VegEats!

About the Bay Area VegEats dining guide

Hello, and thank you for using our vegetarian guide to the California San Francisco Bay area. I tried to list restaurants in the whole Bay Area, but since I live in South Bay Area, there are more less known restaurants from the South Bay listed. Restaurants that are not vegetarian, but have shown up in other vegetarian guides are also listed. The review section will specify that there is a small vegetarian selection and will have a low rating.

About the list

open special hours or late night
located in geographic areas that don't have many other vegetarian restaurants
uniq for a cuisine or uniq cuisine
has a special ambiance
noted for good service
caters to other special dietary needs (lowfat, lowcarb, kosher)
inexpensive. $$
near airports (for those waiting for their next flight)
non-smoking
wheel chair accessible
Note: All California restaurants are non-smoking

Foods I like

I like potatoes, breads, and rice based foods. I also like spicy foods like Vietnamese, Thai and Indian foods. I need my chocolate. Like strawberries, and don't eat mushrooms even tho I'm told I will become a fun guy if I do.

Restaurants no longer in business:

These restaurants are listed because some restaurants keep showing up in outdated restaurant lists. It is very annoying to drive a long way to find out the restaurant no longer exists. Most restaurants are visited at least once a year, but please send email if the restaurant no longer exists or closed temporarily.

Chain Restaurants:

These are not listed. Fresh Choice does an excellent job of identifying which dishes are vegetarian and which are fatfree. These restaurants can easily be found thus not on the list. Other restaurants similar to Fresh Choice are Garden Fresh, Hobees, Sweet Tomatoes, and Marie Calendars. Diner style chain restaurants like Lyons are also not listed. Lyon's, Coco's, and Carrows are open late. Fresh-Mex chains of mention are Chilli's, Chevy's and Una Mas. Applebee's didn't have much that I liked.

Cafes/Bakery/Deli's/Pizza:

Not listed. These are plentiful and offer vegetarian foods.

French Restaurants:

If I can ever find a French restaurant that has more than salad as a vegetarian option, it will get listed.

Japanese Restaurants:

Many Japanese restaurants, like Benihana of Tokyo, have a nice ambiance, but usually serve only Miso soup and a bowl of salad as a vegetarian option. The other type of Japanese restaurants cater to the masses, usually have one or two vegetarian sushi. These restaurants are abundant and only those serving a large selection of vegetarian sushi will be listed like Miyake.

Thai Restaurants:

Many Thai restaurants have a vegetarian section in their menus, and will prepare most dishes as meatless. One caveat is that some items in the vegetarian section contain fish sauce. Thai restaurants seem to think this is still vegetarian.

Ethiopian Restaurants:

Most Ethiopian restaurants serve only one vegetarian option and no vegan options. They all have a vegetarian combo platter which can be quite tasty at some restaurants. Only those of special notice will be listed.

Vietnamese Pho Restaurants:

Most Vietnamese Pho (soup) restaurants have one or no vegetarian options. Only special notice restaurants will be listed. Even the vegetarian pho will usually be made with beef or chicken broth.

Vietnamese Restaurants:

Most Vietnamese restaurants do a good job of making vegetarian or vegan foods. Lots of times the vegetarian items are not on the menu. The food is spicy and good. White Lotus in San Jose uses meat substitutes in all their dishes. There are plenty of Vietnamese restaurants in the area so only the special notice restaurants are listed.

Korean Restaurants:

At many Korean restaurants, if I ask for a vegetarian version of a menu item, I most likely still get some meat. I have to explain that fish and shrimp are considered meat. Many will have something vegetarian and enough to get full, but choices may be small.

Chinese Restaurants:

The menu selections vary from small to large. These restaurants are abundant and quality of food widely varies too. There will always be something vegetarian. Only special notice restaurants will be listed. China Wok in Mt. View or Jing Jings in Palo Alto are tasty vegetarian friendly restaurants.

Mongolian Restaurants:

All of these serve meat. If you just want a drink, this is a good place to go. :)

Italian Restaurants:

All Italian restaurants will have vegetarian food and only special notice restaurants are listed. The Florentine's Restaurants has good bread with their own garlic cheese. For some reason, their bread from their San Jose and Cupertino restaurants taste better than their other locations.

Indian Restaurants:

Many Indian foods are vegetarians or close to it. There are plenty of Indian restaurants in the bay area. Two distinct flavors -- North Indian and South Indian. If you haven't had Indian food before, it might take a little getting use to. First time I tried North Indian food at Taj India, I didn't like it, but then I found lots of South Indian restaurants that I like. Pasands in Santa Clara is known for their inexpensive lunch specials and Sneha in Sunnyvale is also very good.