Travel to the Loving Hut in Dayton, Ohio

On a recent trip to the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, we decided to grab a bite to eat after the long day of exploring the museum. Thanks to Facebook advertisements, I found the Loving Hut fast-food chain restaurant location just twenty minutes from the museum.

Why is this restaurant special, you may ask? Of course there are other vegan restaurants around the nation that have options for no-meat, no-animal bi-product vegetarians, otherwise known as vegans. What makes this restaurant so special is that it serves a 100% vegan menu. Yes, that means appetizers, refreshments, entrees, side-dishes, and baked goods. This concept of a 100% vegan menu is a rarely found option in not only Ohio but nationwide.

Thankfully, this location is located in the Dayton Mall's food court, situated on the second floor. Similar to all other malls in tri-state area, the Dayton Mall Food Court contains other fast-food restaurant chains such as McDonald's, Taco Bell and other common American chains. Hence, healthy options are hard to come by not only in this mall but in most shopping malls. Thankfully, Loving Hut has healthy options not only for Vegans but for anyone to enjoy while out on a shopping trip.

If you have not heard of Loving Hut yet, you might be surprised to hear that it is a locally owned and independently run chain. By the time we finally found the mall, we arrived around 6P.M. on a Saturday night. Other restaurants in the food court seemed to be shutting down but thankfully Loving Hut was still open. Since it was our first time to the restaurant, which is really just a small booth and sales counter alongside the other restaurants; we asked if we were too late to eat which they cordially responded 'never'. The two owners (we assumed husband and wife) turned out to be extremely friendly and answered our questions and offered suggestions to first-timers.

Amazingly enough, the fast-food restaurant had a laborious day and were out of a few different entrees. After looking at the enticing menu, it was no surprise that the couple had a very busy day and were out of some of the foods available.

After drooling over the vegan menu, we finally came to a decision. For around $3.00 we got two vegan spring rolls as an appetizer that were fresh vegetables wrapped in a thin pastry. It was similar to spring rolls available in other fast food chains, minus the meat and animal bi-products. As a general rule, we do not tend to eat deep fried foods so as expected; we were delighted in this tasty, but slightly greasy treat. These two spring rolls were well worth the $3.00.

For entrees, we decided to go along with a mushroom Panini for around seven dollars and a large 'mock' chicken salad. Both entrees were amazing in taste and well put together by the owners. The Mushroom Panini was made with caramelized onions, mushrooms and Daiya Dairy-Free Cheese. Although the Panini was simple and could have been made in anyone's kitchen, it was very impressive. The 'mock' chicken salad was created with the ever-popular vegan Gardein Meatless Chicken atop of a fresh bed of organic salad greens. It also contains pomegranate seeds, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and a little Daiya Dairy-Free Cheese. Although I am not confident of the sauce contents, it did taste a lot like the sweet-and-sour sauce that was served with the spring rolls. Again, the salad was very impressive and would impress anyone.

Overall, the Loving Hut Fast-Food Restaurant was a delightful change from other options available in the Dayton Mall Food Court. This was our first official fast-food restaurant that was 100% vegan. We do live around four hours from Dayton, Ohio, so I am not sure we would make this long trip just for the restaurant. But, when we are in the area, we would definitely go again. In addition, I would highly suggest the Loving Hut in the Dayton Mall in Dayton, Ohio for not only vegans but for everyone. It is a healthier option than the other restaurants and is animal friendly.

We only came across two cons that we came across on our last trip. We did find it strange for the restaurant that boosts the phrase, " Be Veg Go Green 2 Save the Planet!" to use Styrofoam plates and plastic silverware. These are both hurting the planet so we were confused why these were being used. Secondly, we did find that the restaurant did not have many options and part of them were not longer available. On our trip, a few selections had sold out already. Seeing that it was Saturday, it is most likely that shipments were not going to be at least until Sunday. Hence, the restaurant was not well equip for large amounts of people or had not planned ahead. It is best to get to the restaurant earlier to assure all options are available. Otherwise, we were extremely happy with the Loving Hut.

Loving Hut at the Dayton Mall location (others available world-wide)
Address: 2700 Miamisburg Centerville Road, Dayton, OH 45459, USA
E-mail Address: dayton_01@lovinghut.us
Hours: 10A.M-9P.M. Monday-Saturday; Noon-6P.M.
Sundays For more information please refer to the Dayton Mall Website.