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Essence

4.7 (11 reviews)
Open • 11:00 am - 9:30 pm

Order Essence Takeout or Delivery

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Restaurant chef.
Anil P.

The chef, Ojok greeted us as we arrived. We have many dietary restrictions and he was comfortable with all of them. He asked us few things and then prepared assortment of small dishes for us. Amazing experience. He is very good human. Must visit.

Veggie burger and fries
Christine J.

This place has a lot of promise, but isn't quite there yet. The service was very slow despite there only being about 5 people in the restaurant. But the server was very friendly. The space looks like it has potential, but still needs some work. The food was ... ok. I always am excited for a new vegan or vegetarian restaurant. The menu looked great, but the food was a bit underwhelming. I always think that if a restaurant is bold enough to have Brussels sprouts on the menu, they must be amazing. Not so, apparently. The samosas were decent. The veggie burger was ok. The fries were Potato Patch-style, and who doesn't love that? I'm confused about what on the menu is vegan. Some things are marked only vegetarian, but the server said she thinks they messed up the menu. She asked the kitchen, and they said everything is vegan except the mozzarella sticks. I'm not so sure about that. Like, who decides not to have a fully-vegan restaurant just to serve mozzarella sticks!? Especially when they allegedly have other vegan cheese on the menu. I'll be back to give them another chance. Stay tuned!

jollof rice
Hailey J.

Wonderful little restaurant serving delicious African cuisine. Excellent service, a must-go in South Side!

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2 years ago

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3 years ago

The food was delicious! Only one person in our party was vegan but we all enjoyed our lunch.

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OTB Bicycle Café

OTB Bicycle Café

(296 reviews)

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Overall, this place is very good. I have been here multiple times. The burgers are great and the…read morefries are delicious. Burgers ooze with every bite. Fries are the kind that have some sort of breading and are nice and crispy. Today I got the BLT and I would definitely get it again! The side salad was kind of mediocre (I was trying to make a healthier choice and avoid the fries). Got a beer (not pictured). Usually the service is very good, but I'm going to be honest, it was pretty sad today. My girlfriend and I agreed it seemed like the bartender both hated his job, and was not good at it. We will still be back. Cool little Southside place with pinball machines and a relaxed bar atmosphere.

Nice space with lots of creative flare in their decor and an overall good atmosphere. The beer list…read moreand draft system is fantastic. The food is good, as long as you go in with the right expectations. This isn't fine dining, but it's a nice take on vegetarian-accessible pub food, slightly elevated. The vegan tofu wrap was nicely done with crispy fried tofu, but it was heavily dependent on the availability of various sauces for flavor. The "disc brake bean cakes" were somewhat unique, but still good when fully assembled with all the relevant toppings. They would probably be better described as black bean crepes with Tex-Mex toppings. I highly recommend ordering several different sauces to go with your meal (buffalo, barbecue, diablo, etc.). We ordered takeout this time, and the overall ordering experience was good. There is an online ordering page, but the items on that page aren't completely aligned with menus on the web site. We ended up calling to place an order, which was still very easy. All the food was well packaged and ready to go exactly when they said it would be. This is a great South Side destination, especially when you're looking for something comfortable and relatively low key but still fun.

Roots Natural Kitchen

Roots Natural Kitchen

(240 reviews)

$$

Oakland

Great spot for lunch takeout on Pitt campus. Roots has done a good job filling the fast casual…read moreniche with some healthy feeling, largely vegetarian options. Most bowls are rice, greens, and/or beans based with various vegetables for toppings. Heartier than a salad but healthier than Chipotle. I've gotten lunch there a few times and have always been satisfied. My favorite bowl is El Jefe, which comes with rice, kale, black beans, corn, red onion, avocado, and a protein topping (I like the miso tofu but you can also get chicken). The bowl also comes with cilantro/lime sauce, which I do not get because it's very salty. That's my one complaint about Roots - despite their healthy ingredients, their bowls can get quite saucy and salty if you go with the default options. This particular location is well-staffed, so service is usually quick, but it can get a rush of students around 12pm.

I came in to try the limited time Garu bowl for lunch. The place itself is nice, it's always clean…read moreand I've never had any issues with the staff while ordering. The bowl was good but I was a little disappointed in the portion. Roots is a little bit more expensive than other similar options but I usually don't mind as they often give me a very full bowl, but that wasn't the case with the Gary bowl. It was less full than the bowls I usually get along with being very heavy on the rice and not too much chicken or even the kale. Aside from that it was still yummy but I think I'll be going back to my regular order next time.

Essence - burgers - Updated May 2026

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