HARVEST CAFE
Restaurant Review

“Our hope is that we can make an impact in the way that people think about food, inspiring them to make incremental changes that will benefit their health and the health of our environment.” – Harvest Café

My husband and I love experiencing new cafes and coffee shops. It’s one of our life enjoyments together! We heard about this new farm-to-table restaurant from my sister-in-law and couldn’t be more thankful. I was really excited to visit Harvest Café because it offered vegan-friendly foods and source their ingredients from organic local farms – a practice that I really value in restaurants.

Harvest Café has a semi-industrial and rustic atmosphere located in Ventura, CA. They have indoor seating and an outdoor patio by the entrance to choose from after you order at the counter. My husband and I sat by a window with these really cool wood benches that had cushions made from coffee sacks – that was quite unique to see!

Harvest Café is quite a dream for vegans when it comes to their menu. They offer smoothies, coffee and tea, sandwiches, breakfast items, salads and other seasonal dishes. They also make an in-house cashew milk that you can request for your smoothies and/or beverages!

So, what did we order? We arrived around brunch time so we ordered their Vegan Buckwheat Waffle (which I appreciate them labeling vegan so there’s no confusion) and the vegan version of their Mexi Cali Breakfast Bowl for us to share.

Their buckwheat waffle was really good! And quite filling too. It had great flavor with hint of spices and their cashew cream drizzle made it that much more delicious. I almost didn’t leave enough for my husband to sample – oops! This waffle was quite a treat since it can be a challenge sometimes to find a vegan waffle at restaurants - and that is tasty too! I love the concept of the Mexi Cali bowl and the addition of avocado on the top. All the ingredients were cooked nicely but the dish lacked seasoning and spices to really stand out in flavor. We added some hot sauce to make it tastier for us. Perhaps a pico de gallo or a salsa on the side to accompany the dish would've been a nice addition. It did leave us a bit dissapointed.

This was only our first visit to Harvest Café and we will definitely come back soon - and highly recommend you come try some of their creative dishes too. We can't wait to try some more of their delicious menu items and support their values of sustainability.

Feeling inspired to visit? Take a look at their mission and menu here.