The Loving Hut

Loving Hut is NOT CLOSED!!! It has changed its name, but all the other info is the same, including the phone number (website may have changed).
This is our favorite and has been for years, no matter WHAT they call the place. From the spring rolls to the dumplings to the chow mein to the love letter salad, this is vegetarian food that is soooooooo delicious, you will be back for more.
I am literally heading out now, this minute, to pick up some great food from this restaurant. It is the middle of a Chicago winter blizzard, but I’m going there anyway! That’s how good it is.

Everything is bland and boring. Check out more interesting places like Ethiopian Diamond around the corner.

We had a wonderful dinner there yesterday. Started with some flavorful cinnamon/​ginger tea. We were a bit disappointed with our dumpling appetizers, as the dough didn’t seem fully cooked and the filling was nothing special. But our entrees were delicious. The lemon tofu had a very unique and delicious flavor. I’ve eaten at a lot of Asian restaurants and a lot of vegetarian restaurants and have never experienced something with this interesting and wonderful taste. The Korean BBQ was good too though a bit too sweet for our tastes. Also, the service was great and I loved the atmosphere — it was relaxing, beautiful, and they played wonderful music. Overall, a great experience.

This food ranges from steadfastly mediocre to poor. It’s vegan «fast food» and is all pre-​fab microwaveable TVP and starches. If you didn’t know it was a vegan place you’d just think it was really cheap, bland Chinese food. I’m giving it 3 rather than 2 stars because the guy who works there is really nice.

I wish there was more gluten free options. Only 3ish on the entire menu. It seems as though this food is easy to make gluten free, no? It’s a bummer because this place is great for vegans but not so much for gluten free diets. I hope they can change that.

For vegans who miss the taste of meat, this place is a life saver. Their food is really good and certain dishes honestly taste just like chicken or beef. The entire place is super clean and the atmosphere is open and light so it feels very spacey, though it’s small. Finally, the people who work there are very nice. Great little place for cruelty free dining.

As meat-​eaters, we really enjoyed the vegan food. We ordered steamed dumplings, the love letter from earth salad, and the Do Sot Bi Bim Bob Korean rice bowl. The dressing and ingredients in the salad were very hearty and interesting. The rice bowl was amazing. We were very satisfied with the portion size, especially for the price.
The logistics of the restaurant are different, but very straight forward and there are signs on each table explaining the process. Our service was fine and the «supreme master» tv station was quite entertaining.

My brother is vegan. This place doesn’t feel like a compromise. The food is delicious and service is kind and quick

I love the Loving Hut! Staff are great, food is amazing! I’m not a vegan, but the deliciousness of the food makes me consider it.

First the waiter came and told us that they misted our order and only one dish was made (there are two of us). I ordered the lemon Tofu. When he finally brought out my dish he said «we ran out of the ingredients for your order so we made you Korean barbecue instead». Since we had to pay in advance I refused the order. Then he went back and after my wife was finished with her meal he brought me the lemon tofu. Terrible service.

I’ve been to many Loving Huts, but this was my first time in Chicago. This location is at the Thorndale stop on the Red Line, making it very convenient to get to from the El.
I can’t say I was terribly impressed with the food. I wasn’t sure what portion sizes would be like, so I ordered the steamed dumplings and the tofu steak. It was definitely a lot of food, so I think in the future I could easily go with just an entrée and skip the appetizer. The food was good, but it wasn’t wowee good. If I’m going to spend money at a restaurant (in Chicago, where I don’t go that frequently in the first place), it’s gotta knock my socks off. So I’ll probably stick to Chicago Diner and Karyn’s Cooked for now.
Logistically, this place is really confusing if you’ve never been before. You get a menu and pick a table, then go back up to the counter to order and pay (which means you can’t change your mind and add more food — such as dessert — later, unless you want to go back up and pay again). My appetizer came without chopsticks or a napkin, so I had to go back up and request those. I also had to ask for water refills, because there was no pitcher left out, and there really isn’t waiter service. I wasn’t sure if I had to bus my own dishes, but there didn’t seem to be a spot to leave them. If you’re a woman, dining alone, who carries a purse, having to take trips back and forth to a counter is really annoying.
Otherwise, it’s pretty much like other Loving Huts. Prepare to watch endless broadcasts of Supreme Master TV.

I LOVE the Loving Hut! Food is great and inexpensive. My favorites are the Thai Curry, dumpling appetizer and the Yakisoba. I would have given the establishment 5 stars however the reason for the 4 was due to the hours of operation. They are closed Tuesdays and only open Wednesday through Monday from 4 pm-​9pm. Wished they had opened earlier for lunch. Its such a great establishment with good food!

Very tasty.
Small portions however. I would love to try more of their food! Would definitely go again. I had kungpao without peanuts, and it was crispy and tangy. Yum!

Being vegetarian and living close by, I really wanted to like this place. Alas, I didn’t.
My boyfriend and I had the jap chae, fried dumplings, don ka su, and another dish with TVP.
Cons:
— Small portion sizes for the price (even smaller than usual servings of plain rice)
— Food tasted off /​lacked flavor
— Incredibly slow service (it was as if they had only one cook for the whole place…)
— Creepily quiet, despite lots of patrons
— Had the ambiance of an empty cafeteria.
It look me a while, but I realized the strangely low noise level was because the tables were spaced far apart, the TV was on silent, there was no background music, you couldn’t hear anything from the kitchen, and there was only one visible staff member. I chatted with my boyfriend, but the only other human sound we heard was usually the crying of a baby. (There were several families with young kids in a curtained room.)
Pros:
— I got a window seat
— It’s vegan, so I didn’t need to ask about ingredients
— We didn’t get sick
— It’s clean
There are really good vegan restaurants and places that cater to vegans in Chicago. This isn’t one of them.

