The Six Best Vegan & Vegetarian Restaurants in Charlottesville
Looking for a Vegan or Vegetarian dining option in Charlottesville?
Many restaurants offer a variety of healthy and delicious options that meet specific dietary needs in Cville! We think you’ll enjoy finding one with locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, lots of personality, and a chef-owner nearby. Here are our recommendations for five of the best Vegan and Vegetarian options in town.
1. Botanical & Bar Botanical
A celebrated Vegan concept in Charlottesville, Botanical is located on the historic Downtown Mall, and Bar Botanical, it’s sister joint that offers a fabulous, elevated patio with views of the Blue Ridge, is located in Crozet. The food here is delicate, delicious, and incredibly creative. Chef/Owner Ryan Becklund ensures that her team not only deliver fresh, healthy menu options, but the ambiance is friendly and welcoming.
Make sure to sample their cocktails which are hard to beat in the area – and do not leave without trying their soups, “Crab” Cakes, and Caesar Salad.
2. Sultan Kebob
Authentic Turkish cuisine with several outstanding vegetarian entrees. We recommend the baba ghanoush and hummus casserole. Like Hemingway’s cafe in Paris, Sultan Kebob is clean and well-lit. The atmosphere is reverent to the tradition of the Ottoman Empire. One block off the Downtown Mall in “The Glass Building,” we heartily recommend this unique dining experience.
If you stop in, make sure to ask for recommendations from the staff!
3. Firefly
A super-cool eatery and hang-out built in an old warehouse on Carlton Avenue along the border of Charlottesville’s chic Belmont and Woolen Mills neighborhoods. While not exclusively vegetarian, Firefly Restaurant & Game Room is renowned for its green specialties and relaxed vibe. Try the caprese salad or No Bull Veggie Burger. And don’t forget their wildly popular tater tots! Dine indoors in a family-friendly tavern/arcade setting or out on an elegant terrace.
This eclectic and welcoming spot also serves up a wide array of local beers, ciders, and wines. It’s hard to beat such a wonderful restaurant that reflects a true Cville experience.
4. Vu Noodles
Tucked behind The Jefferson Theater along Water Street you can easily miss one of Charlottesville’s most distinctive dining experiences. Here since 2016, hidden behind a green lattice in a 100 year-old theater managers’ apartment made of red brick, Julie Vu and her husband quietly make the purest Vietnamese food in town.
In an unmistakable way, Vu Noodles is Julie Vu. Her dishes, from caramelized onion noodles in ginger soy to her Pho’ and Banh, exude her colorful personality that aims to please. “I believe in a nice hefty meal, but my food is not gonna weigh you down,” she says. Specializing in vegan dishes, her recipes produce colors and flavors that arrive, welcome, and press you in this restaurant’s intimate space.
Four small tables hidden behind a curtain of bean sprouts and a gurgling koy pond transport you far from CAT’s primary artery (Water Street) and enter you an unexpected garden. Spring rolls, fried tofu, and a variety of teas, coffee and seltzers complete the serving.
5. Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
On the east end of the Downtown Mall, a new consciousness awaits you up the staircase of a second-floor walkup. For 20 years the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar has welcomed its guests into an eclectic space that includes a tree of life, teke tones and prayer flags, well-worn furniture, the quest and industry in the aroma of exotic teas, and a low-fi chill soundtrack. Maybe you’ve happened onto San Francisco in 1970?
“I love when clueless people wander in. It’s fun to lead them thru a tea bazaar experience,” says proprietor Gwen Hall.
One of several experiences to enjoy is the Tea Bizaar’s vegetarian menu. Filling, nourishing, blending, this is a splendid menu that includes a hummus platter, dahl & rice, and a falafel pita. Additional salads and sandwiches and a tempting dessert menu with Green Tea Ice Cream and Vegan Spice Cake complete the offering. This is all delicately prepared behind an open bar, as if it were made in your intellectual-hippy aunt’s kitchen in the next room.
Click here for our complete guide to Charlottesville dining.
6. Revolutionary Soup
A favorite spot for soup, sandwiches, and more. A hidden gem nestled on a side street off of the Downtown Mall – this is THE place for nourishing vegetarian and vegan soups, as well as the best grilled cheese sandwiches!
Click here for our complete guide to Charlottesville dining.
