Carnegie Diner & Cafe: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Carnegie Diner & Cafe serves meat, bacon, and steak, but it also prints a full plant-based menu, and its menu carries a legend for gluten free, vegan, and vegetarian dishes. A vegetarian or vegan can eat well here. This profile covers the brand, which runs diners in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, and the Central Park shop at 205 West 57th Street serves as the example address.

The plant-based section is the draw. The menu bills itself as the first diner in America serving a full plant-based menu. It starts with a Lentil Soup, Vegan Meatballs baked in tomato sauce with fresh mint, Guacamole, and Hummus. Salads include the Farmers Salad with kale, spinach, roasted beets, figs, and hazelnuts, the Strawberry Fields salad, and an Avocado Salad with Kalamata olives and capers.

Sandwiches follow. The vegan Yeero comes with vegan mozzarella and a vegan mayo-mustard sauce on sprouted grain bread. The Souvlaki uses a meatless souvlaki with a vegan caper aioli, and the Meatballs sandwich pairs vegan meatballs with marinara and vegan mozzarella on focaccia. A Vegetables Only sandwich stacks roasted red peppers, zucchini, avocado, and hummus. The Egg Breakfast sandwich uses a plant-based egg omelet. The Impossible Vegan Burger arrives on a vegan pretzel bun for $25.95, and a plant-based steak plate with chimichurri costs $29.95.

Breakfast serves vegetarians too. The menu runs breakfast and brunch all day, and the kitchen says it uses organic eggs. You can order the Avocado Toast with poached eggs, the Californian omelet with avocado, mushroom, and pepper-jack cheese, or the Vegetarian omelet with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and green peppers. Both omelets cost $19.95. The Greek omelet and the Greek Yogurt with granola, berries, and honey also appear on the diner’s menus.

The regular appetizer list helps too. The Spinach Pie wraps spinach, feta, and herbs in phyllo for $9.95. Mac & Cheese costs $9.95 and adds bacon for $3, so skip that add-on. Mozzarella Sticks, Onion Rings, and the Spinach Artichoke Dip round out the list. Desserts lean on cake, including the 24 Layer Chocolate Cake at $14.95, plus Key Lime Pie, Tiramisu, and Baklava. The Lentil Soup carries a vegan note, while the Chicken Soup and the house chili use meat.

Meat runs through the rest of the diner. Bacon, ham, sausage, steak, and smoked salmon fill the breakfast sides and the omelets. Burgers, pastrami sandwiches, and entrees take over after lunch. The menu posts no note about shared grills or fryers. Anyone with a strict diet should tell the server which items must stay meat-free.

The shop lists hours of Sunday through Thursday from 7am to midnight and Friday and Saturday from 7am to 1am. You can book through the reservation form on the restaurant’s site, order online, or call (212) 664-1001. The diner also takes private events and catering. A blog review from April 2026 describes the 57th Street shop as an elevated diner that opened in 2019, across the street from Carnegie Hall.

Come for brunch. Order the Californian omelet or the avocado toast, then split the Impossible Vegan Burger with a friend who cannot decide.