Had a great meal here. While the food was nice, it wasn’t mind blowing. Some dishes were more outstanding than others. The clay pot eggplant curry was the best! It’s a solid choice for a quick, affordable, and filling meal
ArtyChoke
Super friendly local feeling on downtown Oakland. The food is excellent, the neighborhood is safe and pretty easy to park.
Damany Brown
Great Phoʻ!!!!!!
Michelle V
Stopped in for a quick lunch and was pleasantly surprised by the delicious cabbage salad!
James Li
Everything on the menu is delicious with great drinks, wonderful rice and specialties, and good atmosphere and service! Highly recommend to any and all vegetarians! Extremely affordable too!
Manthan Shah
As a vegetarian, this is THE SPOT! My family and I have been here for years, and every single time we loved it so much! The people here make the food with so much care and attention to detail, and everything tastes so heavenly! This is all I could ever ask for. I was reminded of just how awesome it was when I went there yesterday after graduation. All the same, please support this place as much as you can!
Julie Wilson
Some of the best vegan food I've ever had!
joshmaker
Reliable all vegan spot, the mushu-mushu wraps are a particularly good appetizer
Yuri Kye
Pleasantly surprised to find a vegan Asian restaurant that serves very delicious food with whole ingredients. They do all the viet/chinese classics but healthier with a lot of flavor. I was so impressed with the Vietnamese coffee - all the flavor and body without any dairy! And I love the “queen” - like a vegan spin on caramel chicken - the protein has really nice texture and the sauce has perfect flavor of sweet and umami. Vegetables are crisp tender here and your fried rice comes to the table with a wok fired taste. Service is kind and just attentive enough - if I had to be really nitpicky i don’t care for the cutlery (low grade metal) and the restaurant *could be cleaner* but as this is a delicious and healthy alternative to my favorite Asian restaurants I’ll be ordering from here often.
Graeme Roberts
I got the Yum Yum Vermicelli Delicious food. Large portion. Prompt service. Lovely vibes 🥰
I have eaten here a lot of the years. I can’t think of anything that isn’t good. Today’s dinner was the spicy noodle soup and Jasmine Green Tea with Chia seed and silk milk.
Can you spot the face too?
Blue Ice
Superb food 🍲 staff is super kind. Orange tofu and broth were to die for!!
Matty Williams
Golden Lotus: A Culinary Catastrophe – A Food Critic’s Worst Nightmare
Dining at Golden Lotus was not merely disappointing; it was an exercise in culinary endurance. As a professional food critic, I’ve experienced my fair share of subpar establishments, but this one somehow manages to redefine the bottom of the barrel. If I could give this place negative stars, I would. Zero empathy, zero humility, zero professionalism—Golden Lotus delivers on these counts with remarkable consistency.
Let’s start with the food. Oily is an understatement. Each dish looked like it had been dredged from the depths of a grease pit. The signature entrée I ordered was practically swimming in oil, the sheen of which could’ve doubled as a mirror. The flavor profile? Nonexistent—unless you consider “stale fryer oil” a flavor. The vegetables, allegedly fresh, were soggy beyond recognition, and the proteins were as dry as desert sand, yet somehow still coated in grease.
When I politely voiced my concerns to the staff, I was met with hostility that bordered on performance art. The response to my grievance wasn’t an apology or even a simple acknowledgment; instead, they resorted to thinly veiled mockery, as if customer feedback were a personal affront. I’ve seen better conflict resolution skills from toddlers.
The ambiance didn’t help either. The décor looks like it was last updated during a time when shag carpet was in vogue, and the faint aroma of stale oil lingers in the air like an unwelcome guest. Even the music—a tinny, looping playlist of what sounded like elevator jingles—contributed to the pervasive sense of discomfort.
Golden Lotus isn’t just a bad restaurant—it’s a culinary crime scene. If you value your time, taste buds, and self-respect, steer clear. There are better dining experiences to be had at a gas station microwave.
Beyond that they argued tooth and nail with me instead of comping the unfavorable inedible dish out of frustration I paid for the meal and walked out and they added a tip on my card without my consent.
RachelFeiner
Tons of options. Interesting dishes.
