If you like mediocre food, the vegetarian/vegan restaurant Seva in downtown Detroit may be perfect for you. 

The menu originally attracted me to the restaurant because it allowed my vegan friend Shannon, who is a part of the Six Vegan Sisters Instagram, to order easily. We started by getting two appetizers, their vegan nacho dip and vegan pizza bread. We arrived around 4 p.m. and the tables were virtually empty, however, it still took around 30 minutes for our appetizers to come out.

I tried the pizza first and was fairly impressed. The cheese almost tasted like real cheese except it had an extremely sticky texture, which was unusual, but still tasty. The pizza itself was hot and had a perfectly crunchy crust. Shannon enjoyed the pizza as well and thought the cheese was better than most vegan cheeses. Unfortunately, this was the only dish there that I truly enjoyed.

The nacho cheese barely had any flavor and the chips were unsalted and plain. Shannon, on the other hand, liked the dip but thought not enough chips were given.

For my main course I got a Beyond Burger and Shannon got Pasta alla Bosca. I’ve had a Beyond Burger before and loved it but this one definitely left me disappointed. The burger had a weird burnt taste to it and the pretzel bun was slightly hard and difficult to eat. It almost tasted like something you would find at the grocery store. 

 I also got fries with my meal, but unfortunately I forgot to ask for regular fries so I was given yam fries instead. Surprisingly, they weren’t bad since they had a pleasant sweet flavor with a crunchy outside and soft inside. They came with BBQ sauce, but it tasted awful. It had little chunks in it and didn’t taste normal at all. Shannon thought it tasted like chili.

As for Shannon’s meal, she likes the amount of spice the dish had but she said the noodles were cold and the sausage was hot. I tried the sausage and thought the texture was overly soft. It was a bit spicy, which made it more enjoyable since there wasn’t much of a taste otherwise. We planned on ordering dessert at first, but since the service was so slow we decided against it. If you want to stop somewhere for a quick meal, Seva is not the place for you.

In terms of the ambience, it was pretty basic. There was a dark vibe to the restaurant with a dark orange wall. They had some nice nature themed paintings, but overall, the decor was simple. What I did enjoy, however, was their environmentally conscious effort to use paper napkins and paper straws. It definitely made sense with their vegan menu. Unfortunately, the straws were soggy and almost unusable by the end of our meal, but I assume you could easily get a new one from the staff.

With all that being said, I don’t think I’ll be recommending anyone go to Seva anytime soon. Their prices are decent, with our total coming to around $50, but the food and wait time doesn’t really make it worth it. Nothing about the food was horrible, just not great, and besides, there are plenty of other vegetarian/vegan restaurants downtown worth trying instead.