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This was probably the first Chinese exclusively vegetarian restaurant. While there are some better ones today, I still go there for my vegie Chinese fix.

I have been going to this restaurant since the '70's, it has remarkably maintained it's tradition of delicious vegetarian Chinese dishes, not readily available in other restaurants. My whole family can't get enough of the "Roast Duck", my son raves about the dumplings, and "Seaweed Fish" is one of the wife's favorites. The dishes with "3 kinds of meat" offer an array of chewy noodles, etc., with assorted fixins of "ham", "tenderloin", and "roast pork" with various Chinese vegs. The soups do a delicious job of warming a winter's day without all the chicken-and-beef-bone broth you'll find as standard Chinese rest. stock. You can sit and eat just from the appetizer menu, and have quite a tasty meal! The Turnip cakes have been one of my favorite appetizer-type foods of all time...in fact, very often I'll stop in for a take-out of turnip cakes and "roast duck". They even offer something they call "roast chicken", a dish amazingky like roast chicken as I remember it. The small staff has been the same for many many years; naturally, we've gotten to know them and they're great people. Atmosphere is scaled down, simple, and quiet. No fancy lit-up wall photos of the magnificent Lake in the Clouds or Great Wall, etc. Just great Veg Chinese food in a quiet little place. The restroom is clean and dry (unlike those I've seen in many other restaurants in Chinatown...where you need rubber boots to enter), and we've looked at the kitchen which showed it to be clean and proper. About the only downside, and it's an unpreventable fact of life here in NYC, is that we've watched the prices rise for specific items (like the roast duck, for example) over the years...but again, this is the way of things when costs of doing business rise. Stop in on Feb 3rd (new Years Day) and have the traditional vegetarian meal to start off the New Year...but be prepared to wait for a table as this day is always a very busy one for House of Vegetarian.

I'm not necessarily a vegetarian but, every now and again, I like to eat healthy. I've been going to this place for years and I can't say enough about the delicious dishes that they serve. They have a rather extensive menu though my personal favorites are the "Roast Duck" and the "Crispy Noodles with Three kinds of Mushrooms", and the "Lo Mein". Though not what anyone would consider to be a beautiful dining room, the food makes you forget about the "bare bones" ambiance.