Shankara By Balasia

I was deeply put off by my experience here. 17 $ for a prix fixe lunch on a weekday in Bethlehem is a little bit much. We were the only people there and she left us just standing there, not offering a table or greeting. Weird. We went to La Lupita instead and had a veritable vegan feast for half the price and none of the attitude.

Vegans, scratch this place — unreliable. We come this way while traveling up and down the east coast. One favorite stop is the vegan bakery in Bethleham. We have also attempted to visit Shankara 4 times, but it was always closed; despite oir arrival during the open hours posted on the restaurant’s website. No message alerting us to the closure was on this website or even in the phone message. We appretiate professionally run businesses — this does not seem to be one of them. After veering off the highway 4 times to find this place, we have had enough. One has to wonder how good the food is, when the opening hours are not consistently managed.
But, thanks to the vegan bakery for saving our trips to Bethlehem.

I had the indian lentil curry dish with quinoa. it is a work of art, very tasty, and a great value. you could almost split this for two people if it wasn’t so delicious.

Excellent descriptions of the menu were provided as well as answers to the specific questions we had regarding the specials.
The fantastic service was accompanied by 3 musicians that were providing a very organic, jam-​style soundtrack to the cozy atmosphere.
When the food arrived, I was a bit shocked at the portions… HUGE! I wasn’t sure where to begin, but I got it figured out. The meal was presented very well and offered a medley of flavors that felt very natural.
I live a couple states away, but I can’t wait to go back!

We were *so* excited to try a new vegan restaurant, and came to this one hungry. We walked in the door to a completely empty restaurant – definitely an unwelcome surprise. A woman behind the counter didn’t bother to come greet us for several minutes. When she did, there was no attempt to seat us, instead she handed over a menu of four options printed out on plain paper as if it were a boarding pass. Hint: it doesn’t take much to put together a pretty menu template. You might want to look into that. But, whatever, trying not to judge the book by its cover. So, we ordered one of each of the four options. In return, we got a snarky response, «uh, it’s going to take a REALLY long time». What?, I said. The woman qualified her obnoxious statement, «I’m the only one here, so it’s gonna take like 20 minutes. Maybe if instead of getting one of each you doubled up, I could get it out quicker». So, what you’re really saying is that you don’t feel like making four dishes for paying customers. Whatever, I continued to ignore the things that weren’t consistent with hospitality and stuck with our original order. Because we weren’t seated we selected the table with the least dirty/​dingy tablecloth. We requested water and were given room temp bottles of Poland spring. No glasses. We requested ice, but the woman said that none was available. We soon noticed that the wall and a buffet table right up against it were CRAWLING, yes CRAWLING with bugs. Not just one kind, but several different varieties of roaches. We alerted the woman to this, and she didn’t seem surprised or concerned. Forget about apologetic. So, we made like the bugs and scurried. The hell outta there.

Why did I wait this long to get back to Chef Wendy’s food I don’t know. Very excited to see that she has her own place again, and it was packed the night we were there, yet we got in easily, so nice. We are an hour away and happy to drive for such flavorful, organic, diverse food. Communicating by text was very easy for reservations and a few questions.
The main dining room is upstairs, where you can peek over the railing and see Wendy at (hard) work, making everything herself. We really enjoyed the tapas menu where you order a base plate of greens with sauces and either quinoa or rice noodles ($ 12). Then you pick as many plates as you want to go with it, most $ 4 – 5 each. We chose peanut seitan, an Asian slaw, coconut sweet potatoes, and BBQ tofu. We planned to order more later but were full by then. Loved the goji water too.
We were regular customers when she had her buffet meals in Hereford and had been missing them so much. There is so little food of this quality available, made in such a clean, fresh, loving way. I did not even have room for the African peanut soup. I won’t miss it next time.
We found the set-​up and prices to be incredibly reasonable for the quality and quantity of food. She takes credit cards. Service was friendly and excellent, especially considering the waitress was the only server and going up and down the stairs constantly. Family-​friendly too. Parking was easy on the street; just bring quarters. It goes until 9pm on the weekend.

The two stars is for the service and décor of shankara, they nailed that. Now let’s get to why I had a bad experience here. I took my girlfriend for a valentine’s day dinner on 2÷14÷2015. I was told it would be a «shared» dinner, what this meant was they served us a single plate and we’d share it in theme with vday. We were served 4 – 5 tapas style small plate dishes of salad, soup, vegetables and various grains; as well as a desert from vegan treats. Some were better then others, but overall the taste was mediocre. Now here’s why I’ll never go back. The bill was $ 110. The portion sizes were so small I wasn’t actually satiated, and the ingredients were simple cheap grains, vegetables and tofu in which they served us a meal that should be meant for one, not two people. The more I think about it, the more I can’t understand it. $ 55 would’ve been a premium price, but $ 110? Not to mention a 15% tip starts to get steep in that range. Since the food was nothing to tell your mom about, and the bill was just outrageous. I’d caution anyone of going to this place.

I went with my husband and daughter for brunch and we all enjoyed our meal. I didn’t think the meals were over priced, in fact I was very pleased with the meal and the portions. Fresh, organic, vegan food is not cheap to begin with and having someone expertly prepare a meal the way the chef did was well worth the price.

Wonderful place! This is worth the trip! I drive all the way from Conshohocken for this awesome vegan food! I took my mom, who is not vegan, for brunch the other week and she loved it so much our Christmas dinner is from Shankara! I highly recommend this place for vegans and non-​vegans. The people who gave a poor review should have looked at the entire menu if they have issues with «breakfast» food. I’m also glad that I didn’t have to waste paper when I paid. Get with the times and read a little. Wendy is very accommodating and such a pleasure! The night before Thanksgiving she was working her tail off cooking and delivering food to cars in the snow! She’s a professional who know her craft and her customers!

