The best vegetarian restaurants in the U.S. right now reward you with full meals built entirely around plants, not a single sad side salad in sight. Think Tal Ronnen’s “spaghetti carbonara” in Los Angeles, an all-vegetable tasting menu with a Michelin star in New York, or a Bay-view dining room that’s been serving meat-free food since 1979. This guide names specific, confirmed-open spots in major cities, tells you what to order, and flags a few famous names that have closed or changed so you don’t drive to a locked door. For more meat-free dining help, start with our What’s Vegetarian homepage or browse the full restaurant guides.
One honest note up front: dedicated vegetarian and vegan sit-down restaurants are getting squeezed. IBISWorld counted 32,000-plus vegetarian and vegan restaurant businesses in the U.S. in 2025, but the count of dedicated vegan spots in big metros has dropped since 2022. That makes the survivors on this list more worth celebrating, not less. So treat this as both a where-to-go list and a quick reality check on a category in flux.
How we picked the best vegetarian restaurants for this list
Every spot below is confirmed open as of mid-2026, named, and located so you can book a table today. We leaned toward dedicated vegetarian or fully vegan kitchens plus a few omnivore restaurants that run real vegetarian tasting menus. We checked each one against current sources, including each restaurant’s own site, the Michelin Guide, and food press, because outdated “best of” lists are everywhere and they’ll send you to places that shut their doors.
A quick vocabulary check helps here. Vegetarian restaurants still serve dairy and eggs; vegan restaurants serve zero animal products, per PETA’s breakdown. We note which is which for each pick. If you want the broader playbook for ordering out, our guide to eating vegetarian and vegan at restaurants covers the basics.
The best vegetarian restaurants in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills
Crossroads Kitchen — Los Angeles (8284 Melrose Ave)
Crossroads Kitchen is Tal Ronnen’s upscale, fully vegan flagship, and it’s the easiest LA recommendation to make. The Mediterranean-leaning menu reimagines comfort food you’d swear couldn’t go plant-based: a “spaghetti carbonara” with a tomato-based egg yolk, spicy rigatoni vodka with almond-milk burrata, and vegan chicken and waffles. It’s fine dining that doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. There’s also a Las Vegas location at Resorts World, and per Vegas Food and Fun, two new Vegas concepts (Crossroads Kitchen and CB|Crossroads Burgers) are opening in spring 2026. See the menu at crossroadskitchen.com.
Plant Food + Wine — Beverly Hills (Four Seasons L.A. at Beverly Hills)
Plant Food + Wine is Matthew Kenney’s polished raw and plant-based concept, now living poolside on the fourth floor of the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. One important correction: the original Abbot Kinney location in Venice closed in 2023, so ignore older listings that send you there. The Beverly Hills room is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, per Patch. It’s a strong fully vegan pick when you want a hotel-restaurant setting with serious plant cooking.
New York City: where vegetable cooking gets a Michelin star
Dirt Candy — Lower East Side
Dirt Candy is NYC’s only dedicated vegetable restaurant, and chef Amanda Cohen earned a Michelin star here in 2023 after roughly 14 years in business. The format is a single seasonal tasting menu built entirely around vegetables, no meat substitutes needed. Cohen also runs a no-tipping policy with living-wage staff, which Gothamist covered when the star landed. It’s vegetable-focused (vegetarian) rather than strictly vegan, so check current dishes when you book at dirtcandynyc.com.
Avant Garden — East Village (95 Avenue A)
Avant Garden is the relaxed-but-refined vegan pick in the East Village, open since 2015 and part of Ravi DeRossi’s Overthrow Hospitality group. The Michelin Guide describes it as “excellent food that just happens to be vegan.” Order the cremini mushroom toast with onion marmalade or the deep-fried sushi rice. It’s confirmed open and serving dinner daily as of 2026 (Yelp), and you can see the small-plates menu at avantgardennyc.com.
Eleven Madison Park — Madison Square Park
Eleven Madison Park is the most celebrated fine-dining room on this list, and it deserves a careful note. It went fully plant-based in 2021, then on October 14, 2025 it brought back meat and seafood, per its own menu update. Today you choose between an all-plant-based tasting menu and one with select animal dishes; Green Queen reports even the meat menus stay roughly 80% vegetable-focused. The main tasting runs about $365. So don’t call it “the world’s only three-Michelin-star vegan restaurant” anymore. Think of it as the plant-based experiment that reshaped fine dining, now offering both paths.
San Francisco: the city that made vegetarian food a cuisine
Greens Restaurant — Fort Mason (2 Marina Blvd)
Greens is the historic anchor of this whole category. Open since 1979, it’s the restaurant The New York Times credited with making vegetarian food a genuine American cuisine, per its history. You get Bay views from Fort Mason, produce from Green Gulch Farm, and a kitchen led by chef de cuisine Katie Reicher. It’s Michelin Guide recommended and offers vegan and pescatarian options, and it’s closed Mondays. Book at greensrestaurant.com.
