Original Soul Vegan: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Original Soul Vegan is a 100% vegan soul food restaurant in Poncey-Highland. It’s the surviving half of Atlanta’s oldest vegan restaurant family. The West End original, Soul Vegetarian, closed in July 2026 after 47 years when its aging building became impossible to keep running. This Highland Avenue location, previously listed as Soul Vegetarian No. 2, is still open. It’s still cooking the same Southern menu without a scrap of meat, fish or dairy.

What’s vegan at Original Soul Vegan

The whole menu, not a section of it. Mac and cheese, candied yams, collard greens and sweet cornbread are all built without butter, milk or the ham hock a traditional Southern kitchen would reach for. Kalebone and the Garvey Burger stand in for the protein a soul food plate usually centers on, made from wheat gluten roasted and shaped to eat like meat. Nothing on the menu needs a substitution request. There was never an animal on it to begin with, and the kitchen doesn’t keep a separate set of pans for one.

What to order

The mac and cheese is the dish reviewers mention first. It holds a creamy texture without dairy that surprises people expecting a vegan version to taste thin or grainy. Kalebone and the country baked steak both work as the main event on a plate, next to candied yams and collard greens as the classic Southern sides. Want something faster than a full plate? The Garvey Burger, a wheat roast patty on a sesame seed bun, is the closest thing on the menu to a quick sandwich. Spinach lasagna breaks from the Southern theme but comes up often enough in reviews to be worth ordering. Finish with the sweet potato pie or the peach crumble. Both are standards done the way a Southern bakery would do them, minus the eggs and butter most versions rely on.

Hours and location

Original Soul Vegan sits at 652 North Highland Avenue NE in Poncey-Highland, open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Call (404) 875-0145 to check on a to-go order. It’s a casual, takeout-heavy spot. Reviewers describe the dining room as modest, plastic chairs and a deli-style counter, not a restaurant built for a long sit-down meal. The food is why people keep coming back, not the room. Takeout and delivery are the norm here more than a leisurely dinner.

Good to know

Budget around $25 to $30 a person for a full plate, a drink and dessert. That’s a casual sit-down price, not a fast food one. Since the kitchen has never served meat, there’s no cross-contact to manage, no separate fryer, no shared grill to worry about. That’s rare for a restaurant carrying this much history. Most Atlanta soul food spots that go dairy-free treat it as a side note or a seasonal special. This one has built its entire menu that way for decades, through a name change and the loss of its original location, and it’s still standing on North Highland Avenue, plastic chairs and all.