The Best Nashville Vegan RestaurantsIn the four years I've lived in the city, I have tramped around to Nashville vegan restaurants looking for my best options. I've been to the highest end restaurants and the biggest dives, and in each place I have searched the menu high and wide for the best options for the non-meateaters. Now, we do not have one restaurant in Nashville dedicated to vegan cooking alone, but we did just get one that focuses on vegetarian (see Veggie Cafe below) food! Most of the places either offer an option or two for those of us who choose to forgo eating animals. Some offer a separate menu. Others have only side dishes that you can piece together into a meal. And then there are the grisly few that give the veg*ns no option whatsoever. I even spoke to one once that said, "This is a steakhouse. We don't serve tofu!" Awful. For this guide, we are going to ignore those establishments, just like they ignore us! This Nashville vegan restaurants guide is organized by category: completely vegetarian restaurants, restaurants with many vegetarian options, and restaurants that will create something for you. I include the websites to their menus, when available. Completely Vegetarian Restaurants with Good Vegan Options The Veggie Cafe One day in 2007 I googled vegetarian restaurants in Nashville and saw that there was an all vegetarian restaurant opening soon and my jaw dropped. I basically stalked them until the grand opening and happened to be there on the first day of business! This is one of the best Nashville vegan restaurants options available. The building is simple and oozes with the devotion of its family run owners. They have wraps, sandwiches, soups, salads, smoothies, and desserts, and it's all inexpensive. Most of it is either already vegan or can be made so, and some is even gluten-free for people with diet restrictions. Also, most of their produce comes from locally owned organic farms. Our favorites were the TLT, which can either be tofu or tempeh, lettuce and tomato, the Sunset Wrap with veggies and hummus, the Texan Wrap with a black bean salsa, and the Porter sandwich with portobellos! We also had one of their organic teas, sweetened southern style. This Nashville vegan restaurant has special daily menu options with an international flair. Here is their menu: Grins Vegetarian Cafe Grins is actually located on Vanderbilt's campus, but anyone can eat there. Their menu changes daily, but usually has great vegan options. Just make sure to ask how things are made. They are very accommodating and the prices are nice and cheap. Definitely check out this Nashville vegan restaurant. Woodlands Vegetarian Indian Restaurant One might not naturally think of Indian as an option for a Nashville vegan restaurant, but it's a great option. This is a great Indian restaurant, one of my favorite in Nashville. On the weekend they have a yummy, inexpensive buffet lunch with many chapati, salad, soup, desserts, and several main entrees. During the week, we like to share one of the special dishes that has an assortment of different entrees and comes with a soup and drink. You do have to ask what is made with ghee, the clarified butter, and also if any cream or milk has been added to the dishes. They are very helpful with finding vegan options. They don't have a menu listed online. Restaurants with Vegetarian Options Bongo Java Bongo Java is part of a family of restaurants including Grins Vegetarian, and Fido. It is actually a coffee house, but it serves some yummy dishes that many students in the area munch on while studying. There are picnic tables outside and little nooks inside with tables and chairs. Another cool thing about Bongo Java is that they have a theater upstairs where you can hear live music. They serve all day breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but most of their breakfast items are made with eggs. They do have a side option for veggie sausage, ham, or turkey, but you would need to ask if the fake meat has eggs in it. You could always go with a standard bagel as well, just watch out for sweetened bagels which sometimes have eggs, butter, and/or milk. For lunch and dinner, there is a black bean chili and a salad option, as well as a few hummus dishes and a black bean quesadilla that can be made without cheese and sour cream. They also have a black bean burger served on a multi-grain bun. Here is their menu: http://www.bongojava.com/images/rev1breakLUNCH.pdf Bongo Java also has an East Nashville location with many of the same food options as the Belmont location, making it another top option as a Nashville vegan restaurant. This is their menu: Fido Fido is the brother to Bongo Java and has much of the same coffee house cool atmosphere. It's located in Hillsboro Village. Their breakfast items have more vegetarian and vegan options than at Bongo Java. For instance, several of them either have tofu scramble instead of eggs or fake meat replacing the usual meat (again, check for eggs in them.) They also have the bagels and sandwiches, one with hummus, another with peanut butter and banana. For lunch, they serve a mean black bean burger (request it without mayo), and a grilled portobello and eggplant sandwich (request it without cheese.) For side dishes, they have hummus, fries, corncakes, and yummy sweet potato fries. A few of their salads can also be made without cheese for a vegan meal. Here is Fido's dinner menu:
