KavyaKasturi

I read a lot of great reviews about this place but was less than impressed by it. It claims to be very veggie-friendly but there were only 1 or 2 veggie dishes on the menu and the one I got wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. I had an interesting drink – Nice Spice Ice – lots of points for originality but the flavor was a little lacking. And it was a bit spicy for me as well. As for the ambiance – I’m sure it works for some but wasn’t quite for me. The clientele seems to be a good bit older than my boyfriend and I.

Popular place – very busy even during the heat wave. Not many vegetarian items but the portobello quesadilla special was very good and well made – it wasn’t just a bunch of huge portobello strips stuffed in there. Black beans are vegetarian and delicious – huge plus. The veggie fajitas came with a massive amount of veggies including fried plaintain (and snowpeas which could’ve been done without). The frozen margaritas were also great – and I don’t usually like frozen margaritas.

The atmosphere of Matchbox is great – very modern and classy. The part we sat in had a glass roof and I love the natural lighting. They’ve got multiple vegetarian pizzas – I had the oven dried tomato and buffalo mozzarella and it was very good. My coworkers gave it their seal of approval as well. Looks like there’s always a wait though and they only take limited reservations.

I was really looking forward to trying this all-vegetarian restaurant but I ended up a little disappointed. It has a nice ambiance and a lot of interesting food ideas – but it doesn’t quite deliver on taste. They start you off with pickled green beans which I’m not sure I would’ve accepted as an appetizer in another restaurant. We got the poblano-mung bean fritters which were quite good but basically tasted like any other fried veggie fritter. Our entrees weren’t bad but weren’t great and didn’t leave me full. We got dessert as well – I had the dark chocolate ganache. The chocolate part was great but it was drizzled with balsamic vinegar, coated with crumbled green tea leaves, and rested on a bed of what seemed like lime soaked ginger pieces. While the flavors went ok together the textures really did not. I preffered my boyfriend’s coffee gelato (from dolcezza I believe) and I don’t even like coffee. Anyway, I’d be willing to give the restaurant a second chance after its menu changes since I love the idea of the place, but my first trip left me less than impressed.