The Top 100 Vegan Restaurants in America, According to Yelp

According to a 2023 Gallup poll, about 4% of Americans identify as vegetarian, while 1% identify as vegan — and while that figure might seem small, it amounts to millions of diners looking for flavorful, satisfying food. Yet many restaurants still struggle to cater to those who abstain from eating animal products; it takes special consideration for a chef to get creative with plant-based ingredients. To celebrate that creativity, Yelp has just released its list of the 100 best vegan restaurants in the U.S., and it covers just about every category of cuisine for hungry vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike. 

So, what makes a great vegan restaurant?

“A vegan restaurant shines when vegans and non-vegans alike enthusiastically enjoy its menu offerings,” Tara Lewis, Yelp’s vice president of consumer expansion and trend expert, told Food & Wine. “The beauty of vegan dining lies in its ability to explore unique flavors and reinvent traditional dishes, all while using fresh, plant-based ingredients.”

Beyond that, a good vegan restaurant should demonstrate that there’s virtually no category of cuisine, not even a deli or a barbecue joint, that can’t be prepared sans animal products. Indeed, it should make diners feel that, far from any sort of compromise, they’re being presented with something exciting. 

How Yelp chose the best vegan restaurants in every state

To create its list of the best vegan restaurants (the second such list it has produced since 2022), Yelp factored in both business ratings and review volume — that is, the total number of reviews plus the proportion of five-star reviews each restaurant has received from Yelp users. It also filtered out restaurants with more than five locations, so as to focus instead on independent businesses rather than large chains or franchises. 

The release of this list is timed to coincide with World Vegan Day on November 1, which was established in 1994 to kick off World Vegan Month and commemorate the founding of the term “veganism” in 1944. Yelp notes that out of the 100 restaurants on the list, 34 of them are women-owned, “making it the most common business attribute” among them. 

The best vegan restaurants in America

Looking over Yelp’s list of the top 100 vegan restaurants nationwide, it’s clear that any restaurant that can make this cuisine taste rich and “indulgent” will win the day. At two of the three top spots, Lil Vegerie in Los Angeles and Urban Fresh in Tucson, cashew cheese is put to liberal use, while the number-two spot, The Mediterranean Chickpea in South Tampa, serves up an abundance of dips, pies, and sizeable falafel.

Interestingly, many vegan restaurants are clever subversions of typically meatier fare, like a plant-based deli (NoButcher in Las Vegas, Orchard Grocer in New York). But others simply excel at a cuisine that happens to be largely vegan all on its own; Mediterranean food, for example, has historically featured plenty of meatless dishes that lean on the inclusion of olive oil to bring the flavor and fat. The Mediterranean Chickpea takes full advantage of that fact, as does Baltimore’s Koshary Corner. 

There really is no limit to what a great vegan restaurant can add to the menu. 

But if there’s one state absolutely crushing it in the vegan cuisine scene, it’s Hawaii, which takes a whopping nine spots on the top 100 list. The options across that state range from AA Roots’ acai bowls to Thuong An Lac’s Vietnamese fare to Blondie’s Vegan Proteins + Cafe’s barbecue chicken, and the praise from Yelp users includes testimonials like, “I would have never guessed this was vegan!” 

In some ways, that’s exactly the point. Check out the full list here — or simply keep scrolling. 

