Also be sure to read the comments for more info.
Columbus Vegan - Recipes and vegan living in Columbus, Ohio.
Veg Guide Columbus - Columbus page of the veg dining guide/review site.
Vegitarirun - A Columbus aspiring raw veg*an in training for a marathon
Comments
Now I can say
Now I can say it.
Dragonfly's food was NEVER WORTH THE PRICE, and On the Fly's offerings were TRULY UNINSPIRED.
Dragonfly, you've jumped the shark.
Good riddance, abuse mongers. I'll never pay a fortune for your mediocre food again.
cockroaches!!! I saw atleast
cockroaches!!! I saw atleast 3 when I was in dragonfly, as well as at on the fly...ewwww!!!
It's funny to me that
It's funny to me that OTF/Dragonfly like to claim they are not vegan establishments, but are willing to take the publicity of VegNews and The Conscious Cook cookbook that promote them as vegan. It's a shame to see what seemed like a nice, vegan establishment turn on the community that loved them.
Thank you for replying to my
Thank you for replying to my comment, Cristin.
I completely agree with your comment about omni restaurants being called "vegan friendly" if they add a tofu dish. It's a nice gesture of course, but shouldn't put them on the same level as vegan establishments. And people shouldn't bypass vegan restaurants in favor of those places because of one modification to their meat-heavy menus.
Let me explain. I have just begun eating vegan this winter. I've learned that I must be careful to pay attention to unexpected ingredients (like anchovies in Bloody Mary mix) and to servers who may confuse 'vegan' with 'vegetarian' or interestingly, with 'gluten-free.' My cue for being careful is when these restaurants/products don't call themselves vegan. That's the only cue we have as consumers.
I was super excited to find out about On The Fly. Contrary to what your servers told me, your menu does say "Organic. Kosher. Vegan." No vegan website nor chart told me that you were vegan. Your own menu did. So, I thought that you were and that I didn't have to double check items I bought there. Furthering my assumption; you don't have menus with ingredient lists and nowhere does it say that sometimes you sell things that aren't vegan. I think my frustration was because I felt let down by a restaurant that actually called itself vegan.
Before your note, I hadn't realized that OTF was struggling. I had thought it might be helpful for you to know that, although I am a huge Columbus foodie, I had never heard about you until I specifically went online to look up Dragonfly's prices. I was going to encourage you to increase your online presence or to become members of Dine Originals or Local Matters- groups where many vegans and localvores find their favorite restaurants. Since your food is really well priced and pretty freaking amazing, I believed that the only reason more people weren't eating there was because they hadn't heard about you yet.
Then I read your sarcastic tweet saying you have "rocked the vegan world" by adding eggs to your menu. Now I agree with all of your facebook posters: rather than bad marketing, comments like that are a more likely reason why your vegan friends are taking their dollars elsewhere.
Dang. That's disappointing.
Dang. That's disappointing. They are making some really dumb marketing moves over there...
Case in point, beware of their beer and wine selection. Although there are many many brewers and wineries who are proud to be cruelty-free, On the Fly chooses to carry items such as St. Peters beer and Bota Box wine, both of whom say that their products are not okay for vegans. (See barnivore.com or check those companies' websites dierctly.)
On two occasions, I asked On the Fly workers why they carry those. Both of their responses were that they "never claimed to be a vegan restaurant" and that this was a label that the community put on them. (!!) And they only promise that the food they make is vegan, not the other things they carry. To prove his point, one showed me the potato chip selection on the counter saying that one of the flavors is not vegan.
That seems weirdly disrespectful to their customer base, doesn't it? And if the egg empanadas rumor is true, doesn't that seem like they are going out of their way to offend? They do such a good job showing people that great food can be made vegan and validating the eating choices that are important to their customers; why would they even consider this menu item? It's not like an omnivore will think, "Oh, I'd eat there but I'm not vegan. What? They have one item that has egg in it? Well let's go then!"
Dumb.
I noticed the comment and
I noticed the comment and the general post about our decision to incorporate eggs on our Sunday ON THE FLY menu(Dragonfly's kitchen is still plant driven), which we welcome any feedback and will answer honestly about our feelings about it.
There was a comment about an omnivore who will think "Oh I'd eat there but I'm not vegan"You don't know how many times I've heard that. Or by vegetarians themselves!
The general core of our clientele simply enjoy our cuisine because it is delicious and unique, even if we were to put eggs, not because we don't put eggs on our menu. By observing this blogs listing of vegan and non vegetarian restaurants, we find it unfair that traditional restaurants that serve meat can capitalize on the vegan dollar by throwing a tofu dish on their menus, where for 9 years with Dragonfly and 2 years with affordable On THE FLY we offered whole menus of vegan cuisine, and our vegan friends still took there dollars elsewhere, so they can have "choices".
Our plant driven restaurant is considered vegan, because that is the vision of my husband. We serve the wine and beer we serve simply because it is delicious just like any other restaurant, and also want more "choices" then vegan and/or unfiltered wine.
We thank everyone who supports our restaurant, and we are still committed to fine well prepared food for our community.
Peace Cristin
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