Strictly Roots Restaurant

STRICTLY ROOTS HAS CLOSED!!! As of August, 2012, the place was closed and there was a «for rent» sign on the wall.
Alas, they will be missed.

HAS NOT BEEN OPEN IN WEEKS. PROBABLY OUT OF BUSINESS. I can’t see through the steel gates to see if theres anything still inside.

Great Spot! Great Ital Dishes. A bit pricey, but if you like vegan caribbean food, this is a good spot for it.
ONE LOVE

Conscience, the knowledgeable cashier was super awesome.
I had the mac’n’cheese with African seitan for about $ 10 ($ 4.50/ea). I was disappointed with the seitan to mac ratio as there was less than 10 pieces of small seitan and tons of mac. I suppose they were intended to be mixed as the seitan was on the salty side.
Good flavor combo together, however. Palm oil is really magical, it would really spruce up American dishes if they gave EVOO a little break. I devoured it, but I wasn’t super impressed. It was good. I’d like to try some other things. The curried tofu scramble I sampled would’ve been yummy as well.
The restaurant is clean with a home kitchen feel. If you’re ever in the ‘hood, I’d definitely try for yourself. I don’t feel like you can go wrong with the menu.

I’m not vegan, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try out the food! This was super close by to where I was, so I stopped in for a quick meal before running off to the airport.
The guy at the counter was supersuper nice, and the other patrons in the restaurant were really friendly too. It adds to the appeal and charm of this place. I was somewhat of a fail and couldn’t see the menus/​prices (let’s just say that I had a long day and we’ll leave it at that), so I asked him how much the tofu sandwiches were. It’s been a good while since I’ve had tofu, and I really miss it. :[
I came here about a month ago, but if my memory serves me correctly, it was something like $ 4 and came loaded with veggies and tofu. I ordered two, although in hindsight, I wish I’d tried something else too. (I was too excited to eat. My normal thought processes weren’t working properly.) They were really good – perfect amount of flavor and definitely made my taste buds happy. I’d mentioned that I wanted to bring them to go since it was going to serve as part of my dinner later (buying food from the airport/​on the plane? how about no?), so he wrapped it up for me. The food definitely travels well! :D

Awesome food, but it has a low health rating :/​All in alll the food was awesome, so go out of your comfort zone and little and try some ital food.
The ackee and tofu with collard greens is a must!

I had high hopes with this place after reading the reviews. I always like to try new vegan places. However, the flavors fell flat for me. I’m not sure how the pricing works for the restaurant. I think it is by scoop/​per piece. Our meal came out to $ 12.
We ordered brown rice, veggies, curry, falafels, fried tofu, minced meat, and collard greens. The falafels were terrible! I’ve never tasted a bland falafel before. The minced meat was the most memorable out of the items we tried. That had the most flavor, and probably the most salt. I think the food was sitting out for a long time since nothing was hot, just lukewarm.
Décor was extremely limited. In addition, it must be slow at dinner. We went on a Tuesday night and there wasn’t anyone eating at the restaurant. Most people were doing take out.
Credit cards accepted.

I have eaten at Strictly Roots about half a dozen times. The food is always very good; it rivals other ital restaurants I’ve eaten at in Crown Heights. Tofu, squash, seitan, beans, rice, macaroni; you name it, it is good. They rotate dishes so you have some variety each visit. The cooks are friendly and it is a nice place to sit down and eat.
The large take-​out plate seems to cost about $ 10.50 and will last me 1.5 meals. Try the pepper sauce in the squirt bottle; it is spicy!

I live about three blocks away, and SR has become a reliable standby for those Saturday late lunches when I just don’t feel like cooking or getting on a train. The staff are always super friendly, the food is out of this world, their house drink are AMAZING, and the atmosphere is laid back. I’m sad that they no longer have delivery, but really it’s worth walking the three blocks.
Today I had some KNOCKOUT collard greens. Super garlicky and not overcooked, just perfect. I also had plantains, and the «veg beef» which was huge chunks of tender seitan swimming in a delicious sauce with just the right amount of spice with peppers and pineapple. I tried to soak up the leftover sauce with the plantains. It was just that good.
Oh, and the drinks. In addition to made-​to-​order fresh juices they have home made sorrel, lemonade, tamarind, and ginger drinks that will blow you away. Sometimes on a hot day I pop in for one and down it on my way home. It is the ultimate chill out.
The place its self has a really relaxed vibe, there is usually plenty of seating and you never feel rushed. Oh, and it is really cheap.
One thing I have to say is I have never order off the menu. Whatever is at at counter always looks too good not to give it a try. Why eat a veggie burger when you can have freshly made stews and greens?

