off in Somerville. Seriously, this place is so yummy, every time I go here I order something new and it never disappoints. I can't event pick a favorite, I love it all! The service is hit or miss... I've waited a solid half hour for food before. I don't mind, but if you're in a rush, maybe try Cuong's Vegan downstairs.
Read moreGuest
ehubert
Points +109
Delicious Food and a Cozy Atmosphere - Edit
My boyfriend and I have been in Boston for the last two days while he's in the area on business, so, last night, we decided to try My Thai Vegan Cafe after I read about it on a Facebook group's page. For reference, the only other all-vegan Asian restaurant we've tried is Veggie Fun in Providence (we are born and raised Southern New Englanders).
Read moreWe walked less than a mile to the restaurant from South Station when I arrived after work, so it's quite easy to navigate to by foot if you're T-ing when you visit. Initially, the place doesn't give you a great impression because there's a printed and haphazardly placed sign on the main door directing patrons to the 2nd floor and the dingy hallway wreaks of cigarette smoke; however, the restaurant itself is quite cozy and clean. This was our first time in Chinatown, but I get the impression that many businesses are like this since much of the block we were on was dingy. I could be wrong, though, and I reserve judgement because I'm clueless, but I digress.
We were amazed by how many options the menu has! And it's all classified so neatly by noodles, rices, soups, salads, and vegan meats. We shared a fried wonton appetizer, which was excellent, and both of us ordered the lemongrass chicken (the title literally says "chicken," but the description underneath specifies "veggie chicken") which was delish! I like spicy Asian food, but was at first concerned that the three chili peppers indicated next to my dish on the menu meant it would blow my mouth off. Unfortunately, there was no spice whatsoever, but that was my only disappointment. Other than that, the food was great and two meals with an appetizer only set up back $30 pre-tip. Pretty good for Boston dining.
Aside from food, the atmosphere was cozy. We sat at a table for two right near the window, so you can people watch if you're into that. The folks running the place have tons of live plants all around the sills as well. I was so impressed with the huge aloe vera plants that I had to take a picture, using my boyfriend to scale!
All in all, I'd say Veggie Fun is still my favorite, but My Thai Vegan Cafe is awesome and I'd recommend it to any vegans in the area or non-vegans looking to try something new.
Pros: Loads of options Inexpensive
Cons: External appearance can be off-putting
Guest
stbenjam
Points +264
Tasty vegan dishes with poor service - Edit
I've generally not been disappointed by the food, but I've always had a bit of an issue with the service. Let me recount my last visit.
Read moreI came with a small group of friends, on a quiet weekday night. We were seated and the menus were thrown in a pile onto the table. No one came for 10 minutes to take our order, we had to flag someone down. Again, the restaurant wasn't busy.
The server came over, and pulled out her notebook and simply said "What?"
My boyfriend's brother is kind of particular about what he eats (he's a personal trainer) and asked for some steamed rice and veggies - they said they couldn't do that at all, so he settled on fried rice. In hopes of being a bit healthier - he asked for some sliced avocado on the side. Again they said no. Ultimately he begged if he could just buy an avocado off the counter (they use them for some dish). She had to go ask, and there seemed to be a long discussion about it - finally they agreed to sell it to us for $2 cash then and there and just plopped the avocado down on the table. No offer of a knife or anything...
We all liked our entrees, but dessert was odd. We ordered 3 mango sticky rice to share around the table.
Now, I'm very familiar with mango sticky rice. I order it everywhere that has it. My last birthday I had mango sticky rice instead of cake.
If the mangos are not good, they should tell you - every Thai restaurant I've ever been to other than My Thai Vegan Cafe will warn you.
What arrived was the worst mango sticky rice I've ever had in my entire life. The mango was unripe and hard. It was so hard they had a hard time slicing it, so they didn't even bother on 2 out of the 3. They just served a half a mango - unsliced. The sticky rice was cold rice in a soup of coconut cream.
I was incredulous.
While I've generally been happy with the food (the mango sticky rice being the exception), the service is just intolerable.
Updated from previous review on 2017-01-16
Pros: vegan, generally good food
Cons: service, mango sticky rice, service
Guest
TrishGordon
Points +16
A Must - Edit
This place is amazing! The food was great, and there are so many options to pick from! We got dumplings, wonton soup, two noodle dishes, chocolate cake, coffee, and tea, and the bill was so much less than you would pay anywhere else! We were there Christmas day, so it was pretty full. That said, service was still great. Anything we asked for came in a reasonable amount of time. We saw a variety of patrons- couples, friends, families, and some people dining solo. I'd recommend it to anyone!
Read morePros: Great Food, Great Selection, Great Value
Cons: Room temperature fluctuated
Guest
FrankTLA
Points +24
Disappointing - Edit
This place was very disappointing. Soups were bland and small servings. Tried some steamed dumplings that were so bad that I still have a horrible memory of them. The dumplings must have been frozen at one time and the dough had gone bad. They were chewy and tasted worse than cardboard. Couldn't eat them. Told waiter, but he did nothing but shrug his shoulders. No interest in going back here until they try harder. The place has been around for a long time, and maybe they just quit caring.
