Native Foods Cafe

Like some of the other reviewers, I was fortunate enough to attend the pre-​opening night of this location. The whole staff was in high gear, and every single person in our party walked away impressed.
Despite the solid influx of customers (each ordering around four items, btw), the kitchen staff kept up and the serving staff was polite and attentive to everyone. They’ve certainly got an impressive collection of employees!
The food was fresh, hot, and delicious. I ordered the Chicago Dip Au Jus for my entrée, the Tandoori Kabobs as a starter, a side salad with ranch dressing, and the rose and cardamom cupcake for dessert. The Chicago Au Jus was absolutely wonderful, topped with a bevy of crisp and delicious vegetables (apparently called «giardiniera extraordinaire», I just grabbed that off their website). The dip was rich, and the baguette was just perfect. The Tandoori Kabobs were good, and they came with a yogurt dipping sauce that actually left me in awe. It’s texture and flavor were so similar to dairy yogurt that I’d hardly have been able to tell the difference between the two!
If you’re ever stuck around Fashion Island and need a place to eat, give this place a try! They’ve really got it together.

This review is courtesy of my daughter… so here goes… actual quote… from a then 5 yr old…
«I LIKED EVERYTHING AND THE CHICKEN THINGS AND THE DIP AND I LOVED THE MAC AND CHEESE SO MUCH AND I LOVED THE CHOCOLATE IN THE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE.»
The next Shakespeare? Yeah, not so much.
I’m surprised she didn’t use any profanity like her dad… cuz for a vegan place… the food was pretty fu*king not bad at all.

I’m so bummed that this location closed! It was kind of inevitable as there weren’t a lot of customers most of the time I was there, but I kind of liked it like that. The Tustin location is always crowded during lunch hour, but I guess that is my other option (or the Costa Mesa one).
It’s too bad as this was a nice location too!

Still a great place but they will have closed their doors by the time you read this review. I was here on Saturday and I was told that would be the last day of business for them at Fashion Island.
Sad face because love Native Foods! Now I guess I will be forced to try Lemonade next door.

We just found out tonight that this location is closing down for good tonight :-(
We loved hanging out at fashion island and having lunch or dinner here with our family at least 2 – 3 times a week.
I guess we will have to go to the Tustin location more now.

Yum! This place is delicious & makes me feel healthy after meals.
Get:
Chicken Run Ranch Burger
Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger
Soul Bowl
I like their lavender lemonade, and you get a free drink when you sign up & register with them!

Love this place. The food is amazing along with those ice tea drinks. I always go for the watermelon one, but today I tried the native ice tea and it is also good.
Definently a place to come again. :) I do really recommend.

Love
Love this place. Eating here makes me think that maybe I can become a vegetarian someday.
The salads are excellent and the tempeh tacos are so good you definitely won’t miss the meat. There are 2 tacos and they are very filling. Portobello mushroom burger is good as well but not my favorite thing. Sweet potato fries are so good with the seasoning and sugar on top.
They have fresh watermelon juice as well (free refills) and it is amazing. I could easily drink 4 – 5 glasses of this stuff. Lots of desserts that look good but I’ve never tried them.
Even if you’re not a vegetarian, there’s something you’ll like here.

I love Native Foods. Nom a nom nom.
This is a great location too — never too crowded with a great outdoor patio.
My favorites are the Yo Amigo Taco Salad (with avocado! You have to get it with avocado) and the Rockin’ Moroccan Bowl. On both I douse it with the salsa. I also like pretty much all of the starter soups. I go there a lot so I’m pretty sure I’ve tried them all by now. I’ve only tried the desserts once (I think peanut butter parfait?) but it was amazing.
LOVE the drinks. I go ¾ Iced Tea ¼ Lemonade for fresh fruity beverage perfection. Get the to go cup so you can refill on your way out.
I know some people that really don’t like Native Foods but I think they just ordered something they didn’t like, some of the meat substitutes can rub people the wrong way. I would go for something more vegetable based if you think that might be the case with you. But with the fresh ingredients and amazing flavors, if you’re at all meat conscious or health conscious you really can’t go wrong with a trip to Native Foods.

Let me start by saying I am not vegan, I am not even a vegetarian. And I love this spot for lunch on days I am working at Fashion Island.
It is always fresh, fast and easy. The staff is so helpful and friendly. I asked what the soup of the day was, and he brought out a little dish for me to try it. It ended up being a little on the spicy side, so I got the dill potato salad instead.
The Bangkok curry bowl was amazing, SO amazing! and so is the twister wrap with blackened native chicken. I’d like to try something different every time I come.
The only thing is, there are no nutrition facts anywhere. Not even online. I emailed them asking about it and they said it should be out within a year??? I want to make sure I am choosing healthy items. I know a lot of «veggie» meats can be high in carbs, and I’m not a big carb eater.

