R and I headed to Gobo on the Upper East Side for a date night recently. Gobo is a vegetarian and mostly vegan restaurant on 3rd Ave and 81st street. Neither of us had tried it before, even though it’s not too far away (going across town always seems to be such a big production, when in reality it’s not that entirely difficult).

The atmosphere was decent, I wouldn’t have thought twice of it had we not been out on a date. I often have problems being happy with the ambiance at vegan restaurants, and this one wasn’t bad for a vegan place, but when it comes to a non-vegan restaurant, it could have been better. (Again, this may have been because of my expectations for a date night – and we headed to a wine bar afterwards that was properly candlelight and perfect for a date). The lighting was just a little bright and the music was a little strange (went from jazz to pop). But again, I think this is just my date night expectations.

The served bread with a butternut squash mash instead of butter, and it was delicious.

The entrees were good, though I had envy for what R ordered after I had a taste. I ordered the butternut squash risotto, which was a little bland for my liking. But when I took the leftovers for work I added a bit of salt and a roasted garlic clove and it was amazing.

R ordered the soy protein & cashew spinach rolls with jade mushrooms. It was so good, I could have sworn there was no way it was vegan. The sauce was so amazing, I found myself wanting more and more off of R’s plate than eating off of mine.

The service was great – so fast it was surprising. We really thought we were out for a leisurely dinner when in fact we were in and out in about half an hour. And the wine was good and cheap. We’ll definitely be back again.