As much as I would love to write a great review for all vegan restaurants, this is not one of them :( Om Shan Tea got rave reviews online for serving fresh clean macrobiotic food. It also looked really neat in the pictures, very zen! But immediately when I walked in the first thing I thought was, "oh great eating is going to be highly uncomfortable," not because of the decor and atmosphere, I thought that was great, but because the chairs have no backing and the tables are extremely low. We had trouble settling into our seat because the chairs are at a certain height where the table is aligned with your knees and you're forced to eat side ways with your knees way to the side with no back support. Also the table is so low that you have to pick up your plate and bowl to eat out of. But my nerves were eased when I saw all the different items I could choose from on the menu! I have never seen a more extensive menu and immediately thought that this slight seating discomfort would surely be worth it...this hope was gone when placing our order :S
Karly ordered the chickpea miso soup and asked for the option of adding kelp noodles. Sadly, the waiter said that they were out of kelp noodles. So then she decided to order 2 corn tortillas with side of avocado and sprouts to make herself a wrap. Surprise! Out of sprouts. So she ended up eating just miso soup which was suppose to have chickpeas in it but didn't (probably out of chickpeas) and plain avocado wrapped in a tortilla which was more than likely frozen because I overhead the waiters in the back saying, "How do we heat up this tortilla? Should we thaw it a bit first?"
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| Ninja Bowl - Quinoa, steamed beets, japanese sweet potato, butternut squash. |
I was scared to order my meal! I eyed the most macro option on the menu, the Ninja Bowl, and wondered if it were possible to sub some brown rice for the quinoa for optimal macroness. Unfortunately he said that they had no made brown rice but if I wanted some it would take about 45 mins. Yea, I stayed with the quinoa. The meal came with a choice of 2 sides, I ordered steamed collard greens and shiitake mushrooms. At least they had all of my choices. Hope crept back in but started to fade quickly when we noticed that it was taking a really really long time for us to get our food. I would say a good 40mins. Really?!? How long does it take to steam veggies? And quinoa is fast cooking. Although it finally arrived with beautiful colors, it was cold :( Steamed cold veggies aren't very appetizing.
Sadly to say, Om Shan Tea fell below the mark. If you're going to offer a whole bunch of items on your menu you better have them in stock. It looked like a great vegan option close to The Castro (we did a walking tour which was excellent!) but was very disappointing. Only positive thing I have to say about this place is that the decor was nice and the staff was very friendly.
Om Shan Tea
233 14th Street, San Francisco, CA 9410
1.888.SIP.TEAS [888.747.8327]
11am-midnight Daily
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