Restaurant Review: Yard House Adds 25+ Gardein Items
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 7:12PM 
I've always been a fan of Yard House, since they have great salads, tofu mushroom lettuce wraps, the option to substitute tofu for meat in many of their entrees, and of course their wide selection of frosty adult beverages. Plus, it's one of the few places (especially in Orange County) where you can get quality food past 10pm. So, when I woke up last Tuesday morning and read a tweet from the Yard House Twitter account that they were rolling out 25+ items available with Gardein substitutes at their Irvine location (which happens to be about a 3 minute drive from where I live), you can only imagine how thrilled I was. I made it a mission to try the new items that night. Due to getting a late start that night and having to be at the Improv (across the path from Yard House) at 10pm, I only made it in time for a single beer. That didn't deter me, and by Thursday night a vegetarian friend of mine and I were at Yard House Irvine, frosty adult beverage in hand, Lakers game on the flatscreens and having our minds blown by the amazing amount of choices featuring Gardein on the menu.
I started with the Gardein chicken fingers, and they were absolutely delicious. They reminded me of my days 9-10 years ago eating chicken fingers at all my favorite food spots. Crispy fried, well seasoned, and accompanied by some fresh fries, I couldn't have been more pleased. My vegetarian friend ordered the Bearnaise sliders, which aren't vegan, but he inhaled them, so I'm guessing he considered them pretty tasty.
For a main course, I ordered something I get pretty regularly at YH, the Summer Salad. It's a super refreshing fruit and romaine salad that always hits the spot. Not normally filling enough for me to consider it an entree, this time it was becuse I was able to add grilled Gardein chicken to the top. Say what you will, but there's nothing I enjoy more than a fresh, filling entree salad.
My buddy ordered the Orange Peel Gardein Chicken, which looked and tasted absolutely delicious. This one did appear to be vegan, so I was able to try the crispy fried pieces of Gardein in a savory orange peel sauce. It came with white rice, and while I would prefer brown, this is a very complete meal.
After our meal we spent some time talking to our waitress about how the Gardein products had been received. She was fresh off vacation so we were the first customers she had served to order the Gardein, but she said her co-workers had served a few other Gardein customers in the two days prior. One thing she said that we found interesting: "Is it as good as Veggie Grill?" (Veggie Grill has a location just across the way.) I told her I wasn't ready to answer that, but nonetheless I'm giving Yard House my highest kuddos for making an extensive effort to try something new and serve a growing veg/vegan population. I will probably end up parking it at Yard House at least once a week, watching sports, frosty adult beverages flowing, and ordering a plethora of Gardein items. The revolution is upon us. THANK YOU YARD HOUSE!
*I am working on getting more information from Yard House about which items are vegan or can be veganized and will update the site when I find out. I will also attempt to find out when these terrific items will be hitting other locations.
Gardein, Irvine, Orange County, Yard House, beer, cocktails, salad, tofu, vegan, vegetarian, wine in FOOD, NEWS, ORANGE COUNTY, RESTAURANTS, REVIEWS, VEGAN, VEGETARIAN
Reader Comments (6)
Wow, it "appeared to be vegan" so you ate it? Just because they use gardein, I wouldn't assume that any of what you ate is vegan. Those sauces look creamy, and the orange coating could very well contain honey. You do know the tofu lettuce wraps at Yard House contain oyster sauce, right?
The sauces for the chicken fingers were creamy, didn't consume any of those. The orange chicken was my buddy's who is only vegetarian, I had one piece to know what it tasted like. I had been told a while ago by a manager that the lettuce wraps were "completely vegetarian" and dairy free so I was apparently misinformed. I am waiting to hear back from YH about ingredients and will update when I do. Thanks for your concern, but let's offer YH some praise for being the biggest corporate chain yet to try to serve the veg community better.
First, thanks for your post. A bunch of us vegans made the trip up Saturday evening with some friends and we ended up leaving for Veggie Grill without ordering anything. Basically, the server told us that none of the Gardein dishes were vegan, and that everything is cooked together on the same grill. In particular, the fried stuff you ordered isn't vegan as it is fried along with shrimp and stuff. We left after a 30 minute wait.
When you have a minute, please read this post: http://www.quarrygirl.com/2010/06/07/gardein-at-yard-house-how-to-eat-vegan This blogger took her time to research, ask questions and actually find out what the deal was.
We will be back for sure, taking Quarrygirl's advice about what to order.
Please be careful to research your coverage in future.
Hi Toni, thank you for your response. I have posted QuarryGirl's info on the site now. When we went to test them, it was crazy busy in the middle of a Lakers game and our waitress was on her first day back from vacation. She tried to offer us as much info as she could, which I appreciated. I did know, however, that without getting a full convo with the manager this kind of confusion was likely to happen. It just wasn't very realistic to get that info right then, and I wanted to try the dishes and support their efforts. It's one of those live and learn things, and I did put in emails to Yard House staff a couple times about how the experience could be vegan. Our waitress certainly did not have the info we needed. Thanks for your concern and for taking the time to read.
i also add my thanks for posting this, and for Yard House for trying. But, agree with Toni and others, while a good step (perhaps) toward a non-meat cuisine, simply using a "meat-substitute" is not what vegan (or vegetarian) cuisine is about. ( Personally, I have never like the taste, texture of meat or dairy, so see not need to look for something to mimic it). So while it is encouraging to see a major chain try to add to their menu, they need more education about adding a true vegan cuisine that uses the textures and flavors of non-animal based food to create a delicious cuisine, rather than simply substituting another processed-manufactured food product for "meat"...
The mushroom lettuce wraps are now vegan, the oyster sauce used is mushroom based (as of November 2010-ish). The wonton may or may not be safe (order without) and all 3 dipping sauces contain honey, but the soy vinaigrette is vegan. The summer salad is vegan. The big portobello mushroom is not vegetarian, as is the Bearnaise sauce, cajun aioli, and rum BBQ (with the jerk wings). If you're worried about cross contamination, I suggest only eating out at vegetarian restaurants because you won't get that elsewhere.