Surroundings/​Atmosphere–
This location of Native Foods is tucked away on the second floor of the Island Terrace restaurants at Fashion Island. It has cool drop lights with metal branches wrapped around them, imitation old reclaimed wood tables, and plenty of patio seating that looks over the iris fountain below– perfect for people watching and enjoying the great weather notable of Orange County.
Menu/​Quality for the Price–
I’ve ordered every one of salads at Native Foods Café, and more! Native Foods uses quality organic and local ingredients, in addition to handmaking everything in their restaurant the morning of, so you know that you’re getting the freshest of plates. Their colorful and great food presentation make everything that much more yummier.
1. Caribbean Jerk Kale Salad (⁵⁄₅)
This salad is one of my favorites! I love love love kale and this salad is composed mostly of it. There’s tempeh, avocado, chopped mango, red peppers and onion tossed with kale in a creamy jalapeño cilantro dressing. It’s garnished with green onion and shredded coconut. It’s definitely a citrusy salad to me, and usually I’m not a fan of fruit in my salad, but the mango just complements it perfectly! At $ 9.95, it’s a bit pricey, but when is vegetarian/​vegan food ever cheap?
2. Yo Amigo Taco Salad (⁵⁄₅)
Perfect if you’re in the mood for Mexican and want to stay guilt-​free! Fresh romaine and cabbage is layered with Native taco meat and salsa fresca. It’s topped with corn, green onion, cilantro and tortilla chip croutons. The chipotle dressing is to die for! Make sure that your order comes out with this dressing, it doesn’t taste as amazing without it! Priced reasonably at $ 8.95, this is definitely one of my favorite salads here. For an additional $ 1, you can get avocado– and it’s so so worth it!
3. Indo Noodle Salad (⁵⁄₅)
If you’re in the mood for an Asian-​inspired salad, the Indo-​Noodle Salad is the way to go! Cucumbers, red peppers, onions, carrots, baby greens and rice noodles tossed with a sweet peanut-​chile dressing and topped with their ginger-​glazed Native Tempeh, peanuts and green onion will grace your table. I love this salad as well! $ 9.95.
4. Native Fries (4.5÷5)
Usually when I dine at Native Foods, I order a side of their Native fries if I can fit it! They’re thinly-​cut, cooked in pure vegetable oil and seasoned just perfectly. Ask for a side of their Chipotle dressing to dip the fries in– it’s to die for! I absolutely love this dressing– I wish that I could take some home with me!
5. OC Raw Chopper Salad (³⁄₅)
A selection of mixed vegetables topped with salsa pomodoro, avocado, almonds, angel hair beets and sprouts. Lemon garlic oil dressing is served on the side. At $ 9.95, I’m not a huge fan of this salad. It’s not as flavorful to me compared to the other salads, and I feel like I can make make this at home if I really wanted to.
6. Ensalada Azteca Salad (³⁄₅)
Fresh avocado, jicama and cucumber salsa atop quinoa, romaine and our award
winning mango lime vinaigrette. Topped with currants, toasted pumpkin seeds and
cilantro. I’m not a huge fan of this one because it doesn’t pack a flavorful punch as compared to the other salads. However, if you’re looking for something light to eat, this might be a good option for you. At $ 9.95, I’d rather order something else on the menu.
Service–
Service is pretty good at this casual dining restaurant. You place your order with the friendly cashier, and sit down at your table with the number that he or she gives you. A member of the wait staff will bring out your order when it’s ready. The cashier remembers my face and always greets me with a smile. A gentleman who I assume is the manager (he wears a dress shirt and slacks) can be seen going around delivering some orders and checking up on restaurant patrons. He’s also kind enough to offer to take away your empty bowls and plates. Definitely no complaints here.
Words of Advice/​Tips–
If you’ve ordered a drink, they hand you a glass. Ask for a plastic to-​go cup when you’re finished dining so you can take one of their delicious beverages with you! It’ll last you a bit longer haha. However, I feel like their beverages are a little too light for my tasting. What I do is mix half the Lavender Lemonade and half the Watermelon Fresca, and the combination is bomb! So so good. Light and refreshing. All of my friends love my beverage combination. Try it out!
Overall, I definitely am a fan of Native Foods. I’m a Healthy Rewards cardholder, so you know that I’ll be back– I can never get enough of their food! This is my go-​to vegetarian/​vegan dining establishment!

