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Clover Food Lab - HUB
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Vegetarian
Vegetarian food truck company turned brick & mortar with several outlets throughout the Boston Metro Area. Serves burgers, sandwiches, vegetable platters, fries, daily soup, hot & cold beverages and more. Menu changes by the minute to keep up with daily available produce from farms in New England. For this reason, there is no set or static menu. Most dishes can be made vegan upon request. Open Mon-Sat 7:00am-9:00pm, Sun 11:00am-9:00pm.
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1075 Cambridge St (at Harvard Square), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 02138
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- Accepts credit cards
- Free Wi-Fi
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Last update on 14 Apr 2023 by Guest
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Added by m.sun on 04 Jan 2011
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16 Reviews
First Review by markc7
770veg
Points +3559
great spot - Edit
Great spot. Has many vegan options including all soups being vegan. Staff are very friendly and helpful. They can easily make any of their entries vegan upon request. All utensils are compostable and they have a fine selection of drinks as well
Read morePros: delicious, nice space
Guest
JoltColaBaptismal
Points +133
Please stop calling Clover vegan-friendly. It's not. - Edit
As a company, Clover goes out of its way to antagonize vegans.
Read moreAs a restaurant, they make the dumbest choices possible and try to sneak dairy into every single thing.
As a staff, no one ever has a single clue what's in any of the food. Go in there three days in a row, ask what's in the same sandwich and you'll get three completely different answers.
Guest
vegetarian
Points +62
Vegan Meetup - Edit
I have repeatedly taken my monthly vegan meetup to THIS Clover location (among their many Greater Boston sites, some of which are closer to my home and work).
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2017-11-13
Pros: Can get vegan food, Staff appreciate vegans and their food requirement, Affordable, though not cheap. Great coffee and soy
Cons: Not entirely vegetarian, and too much 'fun food', Sometimes crowded, and order lines can be long, 'Fun food' is ot cheap, but not expensive, either
Guest
Seiashun
Points +424
Don't come here if you're vegan or at all - Edit
I've had a pretty bad experience at this location and I would give them a one star if I could. (If you want good tasting fast food and great service, go to their Financial location on Federal St!)
Read moreWhen we arrived a staff member took our order and was very confused at the mention of us being vegan. We explained what we can and can't eat and he tried to figure out what on the menu was vegan.
Fast forward to our food being ready. We heard our name be shouted for pickup, so my boyfriend got up to get our food only to find DAIRY CHEESE in our platter. Of course he asked (politely) if they could remake our food, only to get a snarky response back that they could just remove the cheese, which if you're vegan you know that's still a no-no.
Finally they agreed to re-make the dish. When they called out names again the staff member added "I have an order here for _____, no animals were harmed in the creation of this dish, cruelty-free, no animal products whatsoever" in an extremely mocking tone. The atmosphere of the place was pretty bad considering the extremely unfriendly and disrespectful staff.
Needless to say, we will never be returning there and I wouldn't recommend anyone visiting either.
Cons: Horrendeously disrespectful staff, Don't know what the term "vegan" even means, The menu doesn't specify what is vegan
Guest
Siup
Points +3213
Good for vegetarians, not very good for vegans - Edit
I went there with my husband. I am vegan, whilst he's vegetarian. He liked very much the seitan BBQ sandwich, vegetarian. I asked for the vegan version of the same sandwich but it was too simple... You can taste that something is missing. Clover should work more to improve their vegan recipes.
Read morePros: vegetarian recipes
Cons: very few vegan options (not good)
Guest
nafanc
Points +1615
Fresh food - Edit
I really like the concept: they seek to make satisfying fast food that's also fresh and nutritious. They certainly deliver on that. Their various offerings are quite tasty, and they're always working behind the scenes to innovate and improve.
Read moreHowever, the portions are on the small side, so I need two helpings to get full, which makes for a pretty expensive lunch.
My biggest complaint is with the breakfast. I came here to meet several friends on a Saturday morning. After reading and re-reading the breakfast menu a few times, I was surprised to find nothing vegan. I figured I must be missing something, because what kind of vegetarian establishment doesn't offer a vegan option? So I asked a worker, and he feebly suggested that I get a muffin (which wasn't actually vegan...). It was disappointing that this veggie spot lacked vegan options, and it was even more disappointing that the staff seemed oblivious to this oversight.
Pros: fresh food, fast, innovative
Cons: small portions, limited vegan options
HappyIcosahedron
Definitely agree that Clover has its flaws. But your claim about non-vegan muffins is simply false! As a long-time vegan recently turned vegetarian and frequent Clover customer, I know that their muffins ARE vegan. They were specifically formulated to give vegan customers more breakfast options: https://www.cloverfoodlab.com/2009/03/25/clover-muffins/
Read moreThey also have ingredient lists available online which confirm this (although their availability isn't totally consistent).
nafanc
Thanks for the clarification. Although it unfortunately didn't help in my case. After he suggested the muffin, I asked him to confirm if it was vegan, and he said something along the lines of, "oh whoops, I don't think so." Maybe it was vegan, but the staff seemed unsure, so I definitely didn't want to take that chance!
Read moreI appreciate the tip though. It will help next time I find myself at Clover!
