Scarlett H.

A special place.. and I applaud them for their originality and courage to be different, as well as their exploratory approach with Chinese cuisine. The Asian-inspired interior is elegant and refined. Staff was cordial. But other than the novelty and nice teas (exceptional, high quality teas indeed), the food and value were a bit disappointing to me. We came on Mother's Day and tried their prix fixe high tea. There were 3 courses: the appetizers were cute in appearance with some special tastes; the main course (smorgasbord-like tea sandwiches) was dry and bland. Desserts, while a bit too sweet for our taste (after a culinary tour to Asia, my family now upholds the phrase "not too sweet" as the highest compliment to Asian desserts), were nonetheless tasty and flavorful, to be fair. Must give them accolades for the nice teas!! We tried 3 kinds: Milky Oolong, Milky Ruby, and an herb tea. None of them contains any milk or diary products. Not sure where they sourced their teas but the fragrances were exquisite! Their Oolong reminded me of the Taiwanese local-favorite Jin-Xuan (金萱) tea, where the locals used the term "milky" to describe the subtle aroma from the tea. Our high tea was about $70, so at the end it was about $90 per person, with taxes and gratuity. In a market where high end Beverly Hills restaurants are serving $40-ish prix fixe lunches, I find it hard to justify coming back here.

Steven M.

It was my wife's birthday last week and Men & Beasts was the place she wanted to eat at. We showed up here around 5:30PM on a Friday night and were seated in the outside area towards the back of the restaurant. This area was very clean, nice, and the staff here were some of the friendliest people I've dealt with at any spot in the area, so kudos to both of those things. This is a higher end vegan Chinese establishment and even though I've eaten loads of vegan Chinese food, this was definitely the most expensive I've ever been too. The menu here has a lot of different options for entrees and appetizers but they also have a "deal" for what I believe was $50 a person where you pick an appetizer, an entree, and get a thing of tea as well. Below is the food I ordered, tried, and enjoyed. Dumplings- There take on "pork" dumplings. The flavour here was solid and I rather enjoyed these. Monkey Buns- The description reads "char siu, hoisin, sweet onion" and I truly don't even know what two of those things are, but what I do know is that these were some banging buns. The outer dough was soft and warm while the inside was hot and a tad crisp. These were really good. Biang Biang Noodles- Big thick noodles with the slightest kick to them, Definitely needed these to fill us up. Sweet & Sour Mushroom- If you told me this was sweet & sour beef I probably would of believed you. These were crispy, flavourful, and tasted great. Overall, Men & Beasts was a great experience from the moment we sat down to the moment we walked out. The food here was really good, the staff was super friendly, and the place itself had a great look, which brings me to my main complaint. I have to be honest here, even though the food was really good, I don't necessarily think the price is worth what you get. I've had a ton of vegan Chinese food in the past and I've never spent the $125+ we paid (with tip) on this amount of food. We didn't leave with leftovers, the dishes weren't massive, and even though the food was good, it was not worth what we paid.

Britney N.

All the dishes that are Szechuan are extremely spicy, the tofu that I got was so spicy that I had to drink oat milk. If you want a sports bar vibe, the outside has a large projector for watching. Service was nice.

Osula L.

We came here for dinner via car on a Sunday evening in mid-March 2026. We parked on a side street for free and walked over. We had made reservations a couple of days beforehand, arrived early, and was seated right away. The restaurant was very cute and the food was not bad. The dishes were tasty and we did not miss the meat from any of the dishes (this restaurant has a full vegan menu). We got the Smashed Cucumber which was good but could have used vinegar. Our favorite dish was the Oyster Mushroom Bao. The pan-fried Dumplings were great - perfectly crispy with a yummy soy sauce. My vegan-partner really enjoyed the Cheddar Rangoons. We thought the Monkey Buns was too sweet and wasn't worth it. The Baby Carrot reminded us of some of our favorite desserts we had in China. The Biang Biang Noodles was surprisingly spicy. He a curry flavor to it and my partner said that it needed vinegar, which I agree with. The veggies in the Kung Pao Tofu dish were perfectly seasoned but the tofu was a bit too salty for our liking. Overall, we didn't think the food was good enough for the high price we paid. Service was fine but the food needed way more acid.

Jon N.

This was a great little find. We are not vegetarian, but certainly love creative cuisine and M&B delivers! It's a quirky place in a funky neighborhood and the staff was very friendly and welcoming. We got a tea service which we both enjoyed, but my wife would have really loved a soda/diet soda option. As for the food, we tried a few different dishes and enjoyed them all. The best of the best was the Beancurd Enchiladas that had an absolutely delectable sauce that I will think about until I can get in there again. Next dish we loved were the Monkey Buns and then the Baby Carrots (no carrot inside) that we did as dessert. YUMMY! King Oyster Bao were very tasty, but honestly needed more 'filling', and the final dish we tried was the Dumplings, which we liked and would eat again, but were the only thing we would eliminate from our menu for the night. All-in-all, this is an excellent option if you're looking for something fun and different.

Steven K.

The food was all good, didn't love the wines we had, just a little full of sediment in the orange wine and I didn't love the white either. They are well known for tea but it seems a bit expensive between 20-30$. If you're vegan it's a must. I'm not Veganz. The staff was very sweet.

Excellent vegan Chinese food! Highly recommend! The food was delicious, the service excellent, and the ambiance was perfect.

Allie M.

The food here was so delicious and more filling than I expected. I feel like we got to try a little bit of everything with the Ying Qi menu! Our server Madeline was very informative and sweet. Small place but it's a very peaceful atmosphere. Everything we had was a 10/10 and exceeded all expectations. We have eaten at a lot of plant based restaurants and are regulars at a few. We went for lunch but this would be even better for an intimate date night or a place to bring family/friends who are visiting from out of town to impress them.