Read morePros: Available seating, Good location, Quick service
Cons: Bad tasting food, Small portions, Over-priced for bad food and small portions
Guest
Posi Britt
Points +679
Yum! - Edit
I really liked this place! The portion sizes were pretty big and it had a neat selection of different things on the menu. I eat a lot of Asian vegan food and still found this place interesting and tasty. We actually came here twice because we enjoyed it so much! Try the Pad Thai and the Golden Traingles!
Read morePros: Good portions, Great selection, Dessert!
Cons: Kinda hot in there, Wait times for food can be long if busy
Guest
FMC11
Points +20
do not go here - Edit
Worst service. Terrible food
Read moreGuest
veggie_htx
Points +2082
Get takeout - Edit
I ordered the fried wonton app and super yellow noodle with vegi shrimp, chicken, beef, seitan, and tofu.These noodles were fantastic because I did not have to choose my veggie protein, this 'super' version of most dishes packs them all! The food was amazing, everyone in my party agreed on that. However everybody also agreed that it was the worst service we had ever had. If we asked for something, we didn't receive it. When we ordered something they are out of, they didn't tell us. Moral of the story: the food is can't miss, but the service is lacking (at least when I went). Get yourself some takeout.
Read morePros: Excellent food
Cons: Table service
Guest
Giulia13
Points +41
Great choice of Thai food - Edit
I went there more than once during my stay in Boston because the menue was so huge it was hard to decide what to get.
Read moreThe special entree was served in a coconut which looked and tasted fantastic. Absoulutely recommend that!
The service was fast and the personell really friendly.
Pros: affordable, large menue, fast service
Cons: not exactly the most beautiful place
Guest
JonJon
Points +20454
Decent thai food - Worth a try! - Edit
I had dinner in this restaurant with an omnivorous friend and we both enjoyed our meal. It consisted of faux-chicken meat cooked with vegetables and rice. Portions were generous so we were not enough hungry to try their beautiful creamy cakes! The taste of food was good and the staff was ok with us. The restaurant is quite big so you can come with many friends. I recommend the place even if the entry of the building is not really trustworthy.
Read morePros: good food and generous portions, 100%, fair prices
Guest
Isabelle Gosselin
Points +137
Will not go back - Edit
We wanted to encourage this vegan restaurant but we had such a poor experience that we're not going back anytime soon. The place is just barely clean, on the second floor of a building in Chinatown, with very tall and abundant windows making the place bright but also very hot as there are no blinds or curtains. My husband had the sun shining on him all the time and he was in sweat. We ordered the fresh spring rolls with a peanut sauce and a soup for appetizers. So far so good except that the peanut sauce was so sweet that I joked with my husband that it was like having liquid O'Henry. Then, the dis-pleasure started. I ordered the Basil Thai Salad which could have benn better named an Onion Salad. 3/4 of the veggies were in fact rather big chunks of white and green onions with a little bit of mesclun at the bottom of the plate, interspersed with faux meat morcels and basil leaves. The onions were over powering and so strong was the taste in the mouth it was simply ridiculous. My husband ordered the tamarind duck. To his disappointment the plate arrived with many pieces of pineapple, which he dislikes wholeheartedly. Nowhere in the description of the dish was it mentioned. The sauce in which the duck and pineapple were drowned was way too sweet and lacked any finesse. The white steamed rice was just al dente, and nobody came to ask if everything was fine, which in a way was maybe better for the staff.
Read morePros: Cheap price
Cons: Poor quality of food, Poor presentation
Guest
MelHeinrich
Points +132
Abit disappointed - Edit
I so so so wanted to love this place. I was just in town for a few days and was craving some delicious Thai food. Our food came out so fast I could tell it wasn't made it order. The rice noodles I ordered were dry and tasted old. And the portion sizes were much smaller than I expected. The flavours were alright but I was expecting much more and I especially want to like ALL vegan restaurants.
Read moreGuest
mg66
Points +102
Tasty meal! - Edit
We just had a very good meal here. The service was slow, but it is the weekend of the Boston Marathon, so maybe there is a surge of veggie athletes, or maybe it's always slow. But the food was very good! Especially recommend the "specialty" avocado dish with yellow curry - OMG! Something different and exceptionally good - subtle yellow curry flavor was the gateway for a variety of textures (with avocado, tofu, veggies and almonds). A huge and filling dish, enough for 2. Would happily eat here again.
Read morePros: tasty food, novel menu item
Cons: slow service, but nice folks
Guest
nafanc
Points +1615
Good veggie food in central location - Edit
The lemon poppy seed cake is phenomenal.
Read moreMeal-wise, I've had a number of stir-fry and noodle dishes here. I've always enjoyed the food - the veggies are fresh and crisp, and the flavors are good.
