Souen
“They impress and please everyone I've brought here, even those who've never before uttered "macrobiotic" and "organic" in the same sentence.”
“My personal favorite is the macro plate – never tasted such simple but delicious food!”
“I'm still a fan of hearty pork-based broths and all, but if you're looking for a less guilty, feel-good ramen, Souen is the spot.”
Souen
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Kitchen for the Macrobiotic diet enthusiasts. Food is simple with Asian influence. The place is small but wasn't too busy. A friend and I went for lunch and got seated quickly with no reservations.
I ordered the tofu lunch special. It was a bento box. It included a miso soup, a salad, a pickled salad, the tofu with sesame paste and a serving of plain brown rice. The food was prepared with a healthy lifestyle in mind. It had little salt, barely any sauces and no oils. The portion wasn't huge but with the variety, I go what I wanted. Tofu bento box was $13 during lunch special.
Next time I would like to try the ramen options. They had a few variations of ramen soup with gluten free noodles.
Would I say that I totally loved the place? I am not sure. It is clean, simple with the health conscious crowd in mind so I will give it another go…
Maybe I'm not used to vegan food or maybe it's because I'm not into being healthy, but the food here was inedible (to me, at least). We ordered the macro plate and everything on the plate was horrible. The veggies were either steamed too long and mushy or wasn't cooked enough and raw. I also ordered the mushroom risotto and the flavor of the broth they used was not pleasant. My friend had the curry ramen, which apparently was no bueno as well. Great service, but never again. If this is eating healthy, I'd rather be fat.
**Vegan restaurant, with pescatarian options**
Order from their daily specials on the blackboard! We shared a bunch of their specials. Staff is attentive and sweet. Quiet, dim restaurant which is great for good conversation with a friend 🙂
The customer service here is a bit iffy. When I came here with a group of about 6 people everyone's dishes came out different times, and they messed up one order and gave the person shrimp instead of salmon (they were allergic to shrimp too), they made them a new dish no questions asked.
The vegetable dumplings were very delicious. They're probably the tastiest vegan dumplings I've had to date since I went vegan. I also got the curry miso vegan ramen. It didn't quite taste like normal ramen, not because of it being vegan, but because it wasn't really salty and the toppings were healthy macrobiotic things. It was still good, I just wouldn't compare it to traditional ramen. I would've liked it more if menma was a topping (I have no idea if menma is macrobiotic). But my favorite thing about Souen's food is that you can taste the nutrition when you eat. You feel like you're eating healthy (and you are) and it's still very flavorful and tasty. You will feel healthier after eating here and not feel like a fatass at all, even if you eat a ton. It's wonderful.
this place is absolutely amazing! the owner is very friendly. I reserved a spot for us four. very clean and cosy ambiance. and the food was delicious! I had the squash tofu and my husband the pad-Thai.
Really pleasantly surprised when I came here with my vegan friend! The ramen was so flavorful, and super healthy. I got the Shoyu Ramen (which I highly recommend) and my friend got the Miso which is a lighter broth and taste. The Shoyu had a lot of great vegetables and ingredients (like squash, watercress, etc) that I don't normally don't find in ramen which made it really unique and enjoyable.
Everything is mostly vegan/vegetarian with the exception with some seafood (flounder, and maybe salmon were the two I remember). We only tried the ramen so I can't speak for any of the other dishes, but highly recommend the Shoyu!
Honestly really disappointed. Yelpers you steered me wrong! 🙁 and now I'm hungry. And what SLOW SERVICE JEEZ!
I ordered the Brussels sprouts with peanut sauce – the peanut sauce tasted like absolutely nothing.
I also ordered the miso soup – not tasty at all plus I saw it had mushrooms in it which they didn't specify that it does – I'm allergic so I sent it back regardless.
I ordered the cooked salmon roll – I had everyone taste it at my table and everyone couldn't figure out why it tasted so weird and the rice had a nasty texture and taste.
Then my friend and I shared the steamed kale with the sesame vinaigrette and it tasted like water…
All my other friends got ramen and thought it was pretty good.
I just got really unlucky and our waiters barely checked on us and when I said I had no idea the miso had mushrooms and that I was allergic the guys reaction was surprisingly rude. Not into it. Not coming back. And seriously the service is so slow……
As a vegetarian I was really excited to come here, but I unfortunately I was pretty disappointed. We came on a Thursday night and it was a bit crowded, but we were able to get a table. Everything on the menu sounded really good, but the dish I ordered (squash tofu) was pretty flavorless. The portions was good, but it was pretty blah, and also didn't actually have much tofu in it. Maybe the ingredients are organic or whatever, but It's still a little pricey for really unremarkable food.
Service was also very slow all around. They were nice but seemed a little understaffed.
Given how much delicious vegetarian food there is in the East Village, I don't think I'd return.