Looking for Metro Diner vegetarian options? This Southern-style diner chain built its menu around bacon, sausage, and fried chicken, but there’s still a real path through it if you don’t eat meat. Veggie Omelet, Avocado Toast, and Grilled 3 Cheese top the safe-order list, and a handful of salads and sides round things out. Here’s what to order, what to skip, and what about the vegetarians who want to check every ingredient before they sit down.
A Quick Look at Metro Diner
Metro Diner traces back to a building that opened in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1938. Chef Mark Davoli and his family rebranded it Metro Diner in 1992, and by 2000 Mark and his brother John Davoli Jr. owned and ran it themselves, with their father joining a few years later. National attention followed in 2010, after a feature on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
In 2014, when Metro Diner had nine locations, the Davoli family partnered with ConSul Hospitality Group, an investment group built by Outback Steakhouse co-founder Chris Sullivan, Outback’s first franchise partner Hugh Connerty, and former Carrabba’s Italian Grill president Carl Sahlsten. That backing funded a national push: Metro Diner opened its 50th restaurant by 2018 and now runs 68 restaurants across a dozen states, with roughly $186 million in U.S. sales in 2025 according to Technomic’s 2026 Top 500 rankings. Headquarters moved from Jacksonville to Tampa, Florida, as the company grew.
Southern comfort food drives the menu. Breakfast Favorites bring chicken and waffles and Meat Lover’s dishes. Lunch and Dinner Favorites add ribs, chicken pot pie, roasted turkey, and meatloaf. Family Meals scale fried chicken and chicken tenders up for a table, and Burgers & Sandwiches bring in the Metro Club and a Classic Burger. That’s meat woven through breakfast, lunch, and dinner alike. A vegetarian visiting Metro Diner needs to know which dishes were built without meat from the start, not just which ones could have the protein pulled off.
Metro Diner Vegetarian Options: What to Order
Metro Diner doesn’t publish a vegetarian or vegan icon system on its menu, so this table is built from the chain’s own item descriptions and its gluten-friendly menu, which spells out what comes standard on several dishes. When in doubt, ask your server, since sauces and prep can vary by location.
| Menu Item | Vegetarian | Vegan |
|---|---|---|
| Veggie Omelet (mushrooms, onions, peppers, cheddar, tomatoes) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (eggs, cheese) |
| Avocado Toast (avocado, eight-grain toast, tomatoes, everything seasoning) | ✅ Yes | ⚠ Check (ask if the toast is buttered) |
| Grilled 3 Cheese (cheddar, Swiss, provel on grilled bread) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (cheese, butter) |
| House Salad (greens, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, red onion, tortilla crunch) | ✅ Yes | ⚠ Check (depends on dressing) |
| Caesar Salad | ⚠ Check (classic Caesar dressing can contain anchovies) | ❌ No |
| Metro Pancakes, Belgian Waffle, Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, Croissant French Toast | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (eggs, dairy, butter) |
| Oatmeal Breakfast (oats, brown sugar, raisins, fresh fruit) | ✅ Yes | ⚠ Check (ask if it’s made with milk or butter) |
| Hashbrowns, Home Fries | ✅ Yes | ⚠ Check (griddle is shared with bacon and sausage) |
| Honest to Goodness Grits, Cheese Grits | ✅ Yes | ⚠ Check (butter, shared kitchen) |
| Steamed Broccoli, Steamed Green Beans, Fresh Seasonal Fruit | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Coleslaw (Creole mustard, mayo-based) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (mayo) |
| French Fries, Onion Rings | ⚠ Check (fryer is shared with chicken tenders and fish and chips) | ⚠ Check |
| Mashed Potatoes & Gravy | ❌ No by default (gravy is meat-based, ask for no gravy) | ❌ No |
| Macaroni and Cheese | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (dairy) |
| Stuffing | ⚠ Check (diner-style stuffing is usually made with chicken or turkey stock) | ❌ No |
| Buttermilk Biscuit | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (buttermilk) |
| Chocolate Cake | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (eggs, dairy) |
Breakfast and Egg Dishes
Breakfast is where Metro Diner treats vegetarians best. Mushrooms, onions, peppers, cheddar, and tomatoes fill the Veggie Omelet, and you can order it any time of day since breakfast runs all day here. Avocado Toast is the closest thing to a vegan-friendly headliner, built on eight-grain toast with diced tomatoes and everything bagel seasoning, though the toast itself may get a pass of butter on the griddle, so ask if that matters to you. Oatmeal Breakfast, with brown sugar, raisins, and fresh fruit, is a lighter option, but check whether it’s prepared with milk.
