Monster Vegan: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Monster Vegan runs a horror-movie bit on Spruce Street in Center City. Underneath the theme sits a fully vegan kitchen turning out sandwich-shop and Italian-American comfort food, the kind a lot of people miss most after going vegetarian. Every dish is plant-based. Nobody has to ask.

Most people walk in the first time for the cheesesteak, built with seitan sliced thin and griddled the way South Philly actually does it, soy cheese standing in for Whiz. The double cheeseburger with onion rings covers the other half of the American comfort-food case. It’s stacked, not a thin patty apologizing for itself. Seitan wings with pineapple salsa and the Korean wings both show up in review after review as the dish people order twice. Want something less indulgent? Italian salads and a spicy Bolognese over pasta lean toward a real dinner instead of bar food. The banh mi sandwich and Beyond steak tacos push the menu past just American standards.

There’s a Creature Feature Meal Deal for $20, Wednesday through Friday, noon to 4:30 p.m., built for the lunch crowd who wants a full plate without ordering three separate things. Weekend nights run later and louder. The kitchen stays open past 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Save room for dessert. Bavarian pretzels, beignets, and sundaes all show up on the menu, so this isn’t a kitchen that treats the sweet course as an afterthought.

Because Monster Vegan is fully vegan, there’s no shared fryer risk and no need to flag an allergy to the kitchen and hope. Everything on the menu is plant-based, full stop. That matters if you’re feeding a mixed table where half the group eats meat and half doesn’t. Nobody has to negotiate.

Hours run Monday and Tuesday 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., and Saturday noon to 11 p.m. The kitchen is closed Sundays. Expect to spend $20 to $40 a person for dinner, moderate for Center City, not a splurge but not a fast-food stop either. Takeout works if you’d rather eat the cheesesteak at home, and delivery runs through the usual apps.

Review aggregators that track hundreds of vegetarian and vegan spots across the city have ranked Monster Vegan inside the top 10 in Philadelphia. The reason isn’t hard to find once you’ve had the wings. This is comfort food built to satisfy a craving, not a health-food restaurant that happens to be meatless. The dining room is small and gets loud on weekend nights. For a quiet dinner, aim for an early Wednesday or Thursday seating instead of a Friday rush.

The horror branding could read as a gimmick from the outside. It doesn’t get in the way of the food. This is a restaurant built for people who want a real cheesesteak, a real burger, and a real plate of pasta without checking whether any of it secretly has dairy in it. The theme just gives the regulars something to grin about while they order.