Delicious! I didn’t notice it was veggie, let alone VEGAN. I am neither (as of now).
I came in for lunch and was a little unsure what to do at first. There are items listed on the wall, but it’s not really a menu…
You just choose a la carte from whatever is on the hot bar. The server will give you as much as you want. I had a scoop each of tofu, collards, beans, and okra/​tomato stew. It doesn’t look glamorous, but damn it was YUM! This chow keeps well on the steamer tray.
I’m not positive, but I think that each spoon was $ 1.50. Something was explained about $ 3/​serving and a serving being two spoons. That means that I had a great lunch for 6 bux.
I also supported local biz and saved the world a little by not eating meat. WINNING.

Amazing.
I love Strictly Roots; if I lived closer, I’d be there all the time. Actually, I had forgotten how cheap it is; I think I’m going to have to start going again. After all, it’s only a subway ride away.
The stuff I got (cabbage stir-​fry, fried dumpling) was cheap, flavorful, and filling. I took it out (nothing against eating in, but I was on my way home) and it traveled well. And my adventurous cat liked the carrot strips!
This place has been here well over ten years; between that and Uptown Juice Bar, I can really dig some wholesome, delicious food in Harlem. Thanks, Strictly Roots!
[Edit: Uptown Juice Bar is closed?]

I am very critical. While I hesitate to give 5 stars because they were not super nice, I believe they deserve it. Super friendly places are kinda fake anyways, I mean, you don’t know me, I’m just some picky eater white chick in East Harlem to them.
Anyways, I highly recommend the bad man smoothie, I think that was the name.
in conclusion, rasta-​fry?

Strictly Roots is one of those spots that I always have the finger-​snap/​light bulb «oh yeah, that’s RIGHT» reaction to when I see it on one of my veggie/​foodie lists. Followed immediately by «Oh I’ll eventually get over there» and six MORE months pass… but I digress.
On my way toward visiting a friend on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd (I enjoy saying the entire name #nerd) I walked right by and doubled-​back, declaring *this* to be the day i finally got my simply roots on.
My first impression was frankly, «this is it?» There was one patron eating in the corner of the drab eating area, a server/​cashier at the front by the buffet trays and a vaguely bored cook hangin out in the back. Toying with the idea of gracefully pivoting my behind out the door, I relented when the lady at the front gave me a warm smile and a cherry greeting (great customer service is an ART.) The cook perked up and we were now in business. I decided to order from the not-​so-​steamy trays, deciding that this would be a true indicator of their quality rather than ordering from the back (Let’s call it the ‘Uptown Juice Bar Metric’).
Pleasant surprise!
The food was quite good: I had the stir-​fry, greens, mac n’ cheese and a side of the fried tofu all to go. I gotta say, it didn’t look too fabulous as it was packed in the container, but one I heated it up when i got to my destination it was GREAT!
Since my initial visit I’ve been twice (all to-​go) and had very similar experiences (and observations) so it does the job :)

OK, I really wanted to like this place. After the (hopefully temporary!) closure of both Café Veg and Uptown Juice Bar, I went here a second time despite the fact that my first time involved very slow service, room temperature food, and a not-​so-​amazing price tag for the experience.
I get it: ordering menu items is going to take FOREVER. I decided I wouldn’t make that mistake again, so I did the 3 item point-​and –click out of the «steam» trays. I put steam in quotes as there was a noticable lack of steam eminating from the stainless steel trays. Before I ordered, the guy at the counter said «sorry, we don’t have rice right now». I thought that perhaps given the lack of rice, I could make my order and get a lower price or a substitution on the 3-​item-​and-​rice deal, as ¼ of that meal was missing. No dice.
Incidently, the food that was left to pick over was seriously limited. It was mostly oil and residue left in the trays, but I was starving and theres nothing vauguely vegan nearby, so I did the best I could. And it was somehow below room temperature. I suppose the steel trays actually cool the food in the absence of any kind of any heating element.
The service wasn’t necessarily rude, but a real casual «it is what it is». I felt like I got to a family party 4 hours late to see my dad standing over the grease and crumb-​filled empty trays of a once-​grand BBQ saying «well, if you weren’t out with your friends, we might have saved a vegetable kabob or two for you, but you had bigger priorities. Hungry? You should have thought of that earlier.»
Except it was Thursday at 6 pm, they’re in the business of serving food, it wasn’t crowded, and I paid $ 8.
Until Juice Bar comes back, I’m gotta remember to pack meals if venture uptown. I’ll snag a Clif Bar at a bodega before hitting up this joint again.

