Looking for Village Inn vegetarian options? You’ve got more to work with than you’d expect from a diner built around bacon and sausage gravy. The veggie omelet, buttermilk pancakes, and the pies Village Inn is famous for are all meat-free, and once you know which sides to skip, ordering here gets easy. This 24-hour pancake house has been a Colorado staple since 1958, and the vegetarians in your group won’t be stuck picking at dry toast. Here’s exactly what to order, what to check first, and what to leave alone.
A Quick Look at Village Inn
James Mola and Merton Anderson opened the first Village Inn Pancake House in 1958 on East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado. The chain grew fast enough that it went public in 1982 as Vicorp Restaurants. Vicorp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008, and American Blue Ribbon Holdings, backed by Fidelity National Financial and Newport Global Advisors, bought the brand out of bankruptcy in 2009. A second Chapter 11 followed in January 2020, and Village Inn emerged that September under VIBSQ Holdings with about 140 restaurants left.
In July 2021, BBQ Holdings, the parent company of Famous Dave’s, bought Village Inn (and sister chain Bakers Square) for $13.5 million. BBQ Holdings itself was acquired by the Canadian franchisor MTY Food Group in 2022, which is who owns Village Inn today. The chain now runs around 112 to 116 restaurants across 18 to 19 states, with Colorado still home to the most locations. It’s known for two things above all else: pancakes served any time of day, and pies good enough to win national baking awards.
Village Inn Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Village Inn doesn’t run a dedicated vegetarian menu, but the breakfast-all-day format works in your favor. Eggs, pancakes, and produce make up a big share of the menu, so a satisfying vegetarian meal here comes down to knowing which griddle dishes are safe and which sides to pass on. The ingredients in the table below cover the vegetarian and vegan options across breakfast, salads, soups, and dessert.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Veggie Omelette (eggs, cheese, mixed vegetables) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg, dairy) |
| Garden Scramble | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg, dairy) |
| Buttermilk Pancakes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (buttermilk, egg) |
| French Toast | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (egg, milk) |
| Gluten-Free Pancakes & Waffles | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (still dairy and egg) |
| Hash Browns | ⚠️ Check (shared griddle with bacon and sausage) | ⚠️ Check (cooking oil not confirmed) |
| Fresh Fruit | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Oatmeal | ✅ Yes (made with milk) | ⚠️ Check (ask for water, no dairy) |
| House Salad | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check dressing |
| Caesar Salad | ❌ No (dressing has anchovies) | ❌ No |
| Award-Winning Pies (fruit and cream) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy and egg in crust and filling) |
| Country Sausage Gravy | ❌ No (meat-based) | ❌ No |
| Toast | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Check (butter, egg wash not confirmed) |
Breakfast, All Day
Breakfast is where Village Inn earns its vegetarian-friendly reputation, and it’s served around the clock at most locations. The Veggie Omelette skips the meat by default, built from onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms folded into eggs with part-skim mozzarella. The Garden Scramble follows the same idea in scrambled form. You can also build your own omelet and leave off the bacon, sausage, or ham, and ask the kitchen to load up the vegetable toppings instead. Buttermilk pancakes, French toast, and waffles round out the griddle menu, and gluten-free versions of pancakes, waffles, and toast are available if you need them too, though they still contain dairy and egg so they’re vegetarian, not vegan.
Sides and Salads
Fresh fruit is your safest all-around pick if you want something naturally vegan. Hash browns, which are just shredded potatoes on the griddle, are vegetarian, but that griddle also handles bacon and sausage, so ask if that matters to you. Toast comes in a few bread choices, typically wheat, rye, or an English muffin, and it’s vegetarian across the board. Oatmeal is made with milk by default, but you can ask for it made with water instead. On the salad side, the house salad is vegetarian, but skip the Caesar. The dressing is made with anchovies, which puts it out of bounds even though the salad looks meat-free on the plate.
The Pies Village Inn Is Famous For
Village Inn’s pies have picked up national awards from the American Pie Council, and the lineup includes fruit pies alongside cream flavors like Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Silk, Pumpkin Supreme, and Southern Pecan. Every pie on the menu is vegetarian: no meat goes into a crust or filling. None of them are vegan, though. The crusts and cream fillings use real dairy, eggs, and butter or shortening, and Village Inn hasn’t published a plant-based version. If you’re vegan and craving dessert here, fresh fruit is the only sure bet.
