Loving Hut

All their dishes are freshly prepared, so don’t expect ‘fast food’ here, just healthy menu choices ranging from raw dishes (including summer soups like gazpacho and excellent raw desserts), to eggplant parmesan (veganized, of course!). Excellent smoothies, salads and wraps; you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy the food here. Combine all this with a very friendly owner and staff, and this place will soon become a favorite. The only downside is the location; I wish they were closer to or in downtown Albany.
Please note this restaurant has closed. They may reopen at another location in the near future…

loving hut does not exist — please see the review of the loving café

HD’s review is a tad bit out-​dated. They didn’t use disposable eatery when I went, so I think that the disposable plates and sporks were only there because they were starting out.
I’m vegan, so our views are probably a bit different as well. I think it’s wonderful that there’s a restaurant that’s completely vegan. The closest thing to vegan where I live before them was New World Bistro. They have some vegan options, but I’m not willing to pay $ 100 for a sandwich.
NOW for the food. It was good, yet each item needed a small tweak. The «Steak & Noodles» was good all around, but they cut the noodles, making me feel 4 again. The Mac N’ Cheese was good, but dry and not creamy at all. The quesodilla was good, but there was way too much fake cheese for my liking.
I blame this 100% on the fact that they’re new. If they don’t close from a lack of business, they’ll fix their mistakes, making a phenomenal new vegan option in the community. I think they probably don’t get much business because they’re too far away from the hipster vegan lark st scene.
Rambling, rambling rambling, yes. My whole point is, even if you’re not vegan/​vegetarian/​lactose intolerant, this place is worth a try. America is brainwashed to think we need 75 grams of protein a day, and a vegan café would really help in taking the first step in erasing that bullshit belief.
Good luck, happy eating, and please, don’t be a dick.

My boyfriend and I (both vegetarians) were excited to hear about this place opening. We went about 3 weeks after their soft open date and were both incredibly disappointed. The menu alone was rather unimaginative and consisted almost entirely of meat substitute items (and was also lacking prices, suspiciously). After seeing this we were wary and ordered only 1 appetizer and 1 main dish to share, agreeing to order something else if we liked the first things we got. The spring rolls were average, but the dipping sauce they came with was pretty bad– very poor balance of salty to sweet to tangy. Our main dish was a «steak» and noodles dish. The plate had three separate little piles of food– plain spaghetti noodles with olive oil, garlic and some spices, a small heap of incredibly bland, over-​steamed broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms (vegans who can’t get veggies right?!?), and a bit of fake steak in a Asian style sauce. Portions were very small for the price (I think it was about $ 8). The steak had a nice flavor, but I still don’t know why a vegan meal should be hinged on something pretending to be meat.
I also couldn’t get over the way were served– on disposable plates, with plastic cups and cutlery. Their sign outside says «Be veg, Go Green, 2 save the planet.» Uh, really? How about not using plastic forks, then.