Merit Veggie Place

This is THE BEST vegetarian place I’ve ever been to! The «meat» tastes just like I’m eating meat, but it’s made of tofu!!! I literally am in love with this food! And the storekeeper is so sweet and very kind. I have NEVER been disappointed with their food and I never will. My favorite dish is their fried fish (made of tofu but you can’t even tell), with their butternut squash and tofu!!! It’s so flavorful and the world’s best taste! Not oily at all!!! So flavorful!!! So healthy yet SO GOOD!!! Go do yoself a favor and get some of the worlds best vegetarian food! Then you’ll definitely give this place a five star!

I’m not sure why this place has bad reviews — I love this place! I understand that Shirly can be a bit quick and hasty with the service but to be fair, she does run the whole store by herself. You just need to be clear in what you want and she’ll help you.
After reading all the reviews, I decided to take a chance and try out this place. There isn’t many organic or healthy options around the area and I wanted something on the healthier side. So I decided to give this place a try, and I am so glad I did!
I ordered the veggie mix combination and it was delicious! I’m not sure what some of the vegetables were, but I can say they were all so yummy! Every time I go there I only order the veggie combo. The veggie combo is always different, which I love, so you never get bored. You don’t get the same thing every time, but you do get an assortment of delicious varieties every time. I make it a point to get lunch here at least once every few weeks when I’m in the area.
I do advise you to get the combos during lunch time because one time I came closer to her closing time and she was all sold out :(
This place is definitely a tasty, healthy option for all your veggie lovers like myself (it is an organic and vegetarian establishment)! Want to know what to make the food taste even better? Just a few spoonfuls of Sambal Olek. Yum! Now I’m craving it just thinking about it.
Shirly, I will see you soon for my veggie combo! :)
P. S. Her portions are AMAZING for the price! I always have a guaranteed lunch AND dinner when I buy her combos! Can’t beat that for $ 7.50!

Wish I can give zero or negative star, worst customer service and beyond garbage business practice, how the f do this restaurant stay in business. Walk in, said I like to order to go, rude lady (her picture is in Unilocal) say please wait one minute and sit (like you’re a little dog), extremely rude tone. I’m like OK, I’ll wait, then she comes out from back and say it’s ready, $ 7.40 please, WTF… I haven’t even order which meal and size of togo lunch, rude lady say today only one kind. Under 100% of time I would just walk out and left, but given my wife wants to eat vegetarian today, I kept cool and paid and left. Weird f-​ing way to run a business and treat your customers. First and last f-​ing time for me ever to visit this place, total garbage. Save yourself some rude and bad experience, avoid at all cost.

Wow! So tasty
I was skeptical to start with, it looks like a little marketplace. They have lunch specials I quickly received my no meat meal it was so tasty the purple so good owner Shirley was very nice a little apprehensive at first to see a Mexican in her place, her vegetarian chicken was so good I couldn’t tell it was not meat to double check I asked. Not really sit down place but they have a table if you want to stay and eat, maybe you’re better off taking it to go, I stayed in and the music in the background was very peaceful.

So I have always driven by on the way to work and have wondered what it was like. So yesterday I went but, they don’t open on Mondays. So I saw their menu posted on their window and was determined to come back today. So I called in my order as I only have half hour lunch. I ordered for a buddy of mine at work because I know he is vegetarian and needed a second opinion from someone who knows healthy eating. So lunch was around 7.50 a meal but, wow!
It was massive and so delicious. My friend didn’t know about this place and immediately asked me to give him the info on this place as he just loved it. Lots of tasty veggies and oh so flavorful. This is my go to place for a healthy lunch from now on.

I found myself in El Monte one day for work, so I scoured the Unilocal reviews for some delicious veggie recommendations. I’m not quite sure if I came here on an «off» day, but I ended up throwing out the majority of my lunch and walking away hungry.
I ordered the chicken combo lunch plate, which came with two types of faux chicken, rice, and vegetables. I assume everything is already prepared, as my order was ready within a couple minutes of ordering. The rice was fine (it’s rice…) and one of the two veg chickens was decent, but nothing special. The vegetables and the second type of chicken, which was served underneath said vegetables, were both disgustingly inedible. They just seemed wet, drowning in what I assumed to be a combination of water and oil, without any hint of flavor or seasoning.
I’m still a bit perplexed as to the high rating this place has received from other diners, but I’d caution vegetarians — or anyone with taste buds — against eating here.

