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.
vegan cobb salad: faux-fowl, avocado, fakin' bacon, baby tomatoes, red onions, chick peas, peppers, lettuce and soy cheese. $12
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!
vegan bowl of red: vegan style chili served with side of onions and your choice of cheese. $9
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.
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9:37 am on November 12th, 2008
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!
1:13 pm on November 12th, 2008
Seriously, I was just hoping for a vegan waffle.
1:16 pm on November 12th, 2008
vegyogini: it was alright! i don’t mean to put it down or anything. i just wouldn’t rush back.
melisser: for real, me too! you’d think they would have had a vegan waffle on the menu. grrr.
1:50 pm on November 12th, 2008
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
1:53 pm on November 12th, 2008
lex:i hope the fucking cheese they put on the “VEGAN cobb” was in fact vegan!!!! ughghgghghgh.
and sage advice on the milkshake
if i am in need of late night eats and am not feeling like toi thai food, i could def see myself at the waffle again. but dude, i am so lame that i am usually in bed by 11. LOL.
5:50 pm on November 12th, 2008
so nice of your mom to order vegan too!
6:25 pm on November 12th, 2008
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.
7:14 pm on November 12th, 2008
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
7:24 pm on November 12th, 2008
i gotta agree with sandra and lex. it is kinda meh, but late at night i would so be there! the bar looked really cool as well, nothing to scoff at.
i’m just pissed i didn’t get to try the waffle fries! and yeah, i think everything on the menu is big enough to share.
lisa: yep, my mom rocks!
6:08 am on November 13th, 2008
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!
8:07 am on November 13th, 2008
happy herbivore: hope you like it! it’s not quite divey though, i’d say it’s more trendy. and i am a big fan of swinger too! i remember when they used to be open 24 hours.
2:22 pm on November 13th, 2008
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!