The 100 best vegan restaurants in America

1. lil’ Vegerie, Redondo Beach, California
2. The Mediterranean Chickpea, Tampa, Florida
3. Urban Fresh, Tucson, Arizona
4. Hey, Sunshine Kitchen, Culver City, California
5. BOOMCHIA, Montclair, New Jersey
6. The Rabbit Hole, Pompano Beach, Florida
7. Vegan Stops, Garden Grove, California
8. Pure Soul, Durham, North Carolina
9. Kelley Farm Kitchen, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
10. Tarantino’s Vegan, Las Vegas, Nevada
11. Ras Plant Based, Brooklyn, New York
12. Pure Kitchen Organic Vegan, Tampa, Florida
13. Thanh Tinh Chay, San Diego, California
14. The Uprooted Kitchen, Gilbert, Arizona
15. Miss Rachel’s Pantry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
16. NoButcher, Las Vegas, Nevada
17. Earth Aloha Eats, Kihei, Hawaii
18. Urban Vegan, Newark, New Jersey
19. Francis Burger Joint, Minneapolis, Minnesota
20. Thuong An Lac, Honolulu, Hawaii
21. VEGZ, Washington, District of Columbia
22. BeeWali’s Vegan AF, Los Angeles, California
23. Florish, Tampa Bay, Florida
24. Healthy Harvest Urban Farms, Rock Island, Illinois
25. Tane Vegan Izakaya, Honolulu, Hawaii
26. The Tin Thistle, North Bend, Oregon
27. Sweet Rose Cafe, Fall River, Massachusetts
28. veggie bowl, Oregon City, Oregon
29. Organically Twisted, Naples, Florida
30. Sanctuary Bistro, Charlotte, North Carolina
31. Vegelicious, Nashville, Tennessee
32. Mission Burger, Austin, Texas
33. UNiQ Burger, Scottsdale, Arizona
34. Sweet Soulfood, New Orleans, Louisiana
35. Chef Tanya’s Kitchen, Palm Springs, California
36. Dina’s Vegan Deli & Desserts, Riviera Beach, Florida
37. House of Mexica, Reno, Nevada
38. Veg & Go Plant-Based Fast Food, Riverside, California
39. Vegan Shop, Hilo, Hawaii
40. Buds, Salt Lake City, Utah
41. WongWayVeg, Denver, Colorado
42. Chilango PDX, Portland, Oregon
43. Belmont Vegetarian, Worcester, Massachusetts
44. Brekkie Bowls, Wailea, Hawaii
45. Variable Cafe, Los Angeles, California
46. Vegan & Juice, Miami, Florida
47. Root, Newport, Rhode Island
48. Sun Belly Cafe, Greenville, South Carolina
49. Botanical Fare, Charlottesville, Virginia
50. Garden Grill, Las Vegas, Nevada
51. Hijo de su Madre, Los Angeles, California
52. Koshary Corner, Baltimore, Maryland
53. Desert Roots Kitchen, Tempe, Arizona
54. Blondie’s Vegan Cafe Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
55. ChagaRoot, Las Vegas, Nevada
56. Dirty Lettuce, Portland, Oregon
57. Toasty, Bend, Oregon
58. Tamam, New York, New York
59. Hash Vegan Eatery, San Antonio, Texas
60. Secret Pizza Society, Portland, Oregon
61. Rawk Star Cafe, Oldsmar, Florida
62. Belenty’s Love, Fort Worth, Texas
63. Freshroll, Mashpee, Massachusetts
64. The Ginger Mule, Houston, Texas
65. Orchard Grocer, New York, New York
66. Vegos, Albuquerque, New Mexico
67. Sundrip, Chicago, Illinois
68. Norma’s Plant Based Cuisine, Altamonte Springs, Florida
69. Bombay Food Junkies, Saint Louis, Missouri
70. Loving Heart, Chicago, Illinois
71. All Chay, Salt Lake City, Utah
72. Daikon Vegan Sushi, Las Vegas, Nevada
73. Hungry Vegan, Savannah, Georgia
74. Bayside Cafe, Everett, Washington
75. Vegan Vibrationz, Plano, Texas
76. Shayna B’s By The Sea, Westbrook, Connecticut
77. Bistro Vonish, Austin, Texas
78. Tacotarian, Las Vegas, Nevada
79. Can’t Believe It’s Vegan, Westerville, Ohio
80. Honest Pastures, Virginia Beach, Virginia
81. The Cosmic Kitchen, Haleiwa, Hawaii
82. Energize, Brighton, Massachusetts
83. Nissi VegMex Vegan Mexican Cuisine, Austin, Texas
84. Spring Cafe, New York, New York
85. Moku Roots, Kula, Hawaii
86. Cashew, Chattanooga, Tennessee
87. CLTRE. vgn jnt, Virginia Beach, Virginia
88. Down 2 Earth Plant-Based Cuisine, Las Vegas, Nevada
89. Planted PDX, Portland, Oregon
90. Cafe Red, Seattle, Washington
91. Green Love Kitchen, Lithonia, Georgia
92. VeGreen Vegetarian Fusion Restaurant, Duluth, Georgia
93. Recipe Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas
94. Aa Roots Maui, Lahaina, Hawaii
95. Reverie Cafe + Bar, Minneapolis, Minnesota
96. Plant, Asheville, North Carolina
97. Manna Kitchen, Lisle, Illinois
98. Total Vegan Indian Restaurant, Highlands Ranch, Colorado
99. La Semilla, Atlanta, Georgia
100. Wildflower Vegan Café, Millville, New Jersey