Lovin’ Spoonfuls

When I first moved to Tucson 10 years ago, I ate here a few times but didn’t love how many processed faux meat/​cheese options they used, so I stopped coming. I’ve been here twice in the last few months and I’m glad I gave it another chance because the menu has significantly changed and includes a lot more whole food, plant based options that do not rely on the fake stuff. There are also a lot of GF options and you can get brown rice or quinoa with any of the pasta dishes. Like most restaurants, some dishes are better than others. I really like the new kale salad, but didn’t really like the mashed potatoes & gravy that came with my friend’s nut loaf (the loaf was pretty good though). The clam chowder was amazing, and around Halloween we had a yummy chocolate pumpkin shake, but I felt flavor was lacking in my Thai curry and had too much quinoa and not enough veggies. I love to cook and make both simple and gourmet vegan food, so I’m kind of hard to please. Mostly I prefer to eat at home because I almost always like what I make better than what a restaurant can make, but if I’m out and about and looking for a place to eat, I would come here again. This place has a large menu so everyone in your party should find something they like (burger, salad, entrée, etc), and the prices are reasonable.

I’ve had better vegan food, but this was pretty good.
I got their vegan version of a BLT, with tempeh as bacon.
The chocolate shake, which I haven’t had in forever, was awesome.

Very good vegan food with lots of comfort food options. Good service too. As an appetizer my husband and I had the Battered Mushrooms with vegan ranch. The batter was perfect and loved the vegan ranch but if I could change one thing it would be to serve the ranch in something bigger than a tiny pill cup. He had the mushroom barley kale soup. Excellent. My entrée was a bacon cheeseburger with coleslaw. Part of the patty squeezed out the back when I bit into it but it was very tasty and I would order again. My husband had the Country Fried Chicken Platter with mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and veggies. Tasty dish. Reminded of Thanksgiving. Had a chat with the owner, a former chemist, named Sunny. Really nice woman who cares about providing good vegan fare. I highly recommend this place.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffin is a MUST try! Probably one of the top 10 best things that I have ever put in my mouth. Do yourself a favor, and just check this place out, even if you are a meat eater!

We stopped in today, and have been here before. The food was fine, the gal tried to sell us some salad dressing or something bottled by the register, I couldn’t hear her.
It may be a picky item, but the soda was awful! I don’t know what causes it, but other restaurants have the same problem, usually with Diet Pepsi. Maybe they don’t filter the water or? who knows. I would think the distributor would check on this. Maybe it’s a nit pick, but it took the shine off the meal for me.

I always had Lovin’ Spoonfuls on my radar and I was finally able to visit it for brunch on a rainy Sunday. The restaurant is beautiful and quiet. I decided to order the spicy vegan lentil soup and a vegan grilled cheese. I wanted to enjoy Lovin’ Spoonfuls so much but their cheese is tapioca based and it was a very sour, bitter taste to it. I couldn’t even force myself to eat more than 2 bites of my grilled cheese. I suggest they switch out to maybe an almond based vegan cheese. The soup was my favorite part of the meal! It was spicy, warm and was rich and creamy. I plan on visit this establishment soon and hope to write an update with more confidence.

Came with pretty high expectations, considering the reviews… But it was just ok. Got the Route 66 which was ok, but something about the patty flavor was off. Fries were ok– nothing to get excited about. Service was nice and quick even with a few in front of me, which was nice, especially on a Friday night. Ambiance is kind of awkward… Like a picnic? I love supporting veggie businesses and will likely come back but with more realistic expectations.

As a recent vegan, I was pretty excited to check this spot out. The menu looked great, but when I got my meal I was pretty disappointed. It tasted like hospital/​nursing home food. I made a better version of my meal at home a few days ago (and I’m not even a very good cook). I just hope people don’t eat here and think this is what vegan tastes like.
The dessert was pretty good, but over priced. So I won’t be back for that either (whole foods is less expensive).
Also the ambiance was a little weird. Lots of clearly fake, dark colored flowers, weird random pictures, and pretty awful music.
Just not quite sure what all the hype is about, or why this place has such good reviews.

