Veggie Bistro

Heaven… I’m in Heaven. When I first ventured into the world of vegetable-​tarian Veggie Bistro was there for me. Nothing beat the Mongolian beef. Nothing dammit! Not your mom’s enchiladas, not your dad’s chili, not even the NY pizza you had when you grew up in NY cause it’s soooo much better out there (ask me if I care). I thoroughly enjoyed this place and I hope I can find where the staff moved to before the poser govt of Whittier bulldozed the building.
My little brother came here with me once, entered an inhaler of all things meat, left a vegetable.

This place hung on for a long time (seven years?) considering no one ever came here. The food was excellent; the ambiance was gross. The people who worked here were great, especially main guy and happy guy. Main guy had some of his (girl?)friends work here for a while. That was cool. They used to have a really soothing CD they would play, but then their stereo broke, and they never fixed it. I have no idea how this place stayed in business for so long, but it was amazing while it lasted.
RIP.

Edit: This place is closed now. All you suckers missed out.
This saddens me greatly, but I take a bit of joy in taunting the rest of you. HA!
This place doesn’t look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid.
I’ll get the negatives out of the way first. As you can see by my rating, they don’t really matter all that much. Bad décor, poor ambience, a bit run down.
Normally those aspects would at least knock off one star, but the Bistro is home to the sacrosanct Veggie Mongolian Beef, sliced from the loins of the holiest veggie cow. Now, you may have had fake meat before, but this stuff is quite possibly the most perfect food in the world. It is spicy and served in a huge portion. To describe beyond that would require you simply to eat it yourself.
A good second place dish is the Veggie Chicken Clay Pot. But most of the time when I order this, my mind is stained with regret that I should have ordered the Veggie Mongolian Beef.
If you order something else, you’re on your own. I’ve never had anything bad here, but nothing else really lives up to the glory of the aforementioned items.
Oh, and the waitstaff (usually the same guy) is very helpful and conscientious, if a bit lacking in the English Language department. I don’t even go there very often, and he remembers what I like to order and the fact that I rarely order rice with it.
If I move away from Socal, this is the food I will miss.

Maybe I haven’t had enough vegetarian food…
But I’m a fan of vegetables, rice, and other non-​meat items, and I sure didn’t like my one and only experience at «The Bistro». Maybe it had to do with the food coming out way too fast, looking way too perfect, and tasting way too «imitation».
Couple that mediocrity with the anonymous décor, pin-​drop silent atmosphere, and creepy wait staff, and I don’t think I’ll be back any time soon.
Even if I turn vegan.

UPDATE 7÷18÷07−−
BOO. Veggie Bistro is closed and will be bulldozed. They are tearing down all the businesses on this block to make way for some new building. :(
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Veggie Bistro has been open for years and is one of my family’s favorite places to go to. The ambiance is definitely lacking– no music, the back of the booths are a bit too low, very little décor. This is no place for a private conversation. It’s almost as if everyone is trying not to be too loud while eating for fear that someone will hear you slurping your soup. What makes up for the atmosphere is the food. All of the food is made from tofu– the chicken, beef, shrimp, fish, etc. The mongolian beef is absurdly hot, making it my favorite dish. The servings are huge, the prices are low, and the food is great.

I have a kind of love-​at-​first-​sight relationship to Veggie Bistro. It doesn’t make sense, but it won’t die. Granted, the food here is great and pretty cheap, nevertheless, I’m not sure why I love this place so much. The ambiance is nothing fancy (and there’s some weird thing where the height of the booths always seems a little off), and the service borders on brusque. Maybe I just savor the association I have with the place because P took me here long ago, before I knew L.A., and it was a veggie salve to my fear and wonderment at this strange land.
Anyway, whatever the reason, I adore Veggie Bistro. It has excellent fake meat offerings at extremely reasonable prices. It’s your typical Chinese-​vegetarian offerings, but it’s just really, really good. The kung-​pao chicken is to-​die-​for. The beef isn’t bad either, though I prefer the chicken offerings. I was never a sea-​food person, so I can’t recommend the fish one way or the other. The curries run a bit sweet, but are otherwise pretty delish. It’s a great veg*n option for anyone in the Whittier area. I recommend taking a group and ordering family style so you can try a bit of everything.