Veggie Grill Elite Event by Anita L.

Anita always throws a great event and this new Veggie Grill in Long Beach was fantastic. I am so happy that there is a Veggie Grill located somewhere in the middle of LA and OC! I was lucky enough to attend Anita’s event, which meant trying out the yummy Veggie Grill food for free!
The GM and marketing guy of Veggie Grill went around making sure we had enough food and they were so nice and friendly. For this visit I had a great food with great conversations with great Unilocalers.
The desserts passed around were so good and the buffalo boneless wings were my favorite. My sandwich was the buffalo bomber with cauliflower mash which was excellent. SOOOOO GOOOOOOD!
Thank you very much Anita for the invite! Loved it!

My ideology on vegan food or vegan period was a response to a vegan friend not to long ago when that person said «Michael, if you loved animals so much, you’d eat grains, greens, fruits and vegetables instead of meat and animal products.»
I said «If you loved animals so much, you’d quit eating all of their food!»
Yet, a yummy Anita L Elite affair brought me to this place and as an Omnivore I was very ecstatically okay with Veggie Grill, but had no idea how I had been missing out on good grub-​VEGAN-​STYLE!
And, at this event everything was free, yes free!
Including your entrée, side, beverage and the like-​OH BOY!
Organized, efficient, collaborative, very good vegan food and above all everyone is exceptionally and sincerely friendly.
===============================================================
I was very pleasantly greeted upon entering by a staff member whom was truly into making sure my first experience here would be a nice one.
My order:
Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’-Fried Chickin’, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado
(guacamole style), spicy vegan mayo.
Also, with red cabbage and Sweetheart (Sweet Potato) Fries.
*Tasty, savory, full of flavor and definitely took me a long to to eat as Rain was watching me chew & savor every bite-​Delishious!
Those fries and the vegan mayo for dipping were some of the best sweet potato fires I’ve had in quite some time.
My beverage:
Pomegranate Green iced Tea-​Refreshing, flavorful and not to sweet and, made with purified water; a definite must if you want to cool your palate from the flavorful spicy fares offered up here!
The decorum is late ‘70s-​eary ‘80s retro, which works very well with as the theme as all of these retro colors are vegan if you take a look at them and compare them to vegan fare at the market, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s etc.
I kept myself busy sampling so many things and my favorite were the buffalo wings which truly had me fooled, they tasted better than the real cluck!
Close to home fo me in the LBCA too!
I’m coming back, I’m coming again, I’m bringing friends and I’m going to spread the word about just how good vegan fare is if you know where to go and Veggie Grill is the place to do just that!
Mike, I’m gonna get the word out so much you will be singing:
=============================================================
Hi Michael,
Thank you for the wonderful, thorough and very entertaining review. We pay attention to all our guests comments, but Unilocal Elites get special attention!
Warm regards,
Kevin
Kevin Boylan
Co-​Founder
The Veggie Grill, Inc.
310−745−5228 (ofc)
.c…
…
…

This is the kind of event that makes you thank the deity of your choice for being Elite. What an awesome event – thanks so much to Anita and Veggie Grill for hooking us up with the most delectable vegan eats since… the garden of eden, perhaps? Well some of you know I’m already a huge fan of VG, but to get treated to an entrée, drink, and seemingly bottomless appetizers and desserts… WOW. Not to mention hanging out with all my fave Unilocalers; it was like the greatest hits of ye olde Unilocalers last night, lol. A truly wonderful and memorable event :)

Thanks to everyone who came out last night. Veggie Grill were great hosts to showcase their latest location in Long Beach, which possesses a whole new look from its usual fast casual style. This location looks like a retro diner with the addition of red to its ubiquitous green and orange.
Everyone got to order an entrée and appetizers and desserts were tray-​passed. This allowed for a real VG experience.
Staff are always attentive and friendly and it was a fun time all around. Great to see everyone!

This was a FANTASTIC event. Thank you Anita for putting this together! The store manager and Marketing manager really worked the crowd and made us feel welcome.
At first I was surprised and a bit sad to see Veggie Grill took over Pick up Stix since I’m part of that 1% Unilocal crowd that actually likes pick up stix… but I have to tell you… after eating one of their fake meat buffalo wings I was a true believer and couldn’t care less about pick up stix being gone. Wow… I can honestly say I liked the fake meat wing better than the real deal. WTF is happening to me?! I grew up with a Vegan mom who would cook the most gag inducing horrific vegan meals (sorry mom) that have still left scars on my psyche. While the rest of my family lost weight I’d sneak out to Del Taco and gain weight. Horrible horrible… If my mom cooked vegan food as good as Veggie Grill I’d probably be running in the LA marathon due to my perfect health.
Everything was great from the appetizers to the entrée to the dessert. Even their iced teas were great. I had the kale salad with blackened tempeh for my entrée and my wife had the fried «chicken» sandwich. Both were delicious. I guess I’ll save the details for when I review the restaurant after another visit but man… make sure you like kale if you get the «all hail kale» salad. It just keeps going and going and going like a spell of «Never ending kale» was cast on my bowl.
Awesome seeing everybody! Very fun time!

Thanks to Anita L. for the invite last night to Veggie Grill’s intimate gathering. I’ve always been a big fan of Veggie Grill and I was really excited to check out the newest location in Long Beach. The location is perfect, right next to Trader Joe’s off of PCH and 2^nd. The layout is super cool. The staff is extremely friendly. I had a great time catching up with some of my favorite Unilocal elites.
I ordered the crispy chickin’ plate with cauliflower-​potato mash, porcini mushroom gravy, and rosemary steamed kale. I have to say that I got a ginger flavor from my kale and no rosemary. Maybe my tastebuds were off last night. The chickin’ was perfect with a crispy batter crust and the mashed potatoes were so good that I forgot that there was cauliflower in them. I really thought the mushroom gravy accompanied all the flavors nicely. I also ordered a beverage and drank the strawberry lemonade and organic teas all night. They are so delicious! My plate was practically licked clean; it was so good. As for other bites, I tried the buffalo wings, chill out wings, and mac & cheese. I really enjoyed the wings. The desserts were also fantastic. My favorite was the chocolate pudding parfait.
Favorite random moment was when we decided that Mike from Veggie Grill has the same facial profile as Matthew Morrison from Glee. Anyway, thanks for the great time!

5 stars all over the place… the host, the venue, the food, and specially the company. WOW! Who knew this is what Anita meant when she asked if I was available to do dinner at Veggie Grill’s newly opened Long Beach location? What an awesome evening!
Can’t wait to go back and I’m predicting it’ll be very soon. Loved their food!

This is just to create a Check In for the Unilocal Elite that are here… my review will follow.
=)