Guest
cassidybradley
Points +27
What's good is amazing - Edit
I came to clover while on a trip to Boston and tried the very best sandwich I think I'll ever have in my life. It was a hakurei turnip sandwich with a miso carrot salad, crispy fried onions and a togarashi mayo. It was to die for.
Read moreBut originally I had ordered the mezza plate and was less than impressed; a few tablespoons of some okay salads, a plain pita and a mass of hummus. I tried a bite of my mum's hakurei pita and luckily went back to get my own.
Overall it started out as quite disappointing but ended up being the highlight of my trip!
Guest
whyitripped
Points +327
Affordable, tasty vegetarian student cafe - Edit
Clover is a vegetarian fast food style cafe with a few vegan options. The service is friendly and the food is quite tasty. I did have to eat with a plastic fork and knife, however.
Read moreI can recommend the chickpea fritter and the rosemary fries. Unfortunately, the BBQ seitan was not as good as I hoped.
Pros: affordable, tasty, fast
Cons: plastic fork and knife, fast food style
Guest
Marenka
Points +93
Great for a quick lunch - Edit
They have a few vegan options and most of them are tasty. I haven't had problems getting veganized food or getting understood as vegan. Try especially the rosemary fries! Service is fast and everything is compostable.
Read morePros: many vegan options, fast
Cons: not totally vegan, a bit noisy at times
Guest
shannonkaplan13
Points +108
eh - Edit
The place has a cool look and feel but I wasn't overly impressed by the food. I'm vegan and I got the BBQ seitan platter--the seitan was so hard and rubbery that I broke my fork trying to cut it. The Rosemary fries were really good though.
Read moreGuest
Steffilane
Points +69
we gave it a shot - Edit
It's definitely not somewhere you go I have your way for. But the food was good. And the staff was very helpful
Read morePros: vegan available, food was tasty even to my heart my son who doesn't, concept is inviting to students
Cons: not somewhere I would take somebody out to dinner., felt fast food like in its ordering area, it's a place for a quick bite not a nice dinner an
Guest
area51alienbabe
Points +43
Doesn't Understand Vegan... - Edit
First of all, I would give this restaurant one star if I could, but as they are "Vegetarian," HappyCow requires at least two stars.
Read moreI am a vegan, and if you are reading this, I'm assuming you understand that that means no dairy and no eggs. I am always cautions when eating out, even at a vegetarian restaurant and made a very specific request that I am vegan and would end up very sick if I consumed dairy. I then ordered per the host's suggestion with a request for no cheese or may on my sandwich. I didn't inspect my food before digging in, and a few bites in realized that there were large chunks of cheese in the sandwich. I don't know if it was an issue of cross-contamination or what, but I brought it back and asked for a replacement specifying "vegan, no eggs no dairy" once again. Upon inspection I realized that the new sandwich had mayo.
Needless to say, if you are vegan for whatever reason I would not go here, unless you plan on thoroughly inspecting your food before eating it. I would consider this service unacceptable for any restaurant but I find it even more disappointing coming from a vegetarian one.
Cons: Adds dairy to vegan food
Guest
Oslo
Points +72
half baked concept - Edit
Only disposable "compostable" ware, shortsighted idea of ecology.
Read moreGuest
MelissaLosos
Points +53
fans and cheap - Edit
fast and cheap
Read morePros: fast, cheap
Cons: not enough raw, not enough Gluten free, no sweet potatoes
Guest
RachelLouise
Points +632
Not the best for vegans - or anyone - Edit
I have had enough bad experiences here that I have decided to stop going even though it is so conveniently located.
Read moreBefore I get into the food, I'll say that it's not really a fun experience because you have to wait for them to call your name to get your food, and they don't have any speaker system, so you have to listen really carefully, and sometimes it's nearly impossible to hear. It's not uncommon to spend the first 15 minutes of your time there straining to hear your name.
Now the food:
The day it opened, I ordered the cauliflower soup. It was possibly the worst thing I've ever eaten. If not the worst, definitely the second worst. It tasted fermented. It was bubbly and sour. I could only take about 2 bites before I gave up. Unfortunately, I had ordered it to go, so I couldn't easily take it back.
The main reason I kept going back was that the fries are really good. However, lately they have been very inconsistent. One day, there was way too much salt, and the next day there was almost none. They need to train the staff better so that they can have a consistent product.
Also, they don't have a lot of vegan options. Once I mentioned it to a staff member and he said that they weren't trying to be vegan-friendly. However, they did later get Vegenaise.
I went last night and saw that they had seitan chili. I asked if it was vegan and was told it was, so I ordered it. When it arrived, it had what looked like sour cream on top, so I asked the employee if it was vegan sour cream. She said, "No. Did you not want sour cream?" I said, "I was told the chili was vegan." She said, "The chili is vegan, but not the sour cream." Why would they tell people something is vegan if they put something non-vegan on top of it without asking? Anyway, she then said she would fix it, and I watched as she scooped off the sour cream and dumped it in the trash.
I will not go back.
Pros: fries, location, chickpea fritter
Cons: sometimes horrible food, waiting for your name to be called, misinforms about what is vegan
Guest
markc7
Points +99
tasty, simple, cool - Edit
Minimalist decor and service does not detract from the positive experience of eating at clover. The service is quick, the food tasty and cheap. Portion sizes are nothing to write home about, but you get a decent meal.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on Wednesday February 22, 2012
Pros: cool environment, fast service
Cons: portions fairly small
Guest
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