We had brunch here for the first time today. We’ve never been here on a Sunday before so it was the first chance to try their brunch menu. Had scrambled tofu (Italian style w/​basil & tomatoes). Was delicious !! Also had a side of vegan sausage & whole wheat pancakes with maple syrup. The tofu scramble came with home fries & wheat toast & jelly. They offered many varieties of the tofu scramble with various assortment of veggies (some spicy and some not). I think even a non-​vegans would be thrilled with one of these delicious egg-​free breakfasts. My husband had a veggie omelet yesterday at a local breakfast place, and he declared this far superior. Everything was wonderful and I would definitely recommend it for Sunday brunch

The proprietor is a compassionate woman passionate about food. She is well-​versed in Dr. McDougall’s principles and very accommodating about making dishes work for you. The vegan bakery items are generally top notch. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus offer a lot of variety. Highly recommend Lovin’ Spoonfuls as Tucson’s best 100% vegan restaurant.

I ate here a long time ago. Okay, it was a year ago. The food was just, «okay.» I think I remember my fries being bland. I probably wouldn’t come back.

I went to this restaurant on two consecutive days, once for dinner and once for brunch.
Dinner:
Athena Sampler Platter — this was delicious! The falafel and dolmas were great. The falafel were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside and had nice flavor. The dolmas were garlicky morsels of goodness. My only complaint is that the white sauce (tzatziki?) did not really taste like anything, and didn’t contain cucumbers.
Piccadilly Nut Loaf — this was all right. The flavor was okay, but nothing special. The loaf fell apart very easily. I did like that it was served with steamed vegetables and the gravy was good. I had considered getting the Country Fried Chicken Platter and I wish I had tried that instead.
Route 66 Bacon Cheeseburger — I had one bite of my husband’s and was not a fan. The burger was overwhelmed with Daiya cheese. I am not particularly keen on Daiya, and that was really all I tasted, but I cannot really judge this burger because I only had one bit. From what I could tell, the patty was fine.
Eggplant Parmesan — another plate I only had one bite of it. It was all right, but kind of greasy.
Carrot Cake — this was excellent! The texture of the cake was lovely, the sweetness and spice just right. I would eat this again and again. Better yet, I would just try all of their cakes.
Root beer float — well, I can’t really complain here! The ice cream was a good texture and didn’t fall apart or melt too quickly.
Brunch:
Short stack — these pancakes did not live up to my expectations. They were a little heavy and not fluffy. One of them was a bit on the burnt side. They were still palatable, but I think their downfall is that they are too big. If they were made smaller they would probably taste better.
Scramble with tomatoes — while the texture of the scramble was spot-​on, it was overly salty
Note, the service was *very* slow both times I went. The wait was around 20 minutes for food, and for brunch there were only about seven people ahead of me, so I’m thinking maybe they only have one cook.

Amazing menu — who would have thought there were this many great vegan options? The food here is fresh, abundant, and thoughtfully prepared. Even my friends who eat meat find good options here and say that they enjoyed the food.
Highly recommend Lovin’ Spoonfuls!

Being a veggie for 15 years now, there is few feelings that come close to walking into a restaurant that I can choose anything off the menu! Anything you order is amazing and free from harm.
From the pasta to the burgers and salads!
Everything is so fresh and constructed beautifully. I ordered the potato salad with my southwest burger… The potato salad is like nothing I have ever tasted! I never knew it was possible for potato salad to pop! It’s sweet and tangy. The burger had a beautiful mix of flavors.
The dining area is beautiful and clean. The staff is truly friendly and sweet.