(Review for ONE STAR)
Visited this place on three occasions. The first was fine; staff wasn’t excessively polite but nothing too offensive. The second visit I arrived at 6:03PM (closes at 7PM) and the attendent wouldn’t let me in; door was locked, cracked it open to tell me they were closed, grabbed her stuff and bolted. Third visit (on a weekend) was informed that they don’t sell pre-​made meals (only refridgerated items to take home); sale of «to-​go» orders are Monday thru Friday. There is no sign indicating this anywhere in the facility; driving to the market/​restaurant was a waste of time and $. Won’t return. Customer service is fairly low quality.
(Review for THREE STARS)
Despite mentioning that I would not return, I have (on several occasions) because they have vegan products I haven’t been able to find anywhere else (specifically, the duck). Considering that I’m now a ‘regular’ customer the attendant will give me free desert almost every visit.

Lunch Special $ 7.50. Came here with my parents who are all vegetarian. We sat down at the little table and ordered 3 lunches and Shirley (the owner) brought out our food for us.
Experience
— when I first came in, I was offered a free sample of the Red Bean «Nian Gao» cake. I usually don’t like that stuff cuz it’s too gooey, but I loved her interpretation of it! It was crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside. Perfect. I bought a pie home for $ 8.
Lunch Special
— very tasty. Foods feels very authentic and «home-​cooked.» Restaurants tend to use really flashy flavors, but the food here felt really subtle and healthy. If you want to go eat vegetarian Chinese food that is more traditional and authentic, you should try it out.
— very healthy. love the black, purple, brown rice in the real. Real quality ingredients right there. you don’t see that too often. Lots of fiber. Love it. Fan.
— Lots of variety in the meal. There were 5 dishes in the lunch special. Each one of the dishes had it’s own flavor and characteristics. Lots of love and care went into the dishes.
— Very big meal and very filling. A lunch special is so big you could eat it for 2 regular meals. At $ 7.50 — the price is probably higher than some of the other places around the area. But if you were to compare it to Whole Foods, Native Foods or something like that, I feel the quality of the food is really good and you get a good deal for your money.
— Seasonal. I think the food you get for your lunch special is different every time. It’s probably cuz the owner uses what ingredients she has in stock and what is seasonal. It’s pretty cool, because you don’t have to fuss about what you want to order. Although, I think you could choose what you want as well.
Cons —
There is very little english on the stores and the prices aren’t listed. So I felt a little bit uncomfortable about that. My chinese isn’t that great, and I didn’t like the fact that I didn’t know how much things were. I told the owner how I felt, and she says she tells people the price when they ask for it.
Other than that, the owner is pretty friendly and has a very warm personality. Love the lunch special. It’s a very rare and hidden gem. :)

my go to place for mooncakes! They’re so good my family has been buying these to share with friends! Oh and the owner is real nice but at the same time she’s real busy so sometimes I’ll even jump in to help her slap labels on boxes… ha! They have 3 flavors of mooncakes, sweet, mushroom, and curry. Trust me they’re all good!

Similar to the Taiwanese vegan foods served in Buddhist temples. Owner does catering for local temples often. This sect of Buddhists don’t eat a lot of spice/​herbs, such as garlic, pepper, green onion, ginger or chili peppers. So if you’re expecting typical American /​secular vegan foods w heavy flavor, you will not enjoy the food here.
Lunch special is great with lots of veggies, multi-​grain options available! Specializing in Taiwanese foods of Buddhist Vegetarian style (no onion, hot pepper or garlic). I appreciate her use of sea salt, purified water, high quality cooking oil and non-​refined sugar, also no MSG ever. Vegetarian foods don’t necessarily mean healthy ingredients, which is why I feel safe eating here. This is mainly a take out place since there is only 3 – 4 seats for dine-​ins.