Red Lentil Vegetarian & Vegan Restaurant

Loved this place – why did it close?
Finally got to try this restaurant after talking about it for months. Right across from the boutique Cinema in New Haven, it is super convenient for movie goers. It was fabulous. Friendly, efficient, helpful staff from the manager to the waiter. Most importantly, the food was creative, healthy and absolutely delicious. Our shared Caesar Salad was zippy and big enough for a copious share. My husband had a mexican pizza which was pretty and delicious — I had Shepards Pie — which was super creative and delicious. It looked a little like lasagne and was amazingly delicious, being recommended by our super-​friendly and professional waiter. This is a new favorite in downtown New Haven. We loved this vegan spot and we’re meat eaters!

I’ve been to the Watertown Red Lentil many times, and this one in New Haven is almost exactly the same — except a lot larger inside. The menu is the same, and the quality of the food the same as well. I have to say I enjoy the lunch menu a lot more than the dinner menu, but the food quality is amazing.

First, the bad:
Don’t order the nachos. Just don’t. They are pathetic.
That said, everything else was really great. And I say that as a 100% certified meat eater.
I wish there was a restaurant like Red Lentil in every town — a place I would happily go that would appease the whiniest of my veggie/​vegan friends.
Decent prices, tasty beverages… We were definitely there during a «slow night», which could dramatically affect the results, but our waitress (the one with the evil eye and awesome art skills, completely blanked out her name so I wouldn’t accidentally blurt it out in my sleep and make my wife angry) was excellent, and deserves a raise.

Maybe the sit down service is better.
I ordered an extremely simple take out order. A house salad and a «mind blowing» smoothie.
The house salad was advertised to have red pepper, cucumber, onion, and mentioned no dressing. The salad I got had olives, 2 chunks of tomatoes, and a sweet dressing.
The smoothie, while drinkable, was certainly not mind blowing.
The staff also spent the first 5 minutes that I was there chatting instead of taking my order. This was especially annoying since I was trying to make a train.
As I said, maybe the sit down service is better. However, in the 15 mins I was there they managed to botch a simple salad, annoy a pretty patient guy, and charge me $ 12 for something I could have gotten at a food court for half that. Not impressed.

Honestly… this place is not good. Im so sorry to say it too, because I was really hoping for at least another vegan option in the area… but both times Ive eaten here (I gave it two tries just to be sure) the food was mediocre at best, and my stomach was messed up the entire day following my visit.
I feel awful saying this, but this place is not good. Maybe they will get a new head chef or new recipes someday…

Each time I have been here, the service has been horrible. Tonight we finally walked out because after sitting there for half an hour, we had not received our appetizers, nor drinks. We had specifically told them we had a movie to go to and needed to order, and still no server came by to take our dinner order. When we finally got up to leave, the woman who seemed to have taken our drink/​appetizer order said, «I am not your sever,» which is even worse because this means we sat there for 30 mins without a server even approaching our table.
The food is Okay – much the same quality as their restaurant in MA, which (by the way) has much better service. I find the food a little heavy, and the laissez-​faire attitude at the New Haven location towards doing something so demeaning as actually TAKING a customer’s dinner order makes for an unpleasant evening.
So unless you specifically want to be treated with rudeness, just skip this place for now. They are short staffed and it seems they really don’t care one bit about customer satisfication. We did enjoy the vegetarian options next door at a newish Asian Fusion place called Kudeta.

I had expected a little more for a place that had such good reviews and that might be the real reason why I am giving this place a 3 star rather than 4 star rating. For the prices this place charges, I was really hoping for a bit better.
The restaurant has a very nice atmosphere– flowers and candles and nice lighting. The waitresses and workers were very nice, they let me and my friend come in slightly before the opened to sit and chat in the booths.
When the waitress came, she was very friendly (I think she remembers regulars at the restaurant and is very good about knowing what you like).
Overall, the service here is superb.
The food, however, seems to be mostly good marketing. The soup I started out with was the Red Lentil soup, which was admittedly really good, but not quite worth the $ 4.50 price tag for such a small cup of mainly broth. I feel like typical lentil soup would have had a little more weight to it.
I also got their banana cinnamon smoothie which I have to say was absolutely delicious. It was a glass of bananas, carrot juice, cashew milk (!!!), cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices. I feel like a prototype of this drink would be fairly easy to make at home, but they definitely get kudos for coming up with such a creative and delicious mix.
The meal itself was very, very filling. I shared the Shepard’s pie with my friend and we literally only managed to eat half of the pie combined before giving up and boxing the rest. The pie was decent– not quite what I imagine a Shepard’s pie to be, but a mixture of beans, corn, sweet potato, and mashed potato. While it was pretty good, though I don’t think I would come back to Red Lentil just for this. Maybe for the smoothie…