I’m not even sure how to rate this. Do I rate it based on how much the meat substitutes taste like real meat? If I did that, it would probably be, like, two stars. But this place is so much better than two stars. Do I base my rating on how creative some of their food is? Well, then it would be a five. Four seems good.
I went in the first time with my husband, and I got a «tuna salad sandwich». It was… interesting. I eat tuna, so maybe for someone who doesn’t this would be good. We also got these «chicken nuggets» which were really good, with their vegan ranch on the side which was also really yummy. The star of my first time here, though, was the mushroom cashew pâté (no, I don’t know how to do the fancy accent marks with my keyboard). Holy Kelly Clarkson. It is SO good! Even coming from someone who loves real pâté, this is really good (I only get real pâté when my gram-​gram buys it and lets me have some, and the last time this happened was several years ago, so please refrain from sending me all the «Do you know what those geese go through» emails). Nothing like real pâté, of course, but amazing non-​the-​less. Apparently you can get the recipe online.
So, we were searching for a brunch place recently. All of our favorite places were full, and I was starving and not willing to wait. He pulled in here and I was not a happy camper. The only thing that I REALLY liked was the pâté, and I was not about to eat that for breakfast. I order the Fiesta Scramble. Potentially the best idea I’ve had in the last month. It was SO delicious! The vegan cheese was close to real cheese, the soy chorizo was close to real chorizo, all of the flavors melded together perfectly! I think this might be my new favorite brunch place.
Not to mention, they have cranberry juice in the soda fountain!

Really awesome and creative menu. What I love about vegetarian places like this is that they get the chance to have really interesting menu items that you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else.
We sat in their outdoor patio which was nice since we got to bring our dog.
My fiancée and I (neither currently vegetarian) had so much trouble picking dishes, that we ended up being surrounded by dishes that we wanted to try. Everything was superb.
We had the Cashew Mushroom Pâté, which was even more delicious than it sounded.
We shared the Batter-​Up Sampler plate which came with fried onions, tempura «shrimp», mushrooms and «chicken» nuggets– everything was great, and I was so impressed by the vegetarian tempura shrimp which I had never seen before.
The fiancée also had the Wildcat Burger which was really tasty as well.
Definitely check this place out, even if you’re a die-​hard meat eater!

I really wanted to like this place, but the food was GROSS! I mean, really terrible. I was excited to find an all-​vegan restaurant in town, but this is literally just a vegan version of McDonalds.
90% of the menu is comprised of unpalatable, pre-​frozen, soy-​based mock-​meats & «cheeses». If you’re strictly vegetarian because you’re against eating animals, then you might enjoy the novelty of this place. If you’re looking for fresh, plant-​based food, this is a far cry from that. This place is the antithesis of fresh.
C’mon, vegan food can be delicious and so much more thoughtful than this place gives it credit for. They majorly missed the mark on flavor, instead focusing on copying the foods vegans avoid in appearance only. The entire lunch menu is comprised of limp soy patties w/​scorched plastic cheese dressed up as various «cheeseburgers» & sandwiches.
Honestly, most of the restaurants in this area offer better vegetarian menu options than this one does. We could not choke our lunches down. I’d highly suggest Govinda’s instead if you’re looking for a delicious plant-​based meal.

We are vegan, and we so appreciate great food and people! The owner of this place is a dead ringer for one of my friends — so much so, I did a double-​take!
Really nice place with great food, coffee, and friendly service.

Strawberry salad, spicy Moroccan Lentil soup, cornbread and I may go grab some dolmas.
INCREDIBLY GOOD
I’m traveling so this REALLY hit the spot

This place is a vegan wonderland! No where holds a candle to this placw. Peggy is a sweetheart and a food genius! The food is always outstanding. I have never gotten one item I didn’t like.
They have a vegan version of everything you could ever want. Burgers, fried chicken, chicken nuggets, tempura shrimp and the list goes on and on!
My personal favs: the adzuki burger is a classic. Home made and served with carrot salad is great! The golden nugget appetizer (a vegan version of chicken nuggets) are crispy morsels of delciousness! I like them with the BBQ sauce. For breakfast, I love the Mediterranean scramble with veggie sausage on the side. The hubs changes it up and likes everything he has gotten even though he is far from vegetarian.
Overall, this place is 5 stars for passion, flavor, variety and most of all vegan options! Sure to please veg-​heads and their carnivorous friends alike!