Meat substitute doesn't taste like meat :)
Updated from previous review on 2025-02-02
Had a great meal here. While the food was nice, it wasn’t mind blowing. Some dishes were more outstanding than others. The clay pot eggplant curry was the best! It’s a solid choice for a quick, affordable, and filling meal
Super friendly local feeling on downtown Oakland. The food is excellent, the neighborhood is safe and pretty easy to park.
Great Phoʻ!!!!!!
Stopped in for a quick lunch and was pleasantly surprised by the delicious cabbage salad!
Everything on the menu is delicious with great drinks, wonderful rice and specialties, and good atmosphere and service!
Highly recommend to any and all vegetarians!
Extremely affordable too!
As a vegetarian, this is THE SPOT! My family and I have been here for years, and every single time we loved it so much! The people here make the food with so much care and attention to detail, and everything tastes so heavenly! This is all I could ever ask for. I was reminded of just how awesome it was when I went there yesterday after graduation.
All the same, please support this place as much as you can!
Some of the best vegan food I've ever had!
Reliable all vegan spot, the mushu-mushu wraps are a particularly good appetizer
Pleasantly surprised to find a vegan Asian restaurant that serves very delicious food with whole ingredients. They do all the viet/chinese classics but healthier with a lot of flavor. I was so impressed with the Vietnamese coffee - all the flavor and body without any dairy! And I love the “queen” - like a vegan spin on caramel chicken - the protein has really nice texture and the sauce has perfect flavor of sweet and umami. Vegetables are crisp tender here and your fried rice comes to the table with a wok fired taste. Service is kind and just attentive enough - if I had to be really nitpicky i don’t care for the cutlery (low grade metal) and the restaurant *could be cleaner* but as this is a delicious and healthy alternative to my favorite Asian restaurants I’ll be ordering from here often.
I got the Yum Yum Vermicelli
Delicious food. Large portion. Prompt service. Lovely vibes 🥰
Restaurantji Recommends
I have eaten here a lot of the years. I can’t think of anything that isn’t good. Today’s dinner was the spicy noodle soup and Jasmine Green Tea with Chia seed and silk milk.
Can you spot the face too?
Superb food 🍲 staff is super kind. Orange tofu and broth were to die for!!
Golden Lotus: A Culinary Catastrophe – A Food Critic’s Worst Nightmare
Dining at Golden Lotus was not merely disappointing; it was an exercise in culinary endurance. As a professional food critic, I’ve experienced my fair share of subpar establishments, but this one somehow manages to redefine the bottom of the barrel. If I could give this place negative stars, I would. Zero empathy, zero humility, zero professionalism—Golden Lotus delivers on these counts with remarkable consistency.
Let’s start with the food. Oily is an understatement. Each dish looked like it had been dredged from the depths of a grease pit. The signature entrée I ordered was practically swimming in oil, the sheen of which could’ve doubled as a mirror. The flavor profile? Nonexistent—unless you consider “stale fryer oil” a flavor. The vegetables, allegedly fresh, were soggy beyond recognition, and the proteins were as dry as desert sand, yet somehow still coated in grease.
When I politely voiced my concerns to the staff, I was met with hostility that bordered on performance art. The response to my grievance wasn’t an apology or even a simple acknowledgment; instead, they resorted to thinly veiled mockery, as if customer feedback were a personal affront. I’ve seen better conflict resolution skills from toddlers.
The ambiance didn’t help either. The décor looks like it was last updated during a time when shag carpet was in vogue, and the faint aroma of stale oil lingers in the air like an unwelcome guest. Even the music—a tinny, looping playlist of what sounded like elevator jingles—contributed to the pervasive sense of discomfort.
Golden Lotus isn’t just a bad restaurant—it’s a culinary crime scene. If you value your time, taste buds, and self-respect, steer clear. There are better dining experiences to be had at a gas station microwave.
Beyond that they argued tooth and nail with me instead of comping the unfavorable inedible dish out of frustration I paid for the meal and walked out and they added a tip on my card without my consent.
Tons of options. Interesting dishes. Meat substitute doesn't taste like meat :) Updated from previous review on 2025-02-02
Delicious food! Try it!
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