Guest guest Posted June 8, 2004 Report Share Posted June 8, 2004 Vegetarian Restaurants in San Francisco Sam I live in San Francisco which has more vegetatarian restaurants than most cities. My favorite is Golden Era 572 O'Farrell Street San Francisco, California 94102 415 673 3136 Between Levenworth & Jones Call first to make sure the restaurants haven't moved or closed! -------- Golden Era Buddhist Vietnamese 673-3136 572 O'Farrell St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Best pot stickers I've ever had, veggie or not. All food is excellent. Yum. Yum yum. Mmmmmmm.. This is probably my favorite restaurant, because I really like their variety of fake meats. Everything on the menu seems delicious, but I highly recommend the Spicy Gourmet Chicken, the Garlic Beef and the Mongolian Chicken. Did I mention how tasty their pot stickers are? Serves brown rice. -------- Millenium Vegan American 345-3900 580 Geary St @ Jones (Savoy Hotel) Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Expensive, very classy healthy well-made food. This is one of SF's premiere veggie/vegan restaurants. They use only local farmers and all food, beverages, spirits, and wine is organic. For those of you who remember the Millenium from the Abigail hotel, I finally got to visit to compare the two, and there are some differences. The restaurant is larger, brighter and more open. The menu is very similar though more expensive if my memory serves. The appetizers I tried were very fantastic, though the entrees I tried, while delicious, weren't as stunning as previous. The desserts were incredible, thanks to the talented Amy Pearce, even better than the previous Millenium desserts, which is saying a lot. They definitely have some of the best desserts, vegan or not, that I've tried, and the cannoli and chocolate cake is to die for. If you were a previously a patron of the Millenium at the Abigail, I recommend trying the new Millenium, and if you do, please send me your comments. I'll be going back soon to try more. Serves brown rice. -------- Kowloon Buddhist Chinese Dim Sum 837-0982 909 Grant Ave Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Extremely cheap, and great if you get the buffet, all the dim sum is on the buffet for an extremely low price. The Gluten based meats are kind of sloppy, but I like them that way. Open 10a-9:30p (no MSG) UPDATE: 10/2001: Kowloon is closed. :-( UPDATE: 2002: Kowloon is re-opened!. It's new management, and it's half-vegan, half-meat now, with a much smaller menu, and no more buffet - I haven't tried it yet. If you have, please let me know. -------- Greens Restaurant American/Zen 771-6222 Fort Mason, Building A Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Greens was opened by Zen Buddhists about 20 years ago. Their entire menu is veggie with lots of vegan. The view of the bay is incredible, the atmosphere is wonderful, the food is excellent, and the price matches it. Any tour of the veggie restaurants in SF needs to include greens. -------- Herbivore Veggie 826-5657 983 Valencia Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: All vegan, all the time. Many veggie's swear by it. It took a few trips for me before I started to like it, the food is really well-prepared but it doesn't have as much zing as my tastebuds like to see. Serves brown rice. -------- Herbivore Veggie 885-7133 531 Divisadero Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Now open on Divisadero! -------- Jasmine Tea House Chinese 826-6288 3253 Mission St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Jessie L. (and I concur): Not exclusively veggie, but they have the best meatless chicken I've ever had, including the the Chinese New Year in Malaysia where they're renowned for their assortment of meatless meats. Comfortable, cheesy, mandarinified classical music, with dim, cozy lights. Staffed with dry humor. Food is not too greasy, menu is flexible. Endless supply of fortune cookies. The restaurant seems to inspire good, long conversations, according to Jessie, though she ads that it's also true when she's there by herself, so your mileage may vary. I checked the ingredients on the fortune cookies, and they have no milk, though I can't remember if they had egg. Serves brown rice. -------- Minako Japanese home cooking 864-1888 2154 Mission @ 17th Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: This tiny organic sushi joint is a hidden gem. The menu is not exclusively vegan, but has vegan sections contains such items as vegan " eel " maki and vegan desserts. This is a mom/daughter