Yum! Good prices, healthy food– just can’t be beat.
It only took 30 minutes to order and then eat.
We came for lunch on a weekday at 11,
and in the whole restaurant, there were only 7.
The sweet potato quesadilla was tasty and warm–
next time I’ll try a drink: wine or mixed bev, I’m torn!

check out
for the full review
All menu items can also be specially prepared to be made vegan friendly. The restaurant offers several nut free and gluten free alternatives, including a selection of gluten free beers!
I chose one of the daily special entrees which was prepared with Israeli couscous, portobello mushrooms, soy sausage, shallots and wilted spinach served with a creamy carrot and butternut squash purée. Very delicious and quite filling. Originally the entrée was served with creamy goat cheese but all items have the option to be prepared vegan, so I simply told the server I wanted the dish to be prepared vegan and the chef was able to omit the cheese, if only all restaurants could be so accommodating (Sigh)!
My mom also chose a daily special, the fire grilled pizza topped with sweet potatoes, artichokes, caramelized onions, fresh basil, and mozzarella cheese! It look delicious and apparently it tasted quite good too, because my Dad had no problem finishing it off after eating his meal!
Dad, a bit skeptical about the whole vegan dinner thing decided to play it safe by going with the filling three bean burrito. A whole wheat wrap overstuffed with three bean chili, brown rice, caramelized onions, pepper jack cheese, guacamole and salsa!
It was then onto dessert, obviously I could resist especially since all the desserts were vegan… um hello welcome to heaven! I debated over what to order, a slice of blueberry cheese cake, a piece of carrot cake, or should I go with the strawberry, pineapple vanilla cake. Ultimately though the one thing that really stood out was the chocolate banana coconut cake, with the combination of ingredients how could I resist! The dessert was beautifully plated and served atop a sweet red raspberry drizzle. The cake was moist and fudgy and had a distinct banana and coconut flavor!!!
Red Lentil is open for Brunch, Lunch, and Dinner and with a extensive menu of hearty American breakfasts and over stuffed sandwiches, you can bet i’ll be making a return trip! Red Lentil does an excellent job about creating unique international inspired dishes, which are beautifully presented and delectable to enjoy!

I’ve seen restaurants come and go on Temple Street so when I first walked into Red Lentil, and saw that we were the only customers, I expected the place to close down before we could finish our meals. But no!
Um, Yum! So good! I’m not a vegan, or a vegetarian but I am a human so I enjoy putting delicious things in my mouth (hey! stop it!) and Red Lentil majors in delicious. My boyfriend and I arrived for brunch and ordered the huevos rancheros, waffles and loaded nachos. Too much food. I had never tried a tofu scramble before and while I enjoy tofu, I’ve only had it cubed and fried. I was a little nervous about the scramble but it was very good. And surprisingly similar to just regular old eggs. The waffles were my favorite. So crunchy, yet soft and dressed beautifully in various berries and whipped cream.
We recently returned for dinner. Lots of people were there! I ordered the pizza special which came with cipollini onions, figs, red peppers, shitake mushrooms and mozarella cheese. It was yummy, but I wish it had some sauce with it. I sprinkled on some hot sauce that my boyfriend got with his sweet potato quesadilla (which he enjoyed, whatever, this isn’t his review) and when I went home with leftovers I drizzled some sour cream over the pizza and it made it so much better.
We asked about desserts and weren’t really interested in the two offered– saffron rice pudding and vegan ice cream but somehow the waitress misinterpreted our «no thanks» as a «yes please» and brought some rice pudding to our table. This somehow always happens with us. We’re all like, «No we would not like another margarita,» and then the bartender is like, «Cool here’s another margarita,» and we’re like «OK.» So yeah we ate it and didn’t say anything and it wasn’t the perfect dessert but it was fine.
But on to more important matters: I had a delicious glass of wine (times 2) and I have fallen in love with it but I can’t find it anywhere. It was a Kunde Cabernet Sauvignon. Have you seen it? Can you tell it to call me? I think we could have something really special together.
I’m on the website about to order some bottles from the winery itself but if anyone knows where I can find it around the New Haven area it would be much obliged.

