Thanh Tinh Chay Restaurant - San Diego, California

Hoa Le

I didn’t expect to find such a great vegetarian restaurant on my recent trip to San Diego. Each dish was made with high-quality ingredients, carefully selected by the owner. The staff were very friendly. I’ll definitely come back. Thank you for letting me enjoy such delicious vegetarian food.

Cynthia Khuu

Overview: Amazing service and food for vegans and non-vegans alike, a MUST TRY!

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Where do I even begin? Everything about this place is amazing from their large variety of food items, to their impeccable service, to the best fruit-infused water I've ever tasted.

This was my first vegan restaurant, and I am absolutely blown away! Their very extensive menu offers 240 dishes (plus desserts), including traditional Viet options and creative offerings like sushi, pizza, tacos, and burgers.

Appetizers and entrées average around $21-$23, and considering everything is made in-house: all of their vegan meats, gluten-free bánh mì, and even their water, the quality and care are worth the cost!

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149. Roasted Chicken (Cơm Gà Rô Ti) $22.50:
- The "chicken" skin is super crunchy and the chew of the "meat" is accurate to the real deal
- Flavors are traditional, the savory dipping sauce and the crispy garlic garnish adds the perfect touch

Crème Brûlée $7.80:
- Rich and creamy with a thin, crunchy, caramelized top
- Indistinguishable from a non-vegan version
- One of the BEST I've tasted!

Special Water:
- I seriously can't stress enough how yummy their water is!
- From their website, their special water is "prepared with apple juice to create sweetness and then cooked with lemon, mint, strawberry, lychee, and other ingredients to help detoxify the liver and are good for the skin."

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Parking:
- Street parking available and a couple of small parking lots around the area

Ambiance:
- The decor is vibrant and unique, with shades of green throughout the interior, exterior, and tablecloths
- Noise levels: low, easy to hear your conversations

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Overall: Whether you're vegan or not, give this place a try! From the incredible service and refreshing water to the delicious dishes, I was pleasantly surprised by my first experience with vegan dining.

Tamlyn Shimizu

Amazing food and very friendly people. The water is amazing, the buns were a hit and I highly highly recommend the creme brulee. It was my mom's birthday and they turned off the lights and sang.

Just go!

Arthur T

Stumbled upon Thanh Tinh Chay via yelp. Didn't realize it was vegan food until we arrived there.

Trang greeted us and immediately told us (so that we were aware) that the food is vegan. I was surprised as I glossed over it on yelp, but we decided to try it out with the rave reviews.

Their menu is EXTENSIVE. I would recommend the owner to consider making the menu smaller to hopefully reduce overhead costs and make it easier for the customer to order 😀

The three of us ordered:
-helen salad $21.30
-banh mi hosuse speical $17.70
-vegan pho beef $21.60
-thanh toan noodle bowl $21.60

The flavor profile was definitely quite interesting having a vegan twist on all my usual flavors. Nonetheless, you can tell the ingredients were fresh and quite tasty! The food, though, is definitely a lot pricier than other places, but for a small business and fresh ingredients, it makes sense.

Trang was so friendly and kept checking in. She also gave us A LOT of desserts to try out...creme brulee, cookies, and sticky rice. I absolutely loved the creme brulee and sticky rice!

Their homemade hot sauce is so good! I don't really like too spicy, but the amount of kick they had was perfect.

Out of the 4, I enjoyed the thanh toan nodle bowl the most.

Thai was also very thoughtful in checking in on us and refilling water. Their water is so tasty too! Almost like a lemonade!

They have a lot in the back, but seems to be pretty full usually, so parking can be tough during peak hours.

Awesome way to try out vegan food! And for the vegan food lovers...this is your spot!

Elizabeth Cunningham

This has to be the best vegan Vietnamese food I have ever had (and I am Vietnamese, grew up eating these traditional dishes with meat). This restaurant lives up to the amazing ratings it has received so far. Trang was also so sweet and explained the extent of dedication and attention to detail the owner has to create all the recipes for her patrons. A lot of the vegan meat, bread, tofu, rice cakes, etc were made in-house with quality ingredients so that everything (or most things?) is organic and gluten-free.

Starting with the free water - they cook it for hours infused with apples, jujubes, lychee, lemon, and other things that I can’t even recount. It tasted so sweet but had no added sugar! Amazing.

My friend and I ordered:
-Spring Rolls (Bì cuốn)
-Veggie Fried Roll (eggrolls) (Chả Giò)
-Combo Steam Cake (Bánh Thập Cẩm)
-Spicy “Beef” Noodle Soup (Bún Huể)

All were absolutely 10/10 Chef’s kisses! The bì cuốn was so crunchy, sweet, and delightful. All the steam cakes in the combo sampler were also mouthwatering and unique. The eggrolls were perfect and the spicy noodle soup was exactly what I never knew I needed in my life.

For dessert, we had the corn chè and crème brûlée. BOTH SO DELICIOUS!

Thank you so much Trang for the unforgettable experience. My friend and I wanted to go back tomorrow, but we found out it’s closed on Wednesdays… TT_TT and I have to fly back home on Thursday morning. Now I can’t wait to make another trip back to San Diego just to eat here!

P.S. For next time!
Trang did recommend dishes to for when we come back:
-Hainanese “Chicken” Rice (Cơm Gà Hải Nam)
-Curry Style with French Bread (Bánh Mì Cà Ri)
-Grilled “Beef” in Lolot Leaf (Bánh Hỏi Bò Lá Lốt)

The menu is so extensive that I will have to come back dozens of times just to try everything once! I can’t wait.

Matthew Davison

Hands down the best vegan food in San Diego! My only regret is that I didn't find this place sooner. I found a new favorite. The service was amazing and everyone was so friendly. Thank you for an amazing experience.

Annaliese Dang

Take it from a Vietnamese person, this food here is exceptional. You can tell the ingredients are high-quality. My family and I have been coming here since they first opened.

IMO, the rather steep prices are worth it since this is some of the best Vietnamese food you can get in San Diego, vegan or not. The prices increased drastically post-COVID, but I get that they have to pay the bills. They have some very specialty dishes that I've not been able to find anywhere else in SD. Check out the fridge for some take-home prepared foods that you can enjoy at home (bao, mock meats, lotus salad, etc).

The menu is crazy big and intimidating, so I personally think that they could get rid of at least half of it. Anyway, the servers can help you navigate the menu if you need some guidance. To list a few, our favorites are bánh khọt, bánh bèo, bánh ít trần, cơm thanh toàn, bún chả Hà Nội, bún Huế, and mì vịt hoành thánh. They usually have a chè (Vietnamese dessert) along with their other also-delicious desserts. I might be a bit biased, but I think the chè is usually the standout dessert.

Paul F

I agree with other reviewers that the food is good, it's just really pricey. For example, it costs $18 for a spring rolls appetizer, and our normal go-to is $3.99 for same size (two). If you are on a budget, you can get similar Vietnamese food prepared vegan at a number of places nearby for less. They take great pride in their reviews (they post their Yelp reviews and Google Maps ratings on the walls), and we were encouraged to rate them after they brought us a complementary desert vegan flan (which was tasty). The atmosphere is like any other Vietnamese restaurant or Mexican restaurant, super casual. We got two dishes and an appetizer and the lunch bill was $75. That's George's at the Cove prices. We liked the food, but I'm not sure it's worth double.