Green Hills Grille This restaurant actually has a separate vegetarian menu where most items can be made vegan by asking the waiter to leave out the cheese and mayo. I like their portobello sandwich and garden burgers. Some of the salads are overloaded with dressing, so I ask for them on the side. Most of the pasta dishes on the main menu are made into vegetarian offerings on the separate menu. This is a great place to take friends who are not looking for a Nashville vegan restaurant as everyone will be able to find something they enjoy. Here is the main menu for Green Hills Grille: Tin Angel Tin Angel is a cute little restaurant on West End Avenue that considers itself one of the original neighborhood restaurants. They have a Mediterranean salad that comes with shrimp and feta, but you can request it without and it's very tasty. They also have a similar pasta with the same ingredients, and again, you can get it without cheese. They also have another pasta, and at lunch they serve a veggie dish and a quesadilla that can be made without cheese and sour cream. The prices are a little higher, but still affordable. On a side note, they use filtered water rather than serving bottled water in an effort to reduce plastic waste! Here is Tin Angel's menu: Sunset Grill This is a great upscale restaurant with a nice outdoor patio, and where supposedly you can spot celebrities. I haven't seen one there personally, but that's the word on the street. They have a tasty hummus starter that can be brought out without feta cheese, and a few salads that can be adapted to be vegan. For entrees, they have three dishes that I zeroed in on: an Asian stirfry, a Mediterranean pasta, and a veggie pasta called voodoo. The Mediterranean is great and vegan, as is the stirfry. When ordering vegetarian voodoo, ask for a different kind of pasta as the original dish is made with egg noodles. They also have a few great side dishes like steamed veggies, quinoa pilaf and sweet potato fries. The prices are a little higher here, but still reasonable for vegetarian entrees. Here is Sunset Grill's menu: Restaurant Zola This is a cute restaurant with a well known head chef who blends fare from Mediterranean countries. The food is delicious. A quick note... they do serve foie gras. The geese who owned the diseased liver called foie gras were treated brutally to give us this tender starter dish. Some people will boycott going to a restaurant like this until they remove such an offensive item from their menu. For those who can stand it, there are a few tasty dishes that are vegan friendly. One of the starters is a scrumptious sweet potato hummus, and one of their salads can be made without meat and cheese. For the main course, they have a tofu dish tucked away at the bottom of the menu. Now, it does have cheese and yogurt, but they will make it without or create a dish for you. Here is Restaurant Zola's menu: Calypso Cafe Calypso is a Caribbean style restaurant that is very vegan-friendly. Their menu specifies which items either are vegan or can be made vegan with substitutions. This seems like a simple way to make all your guests happy (meat-eaters can just ignore the little symbol), but I am surprised that more restaurants don't add it to their menus. I love their take on "beans" and three, which gives you a choice of three sides like a wild rice mix, spiced sweet potatoes, bean and corn salad, mustard greens, and fruit. They also have a veggie burger option. Check out Calypso Cafe when looking for Nashville vegan restaurant options. Yummy! Here is Calypso Cafe's menu: Restaurants That Will Create a Vegan Dish for you Flyte Flyte is my boyfriend's favorite restaurant, and while it's not a pure Nashville vegan restaurant, they have a few options for us. It's chic and upscale, but has a friendly atmosphere where the owners are out in the main room and remember their frequent visitors. They support local farms and try to serve humanely raised animals. Their menu varies with the seasons, and so do their options for veg*ns. They have some great appetizers that aren't on the main menu-- they are a la carte items written on a little menu like a sushi menu. I love their hummus, olive plate, and they usually have a bean spread, last time it was a white bean spread with garlic and rosemary. They also have a few salads and soups that are made without cream and are delicious. On the main menu, there is always one vegetarian dish that can be made vegan, and they are very open to satisfying the customer by making what you need. Here is Flyte's menu: Restaurants With Veggie Burgers You will need to check with your waiter to see if they are vegan, but a few places do have a good veggie burger:
Nashville vegan restaurant options are not hard to find, although there are not many. Another thing you can do is look for places with great appetizers or side dishes and order several of those. Just make sure to ask if the items were cooked in butter, made with eggs, milk, or cheese, or have a stock made from animals. It sounds like a lot to ask, but once you get comfortable with the process, it's no big deal. Then you can make your own Nashville vegan restaurant! I hope you enjoyed this Nashville vegan restaurant guide! If you find any other options for Nashville vegan restaurants, please contact me and I can add it to the page. Done with Nashville Vegan Restaurants? Return to Nashville Vegan
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