Shizen — 370 14th St
Shizen is a fully plant-based sushi bar and izakaya, and it’s a fun contrast to Greens if you want a vegan take on a classic cuisine. The menu runs to plant-based rolls and ramen, and it’s one of the few fully vegan spots on Michelin’s San Francisco radar, per Veggies Abroad. Pair the two for a one-two SF tour: a 1979 institution and a modern vegan sushi room.
Chicago, Philadelphia, D.C., and Seattle
Chicago tops PETA’s 2025 ranking of the most vegan-friendly U.S. cities, followed by Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. (PETA). Here’s a standout in each, plus a Seattle institution worth the trip.
Indienne — Chicago (River North)
Indienne is chef Sujan Sarkar’s modern Indian fine-dining room and Chicago’s first Michelin-starred Indian restaurant, starred in fall 2023 and retained in 2024 and 2025 (Michelin Guide). It isn’t a fully vegetarian restaurant, but it runs dedicated vegetarian and vegan tasting menus alongside the omnivore ones. That makes it a great star-level meal when some of your group eats meat and some don’t. Details at indiennechicago.com.
Planta Queen — Chicago (413 N Clark St, River North)
Planta Queen is a stylish, fully plant-based pan-Asian room that’s good for groups. Look for crispy mushroom and cabbage gyoza, truffle-mushroom-cream udon, and watermelon “nigiri.” Worth knowing: the parent company, Planta, filed for Chapter 11 in May 2025, so this category is volatile right now. That said, the River North location is confirmed open and serving daily as of May 2026 (Yelp). It’s still smart to check the day you go.
Vedge — Philadelphia (1221 Locust St)
Vedge is Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby’s fully vegan fine-dining flagship, set in a former grand rowhouse and open since 2011. Landau picked up six James Beard Best Chef Mid-Atlantic nominations from 2015 to 2020, and Vedge made the Michelin Guide’s recommended list (recommended, not starred, so don’t expect a star at the table). It’s closed Sundays and Mondays. See the background and book via OpenTable.
Mita — Washington, D.C. (Shaw)
Mita is a Michelin-starred, fully plant-based Latin American tasting-menu restaurant in Shaw, from chefs Miguel Guerra and Tatiana Mora. One thing the web gets wrong constantly: Mita is in Washington, D.C., not Miami. Guerra is the youngest Venezuelan chef to earn a Michelin star, and Mora is the first Venezuelan woman to, per the Michelin Guide. The “vegetable experience” menu plays with charred banana, arracacha, and yuba, in short and long formats. Reserve at mitadc.com.
Café Flora — Seattle (2901 E Madison St)
Café Flora is a Seattle vegetarian institution open since 1991, with a light-filled atrium and a patio. The kitchen leans on Pacific Northwest produce with global influences, and the menu clearly marks vegan and gluten-free options. It’s confirmed open in 2026 and part of the Flora Restaurant Group, which also runs Floret and Flora Bakehouse (Flora Restaurant Group). It’s an easy, welcoming pick if you’re traveling with mixed dietary needs.
Famous names that closed or changed (don’t get caught out)
A lot of “best vegetarian restaurants” roundups still list places that are gone. Before you make a special trip, know these updates:
- Millennium (Oakland) is closing after about 32 years, with final service on May 16, 2026, citing financial pressure. Honor it as a pioneer, but it won’t be there to book (VegNews).
- Eleven Madison Park is no longer fully vegan; it reintroduced animal dishes in October 2025 and now offers both menus (Robb Report).
- Kajitsu (NYC), the shojin spot, closed back in 2022 but still floats around old lists (HappyCow).
- Cadence (NYC) vegan soul food is closed per Yelp as of May 2026, and Lion Dance Cafe (Oakland) relocated to Singapore in March 2026.
- Plant Food + Wine’s Venice location closed in 2023; only the Beverly Hills room above is open.
This churn is real and worth understanding. NYC’s count of vegan restaurants fell from 173 in 2022 to 132; Portland dropped from 61 to 46; Los Angeles slid from 61 to 48, about a 21% decline, per VegNews. Food and labor costs each rose roughly 35% over five years, and independents now compete with fast-casual and grocery plant-based options. Chains felt it too: Veggie Grill closed about 12 locations in 2025. None of that means good vegetarian food is hard to find. It means the standout sit-down rooms are worth supporting while they’re here.
How to find more best vegetarian restaurants near you
You can track down great meat-free meals in any city with three quick moves. Search HappyCow for dedicated vegetarian and vegan listings with reviews. Use the Yelp “vegetarian” or “vegan” filter to sort nearby spots. And apply the Michelin Guide’s vegan filter when you want chef-level options. Always pull up the actual menu online first, since a restaurant can be “vegan-friendly” without a fully meat-free kitchen.
When you’d rather grab something fast, chains can carry you between sit-down meals. Our guide to what’s vegetarian at Chipotle is a good example of decoding a menu before you order. Pair a couple of standout reservations with reliable fast-casual backups and you’ll eat well anywhere.
best vegetarian restaurants: frequently asked questions