That said, besides the lemon poppy seed cake, I haven't found anything to be particularly exceptional. I come here more often than other Thai places because I like supporting vegan establishments, but not necessarily because its curries or stir fries are superior to its non-veg counterparts.
I'd recommend trying this place for yourself. If your experience is like mine, you'll find yourself very content with a fine meal, but not overly "wowed" with an exceptional experience.
Pros: Amazing cake
Guest
RedheadedR
Points +244
fantastic food - Edit
Absolutely fantastic. Restaurant is upstairs- took us a minute to figure that out. All of the food was fresh and flavorful- will definitely be back.
Read moreGuest
Siup
Points +3173
My favorite place - Edit
I had lunch/dinner here a few times. It's my favorite vegan restaurant in Boston. Tasty food, incredible recipes, generous servings, honest prices. I love it. Owners are kind, the place cozy, the food just delicious. 5 stars.
Read morePros: delicious food, wide choice of dishes, generous servings and good prices
Guest
ScottElswick
Points +437
was great - Edit
I had an amazing dinner here. Fresh coconut. It was delicious
Read moreGuest
Vegan Vagabond
Points +3217
Meh - Edit
I really want to like this place. It's 100% vegan and in a great location. Plus, it's Thai food. The problem is that what I've had is just not that good. Yesterday, I had pad Thai, a basic Thai staple and the dish was essentially fried noodles and tofu. Instead of the wonderful flavors that are typical with pad Thai, this dish tasted like oily noodles. I'm sorry, but the dish was just fried noodles and no flavor other than oil. Bleh!
Read moreGuest
malcolmsfross
Points +67
down town Boston - Edit
My Thai is strictly vegan....decor pretty pitiful but the food is good...portions are more than ample...dont order soup, starter and main!!!!!
Read moreIts good food at a reasonable price and there is not much else for vegans in the downtown area.
Pros: strict vegan, very wide variety menu
Cons: decor is not very appealing, no alcohol
Guest
vegan_ryan
Points +3865
SO Good - Edit
Go here. It's amazing.
Read moreThere's nothing else that needs to be said about this great restaurant.
Pros: All vegan, Friendly
Guest
KL Pettifer
Points +11
Wonderful vegetarian food - Edit
Yesterday evening I tried this small upstairs restaurant. Do not be dissuaded by the appearance of the entrance stairway which is much in need of repair. On arrival I ate a fabulous vegetarian meal. It was a mixture of perfectly cooked green vegetables with chunks of fresh coconut mixed with tofu in the form of shrimp and chicken (completely vegan) served with fried fresh basil and served in a half a coconut shell (jasmine rice on the side). It was absolutely delicious!
Read morePros: vegetable not overcooked and fresh, delicious tofu; wonderful staff, unique presentation and great price
Cons: stairway into restaurant not nice
KL Pettifer
Unfortunately I returned to the same restaurant, ordered the same meal and received some very nice vegetables with great tofu but with absolutely no coconut! When I told the server how disappointed I was and how only 2 months previous I had enjoyed so much the delicious chunks of coconut, he shrugged his shoulders and laughed. Too bad....
Read moreGuest
Phizzi
Points +92
Quirky, but great food - Edit
Okay, so I love this place...
Read moreHaving said that, I would be unlikely to take a friend from out of town here. I've had hilariously terrible service (courses coming out in random order, or all at once, so that we had no room, plated not cleared, when clearly done, etc.) and the location is up a sketchy stair case that looks like you are about to conduct a drug raid (the restaurant itself, though, is actually pleasant: spacious, surround by plants, and with a nice second floor view of a newly renovated block of downtown). The bathrooms have enough room but aren't going to win any design awards...
If you're waiting for the "but" it's a big one. The food here is some of the best I've had anywhere ever (including in my many years as a non-vegan). Sure, with over 100 truly distinct menu items, it's quite possible to get something "just good" or "not to my taste" but overall I've had consistently amazing food here, for a price that anyone who actually lives in Boston knows to be ridiculously low for the volume and quality of the product. Also, the last several times I've been, the service has been good.
Pros: Food Quality and Quantity, Price, Variety
Cons: Sketchy entrance, Occasionally unpredictable service, Seriously, entrance stairs creep me out
Guest
LaurenC
Points +173
My favorite spot in Boston - Edit
I would rather eat here than almost anywhere in the country. Everything is fresh and delicious. The portions are huge. You can take omni friends or your parents here, and they'll be amazed at the quality of the food.
Read moreI especially love the pad see yew noodles, coconut curries, wonton soup, and the tom yum tofu soup. Everything is great, though.
Everything is 100% vegan, including delicious bubble tea and desserts.
Prices are very fair. Try to get there for lunch, where you can get an entree, soup, and appetizer for under $10.
Pros: Amazing, fresh food, Good prices, Everything is vegan
Cons: Parking can be difficult in Chinatown
Guest
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