Amitabha Vegan Restaurant

Good food, good portion. Excellent family restaurant in quiet neighborhood.................

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Used to come here all the time the days my husband is vegan but eventually had to stop because they kept messing up our order. So many times we had missing items such as rice, sauce and items. They kept blaming one of the workers but if this happens every time and not just to us and other customers as well don't you think they would've tried to fix the issue?

Stood inside by the door saying hello for over 10 minutes and not a soul came out. The pictures on here are very deceiving. This place looks nothing like that on the inside. Doesn't look like people eat in there at all. Not to mention the big C rating on their front window.

OMG! Had an amazing time at Amitabha! The service was top-notch, and the different flavors of the foods were amazing! The serving size was in abundance. I really appreciated that the food was made to order it took a little time, but it was well worth it. The fried rice was amazing. The pork fried rice was off the chain for being vegan. The overall experience was amazing. I would definitely return again my son and I had an amazing time. If you like Asian veganism, you must stop there and try it. You will not be disappointed. Real talk.

Amitabha is a gem. The preparation and taste are phenomenal--like it's created by a talented grandparent from overseas. Extremely reasonable prices too.

This is my favorite kind of restaurant: it is ALL about the food, and nothing else matters. If you're looking for somewhere fancy, go elsewhere. It is so bare bones, you order at the counter to someone on video over a computer screen (!). There are just a few tables, no silverware, just chopsticks and a few plastic forks.

Importantly, every dish is quite different, and no corners are cut.

One of my favorite places to visit and order take out from. Everything on the menu is good. I enjoy the pumpkin soup and samosas. Try anything and everything. Nice spot for a casual date or dinner with a friend.

Really wanted to like this place since it had good reviews and we wanted a healthier meal. Not sure how it was before pandemic but they have a person on the computer screen to help you with your order. At first, I thought it was so cool, but then realized that not having a person to man the front is a totally bad idea. My friend and I both called in for our order and we were both sitting there for an hour waiting for our food. Apparently, the Asian lady was yelling at the computer screen saying "big problem, lots of big problem". We were concerned and asked about our food, but they assured us the food was coming out. The lady on the screen wfh so she knew nothing of what was going on in the kitchen. We ordered the fake general Tso chicken, mock duck noodle soup, and the fake roasting pork but I didn't realized half my order was missing. I called to get a refund. The general Tso chicken was nasty and tasted like a sponge and the mock duck was noodle soup was super bland. I've been to vegan places before and have definitely tasted better quality food compared to this place. Definitely not returning.

P.S. please put away your cash register. I feel like this place might get robbed one day despite all the cameras they have in the restaurant.

I really wanted to give this place a try for the longest time. When I finally did, I got really disappointed. The barbecue roast vege pork was very dry and the wonton soup was inedible. The soup tasted weird, which tasted like dirty dish water, and the wontons tasted bad already. I will not order here again. Sorry.

TLDR: The perfect place to get your hands on affordable vegan food with large portions!

The owner is Buddhist which means there are certain aromatics like onions and garlic that they do not use in their cooking - I promise you won't even miss it in your food! They also have days where they do 50% off their food and their portions are huge! My favorite things to get are their hot and sour soup, eggplant with sweet and sour sauce, braised veg meat on rice, Singaporean mei fun, pineapple fried rice, and mapo tofu. I've tried pretty much the entire menu and I love that the food is always flavorful and (though sometimes can be a little oily) won't make you feel terrible after eating it! The owner is extremely sweet and is running the restaurant in hopes to expose more people to vegan food.

Check out my foodsta @chiuventure for a closer look and more details of my dining experience here as well as other establishments in NYC and around the world!

Disclaimer: I hesitate to write this negative review because I do not want to negatively impact the livelihood of a small family business. However, I had two miserable experiences ordering takeout from Amitabha, and I do not want potential customers to be shocked by the poor service and inconsistent quality of food. I have been vegan since 1997 and grew up in Queens. I know firsthand how limited the vegan options are in Fresh Meadows. So, I would have loved nothing more than to write a positive review here. 

Here's a brief summary of my miserable experiences (and one good one):

I first discovered Amitabha during Covid and was super excited because of the dearth of vegan options in Fresh Meadows. Despite how empty the restaurant was, I waited almost 2 hours for the food to be prepared. There was no explanation provided for the delay. I was told repeatedly that the food would be ready "soon." Being generous, I decided to blame the delay on Covid. Because the food was very good (this one and only time), I wanted to give Amitabha a second chance in the future, hoping the unreasonable delay was just a fluke. The second time was not nearly as long a wait, and the food was mostly good, but hit or miss. So, I hesitated to rush back.

Fast forward to December 3, 2023: I was ready to walk out without my $163 order because of how infuriatingly long I had to wait--again nearly 2 hours. I did not see a single other customer the multiple times I returned to ask for an update, and to eventually ask for a refund of whatever hadn't already been prepared. The refund was somehow not an option for the restaurant. I was simply told again and again that the food would be ready "soon." Trying to get a time estimate was futile. When my food was eventually ready, MULTIPLE items were not included. How it took 2 hours to cook only a few simple dishes blows my mind. Adding insult to injury, I was told to come back in 40 minutes if I wanted the missing items. Apparently, there was a "problem" with the kitchen. Why wasn't this communicated to me for ~2 hours? The absurdity of suggesting that I come back after waiting for so long! Needless to say, I left and will not return in the future.

It's worth noting that the only reason I waited nearly 2 hours is because I could not get a partial refund. While the chef agreed to refund the many missing items, this could not happen on the spot, which was only half shocking, given how Amitabha runs their business. They had no way to process the refund while I was in the restaurant. I didn't ask many questions about it at that point--I just wanted to get out of there and sit in traffic for an hour heading back into Manhattan. Needless to say, it was clear that I needed to submit a dispute with my credit card. To make a long story short, I contested the cost of the missing items, along with the associated tax and 20% tip on this amount. Amitabha did indeed partially refund me (before American Express proceeded with my dispute). However, Amitabha neglected to adjust my refund to reflect the tax and the 20% tip associated with the refunded amount. Luckily, AMEX refunded the difference to me. I'd like to believe that Amitabha made an honest mistake and simply forgot to refund the tax and tip associated with the refund, but the idea that Amitabha should keep the few extra bucks is the cherry on top. (This is a matter of principle.)

So how was the food this time? Mostly inedible. Greasy and/or tasteless and nothing in between.