I think it’s just A-​Ok, because of the location. Of course, this is for someone who came here just to get lunch and no other intentions of shopping.
The staff was prompt, but there’s a lot of people here taking to-​go. So, it did take quite awhile for the food to be ready.
I had the limited avocado crunch with the sweet potato fries with some seasoning. The avocado crunch was quite filling. It was very flavorful and I didn’t miss meat at all :) If it ever comes around again, I recommend it! The fries were soggy :(Sad fries.

Came in for a lunch catch up session with a friend the other day, and was pleasantly surprised. Being an unabashed carnivore who hates all color in his food, I was overwhelmed by a place that offered dishes with words I’d never heard of, like «Vegan,» and «Gluten Free.» I don’t know what those things are, but I hoped they were spicy.
I settled on the Caribbean Jerk Kale Salad (Jerk seasoned Native Tempeh, avocado, chopped mango, red peppers and onion tossed with crunchy kale in a creamy jalapeño cilantro dressing. Garnished with green onion and shredded coconut), and it far exceeded my expectations. The kale, combined with the shredded crunchy coconut, tempeh, and jalapeño cilantro dressing was a textural heaven in my mouth, and for a moment I forgot that there was no meat in my food. Then all of the vitamins I wasn’t getting from my purely meat diet started to kick in, and I started to feel all funny inside, like I could actually pick something up off the ground without all of my bones aching and cracking. It was weird, and I didn’t like it.
Moral of the story– the food is great here, the location is slightly hard to find (just past the Island Theater on the second floor), but is spacious, clean, and has a friendly feeling (must be all those vitamins). If I ever need a break from my usual self abusive diet, this is my spot for color, smiles, and vitamins.
A solid 4 stars.

My coworkers always rave about Native Foods, so I decided to finally try it and see what the hype was. I was a little hesitant about the fact that they’re vegetarian/​vegan, because I’ve been to Veggie Grill and their fake meat had a strange after taste.
When I stepped into the space, I first noticed how clean and spacious the establishment was. The bright colors and posters were very inviting, and the staff was very friendly. I examined the menu and got in line to order at the cash register. I asked the cashier whether the Native Nachos or Yo Amigo Salad is better, and she said if I’m really hungry to go for the nachos because it’s a huge serving and delicious. I went with that and she told me if I signed up for their rewards card I could get a free drink. Yay! I tasted the lavender lemonade and watermelon fresca each first, then decided to mix them. After sitting down, my food was out in less than five minutes.
The plate was huge and beautiful! All of the colors of the fresh veggies and sauces looked great. The dish is actually an appetizer, but was enough for an entrée. For $ 7.95 you get a huge pile of corn tortilla chips, black beans, «taco meat,» chipotle crema, «cheese,» salsa fresca, guacamole, corn, green onions, cilantro, and jalapenos. I poured some Chalula hot sauce over the top, as there are bottles available by the refreshments.
There were so many great flavors that each bite tasted better than the next. It was the perfect blend of sweet from the crema, tanginess from the salsa, creaminess from the guacamole, crunch from the chips, and spice from the hot sauce. The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the «cheese.» I don’t know what it’s actually made of, and the greyish color isn’t exactly appealing, but it wasn’t bad when I ate it.
In my salsa I found a tomato cube that was cut with the barcode sticker still on it. Not a huge deal, but somewhat gross.
I will be back! The dessert case by the cash register looked tasty, so maybe I’ll try one of those sweets next time!

I’ve always liked Native Foods Café. This roomy location has all the yummy, generous entrees that all the other Native Foods offers… however, the rest of my family didn’t have such a great experience. My mom ordered the kale salad, but they brought out the wrong dish for her. And when they did bring the salad, they forgot to put the dressing on the side, and my mom didn’t really like the taste of it. I ended up eating that all. The manager came out and was nice about all of it, though. BUT THEN my brother ate half of the reuben sandwich and sweet potato fries, and he ended up getting an allergic reaction! We don’t know what it was. :\ I ended up eating all his food too. Oops. Maybe the menu should list all the ingredients somewhere. Due to our experience, I’d give it three stars, but since the staff and manager was nice about everything, I’ll bump it up to 4.

