Stoa's (vegetarian restaurant in Palo Alto) Don't go there

May 25, 2003

Stoa's - don't go there! I went there last week to try out with a friend. The food is pricey ($7.50 for a head of lettuce and $10.00 for a small pizza) and the service is lacking. I was really disappointed. I had ordered a "mixed green" salad. What I received was a single head of lettuce, straight up, stuffed in a small cup (with the bottom of the lettuce attached), drizzled with a little bit of dressing and 1 cherry tomato that had been cut into 3 pieces for $7.50. That is not a mixed green salad! It was also difficult to eat. I had to take it out of the cup, cut off the bottom and proceed to cut it up on my plate.

Then I had ordered a "pear, cheese, spinach, walnuts and chives" small pizza. Sounds good right? Wrong. It came without the spinach or walnuts. I called over the waiter. He came back with the explanation that it was a misprint and it really did not have any spinach and walnuts on it. That's a pretty big misprint! He asked, what did I want him to do? It took them so long to fix the pizza (even though my friend and I told him we were in a hurry) that I only had 5 more minutes before we had to leave. This was on a mid-week day night when there were only 3 other diners in the entire place!

I did not want to take this pizza to go (warmed leftover pizza is not very good) and it would have taken them too long to do it anyway. So I had them deduct the cost of the pizza; I had only eaten 1 small piece and left, never to come back. This is not the way to introduce a new restaurant!

The ambience is very formal along with the prices, but the food does not match! It's also in the middle of an industrial park, so you really have to look for it. The only saving grace was the pea pate which was tasty served with bread.

Jeanne

SBVS/JUSI/BAJV Dinner at STOA's, Saturday, June 14, 7:30 p.m.----------------------------Sat, 6/14 (7:30pm) - Vegetarian Dinner at Stoa's, Palo Alto----------------------------Join JUSI, the South Bay Vegetarian Society, and the Bay Area Jewish Vegetarians for a delicious dinner at the new Meekk's, now a non-kosher, but still vegetarian restaurant called STOA's.

May 25, 2003

I've never order their pizza, but I second the opinion. I was there about a month

after they opened as Meekk's and I remembered that the price just wasn't right

for what they served, and nothing was spectacular. The place is also a Jewish

activities center and the waiter for my table seemed to be more interested with

the lecture than with the customer's needs. I ordered a fried rice dish that was

on the dry side and it cooled pretty quickly. I asked her to warm it up again and

she took it to the microwave and then I was there waiting for a good 15 minutes

before repeated attemps to call her attention. Of course when she realized that

I was still waiting she apologized. Overall, I got a bad impression and thought

that too many unsophisticated dishes are being charged too much. Oh, BTW,

the rice dish I ordered got cold because it was for my girlfriend and she wasn't

too happy after circling around the neighborhood trying to find that place in the

dark with--I had to come out the restaurant and stand by the curb to wave her

in. Being a vegetarian restaurant already has it challenges, but having many

disadvantages against it, I don't see the restaurant lasting for too long, IMHO.

BTW, I don't know if Stoa's is under the same management as Meekk's, but

some customer experiences sure seem similar.

Erhhung

Jeanne Hsu [jhsu1234]Saturday, May 24, 2003 6:20 PM Subject: Stoa's (vegetarian restaurant in Palo Alto) Don't go there

Stoa's - don't go there! I went there last week to try out with a friend. The food is pricey ($7.50 for a head of lettuce and $10.00 for a small pizza) and the service is lacking. I was really disappointed. I had ordered a "mixed green" salad. What I received was a single head of lettuce, straight up, stuffed in a small cup (with the bottom of the lettuce attached), drizzled with a little bit of dressing and 1 cherry tomato that had been cut into 3 pieces for $7.50. That is not a mixed green salad! It was also difficult to eat. I had to take it out of the cup, cut off the bottom and proceed to cut it up on my plate.

Then I had ordered a "pear, cheese, spinach, walnuts and chives" small pizza. Sounds good right? Wrong. It came without the spinach or walnuts. I called over the waiter. He came back with the explanation that it was a misprint and it really did not have any spinach and walnuts on it. That's a pretty big misprint! He asked, what did I want him to do? It took them so long to fix the pizza (even though my friend and I told him we were in a hurry) that I only had 5 more minutes before we had to leave. This was on a mid-week day night when there were only 3 other diners in the entire place!

I did not want to take this pizza to go (warmed leftover pizza is not very good) and it would have taken them too long to do it anyway. So I had them deduct the cost of the pizza; I had only eaten 1 small piece and left, never to come back. This is not the way to introduce a new restaurant!

The ambience is very formal along with the prices, but the food does not match! It's also in the middle of an industrial park, so you really have to look for it. The only saving grace was the pea pate which was tasty served with bread.

Jeanne

SBVS/JUSI/BAJV Dinner at STOA's, Saturday, June 14, 7:30 p.m.----------------------------Sat, 6/14 (7:30pm) - Vegetarian Dinner at Stoa's, Palo Alto----------------------------Join JUSI, the South Bay Vegetarian Society, and the Bay Area Jewish Vegetarians for a delicious dinner at the new Meekk's, now a non-kosher, but still vegetarian restaurant called STOA's.