operation, and it feels more like you've been invited over to someone's house for a fantastic dinner rather than a restaurant experience, so don't make the mistake of asking them to change the music. The service sets new records for being slow, so if you're looking for snappy restaurant service than you should take your business elsewhere, but if you don't mind the wait, and you are prepared to be a guest at one of tables of this family, then Minako is a must-try experience in San Francisco. Serves brown rice. -------- Café Gratitude Raw Vegan 824-4652 2400 Harrison St @ 20th Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Café Gratitude is a new (early '04) restaurant offering live raw food. The menu is 100% vegan and all raw (except for rice, quinoa and ??). When I first visited this place I was overwhelmed with the positive energy that I found. The prices are slightly higher as you would expect for raw foods, but it's worth it. The menu is quite large and all of the items have names like I Am Graceful and I Am Trusting. They carry plates of food as well as desserts, juices and " frozen nut cremes " which you hand crank at your table. The " I Am Passionate " pizza must be tried, as well as any of their dessert offerings. Café Gratitude is definitely on the short list of San Francisco vegetarian experiences. -------- Maggie Mudd Ice Cream Parlor 641-5291 903 Cortland Ave Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: If you're near Bernal Heights, or even if you're not, you need to check out Maggie Mudd's for dessert. They have a large selection of home made vegan ice cream. They rotate through them and put about 10 flavors up on the menu. They can make shakes, and I'm told their waffle cone is vegan as well. -------- Neecha's Thai Thai 922-9419 2100 Sutter St @ Steiner Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: ? I love the gluten satay (though I confess I haven't asked yet if the peanut sauce is veggie). This isn't a veggie restaurant, but they have a good veggie menu. -------- Angkor Borei Cambodian 550-8417 3471 Mission St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: ? The veggie menu has a bunch of mock meats. The curry is excellent. I haven't gone here enough yet, but the Peanut Duck is fantastic. Most of the other dishes are mushroom and/or vegetable heavy, which isn't quite my style, but the sauces are great. -------- Yum Yum House Chinese 861-8698 581 Valencia St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: This is yet another restaurant that is gracious enough to let you substitute mock chicken in the menu. The sauces are pretty good, but the mock chicken is very fried, so it's tasty but not too healthy. I'm told the owners are friends with the owners at the Jasmine Tea House, and their are many similarities, but I like the selection and taste of the mock chicken at Jasmine a bit more, but the orange chicken and five flavor chicken sauces were tasty, and in the heart of the Mission it's closer for most people. NO brown rice. -------- Royal Kitchen Chinese 824-4219 3253 Mission St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: ? Huge portions of food for cheap. You will be stuffed like a pig. Update 11/6/2001: I've been told that they've reopened under a new name and new mgmt, and the food isn't as good. -------- Modern Thai Thai 922-8424 1247 Polk St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: ? They have a veggie menu that you sometimes have to ask for. -------- Joubert's Restaurant Vegi South African 753-5448 4115 Judah Street @ 46th Ave Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Wonderful restaurant with excellent food. See the web site for the menu. They have a convincing vegi sausage, a vast array of tasty chutneys, and their menu is very vegan-conscious. Note: it looks like they've added meat to their menu. Serves brown rice. 8/20/2003: I'm told that Joubert's is closed.. -------- Royal Thai Thai 386-1795 951 Clement St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: ? Decent veggie selection, good food. But the real trick is realizing that they can make anything on their menu with mock chicken (gluten or tofu) if you just ask. Their mock chicken isn't great (and I'm not a tofu fan) but the dishes well make up for it. -------- Hulu House Vegetarian Restaurant Mostly Asian/Chinese 682-0826 756 Kirkham @ 12th Ave Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: Maria Markoff says: Small place. Probably family run. Probably mostly/all vegan. Food is very tasty. Good, interesting flavors. well presented. I highly recommend it. Dave says: I finally got to try this place. It's a buddhist style menu with mock meats, much like a Golden Era in the the Sunset (though I still prefer Golden Era). Really great food! Serves brown rice. -------- Sawã/Sawa Coffee Shop African.. 