Mana Food Bar

I love Mana! I stopped by for a quick light meal last week and again was pleased with both food & service. The food is consistently delicious, and I love the new coach house. Favorites: The sliders, best veg burger in the tri state area. Arugula & avocado salad, baby kale salad, and saag paneer. Mana does greens right! don’t forget to order the sweet & sour tofu. I always end up ordering too much but who cares, life is short. I also enjoy the simple and unique wine list. Our server (I can’t remember her name but what else is new) was helpful and knowledgeable — my date had 100 questions about ingredients and our waitress answered them happily.

Mana is a BIG NAH! Totally not worth the amount you pay for getting this kind of quality and quantity of food. We ordered ma po tofu which was awful tasting. We did not eat more than two spoons. The service is very slow too… Disappointing!

Went here with some girl friends and had a fabulous time! Food was so so good, especially the sliders. One of us is a vegetarian so I think this place is good for anyone who likes good, quality food. No french fries though, but I did recommend they put sweet potato fries on the menu! We ordered way too much food, it was very filling. I would most definitely go back.

Mana… nah, nah.
Dinged 1 star for each nah.
Great cocktails, but the food? — Nah.

Mana is fantastic. My fiancée and I went during restaurant week after we’d been looking to try it for a while. We’re both vegetarians so it’s nice to have a classier option, but this is the type of place where open-​minded meat-​eaters could walk away happy. It’s a cool atmosphere with lots of natural wood and plenty of bar seating, in addition to a few tables. The servers were very friendly and helpful, not the quickest but that’s OK at a place like this. Really eclectic menu with so many small plate options. Try something new you haven’t had before! Prices are reasonable for the quality of the food, but it’s definitely not an everyday place. I love going somewhere where I can try new things I could never prepare myself, and that’s Mana! Check it out.

Probably one of the best meals my husband and I have experienced! We came in specifically because of restaurant week but once we sat down and looked at the menu and also spoke to our amazing waiter — we decided to stick with the regular menu! We ordered 6 small dishes plus dessert — totally over ordered but totally worth it! Our hands down favorite were the mana sliders, so tasting and amazing. We also ordered the seaweed salad, bi bim bap, the burrito, sweet and sour tofu and Brussel sprouts. The butterscotch dessert was on point — something we would never order but our waiter’s description sold it so we had to try it and it was great. We also ordered two fresh juices — purple and orange, very refreshing. Definitely will be coming back for another great meal.

This is my 3^rd visit here. The food = 5 starts. I ordered the mushroom over risotto and the eggplant with tofu and both were outstanding.
My last two visits the service was fine. This time, I walked in at 4:00 right when they opened. Totally empty. The woman offered me a seat at the bar. I asked whether I could sit at a table, since they were empty. She said she’d check with the host because they had reservations. I replied, «I promise I’m leaving in half an hour, I have an appointment.» She looked at me slightly askance and insisted she’d check with the host. Really? I went to the bathroom, came back, and saw they’d put the water on the table so I sat there. Strangely, people came in after me and the host chirped, «Sit wherever you’d like!» OK then.
Meanwhile, my waiter was taciturn bordering on surly. Me: «Do you have chardonnay?» Him: «No. [pause] The white wines are in the middle of the list.» Thanks bruh, that’s helpful. I seemed to recall that the dishes were on the small side, so I asked. He replied, «There’s a small and a large.» Yeah again you’re winning on helpful. Especially since 5 minutes later I hear another couple ask about the size of plates and he cheerfully explains how «We’re a small dish place» and continues with details about several dishes. Bruh are you mad at me because I sat at a table?
He brings me the first dish and puts it down in front of me. I was a server myself for years, maybe I’m old school but I always said «Enjoy.» Not this guy. He isn’t wasting a syllable on me. Another couple came in and sat behind me and this guy becomes Chatty Charlie. Literally I had to turn around to look, just astounded to see that it was the same guy. He is cracking jokes and even the pitch of his voice has increased.
I finish first dish. Look at menu, choose second dish, but waiter isn’t returning. Another worker notices and holds a menu over her mouth to tell him to come and look in on me, so he does.
I’m halfway through the second dish, dude is flitting around the room chatting with everyone but doesn’t deign to ask me how it is. So when he passes me to talk to the other couple I announce, «This is very good.» He says, «Uh… ok.» #notpickingupclues
In summary, the food is fantastic so I will definitely be back. If you get this waiter, I hope you’re one of the people he treats the way I saw him interact with other customers: friendly, informative, and competent. But be warned, you might get unlucky like I did.