Love this place! Hours are weird, but it’s a good place to stop before heading out for the night. Have tried multiple things, all delish. Big fan of their soy green tea «milk» shake. Many options to choose from, even my non-​veg friends enjoy the food here. This is a very chill place and often times very quiet as well. The way the food is served is a little odd as you take a seat and look at menus, but have to go back to the counter to order. Very casual, and great big windows for people watching. My fave spot whenever I am in the city!

I don’t know what to say about this place other than it’s awesome!!! I have tried quiet of few things on the menu but I’m obsessed with the fried dumplings and spring rolls. The only thing I don’t really care for is when your dining in be prepared to go to the counter to order, pay and then your food is brought to you. You will not be waited on until you have selected what you want then pay. I dunno seems a little backwards to me but the good was so good I kept it at five stars. This is a do a few times a week for us and it’s not expensive.

This restaurant went through a rough patch. When it was called Alice & Friends, I loved the waitress, the food was delicious, it quiet and it was quaint. No complaints. Then the company switched to Loving Hut and they went through quite a few different waitresses. There were two who were absolutely horrible. One woman had an attitude all the time and every single time I went into that place, she was sizing me up like I was staring at her imaginary boyfriend. And another lady who worked with her was so dreadfully slow that I would just start reading the brochures to pass the time while she typed in my order. In that same year (whatever year they were at the Taste of Chicago — ’08 or ’09), the cooks were also surprisingly slow. I remember waiting 45 minutes for California rolls, and I was shocked because I used to get those things in minutes. I stopped going to Loving Hut for a little over a year because of the rude waitress and the slow service.
But I REALLY REALLY really like the Runaway Potato, Spicy BBQ, lemon tofu, chocolate mousse pie and the banana strawberry shakes. I missed the place once Quench (on the south side of Chicago) closed down and needed a vegan go-​to place. So I poked my head in again, and I was thrilled to see that there were a couple new waiters and the other ones were nowhere to be found. I still miss the waitress who was there from Alice & Friends. She was super sweet, but I like the (two?) new guys that are there. They’re pretty laidback, polite and always seem to work well in busy atmospheres.
I can never complain about the food. I enjoy all of their food, but I think they made a mistake getting rid of the vegan BBQ sticks that had lettuce on the side. Those TVP sticks were a great way for newbies to decide whether they liked vegan meat and tasty, too.
I do like that it’s opened up more and is about three times the size as it was with Alice & Friends, but the hours of operation sometimes make it annoying to visit. By 4 p.m., people are getting settled from work or wanting to relax. For night shift people, the place is impossible to eat in because they can’t go during the day. Ironically though parking isn’t as terrible as you would think considering Edgewater has notoriously bad parking. But I can almost always find a good parking spot near the restaurant.

No. You don’t understand. I read a review somewhere on here that says «if you don’t get down with vegan food, head out now!»…that would be the most wrong of decisions you could possibly make.
A friend of mine and I went and we ordered the spring rolls, I got Mama’s Love and she got the Kung Pao. Did I say that you don’t understand?! You just don’t understand how good everything was.
I’m still craving Mama’s Love. This sounds like something I should be telling my therapist – but I’m telling you, fellow Unilocaler.
You just don’t understand.
——
You’ll walk in, check out the menu and order at the cash-​wrap, sit down (this is where you wait impatiently for amazingness), eat, get up begrudgingly while leaving plates of destruction on your table, pay at the cash-​wrap and leave a lot happier than you arrived.

NOTE: Everything there is vegan friendly, so if you don’t get down with vegan food, head out now!
We went here after the Chicago Auto Show because it was close to where our friend lived. Parking kind of stunk, especially because it was Sunday and apparently it was free, but we found a spot and were happy that we did.
It was empty when we got there, but it was pretty late. I looked around and I noticed it had this «spa-​like» environment and some «spa-​like» music.
There were some string lights and «veganisms» (vegan proverbs) all over the walls. We ordered the Kung Pao TVP, Coconut Curry, and the Tender Loving Heart salad (name is up for debate, but it was the salad with beets). We finished off with green tea cheesecake (questionable).
Nearly everything has TVP, which we learned about here:
The young man behind the counter was really nice. He was so friendly and informative and he was everything you would imagine in a server at a vegan restaurant.
Process:
1. Walk up to counter, look at menu
2. Order with stereotypical vegan behind the counter
3. Pick a table
4. Read veganisms on the wall
5. Secretly feel judged because you know you chow down on non-​vegan items at home
6. Server brings water
7. Server brings food
8. Refill your water at the hostess station on your own (no bigs, just telling you so you don’t wait)
9. Order dessert
10. Enjoy everything
If you’re a true vegan, you will love this place. If you like vegetables and vegetarian food, but aren’t, you will really enjoy this place. I even grabbed a menu to try to replicate a couple of the things on it at home since each dish has its ingredients listed. It was really pretty good and we would surely eat there again.

What an incredible, unexpected little restaurant. This is hands down the best vegetarian/​vegan restaurant that I have ever been to, and in a location where I would not have expected to find such a business.
The Loving Hut offers a huge variety of different ethnically inspired dishes in their vegan form. I was blown away by their Bi-​Bim-​Bap, despite being eggless. All of the staff are incredibly kind, caring people (which is a must for a place like this). The only aspect of the restaurant that was anything but perfect was the strange stream of animals (with narration) playing on the TVs.
I will return many many times and encourage you to do the same.