Taste of Zen

The Taste of Zen is a wonderful vegetarian restaurant right in the city center. As soon as you walk in, the cozy and natural setting makes you feel welcome. They have a great menu full of fresh, local vegetables and each dish is packed with flavor. The chefs really know how to make vegetables taste amazing, and even people who usually eat meat will love the food here. This place is more than just a restaurant; it’s a place that shows how delicious and satisfying vegetarian food can be. The staff are friendly and really care about the food they serve, which makes the whole experience even better. They're not just serving meals, they're creating a place where people can enjoy healthy eating and think about where their food comes from. Eating at the Taste of Zen is a delightful experience that stays with you because the food is just that good.

Incredible vegetarian food. I had the French lunch combo. The mushroom soup was delightful. The salad was delicious with a light dressing and perfect toppings. The plant based fried rice omelette was outstanding. I was a bit worried about the egg but it was like a thinly veiled crepe. A perfect combination of ingredients with a lovely sweet sauce drizzled on top. The crème brûlée also did not disappoint. Dishes at the other tables also looked very good especially the spring rolls which seemed to be a customer favourite. Will 100% come again and highly recommend a visit.

Always good food and good service. Their mixed veggies is always amazing. Today we enjoyed their mixed veggies with beep fried tofu and vegetable chow main. Their menu is always changing and you have about 8 or so different entries to chose from. It is a minimum if $20 per person but you won't be disappointed. It is hard to find good vegetarian food but they do it right so it is way worth it. My only wish is that they where open later as it is sometimes a challenge to go so early and I like my dinners a bit later but otherwise love this place. The service is also great and amazing enough they are volunteers. Afterword you can go pray if you like or enjoy a walk through their gardens. It is a beautiful temple and gardens!

Great place! Awesome vegetarian food. So happy to have a place like this where I can get my favourite!

I've driven by the temple plenty of times and curiosity finally got the best of me. We came to check it out and get a vegetarian meal at their restaurant Taste of Zen. We walked into the restaurant and were seated by one of the staff (volunteers?) there. The menu was simple enough - a single sheet with 10 numbered menu items. The entrees were all $18, and there were some smaller items. We planned to split one entree and try the water chestnut cake for dessert, so we ordered it. The woman taking our order seemed frustrated, pointed at the menu, but it wasn't clear what she wanted. I guess they don't get many anglophones here. She went to grab another man who explained that there's a minimum $18 spend each. I thought this a little excessive but we modified our order. The food arrived and was just okay. Definitely not quality or quantity for the price. Similar taste and ambiance of a dim sum restaurant.

I'm sorry but this is not a proper Vegetarian restaurant per se but it's a place where one may try Vegetarian food as a devotee. No more 'by donation'. There are prices now but highly inflated for people who want to 'try eating Vegetarian'. I had a mixed veggie rice for $18! Same dish is probably half of that in normal restaurants. Note restaurant is run by volunteers. So I shouldn't day bad things about them but for vegans and vegetarians, there are better options even in your local food court.

The taste of Zen is ONLY open Wed to Sun from 11:30 - 3PM not 7 days a week.

Great food, and can visit the temple after the food, which is even better

This is a hidden gem inside the International Buddhist Temple. located inside the beautiful Buddhist Temple grounds. Come to worship and try the lunch or just pop by for a bite. We tried the dim sum platter, mixed vegetable noodle, soup of the day, Buddha feast, braised gluten dish with mushroom and black fungus. Everything tasted fresh and delicious. The white rice is fluffy and cooked to perfection. The dessert of the day was crème brûlée and it was fantastic. Been to other Chinese vegetarian restaurants and I can say this is the tops. If you're looking for authentic wholesome vegetarian Chinese dishes this is the place to visit. Will come back again.

Atmosphere: This is medium in size with enough seating inside. Price: By donation Customer Service: Very friendly and warm people. Food: I love how there is a cross over of a Vegetarian eatery. I have to say that the Vegetarian here is amazing. They do it right. I have been to a lot of eateries that go this route, however, it's a semi hit and miss but this is a hit.

I have been here twice now on two business trips. This is very good vegetarian Chinese food. Every think I ordered was delicious. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. I will frequent this restaurant every time I'm in BC for work.

I've been here 3 times so far. I must say this place serves the best vegetarian food ever! I've not had a dish that I'm disappointed with here. Talking to the service staff (basically volunteers at the temple), I found out that the vegetables are sometimes from the vegetable gardens on the temple grounds. So it's really fresh ingredients you are getting. Don't forget to ask them what they have that is not on the menu that day. As some of the earlier posters have explained, payment is by donation. Minimum is $15 per person. The main dishes are $15 each and the dim sum dishes at $5 each. Tea is included. They are closed on Mon & Tue. Parking is a breeze.

Located on the grounds of a beautifull Buddhist temple. They are closed Monday & Tuesday. Hours are 11:30-3:00pm. Parking was easy in their large lot. As you may surmise, the ambience was peaceful. The devinely decorated dining room was small yet ample. The wait staff was friendly & attentive. They told us they were all volunteer temple members. The menu was in Chinese only. So you may have to ask for recommendations. We had Stuffed Eggplant, Wild Mushroom Taro Pastry, Egg Noodle Chow Mein, Udon Noodles with Veggy Balls, Radish Pastry, Green Bean Pastry & Tea. All were so good! I loved them all! Especially the Stuffed Eggplant which was flavorful without being oily. The Wild Mushroom Taro Pastry & the other pastries were flaky & moist, also without being oily. After visiting the inspiring grounds & eating the devine food I felt on the right path to enlightment...:-)

My friend and I decided to go for lunch to Taste of Zen mostly because of the excellent reviews that I've read here. It was nothing but a great disappointment for us. First of all, we had to wait for an hour for our food to arrive. We ordered one dish and 3 dim sum dishes (though we actually wanted only one as we both do not eat to much, but waitress made us to order 3). We got the first dish, and they seem to forget our dimsum order. When we said that we actually have to go, they started to rush and brought us one of the dim sums and offered the others to go (no way they would have cancelled the order). We agreed and when we got back to work, the take out order was actually NOT what we originally ordered. We were under impression that the first priority for this place is to collect the money, but not to create good experience for customers. As for the food, it was rather ordinary (not bad, but I cannot understand excellent reviews here as it was really nothing special). Also, 15 for a dish is pretty expensive. Not going back there for sure.

It was a toss-up between Zen lunch for $15 per dish with rice, or Steveston and fish n chips. Glad we chose the Buddhist temple as the food is very thoughtfully prepared and tasty. The tofu skins wrapped around mushrooms was delightful. It's a place to savour every bite instead of chowing down. The payment for lunch is dropped into a box labelled "donations."

A scam. Menu has no prices. At the end of your meal to give you a bill in which all items are $15. And then they charge you three dollars for tea. And the place is ugly and the food is thoroughly mediocre. Then they prompt you for a tip. The temple is great but avoid this scam restaurant.

This place serves mostly fresh vegetables (some were canned,I think). Although authentic enough, the different dishes that we ordered seemed to be very similar to each other. There are other better vegetarian restaurants in Richmond, and $15/dish is not very appealing.