I REALLY like this place, but can’t give it 5 stars. A lot of the comments are from night time visitors, but I have gone almost always for early breakfast.
I love the breakfast. The portions are huge and I like the fresh fruit that comes with most of the meals.
I go back and forth between the waffle with soy whipped cream and fresh berries, and the vegan french toast with bananas, walnuts, and strawberry compote.
Those items always taste great, and I recently tried the tofu scramble. It had OK flavor, but I wouldn’t order it again. The service is not as fast as I would like. The staff is always really nice, but it does sometimes take a while, even if we are the first two there for the day.
My husband and I went for dinner one time and had a pretty good experience. He got the pistachio crusted tofu, which was great. I got the risotto entrée, and it too had good flavor and both had great presentation.
I won’t claim that this place is the best place I’ve ever been to, but I always have a good experience and leave full and happy for relatively cheap. It’s nice to have a place to go eat if you are vegan/​vegetarian without having to order the crappy salad at Chili’s.
Like I said, I’m a breakfast fanatic and I love the breakfast here, so don’t take my dinner review too seriously. I actually like this place way more than my rambling review makes it seem.

Really cute vegan and vegetarian restaurant. Caters to gluten-​free too!
Ginger miso soup was not so good.
Peanut soba noodles were delish and HUGE portions!
Full bar because my boyfriend ordered scotch :)

Red Lentil fills a much needed niche in New Haven for a respectable, friendly, creative vegetarian restaurant. This place easily takes the crown for the best vegetarian food in the city, handily beating Thali Too and über-​bland Claire’s. Moreover, Red Lentil offers unusually smart and sophisticated dishes that you won’t find anywhere else; this is a true rarity and cannot be overlooked. All that said, there are a number of duds on the menu, all listed below.
The gobi manchurian appetizer ($ 8) is the best appetizer on the menu. Basically it’s crispy, fried cauliflower covered in a spicy and savory sauce with green onions. A standard of «Indo-​Chinese» cuisine, I’m glad that Red Lentil chooses to offer it, because they do it well here. The sesame seitan appetizer ($ 8) is tasty, but far too expensive considering the small portion size. Avoid the samosas and vegetable dumplings, which were passable, at best. Lastly, I’d also avoid the soy chicken strips with bbq sauce ($ 6.50); this dish just felt dry and chalky in flavor.
On the dinner menu, I’d first and foremost recommend the pistachio-​encrusted tofu ($ 14.50) which is a beautifully presented dish consisting of tofu slices and a wonderful pistachio coating. How often do you see pistachios on restaurant menus? Not often. And this dish works like a charm.
The near east seitan with teff ($ 14.50) is also a brilliant pairing which I’d never seen before and the fenugreek sauce mixes nicely with both the seitan and the unusual teff.
The shepherd’s pie ($ 16) is also solid and a nice recreation of a traditionally meaty meal.
Avoid the butternut squash polenta, and pizzas and burritos. These dishes come across and pedestrian and bland. It’s almost as if Red Lentil stumbles on simple dishes, and executes only on sophisticated and daring plates, such as the seitan with teff and the pistachio tofu.
For brunch, the tofu scramble is excellent, as are the waffles. Be warned that the waffles are really rich and dessert-​esque and will fill you up quickly.
For lunch, the veggie burger is unimpressive with a crumbly texture and awful white flour bun. The red lentil soup is respectable, though, and more reminiscent of an Indian dal than anything else.
Avoid the desserts, as well. The first time around I got a slice of chocolate blueberry cake, which sounded interesting as a flavor combination, but in reality was executed poorly. The cake was crumbly and horribly dry. It was inedible, to be frank.
This is a great place to take a date or a mixed group, which is also a nice feature. The service is always friendly, though you should expect a wait at peak times (Friday and Saturday nights and holidays). I think the restaurant needs a better staffing plan for certain times of the week.
On a whole, Red Lentil is a winner. Just remember this rule of thumb: if it’s an unusual dish or has ingredients you’ve never seen paired before, get it. If it’s a more traditional offering, avoid it.

For a vegan/​vegetarian place, I really enjoyed it. I thought the smoothies were delicious, my gf really liked the beet juice.
The salad with goat cheese and walnuts was very good. Also, good were the quesadilla and the breakfast options. I would go back if I had to pop into New Haven again.