Jessica N.

The staff was lovely and I always appreciate free neighborhood parking nearby. However, this evening was unfortunately mismatched expectations. According to Resy, this was supposed to be a Puerh Tea Tasting with the tea expert, Adam Yasmin, and some dim sum. What I expected was a traditional tea experience where you get to know the tea master, his backstory and experience, where the tea came from, maybe something about his own tea master, the fermentation and harvesting process, the equipment, the water quality, etc. An educational seminar with tea essentially where the puerh was the main focus and the dim sum was just a snack. What actually happened was a very crowded space that was incredibly loud like a bar (just needed some TV screens for sports) and not as much interaction with the tea master as he had to attend to so many people. It's not his fault of course and perhaps the restaurant oversold the event, but this was very much a prix fixe dinner as the focus and tea as the side event. The staff was hustling and the focus was on the speed of the food rather than the presentation like a Denny's line cook pushing through the influx of orders. The one thing I did learn was that I did not enjoy puerh as much as I would have hoped. I found it very akin to a company party where the CEO says a few words before and after the meal and everyone goes back to partying. And they hire a band for some background entertainment. I felt that the owner had to wrangle the customers like her unruly children to get things in order. For $140/person, I was hoping to try more than just three teas. I would have been fine with no food as I was not compatible with the dinner tonight. Nothing against plant based food as I enjoyed L'Arpège in Paris but I did not resonate with the menu and was mainly here for the tea. I also found it interesting that they served us chipped bowls and charged us for having 5+ people when we were only 4. On the other hand, if I was going to pour my own tea, then I would have preferred to go to Steep or Pine & Crane and ordered their entire tea menu for my own DIY tea tasting. I know vegans/vegetarians have very limited options even in LA so I'm sure they had a good time, but I would have appreciated more transparency on the Resy description. I also would have preferred a more intimate and personalized option like 1:5 but at the same time understand that rent/CAM fees are expensive and small restaurants have to make a profit. I definitely should have done my due diligence and called ahead of time for additional details. I'm sure the restaurant is a fantastic option for those new to tea and I wish them luck in the future.

Crystal L.

Fantastic vegan chinese restaurant with modern twists. Came here on a weekend lunch and got the following: (7/10) Ruby oolong tea: very light tea, they provide a timer for steeping for 1 min, you can just tip the lid to indicate for refills (8.5/10) Pan fried dumplings: 5 pieces, the texture of the filling is almost like that of a meat filling, a little sad that there was no crispy dumpling skirt like I saw in some of the photos (8.5/10) Avocado bao: A fried bao packed, a bit hard to eat but great combination of toppings. Super impressed with the bao itself, very soft inside while the outside is crispy (6.5/10) Biang biang noodles: was a bit too dry and bland for me, but noodles are made in house and is a very simple dish with chili oil, not too spicy (9/10) Kung pao tofu: comes with rice, the outside was super crispy which I loved, great flavor in general, not that spicy I had made a reservation but there was plenty of seating both inside and outdoors. Outdoors is shaded patio with a separate entrance and the interior is sleek and modern. Parking is street parking. During brunch, there's an option to add a real egg but otherwise everything is vegan. Service was fantastic, super nice and explained the tea pouring process. Often checked in and refilled waters. They also bagged my leftovers. My final total including tax and tip was $128. Only tiny issue was I didn't like how the table wasn't even and accidentally tapping the table would cause the drinks to slosh around. Not sure if it's the outside ground or the table but it would be nice to fix that.

Amanda Y.

Tucked away behind a quiet fence in Echo Park, lies Men & Beasts. Walking into the patio space is a nice little refuge from the street. The food is excellent and it's all vegan! Standouts from our meal were the smashed cucumber, fried rice (that black truffle shines in this dish and amps it up!), and the ice cream! My husband said he would return for the ice cream alone! He loved the black garlic chocolate, and I enjoyed the coconut corn ice cream. Service was friendly and welcoming. Men & Beasts is a gem and I can't wait to return & try more of their menu (and eat more of their ice cream)!

Roxanne C.

Was disappointed with our dinner. We ordered the sesame spinach salad, dumplings, fried rice, sweet and sour mushrooms, and kung pao tofu. Sesame spinach salad (3/5): I feel like this is something I could make at home. The sesame paste wasn't uniform throughout the salad and was rather thick so it clumped together. A little too salty for my taste. I wish the spinach was slightly more moist. Dumpling (2.5/5): too oily :( i thought the filling was also just okay. I think the frozen dumplings I buy at hmart are similar if not better. Fried rice (4/5): I enjoyed this fried rice. Again, nothing super special. Truffle flavor was not too overpowering. The rice wasn't cooked super uniform, so there's clumps of white rice in the dish. Kung pao tofu (2/5): Tofu was rather burnt and almost completely black on some of the sides. The flavor/seasoning was also just okay. Sweet and sour mushroom (4/5): I think I enjoyed this dish the most. I liked the texture of the mushroom and I thought it was seasoned pretty well. Overall, the price of this meal is too high for the food that we received. I really wanted to love this place, but sadly I won't be returning. The food was not hot and that's honestly a pretty big negative for me when I eat out. I think that if you're someone who grew up eating asian food, then this place probably isn't for you. Service was alright and food came out at a good pace. I think checking on how we feel about the food after each dish is a little too much for me. However, that's just my personal preference. Additionally, the music kind of threw me off. I think that I just didn't expect "traditional" chinese music.

Dawn S.

Delicious, flavorful food with beautiful presentation. Tea service was gorgeous. Love the moody, plant-y interior. Highly recommend.