Lunch and Dinner
Village Inn isn’t only a breakfast stop. Most locations run lunch and dinner service too, and some are open 24 hours. The problem for vegetarians is that the lunch and dinner menu leans hard on meat and seafood: a Reuben, a French Dip, a Tuna Melt, chicken-fried steak, pork chops, fried chicken, fish and chips, and golden fried shrimp make up most of the entree list. There isn’t a confirmed vegetarian sandwich or burger on the standard lunch and dinner menu, so this isn’t the meal to plan around if you want something besides eggs or salad.
Soups are a mixed bag. Broccoli cheese soup is likely vegetarian, but Village Inn hasn’t published whether it’s made with a chicken or vegetable base, so ask before you order. Baked potato soup often includes bacon, French onion soup is typically made with beef stock, and chili is meat-based, so treat all three as off-limits unless your server confirms otherwise. Your best move at lunch or dinner is honestly the same as at breakfast: order the Veggie Omelette, Garden Scramble, or a house salad. Most Village Inn locations serve breakfast all day, so you’re not stuck if the clock says dinner time.
What’s Vegan at Village Inn?
Vegan options at Village Inn are thin. There’s no plant-based milk for coffee or hot chocolate, no dedicated vegan menu, and every griddle dish that isn’t plain fruit runs through egg or dairy somewhere. Fresh fruit is vegan without question. Oatmeal can go vegan if you ask for it made with water instead of milk, and a plain house salad without cheese and with oil and vinegar works too. Hash browns and toast are likely vegan by ingredients, but Village Inn hasn’t confirmed the cooking oil or butter use in writing, so ask your server before you order if you’re strict about it. If you’re vegan, treat Village Inn as a stop for salads, soup, and coffee rather than a full meal.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
A few things to flag before you order. The Caesar dressing contains anchovies, so the Caesar salad isn’t vegetarian even though it looks like it should be. Country sausage gravy is meat-based with no vegetarian substitute on the menu. Pie crusts and fillings use dairy and eggs, so they’re vegetarian but never vegan. Village Inn cooks breakfast on a shared griddle, so hash browns, pancakes, and omelets can come into contact with bacon and sausage. If cross-contact is a concern for you, say so when you order. Cheese rennet sourcing isn’t published, so ask if that matters to your definition of vegetarian. Gluten-free pancakes, waffles, and toast are available, but they aren’t prepared in a dedicated gluten-free space, and none of them are vegan.
Tips for Vegetarians at Village Inn
- Order the Veggie Omelette or Garden Scramble and ask for the vegetables built up, since neither one comes loaded the way a meat omelet does.
- Skip the Caesar salad. The dressing has anchovies, so the house salad is your vegetarian pick instead.
- Country sausage gravy is meat, full stop. There’s no vegetarian version, so leave it off biscuits or any platter that includes it.
- If you’re vegan, stick to fresh fruit, a plain house salad, and oatmeal made with water. Everything else on the breakfast menu runs through egg or dairy.
- Ask about the griddle if cross-contact with bacon and sausage matters to you. Hash browns, pancakes, and omelets are all cooked on shared equipment.
- Save room for pie if you eat dairy and eggs. It’s the one thing Village Inn does better than almost anyone else in the diner category.
- Broccoli cheese soup is a reasonable vegetarian pick at lunch or dinner, but confirm the broth before you order a bowl.
- Ask what’s in the bread basket. Toast and English muffins are vegetarian, and knowing your bread choices upfront saves a second trip to ask your server.
Conclusion
Village Inn vegetarian options work best if you lean into what this home-town diner does well: eggs, pancakes, fresh fruit, and pie. There’s a real variety of vegetarian dishes once you know where to look, even if the lunch and dinner side of the menu leans toward dining on meat and seafood. Skip the Caesar salad and the sausage gravy, ask about the shared griddle if cross-contact matters to you, and you’ll eat well here. For more on eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants, or to browse other restaurant guides, we’ve got you covered. If you like diners, check out what’s vegetarian at Perkins, Denny’s, and IHOP too.