So this is a vegan/​vegetarian place… don’t come here expecting anything resembling meat… in texture or taste! That said… the employees are super friendly & patient. Order at the counter and they give u a #. Sign up for their card and u’ll get a free drink. If u get their daily special it comes w/​a free side
Super ITALIAN Meatball Sub $ 7.95 a very delicious sandwich… def messy to eat… plenty of sauce and full of flavor… i would def recommend this… comes w/​edamame which are nothing to rave about
Chicken Run Ranch Burger + Sweet Potato Fries (sunday special) $ 9.95: this is basically the same price as any old day but u get free fries… the burger is nothing like chicken in taste or texture but a decent overall burger… fries are nothing special
Drinks
Lavendar Lemonade: while mildy tart and very lemony it had no hint of lavender
Watermelon Fresca: Delish… a lot of watermelon in there and very refreshing
Also i’m not sure if it’s because the place was practically empty but we were checked on several times… people here are def attentive

What really stands out at Native Foods Café is their friendly and knowledgeable service! I came here a bit grudgingly since my BF has a famous cousin that wrote a book about vegan recipes. However, the guy at the register was soooo friendly my opinion swayed to their favor! The guy made sure Native Foods would be a great experience by letting us know what it is all about and what dishes are not recommended for someone who hasn’t tried vegan food before.
Let me say that they have great aguas frescas or «fresh waters» literally which are fruit drinks. We had the watermelon agua fresca and it was really delicious. You can tell they do not use sugar but it does not taste disgusting at all like diet drinks do!
I had the Rockin’ Moroccan bowl. It had Native Chicken which is a soy «chicken» breast. It was condimented to perfection! Tasty! The rest of the dish was steamed or rosated veggies. It had sweet potatoes and beets which I really enjoy. I really liked the sauce that came with this dish. My BF had a burger and he really enjoyed it too! Best of all the meal was actually filling believe it or not! The prices of the entrees are not too bad.
The servers checked in on us various times to see if we were enjoying the meal and to see if we needed anything! Nice! The place looks kind of like a fast food joint but it is anything but that. There is a nice patio area where you can do some great people watching! I am not really a fan of vegan food but if my BF ever wants to return I surely will — just to have something different and tasty!

Health-​ily Delicious — two words I never would have used describing a vegan eatery.
Native Foods Café has a special combo everyday — one of their selected entrees (designated per day of the week) & a your choice of a side — all for $ 9.95.
I came on a Friday, lucky me — it was the twister wrap friday (chipotle soy chicken with avocado and fresh greens). I chose their seasoned sweet potato fries with a side of chipotle dip as my side. (You also have the choice of ordering your chicken grilled, blackened, and crispy — I chose the crispy, and boy was I a happy camper. The wrap & sweet potato fries most-​def exceeded my expectations. The chipotle sauce was rich, and creamy (and vegan?!?), and the wrap was anything but dry. I also had the lavender lemonade mixed with the watermelon fresca– SUPER refreshing after a long day of shopping. Best thing about this meal, besides the flavorful food, was the absence of guilt. Full? yes. Satisfied? Super yes. Will come back again? Most definitely.
P.S — when you sign up for a rewards card, you get a complimentary drink.

Native Foods always reminds me my undergrad days in college. First, because it was expensive food for a broke college student. Second, because it was damn good vegetarian food I couldn’t afford! =P
Excited to try it again after all those years! Still pricey though, but I can finally afford it now! Ordered the Moroccan Chicken bowl ($ 10). So yum! It was packed with veggies and quinoa. I wish there was more «chicken», but the bowl came out piping hot and fresh. Also, the portion size was huge. I definitely divided it up into two meals. Well flavored and seasoned.
I also tried the watermelon fresca. It was really watered down. I wouldn’t get it again. the lavender lemonade was ok, but I’m not a big fan of lavender.
The desserts looked appetizing! Vegan cupcakes and cakes. It looked like the manager was giving free samples to select tables. I’m sad I wasn’t chosen. Oh well, better for my hips. =P
Service was pretty good. Food comes out about 10 minutes after you place your order. They have daily specials too.
Located on the 2^nd floor of Fashion Island. Near the theater.

When I found out that Native Foods Café opened up at Fashion Island, I found it a perfect excuse to go since I hadn’t been to Fashion Island in years!
This location is pretty big. It’s located near the theatre, upstairs. They have indoor seating, as well as a nice patio area for outdoor seating, which is a win since we’ve been getting such nice sunny weather during this winter.
It has pretty much the same menu that the one at The CAMP has. On my recent visit, I decided to try out one of Chef Tanya’s favorites, the Ensalada Azteca Salad. It has «fresh avocado, cucumber and jicama salsa atop quinoa, romaine and Chef Tanya’s award winning mango lime vinaigrette. Topped with currants, toasted pumpkin seeds and cilantro,» all about $ 10. I also got the Lavender Lemonade — I can never say no to that! The salad is HUGE. There’s so much of it! And everything is sooooo fresh. I loved that there was so much avocado in it. It was definitely delicious and filling. I couldn’t even finish it. I probably ate almost half before I got full. Anyways, everything was
!
Another thing that I love about this place is the service. I seriously can’t get over how great the service here is! There was always someone different coming by to see if everything was good and if we needed anything. Definitely thumbs up for that.
I am definitely going to be coming to Fashion Island more often. This place is awesome!