Admittedly, there is nowhere in the Guide that mentions how VOA decided on the restaurants. Certain restaurants were deliberately excluded from the Guide for:

• repeatedly serving obvious portions of meat in dishes that were ordered off the Vegetarian section of the menu
• staff and/or restaurant owner being unconcerned with the fact that they just served a veg customer some meat (i.e. nothing was done about it)
• hostility toward vegan or vegetarian customers (e.g. "I'm not an ingredient expert" when asked if a dish has a certain ingredient)

Here is how we, the VOA board committee for the Diner's Guide, narrowed down the list of restaurants:

1. Does the establishment offer a good number of vegetarian entrées? Appetizers? Desserts?
More importance was given to entrées. Many places were knocked off the list here, because they only served one or two vegetarian entrée dishes (even though some were so amazing!)

2. Does the establishment offer a good number of vegan entrées? Appetizers? Desserts?
It wasn't necessary that the vegan dishes be on the menu, but at least the serving staff was able to inform customer of how they can veganize some of the dishes. Again, many places were knocked off the list because they had little or no vegan options... although if they served a lot of vegetarian dishes, we sometimes made an exception.

3. Are the veg dishes they offer good/tasty?
...Unique? Not just another lasagna.
...Healthy? Well rounded meal with protein, vegetables, legumes, grains... not just pasta loaded with cheese!

4. Is the serving staff and kitchen staff knowledgeable about vegan and vegetarian diets? Are they able to suggest suitable dishes?
Some restaurants had hostile staff on more than one occasion, so they were readily taken off the list. We accept that some of the questions we must ask are very specific and require some quick research; however, we did not accept poor customer service (i.e. not putting any effort to find an answer).

5. Are the kitchen practices suitable for vegan and vegetarian diners?
A few no-no's included:
- using the same (unwashed) utensils for preparing/serving both meat dishes and veg dishes;
- deep-frying veg food in the same vat of oil as non-veg food;
- grilling veg food on the same (unwashed) grill as non-veg food;
- using inconspicuous animal products such as fish paste, beef or chicken broths, etc. and not informing the customer.

6. Have vegan or vegetarian customers been served meat dishes, despite clearly saying they were vegan or vegetarian? If so, was the restaurant's reaction respectful?
A respectful reaction is to acknowledge that there was a mis-communication and to prepare a new dish. A few personal dining experiences swayed us to eliminate some restaurants from our list of potentials due to their lack of respect for our diet.

7. Did the restaurant return the survey that VOA sent them?
See the survey here.

8. Were the veg dishes priced reasonably? Did quality & quantity match the price? Were veg dishes the same price as meat dishes?
The latter makes little sense to us, but some places don't seem to pass on the savings they reap from serving veg food. Pity!

9. Is the atmosphere friendly and welcoming for a vegan or vegetarian diner?
Or is there a crab tank beside your table?! Maybe a rotisserie across from you?  Yuck!