Loving Hut, Falls Church, VA

Loving Hut is the fastest growing chain of vegan restaurants in the world with 120 locations worldwide.  While all of these restaurants have a similar decor, each is independently owned and operated. To keep things interesting, each even has its own unique menu. 

I have dined at other Loving Hut restaurants in Chicago and Tampa as well as the Vegetarian House in San Jose, which is also associated with this chain, and the food has always been great. I was so excited to hear that they were opening their first restaurant in the Washington, DC metro area in Falls Church, VA.

This Loving Hut has the same feel as the others with an inviting, bright yellow decor and friendly people on staff. This casual, no-frills restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived so we had our choice of tables. Once seated, I began to look at the menu and was surprised to see that it was Vietnamese-inspired as most of the other ones I've been to were Chinese-inspired.  They have only been open for four months so they are still developing the menu, but they seem to have a good variety of appetizers, soups, salads, and entrees.

Perhaps the most shocking thing I noticed about the menu were the prices. Each entree was priced around $7 and the appetizers around $3. Wow!

We started with an appetizer of Golden Rolls, your typical deep fried rolls filled with vegetables. These rolls had carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, taro, onions, and bean threads. They were pretty good.

For our entrees, one of my friends ordered the club sandwich with a salad while the other ordered a soba noodle dish. I ordered the lemongrass protein dish, which I chose over the lemongrass tofu dish.

The lemongrass protein dish is crispy soy protein sauteed and fried with lemongrass, red peppers, green peppers, and onions in a tangy sauce. It was served with a salad of shredded carrots and cucumbers along with brown rice. I was so happy that they offered brown rice! This was a great tasting dish for a great price.

The soba noodle dish had broccoli, avocado, and red pepper in sesame oil topped with sesame seeds. The club sandwich had different slices of deli soy "meats" with lettuce, tomato, and avocado on toasted bread. Both of these dishes were great as well.

We had noticed all of the delicious cakes in the case when we first walked in so we saved room for dessert. There were a variety of chocolate cakes and "cheesecakes." We chose the Death by Chocolate cake and I'm so glad we did as it was delicious! It had layers of mocha-flavored icing with chocolate cake and chocolate icing. When I inquired about the desserts, they told me that they were delivered weekly by Vegan Treats from Pennsylvania....I should have known!  They sure do a lot of business in the DC metro area.

In sum, the food was great, the prices were dirt-cheap, and the staff was very friendly. One of the owners even came out at the end to ask if we enjoyed our meal. On the way out, we bought a few items to take home -- they sell their own brands of faux meats as well.  Though it is 30 minutes outside of DC, if you are in northern Virginia, you should stop by and try this place. I know I will definitely be back!

Loving Hut
2842 Rogers Drive
Falls Church, VA 22042
(703) 942-5622