Buttermilk biscuits and grits round out the table, and the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Croissant obviously isn’t on this list since it comes standard with bacon. Skip the Southwest Scramble Bowl and Bacon Avocado Scramble Bowl too, since both are built around bacon as a core ingredient rather than an optional add-on, and the Meat Lover’s Omelet is exactly what it sounds like.
Salads and Sides
Pick the House Salad (greens, cucumbers, shredded cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, red onion, tortilla crunch) with a dressing that skips dairy and anchovies, like balsamic vinaigrette or oil and vinegar. Caesar Salad’s dressing isn’t disclosed as anchovy-free, so treat it as a maybe rather than a given. Steamed broccoli, steamed green beans, and fresh seasonal fruit are the cleanest sides and work for vegans too.
Grits, cheese grits, hashbrowns, and home fries are vegetarian, but they’re cooked on a shared griddle that also handles bacon and sausage. Skip the mashed potatoes unless you ask for no gravy, since the gravy is meat-based by default. Two menu items to bypass entirely: the chicken noodle soup and any salad topped with chicken tenders, both built around meat rather than vegetables.
Sandwiches, Starters, and Desserts
Grilled 3 Cheese, made with cheddar, Swiss, and provel on grilled bread, is the one full sandwich a vegetarian can order as-is. Mac and cheese works as a side or a light meal on its own. French fries and onion rings from the starters menu are vegetarian by ingredient, but they come out of a fryer shared with chicken tenders and fish and chips, so they’re not a safe pick if you avoid cross-contact entirely.
Fried cheese curds and poutine both come with brown gravy standard, which reads as meat-based, so order them without it or skip them. A slice of chocolate cake covers dessert, vegetarian but not vegan. Groups ordering the family-meal House Salad for 4 or Caesar Salad for 4 face the same dressing caveats as a single plate.
What’s Vegan at Metro Diner?
Metro Diner’s vegan options are slim. Fresh seasonal fruit, steamed broccoli, and steamed green beans are vegan as ordered. Avocado Toast is close, but confirm the toast isn’t buttered. Grits and hashbrowns are plant-based by ingredient, but the griddle handles meat all day, so mention it if cross-contact is a concern. Beyond that, most of what looks promising, like the oatmeal or the salads, comes down to how a specific location makes it, so ask before you order.
Special Dietary Requirements and Allergies
Metro Diner publishes a gluten-friendly menu with calorie counts and substitution notes, but it states plainly that the kitchen handles wheat throughout and can’t guarantee any dish is fully gluten-free. That same shared-kitchen caution applies to vegetarians. The fryer used for fries and onion rings also cooks chicken tenders and fish and chips, the griddle for hashbrowns and grits runs alongside bacon and sausage, and mashed potatoes come with meat-based gravy unless you ask for none.
Caesar dressing doesn’t list its ingredients on the public menu, so treat “creamy Caesar dressing” as a possible anchovy product rather than assuming it’s vegetarian. Cheeses like cheddar, Swiss, and provel don’t disclose whether they use animal rennet, so if that matters to you, ask your server to check with the kitchen. Metro Diner is also a growing franchise system spread across a dozen states, so a dish’s exact prep, like whether the toast gets buttered or the oatmeal is cooked with water or milk, can vary a little by location. When it’s not spelled out on the menu, ask rather than assume.
Tips for Vegetarians at Metro Diner
- Order the Veggie Omelet or Avocado Toast first. They’re the two dishes built for you, not adapted for you.
- Ask for no gravy on mashed potatoes, poutine, and fried cheese curds. It’s meat-based by default at every location we could confirm.
- Choose balsamic vinaigrette or oil and vinegar over Caesar dressing if you want to skip the anchovy question entirely.
- Mention cross-contact if it matters to you, since the fryer and griddle both handle meat throughout the day.
- Breakfast runs all day, so the Veggie Omelet and biscuits are always on the table, not just before 11 a.m.
- Confirm the oatmeal or grits before ordering if you’re avoiding dairy, since prep can include milk or butter.
- Call ahead if you’re visiting a location you haven’t been to. Metro Diner is a growing chain and recipes can vary slightly by market.
Conclusion
Metro Diner vegetarian options aren’t extensive, but the Veggie Omelet, Avocado Toast, and Grilled 3 Cheese make for a real meal, not just a side-dish plate. Ask about the gravy, check the Caesar dressing, and you’ll eat well at this Southern-style diner without much trouble. For more on eating out without meat, see our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants, browse more restaurant guides, or check what’s vegetarian at First Watch, Black Bear Diner, and IHOP.