Best restaurant in Chicago! Amazing menu and great service if you haven’t tried it you should!

We had the butternut squash ravioli and the bean burrito. Quick service and great food.

The food is a cold, uninspired mess with a price tag that’s a freaking joke. Food has diminished in quality and in portions. This is one of the reasons I feel like I can’t get far enough away from Wicker Park. They jumped on the «too cool for school» train and it’s a pretentious mess. The «cool» fancy kids can have this place. I’m never coming back. Their prices and their attitudes are a joke.

Loved the variety of menu. I had wild rice slider, gyoza and ravioli. the ravioli was my favorite. it’s pricey though. will come back here for sure.

Note: I think that this whole tapas/“small plates” thing is kinda a BS ploy to get you to spend more money for very little amounts of food. Mana isn’t cheap but it is wonderfully tasty.
I love the fact that Mana serves food that isn’t trying to be vegetarian but just is. No weird texture issues with fake chicken or fake cheese or any of the above. The food is almost always on point although service here can be a true hit or a miss. I’ve been here at least five or six times over the past three years so you can bet your bottom dollar I know a thing or two.
AMAZING:
— Bi Bim Bop: trust me, I’m Korean and I know what good bbb is. This one isn’t trying to be authentic because it has its own amazingly wonderful flavors and sauces. I’m not one to usually say this, but the carrots in this dish are weirdly PHENOMENAL.
— Mushroom Sauté: Everyone’s favorite — I see every table get this all the time. The polenta is creamy in your mouth with the tanginess from the asiago cheese. The juiciness and garlicky-​fragrance of the mushroom sauté is to. die. for. *The mushroom can sometimes be a wee bit salty but this varied on my different visits.
DECENT:
— Avocado, Arugula and Tomato: pretty straightforward, great dressing
— Brussel sprouts: Crunchy and zingy. Can be too salty sometimes.
— Mana slider: a lot of people wax poetry about this little guy so I guess it makes it on the decent list. Not the most mindblowing thing I’ve eaten but they’re downright dependably tasty if they’re not too charred!
SKIP:
— Potato Pancake: think latkes! and then think, wet soggy latkes that are nothing like latkes. this is a sweet potato pancake that lacks the crunch factor so beloved in savory pancakes. it’s not really worth your time.
— Maki: BORING
Juice:
— apple, pineapple and cucumber = refreshing
Service:
— Blegh, it’s a small place that can get pretty crowded. Come at off times because it’s infuriating when you wait 15+ min between your dishes while the party that came after you somehow seems to receive all the things you’ve ordered, first. And when you point it out to the waitress, she just rolls her eyes.

just ordered delivery via grubhub. Overall ok, some hits and some misses. Forgot to include the soda that we were charged for, which is just annoying. Slider was delicious, spicy mayo and quick pickle were great accompaniments. The chili was also nice, good garlicky taste and definitely provided that needed warm up on a cold night feel. Green curry noodles had a good flavor but would have benefitted from a touch of salt. Seaweed and cucumber salad did not work for us. Not a great combination of textures, and normally I’m a big fan of seaweed.
Would definitely go back for those sliders, but other than that not a lot calling me back.

God I love this place. Anytime I go here, it is always delicious. I am not a vegetarian but I do enjoy trying out places like this. because it goes to show you, you do not eat animals to enjoy food. TRUST ME. Go eat their Mana Slider and come talk to me.
/​/​Mana Slider — $ 3.50 — Definitely my favorite item. It reminds of me a white castle slider, but honestly, so muchhhh better. wow. I dreamed about this vegetarian item for dayssss.
/​/​Pickles — $ 4 — small size. Kimchi. need i say more? Probably. My girl is vegetarian and she cannot usually enjoy kimchi because they often used fish sauce to make it. not HERE! thank you mana. Delicious kimchi. pickled wasabi green beans. bomb. Tomatoes. ehh I dont like tomatoes in general.
/​/​Gyoza — $ 7 — Pretty standard, hot, crunchy outside, soft inside… yum.
/​/​Brussel Sprouts — $ 6 – 7? — this plate is INSANE. haha I absolutely love brussel sprouts and Mana knows how to make them. They make a spicy mustard miso sauce… HEAVEN. wow. definitely my favorite side. So good. ORDER THIS.
Also, their wine selection is superb. I had the Ones and zeros, it was great. I really like the Italian wine their had there. I forgot the name. Did I mention they do a happy hour with 2 mana sliders and a beer for $ 7.50. YUM

