Loving Hut - Claremont

It was just a month ago that we ate at the Upland Loving Hut and wondered when the Claremont location would open.  Well, we heard that people had been seen eating at the new restaurant next to Le Pain Quotidien in the Village West Plaza.  It was way too hot to turn on my oven on Tuesday night, the perfect excuse to go.

The first thing we noticed was that the interior is quite modern, and instead of ordering at the counter like in Upland, it's a sit-down, service restaurant.  The next thing that I noticed was that the menu was completely different than Upland.  We chatted with the owner, and he said that each Loving Hut is supposed to create its own vegan fare, and that he said that if we had any suggestions of what we'd like to eat we should let him know.

Tacos Diego

Portabello Sandwich

The menu is a little pricey, with most entrees about $12-14.  Choices include appetizers, salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza and a handful of other entrees.  I did not try any of their non-alcoholic wine, but H had the passion fruit iced tea ($5 including refills) which was pretty tasty.  The waitress and owner made sure to chat with us which was good since it took a little while to get our food, and the two orders came out about 7-8 minutes apart.  I know they are just getting started, so I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt, although I think that if they had to keep apologizing for the tardiness of the meal, they should have comped us drinks or a dessert, or something.

Okay, that's the less-positive, but the food was very delicious.  I had the Tacos Diego and H had the Portabello Sandwich (with avocado and green peppers and lettuce with small salad).  We will probably go back, but not too often unless the prices come down.  We'll probably also continue to go to the Upland location occasionally.