Now, I’m not vegan, but the missus is. We were in Bethlehem because my band was playing Musikfest. It was after 2pm and we hadn’t had lunch. Wandering into Balasia, we were reading the chalkboard filled with the day’s menu when they informed us that they were actually closed for lunch, but would still be willing to accommodate us. We started to head out thinking we’d get a rush job with some thrown together plates, but they assured us that the food was delicious and it wouldn’t be a problem. Man, are we glad we stayed! We got the opposite of a rush job and we were treated to the best vegan plates of our lives! The flavors! The colors! The best! I’m not going to say it was the best vegan food ever, but it might be the best vegan food ever. Thank you Balasia!

Nice place. Very friendly and great food. We went with a two year old and she enjoyed the atmosphere.

I used to live in Emmaus and would frequent Balasia every single week (usually for the extraordinary Sunday brunch) and having since moved away, not a week goes by where I don’t miss Wendy’s food. Sorely, sorely miss it. So I’ve been meaning to check out Shankara in Bethlehem for a while now. Last night I finally did; my fiancé and I came for dinner for our one-​year anniversary, and to say the evening was a special one would be a tremendous understatement. It was SO special, it was delicious, exotic, romantic and fun, and we both left feeling energized and happy :) My fiancé is not a vegan by any stretch of the imagination, but he absolutely loved the food, said he didn’t miss the meat at all, and kept commenting how good he felt eating it – as compared to that weighed down, food-​baby type feeling we usually get after eating regular restaurant food.
The dinner menu is tapas style so we ordered a slew of dishes (4 each) which is hands down our favorite way to eat food. So many different flavors and textures! A few of the dishes we ordered were the cury-​yaki tofu, 5 spice peanut vermicelli noodles, curried cauliflower, coconut sweet potatoes and cabbage, spicy teriyaki tofu and kale, and the Indian madras lentils. We also ordered the soup of the day which was a creamy, dreamy, sweet potato pureed soup topped with Indian crunchies. THIS SOUP WAS TO DIE FOR. I probably wouldn’t even have ordered it because I’m not the biggest soup fan in the world but Nick was very interested, and boy did we make the right choice. The flavors were just spectacular. The spice level was perfect and the texture was completely divine. Everything felt right in the world while sipping this delicious soup. Everything.
Wendy was also nice enough to open the juice bar back up for us (I played the anniversary card. THANK YOU WENDY!!!) so we both got to enjoy an apple/​carrot/​kale juice. The juice was out of this world. I’ve been to many a juice bar, and happen to live just down the street from a fairly renowned one, but nothing I’ve tried elsewhere comes close to Shankara’s juice. It was thick and frothy, so incredibly flavorful and super delicious.
We made it a point to save room for dessert, because Shankara serves baked goods from Vegan Treats bakery. If you’ve ever been there, then you know. If you haven’t been there, you NEED to try these desserts! Holy crap. The pumpkin cheesecake was everything we wanted it to be and more. So much more.
We left feeling completely satisfied, full but in a good way, excited to enjoy our leftovers the next day, and looking forward to the next time we can come back.

Price is not acceptable. $ 34 +10 (to share) + 8(too sweet Kombucha) +15 percent tips for mediocre food. Yes it is vegan, yes organic and healthy, but I would rather stop at a supermarket and pick up an avocado and a banana. Taste/​price ratio is about 0.

The food really was delicious, which is why it’s so disappointing to me that, in all likelihood, I won’t ever go back. I won’t return because of the pre-​fixe menu. If you’re going to leave a 20% tip, you cannot get out of that restaurant for less than $ 40 per person (and that’s with drinking water). Plus, as another reviewer noted, you’re explicitly forbidden from sharing, so they’ve basically made sure that there’s no economical way for someone to dine at their restaurant. The tapas-​style menu is fun, and if I could split it with a friend, I would go back. I hope that, at some point, they offer a more flexible menu that allows options for people to dine there without spending so much money on such a massive amount of food. Until then, I won’t be going back.

Most Amazing vegan food you will ever eat! Ample seating, good prices and incredible art work. Live music just adds to the experience

So I was really looking forward to trying and supporting this new/​local, vegan/​organic place but hubby & I left with a bad taste in our mouth. We went on a Saturday night before heading to a show in the area. It starts out nice with the server bringing a pretty bottle of spring water with goji berries but then she gave us our menu. It is a fixed price menu allowing you to choose four tapas items for $ 34! I thought okay, pricey but we’ll still give it a try & just share. No can do! Our server informed us that no sharing allowed & it even says so on the menu.
Now we’ve travelled & eaten at many vegan restaurants from Pure in NYC to Vedge in Philly & Sublime in Florida, to some small organic cafés in NYC & even Chicago & have never have seen pricing like this. I’m a vegan who shops mostly organic, the kind of customer you’re looking to attract and we left without eating.
I wish you success & hope it works out. I’ve heard that chef Wendy makes some amazing food. We’ll be back if & when you adjust the pricing.

I went for Easter brunch. IT WAS DELICIOUS. All vegan and gluten free. Amazing atmosphere and friendly staff. Food is wonderful and even better for your body.

Wendy’s baaaack and better than ever!
Shankara by Balasia is a little hard to find until they get their sign up, but the restaurant is located at 3^rd and Webster, and worth the hunt.
Asian-​fusian vegan specialities never tasted so good. Amazing food. That’s all you can say about it.
For those of us who miss Wendy’s Emmaus location, this space has a different, open vibe, but really nice. And, we’re so happy to be eating her food again. The Southside of Bethlehem is good.
Welcome back, Wendy!!!