Mana was outstanding. I’m usually weary of restaurants that advertise as vegetarian. Not because I don’t like vegetarian food — I do. But because a lot of them **cough** Chicago Diner **cough** are more ideologically driven and less food driven so to enjoy them, you have to get a lot of satisfaction from the idea of them.
But not Mana. Mana isn’t trying to be something. Mana doesn’t try to make you feel righteous for eating there. It’s clear that the Chef at Mana started with the question «What’s going to taste really, really good» and then executed fabulously to that end. On top of that the service was really good and the wine options were great.
I am definitely coming back to Mana.

I’m not vegetarian and each time I choose to go to a vegetarian restaurant I go in with the same expectations as I have for a carnivorous restaurant — the feeling of satiation after a meal, that umami sense and taste we all desire, and that psuedo belief that we have for about a day that we’d totally be able to give up meat cause the food that you had was just that damn good. Sadly, I didn’t feel any of those things at Mana.
My boyfriend and I went to Mana on a Friday night for dinner and it was just alright. Nothing special and I probably wouldn’t go again. We did as a matter of fact have one stand out item — the baked goat cheese with tomato sauce and toast was delicious. However, I’m pretty sure you could find this anywhere so it’s not anything super unique. Honestly, it tasted like a cheese pizza when you put it all together which is probably why we liked it so much. If you do go to Mana (or if you are on Unilocal at Mana right now), get it! It was pretty good.
The rest of the meal was pretty lackluster. We got the Ma Po Tofu, Ravioli, and 2 sliders, so we could each have our own. While the eggplant in the Ma Po Tofu was pretty good, the tofu was absolutely flavorless and there was barely any rice in the dish. The Ravioli was fine also — it tasted like a ravioli and sauce that I could have made out of a box at home (yay for Buitoni). And those famous sliders that I haveheard so much about. For $ 3.50 a pop, I’d expect them to have a little piece of gold in them, or at least taste like a little piece of heaven in my mouth. Instead, it was bread encasing a salty mush that had no bite. The texture of the slider was all soft and there was absolutely no interesting element to the slider.
Overall, I probably wouldn’t recommend Mana in general or as a vegetarian restaurant. Tofu should never come completely flavorless and the prices are a bit high in my opinion for the quality and quantity of food presented.

Pretty great place all around. It’s small and intimate, the music was chill, and the food came quick.
Speaking of food – it is excellent! The menu boasts exclusively vegetarian and vegan dishes, many of which come with the option of a small or large serving. Plus, the drink menu has a variety of wine, beer, and cocktail offerings.
Our server was nice and hilarious! Will definitely be visiting again soon so I can try something else – everything sounded delicious.
Four stars because you really have to blow my mind to get a perfect star rating AND because, while everything was reasonably priced, the portions were fairly small so you might end up ordering more dishes. Which I guess isn’t the worst fate as their entire menu appears to be on point.
Overall, I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a yummy meal and a chill, intimate atmosphere.

Overall, we enjoyed everything from food, drinks to the hipster ambiance. It’s nice to see a solid vegetarian joint where you don’t feel like you need meat. This is coming from someone who only orders non-​veg anywhere I go.
Staff was very helpful and knowledgeable. The food was rather good and well portioned for 2 – 3 people. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait for seats on a Sunday evening. We really enjoyed the beet salad over the avocado arugula salad. I didn’t expect to enjoy the slider as much as I did. it was delicious! The tofu eggplant dish could have been better (the eggplant tasted a bit burned to me). The polenta with mushrooms was very rich but addictive in it’s buttery goodness. The curry dish was good but I felt like it lacked something but I could be biased.
I left feeling rather eager to return one day… maybe when the menu changes