Hoooray another vegetarian option in CT! I had always wanted to go to Red Lentil in MA and it is on my to-​do list, but they made it easy for me by opening closer to me!
Parking in New Haven is a bit of a chore, they are doing work on the garage (which conveniently is above Red Lentil) and the entrance i usually take was blocked off so i had to go around the block a few times to get to an entrance that was open. Hopefully this doesn’t stay like this long. Parking on the street is hit or miss, and my luck never seems to be good for parking.
The space was very nice, clean, fancy art on the walls, nice friendly staff. Lots of options on the menu means its harder to make a choice. Prices seemed reasonable, a little lower than NYC prices for similar sounding dishes at fancier restaurants.
We decided to start with the Ginger Miso soup and Beet-​Potato Latkes — the miso was very good, not too salty (or overly flavorful) with a decent amount of tofu in it. Latkes were OK, probably next time I will try something else — they were sweet and not very warm (should they be warm?) and I didnt think the bed of greens really did much for the latke, they got a little slimey while we ate.
Main courses we chose the Risotto (described as Organic short-​grain sweet brown rice, simmered in cooking wine with roasted butternut squash, red peppers, green peas, pan seared seitan, tossed in a creamy goat cheese) and the Nirvana Delight (Grilled Tandoori marinated tofu served with cold quinoa salad and spinach, topped with beet relish and cucumber yoghurt sauce) — They were both very good, the tandoori spice tofu was good with a little kick that was cooled by the quinoa salad and yogurt. The risotto was a nice rich creamy rice, usually when you see risotto on menus it’s made with chicken stock so it was nice to see this and be able to order it for a change!
Food was all very good and we will definitely be back to Red Lentil, probably soon! one of my new favorites in new haven and so many choices on the menu!

Not great for the prices. Soup was lacking in personality (especially given that I ordered the red lentil soup and that happens to be the name of the restaurant). It had been nuked in the microwave (depending on where I dipped my spoon it was either boiling hot or Luke-​warm). The salad was bland with a sugary sweet dressing. There was no depth and it’s attempts at texture by adding hazelnuts and dried cranberries failed miserably when drenched in dressing mushiness. Service was good. Waitress was friendly and asked me several times if I needed anything.
I wouldn’t really recommend this place. the food is mediocre at best. and the service is good but not worth the $ 15 i spent on my tasteless soup and mushy salad.

Such an awesome addition to downtown New Haven, and not just because it’s vegan and vegetarian. It’s just plain yummy!
Tons of great options made it hard to make selections at brunch. Had some delicious french toast, breakfast burrito, and home fries. I can’t wait to come back and try more brunch options, as well as lunch, dinner, and dessert.
The location is good, I love that it’s right across the street from the criterion for dinner and movie dates. The atmosphere is all right, the music played was horrible elevator versions of older songs. Please just play real music.

i really like this place. keeping in mind it just opened and things aren’t as tight as they could and i’m sure will be.
a real vegan restaurant downtown! entrees, desserts and yummy appetizers.
have only been in twice thus far but will update in a month or so.

The Red Lentil is exactly the sort of vegetarian restaurant New York and Berkeley have in abundance, and that has been previously sorely lacking in New Haven. It has a mix of cheaper and more expensive items in a great atmosphere, and it has a mix of «normal vegetable» dishes along with some great faux animal-​product stuff.
Overall, it is a place I’d be happy to show to an out-​of-​town vegetarian or vegan as a «isn’t New Haven great» exhibit, but also go to for a normal meal with an omnivore (without feeling like I was dragging that person to a specialty vegetarian-​niche restaurant).
The gobi manchurian (cauliflower curry) and seitan strips appetizers deserve special mention, as do the Shepherd’s Pie and Mediterranean Pizza Entrees. The desserts (all vegan) are uniformly amazing (and I’m not using a sliding scale where they get extra points for being vegan!).

Amy, who is an intern in my office wanted to post this review after becoming ill:
«To any Celiacs or gluten-​intolerant individuals out there who are thinking about trying the Red Lentil: I recently ate there, and ordered a gluten-​free menu option, but it was definitely not gluten-​free. Just a warning.»
Dan, the interns says:
«They are new and the waitress clearly hadn’t done this before. But my sweet potato and cheese was great.»