441-8182 (CHANGED!) 1655 Divisadero St @ (MOVED!) Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: ? African restaurant shop opened up right near my house, and about half the menu is vegetarian. It's not much of a coffee shop anymore, but Divis is infiltrated with Coffee shops anyways... This has the best African that I've tried in SF. The food can take a long time to arrive, but it's worth waiting for. If you don't mind a little oil, try the veggie sambusa appetizer, it's delicious and my meat friends tell me it's even better than the meat sambusa (though the lentil sambusa is somewhat plain). Like any african restaurant, the best way to go is to bring many friends and eat family style off of one of their massive platters. They have a dish I haven't seen anywhere else called Hilbt, and it is very good. Very, very good. That's two " verys " which translates to a whole lotta good. The description doesn't make it sound good ( " whipped fava beans " ??), but it is. Did I mention how good it was? Unfortunately it's not on their menu anymore, but if you call up in advance and ask very nicely, they might make it for you. -------- Valentine's Cafe Thai, Mexican, Italian.. 285-2257 1793 Church Street @ 30th Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: 4? Small menu, tiny place, but pretty good Update 11/6/2001: Valentine's has closed and opened as an Asian-fusion noodle place - they still had the vegan-happy brunch menu recently, but don't know if that's going to stay that way. -------- Club Waziema Ethiopian food 346-6641 543 Divisadero St @ Oak St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: This bar also doubles as an " all-you-can-eat " ($6.50) restaurant. The food is actually pretty decent (though I still prefer most of the other African restaurants) but the service can be very slow. -------- Cafe Ethiopia Ethiopian/Sandwiches 285-2728 878 Valencia St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: ? This is a deli, and it looks like one too, but the food is fantastic African. Update! They have remodeled, they removed the sandwich side of their business and they now look like a restaurant. The service can be a bit snippy, but the food is good. -------- New Ganges Vegetarian Restauarant Indian 681-4355 (old: 661-7290) 775 Frederick St Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: 4? Their hours are weird, call before you go. This restaurant has changed hands (and quality) many times. I haven't tried it recently. Dr Edelstein adds: The music was too loud, though they graciously turned it down. The owner made recommendations, and food took less than 20 minutes to be served. I was good-tasting and largely standard vegetarian Indian fare. The brown rice is not genuine, it is basmati with sauces/spices. -------- Samila Thai Thai 752-4310 5336 Geary Blvd Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: ? This narrow restaurant has great atmosphere and fantastic service. The food was on our table right after we ordered it, though a word of caution, there was a short wait for a table even in the middle of the afternoon. This is one of my new favorites. -------- Urban Forage Raw cafe 255-6701 254 Fillmore St @ Haight Taste: Selection: Health: Vegan: 4? Raw food, cooked/raw soups, salads, wraps, desserts, juices. They also have meditation, yoga and classes upstairs. I've only had a snack here, but it was good stuff and I'm looking forward to going back. They have a new location that's opening end of May'04 on Valencia. -------- - Amy Veg-Recipes Thursday, June 03, 2004 8:04 AM Re: OT - San Francisco Restaurants Request > I am going to SF in two weeks. Would appreciate any veggie/vegan > restaurant suggestions, particularly any really good ethnic ones > with a veggie selection. Ilene, Haven't been, but have both cookbooks from the Millenium restaurant. Vegan haute cuisine, wonderful stuff! Also have a cookbook from Greens restaurant; more yummy stuff. Both of these are probably on the higher price end though. In any case, if you go here http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.htm and chose California, then SF, it will give a list of restaurants... enjoy, and tell us where you went when you get back! Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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