I saw this place on Unilocal looking for smoothies. Of course, though, I definitely wanted to try the food. It’s hard to find good vegetarian places that match my tastes and my apparently but unintentionally high expectations. I was with my friend, and neither of us were averse to vegetarian. We decided to small plate. We ordered the beet salad, bibimbap, linguini, and one slider.
First, the service was slow, yet amiable and personable. The slow service was nerve wracking since I had parked on the street, and disgruntlement to my friend who hadn’t eaten dinner last night nor breakfast and lunch today. The beet salad (yellow beet, arugula, Amish blue cheese, hazelnuts) came out first. It was so delicious! I totally recommend. Unfortunately it was the only dish we ended up really liking.
Next was the linguini, which actually had ground red chili, chopped tomato, and clumps of cheese, cooked in olive oil. It was quite good: a subtle flavor that became increasingly spicy towards the end, ending with a little salty.
Next came the bibimbap. My friend was most excited to eat this. Unfortunately, my friend had a bite, pronounced it extremely salty. I tried three to four grains of brown rice: yup, saltier than eating plain salt. Thankfully, our waiter was kind enough to address the problem. Since we were also waiting on the slider, we decided not to switch the order but cancel the dish.
The slider was quite interesting. The patty is made of brown rice loosely held together the same way clumps of steamed white rice are — by the starch — and then roasted? It was held together in the shape of a patty. It was stuck to the bun by way of a spicy mayo that was more sweet and lightly tangy than spicy. My friend liked it. I thought it was just okay. It came with lightly pickled cucumber — basically cucumber soaked in vinegar.
I would have liked to come back for the smoothie, but the food was overall a bit disappointing. The only thing we enjoyed was the beet salad. I will try to come back to try the smoothies.
I really liked our waiter. He was funny and personable.
I want to give Mana Food Bar 4 stars, but I think it is an overall solid ³⁄₅. The food was adventuresome, but I think the long wait time for such small dishes spoiled our enjoyment because we were quite hungry, and would prefer to fill our bellies with food and not water. In the end, I’m giving it a four because personable waiters have become a rarity considering some experiences I had, but I implore people to be mindful of the wait time. If there are more friends, it is a great chatting place as you wait.

Like many others, we stopped in at Mana Food Bar because of the favorable reviews. The experience was quite odd from the moment we made contact with the waitstaff.
We were seated outside, and two employees were working total in the front area. They seemed to be chatting with each other and other guests for long periods of time, and we waited at least 15 minutes to order despite a somewhat empty restaurant.
We started out with some drinks, the seared tofu with brown rice, and the sesame noodles. The waitress tried to tell us something about ordering an additional item with the tofu (something along the line of other guests enjoy it more with a side). It was quite odd, but we decided to start with those dishes first.
When they did arrive, they were less than stellar. The portions were tiny for the price (coming from a SF/​Bay Area guy that is more than wiling to pay for good food). The tofu was a salt attack, and I could barely finish the portion. The random brown rice on the side was tasteless.
The sesame noodles were average at best, but certainly not worth the price.
We decided to end our meal and head elsewhere for a better dinner. I thought the food at the Protein Bar was much better for a fraction of the price with larger portions.
I will say that the polenta with mushrooms and the pasta on other tables looked much better than our dishes.

I really enjoyed the food. I ordered the Baja Corn and it was good. I also had a slider which was delicious. Husband had the same in addition he ordered the Spanakopita, which he loved.
If I could raise a complaint it would be that they put a lot of salt in their dishes. If you are on a low sodium diet, I would stay clear. As delicious as it was, this is my morning after and I’m truly bloated after all the sodium in the recipes.

Gyoza — probably the best I dish ordered. How can you go wrong with gyoza?
Mana slider — mushrooms! This was the second best dish. It wasn’t weird!
Mushroom sauté — the mushrooms were okay. This dish was either Salty? Buttery? or something off. Was it white cheddar polenta? I’m not sure what to say about this dish. It was weird.
Ravioli — I did not like this dish at all. I told waitress and I wasn’t charged for it. I took two bites and I couldn’t go further. I can’t quite describe why I disliked it so much but it tasted so off to me.
The waitress was understanding and the ambiance was hippy.

Goat cheese was great, but Mana was definitely very hit or miss.
Its a tapas style restaurant and the waiter was extremely friendly and helpful, but we didn’t seem to get one or two good dishes in a row. From overly salty to overpowering, or simply just a bit sloppy and uninspiring, Mana could have done a lot better.
Singling out some particular misses, I’d say the veggie sliders and artichoke ravioli were the worst, while the polenta and brussel sprouts in some kind of horshradish sauce were the best of our lunch.