I don’t understand how this place got a «B» rating. It’s a fantastic, super-​chill place with delicious food.
I try to come here at least once a week. I love their plaintains, fried tofu, and fake-​chicken curry. You can get four different dishes (half portions) and it comes out to about 10 bucks or a bit more. It’s worth it. I like trying the different dishes laid out in buffet style. They scoop it up for you and put it in your plate. I also like their ginseng lemon-​lime drink.
It’s a vibin’ place to go and chill and enjoy every bit of your meal. My only issue is that sometimes, customers and workers might be a bit rude (maybe not rude, but they give off an attitude). I like the girl who works there. There’s a guy who can be a bit standoffish sometimes. I think they’re cousins. Still, it’s a cool place and you can play some chess with locals while you’re waiting for your food. Sweeeeeet.

The crazy thing about this restaurant is that it is even renown in French tourist brochures! I went there with my fiends after visiting Harlem and we were not disappointed. The veggies were simply excellent and the pricing was surprisingly cheap.
I also remember I took one of their special drinks. It had a funny and very strong taste (I’m almost sure it was full of ginger). As a matter of fact I shouldn’t had drunk the whole bottle all at once since the powerful flavour gets kind of sickening if you drink too much of it but it was definitely worth a try.

I will preface this with: I will come back. I will try again.
However, I was pretty disappointed in the service and a bit underwhelmed by the quality of the food.
Obviously Strictly Roots fills a unique gap in the restaurant options. I like it’s simple décor and the chill atmosphere.
However, the guy up in front helping customers was obviously a bit frazzled with all the tasks: taking orders, taking money, going back to the kitchen to bring back food, etc. Also, it took a crazy amount of time to find out that the soy chicken was out for the day. (And the soy duck was out, as well.)
The tofu scramble was interesting and had a unique flavor — though it made my stomach a bit upset — and the tofu tempura, while dry, was nice and chewy. The plantains win the biggest prize. The greens were decent, but I’ve definitely had better.
I will come back, though. Next time with more time to spare!

I came back with a friend and the rice was totally undercooked and crunchy. not cool. how do you f*&k up rice? –1
cookie was good, though i’ve made better.
demoted to 3 stars. it would be 2.5 if that were possible.

My veggie Berger was so good can’t wait to try more of there food

Nothing that crawls, swims, walks, or flies!
This vegan restaurant in Harlem serves fantastic food at a fantastic price. You can either choose from the prepared food at the hot food bar or from dishes on the menu, which they make fresh. The ingredients are organic when possible, and they use minimal or no sugar, opting for agave or unrefined brown sugar. The seitan is excellent — I prefer the curry style over the African ($ 4.00) — and, like many dishes, it comes with brown rice and beans — a complete protein (though a few extra bucks)! Also try the tofu and ackee, the latter of which is the national fruit of Jamaica. The portion sizes are generous, and, when selecting from the prepared foods, they will often ask if you want more (or less). They also serve fresh squeezed carrot, ginger, and other delicious juices, as well as organic bottled juices.
The décor is simple, and drums up Jamaican-​Caribbean-​Rastafarian energies, with pictures of Jah on the walls. The clientele seems mostly local, neighborhood folks, and many people coming in and out seem to know each other and the restaurant staff. There are always a few chess games being played, and some patrons come just to hang out.
This unpretentious vegan restaurant is well worth a visit!

I found the food to be alright, but i definitely wouldn’t invite friends out here…
It’s kind of a whole in the wall type of place, but the food is fresh. You can order off the menu or from the hot food bar.
I had peas and rice, beans, greens and tempura tofu. My mom had a curry shrimp dish and some pineapple bread. It was all pretty good, but nothing was spectacular. Actually, the pineapple bread was kind of stale. I really like my soul food to be spicier and more flavorful. In fact, I consider this place to be more of a West Indian food restaurant than a «soul food» restaurant. The flavors don’t remind me of southern cooking at all.
My food cost about $ 12.00 which really isn’t even all that cheap…