Cha-Ya Vegetarian Japanese Restaurant

Cha-Ya Vegetarian Japanese Restaurant Restaurant Review:

This modest, brightly lit restaurant in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto culls a health-conscious, fashionable crowd for its exclusively vegan soups, salads, sushi, noodles, tempura and other dressed-up Japanese fare. All forty items on Cha-Ya's menu are vegan. Students from the nearby university and other locals go for the delicate flavors present in dishes such as the house miso soup, curry udon, and elaborately composed vegetables --- and not-so-delicate choices such as stuffed-eggplant tempura or the large, battered and deep-fried Cha-Ya sushi roll filled with yam, asparagus and carrots, served with a sweet sauce. Though crafted solely from vegan ingredients, attractive sushi rolls are flavorful and satisfying, though vegan nigiri and other dishes can seem a little precious for the high price. Look to the daily specials for a budget experience, and don’t mind the service, which, though generally efficient, can be brusque and dismissive.