I am definitely no vegetarian/​vegan, but if a vegan place has this high of reviews, I’m down for trying something new!
I was walking through Wicker Park with some friends on my last night in Chicago. We were looking for a great last meal to end my day on and I looked up «food» on Unilocal and found Mana Food Bar with it’s 4.5 star rating. I was a little skeptical since I personally am not vegetarian/​vegan, but I wanted to give it a shot anyways.
This is probably the fanciest little vegan place I have come across. Their outdoor seating is quite pretty. There was actually a wait for this place so we put our names down and waited for a text message to come our way. We were seated at the bar and given our menus. The place is very dim so it was sort of hard to see unfortunately. I decided to go with two popular items: the ravioli and the potato pancakes.
The ravioli comes in a small and large portion. I opted for the small. The ravioli is filled with artichoke which I unfortunately could not taste due to the overpowering sauce. The ravioli is literally drowning beneath a blue cheese tomato sauce. The sauce is delicious, but the blue cheese overpowers every flavor on the plate. All I could taste was a rich blue cheese, hint of tomato and the texture of the ravioli pasta. Sadly, no artichoke.
On the other hand, the potato pancakes were a hit! I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was very surprised. It comes with sweet and white potatoes and an apricot currant chutney. The pancakes were crisp and I loved the combination between both kinds of potatoes. I would never think of potatoes pairing with apricots but I liked the combination! The apricot chutney wasn’t overly sweet and had a very nice tanginess to it. I liked the small chunks in the chutney because it added some texture to each bite. The only thing I didn’t like was that after some time, the chutney on top of the pancakes would start to make the pancakes mushy. Picking them up with the fork would cause everything to fall apart and it was hard to eat.
Portion size wise, it’s pretty small. If you’re looking for a really hearty and filling meal, this might not be the place for you if you’re trying to get your moneys worth. I was happy with just a small meal that night so it was enough. For both small dishes, it costed around $ 20 without tip. The food does seem like it is made from high quality ingredients though.
Service was decent, but could have been better. My ravioli came out and the rest of my party’s food came out. The waitress left telling us to have a good meal without mentioning anything about my missing pancakes. Thankfully they came out a few minutes later. The bartender was our server, and although he was friendly, he was busy half the time. We did get our water refilled once at a timely manner. They also were willing to split our checks which we appreciated.
Overall, the place wasn’t my cup of tea but I did enjoy trying something new. The flavors were there, but in my opinion, just needed to be balanced and structured better.

Although I love vegetables and often go several days without eating any kind of meat, I don’t think I could ever fully embrace being a vegetarian.
That said, if all vegetarian food was as good as Mana’s, I could easily be persuaded to give up meat.
Everything here is fantastic, and will leave you highly satisfied. Even the cocktails are terrific.
Most things on the menu come in two sizes, so you can order many things, or just a few, based on your appetite and the size of your group. There’s a number of cold items, as well as hot.
We ordered several things and loved everything. Standouts were the mushroom sauté over creamy polenta, potato pancakes, gyoza, spanakopita, and the panzanella salad.
The only thing I didn’t care for (but I was the lone dissenter) was the artichoke ravioli, which came in a bleu cheese tomato sauce. I just didn’t like the flavor combination.
I would definitely go back, but probably on a day of the week when it was less crowded. The brick wall makes for a rather loud atmosphere; the noise has nowhere to go.
Mana Food Bar: it’s not just for vegetarians.

We had a basically flawless experience dining here and I look forward to returning. After deciding not to come here the first time due to way too long of a wait, we were lucky to get in here with only a few minutes waiting time. Score! We were seated at the bar, which was more than okay by me if it means not having to wait absurd amounts of time.
The menu has a ton of stuff that looks really delicious and the prices aren’t cheap for a «$$» restaurant, so we had to choose carefully to keep it in the more affordable realm. We decided to split two entrees: the cold sampler and the large potato pancake. It irked me a little that we never mentioned anything to our server about wanting to split the food, but the sampler came out first with two plates and then the pancake came out also with two plates. It worked for us because it’s what we decided, but I found that just a little odd. Maybe our waitress was just that observant!
Now, on to the food. The tree cold appetizers were all good. I especially enjoyed the one with red onion and avocado in it. The quinoa was also quite good. My favorite was the potato pancake, though. The first thing that struck me was that it looked darker, thinner, and smaller than I was expecting. I wonder what the small size would have looked like? It was cut into different pieces and had this incredible sour cream (maybe it was vegan – I don’t care!) to go with the pancakes. It was definitely a struggle to have to share with my girlfriend.
Even better than the food was the service. I was so impressed that our friendly waitress/​bartender gave us free samples of a really great lemon drink with real bits of lemon in it. She was very friendly throughout without broaching being unprofessional. I thought, «She’s definitely someone I would hang out with.» Girlfriend agreed. I look forward to going back or just ordering out. Yes, that’s an option!