My husband and I are huge foodies and love exploring at least 2-3 new restaurants during the weekends. Since moving from Chicago in May 2019, we have eaten at over 250 restaurants even with COVID restrictions. We eat a large variety of different cuisines ranging in price points but prefer the lesser known restaurants. On the weekends, we create our own “food tours” then walk 10-15 miles in one day to burn it off. We hope you can use this list of the best vegetarian restaurants in Manhattan if you are native to the area or just visiting! Please keep in mind that this is not a complete list, and we have personally tried the vegetarian options. Lastly, about a year ago I did a post on the best chocolate chip cookies in the New York area, click the link to view.
Vegetarian Burgers, Pizza, and Fries
I am extremely picky when it comes to choosing the best vegetarian burger. My criteria includes: not having black beans as a main ingredient, homemade patty, and big enough to fill me up! I try to avoid Impossible or Beyond meat burgers at all costs given the amount of sodium and the cost. For the best fries, they must include a plethora of dipping sauces besides ketchup, be crispy, and served fresh. Listed below are my favorite American-style vegetarian restaurants in Manhattan.
Pommes Frites 128 MacDougal St: The potatoes are fresh cut and fried in gluten free sunflower oil. They offer over 35 dipping sauces for you to enjoy with your fries. My personal favorites are black truffle mayo, roasted garlic aioli, Irish curry, and the parmesan & fresh herbs garnish. The fries are an entire meal by themselves so you will not leave here hungry.
Bel-Fries 132 Ludlow St. We got the double truffle fry and it was so rich! The fries are slightly crispier than Pommes Frites. They put the sauce directly on top of the specialty fries but you can ask to put it on the side if you aren’t a super quick eater.
Gelso & Grand 186 Grand St: This is a great casual restaurant with a good atmosphere for a group of friends. We tried the brussel sprouts, truffle mushroom and margherita pizza, truffled honey bruschetta, pistachio pesto pasta and cacio e pepe. All were great with high quality ingredients.
Scarr’s Pizza 22 Orchard St. This is my favorite pizza in New York after trying over thirty of them, you’re welcome for gaining 5 pounds. This pizza is 100% natural but wow is it thin, crispy, and fresh. Please beware that it can be up to a 2 hour wait for a full pie so please order ahead of time. You can also wait in line to get the pizza by the slice as well. I would highly recommend a basic cheese pizza with hot honey on the side and a Cesar salad.
HIllstone Steakhouse multiple locations: The veggie burger is EXPENSIVE at $26 but the flavor is a soy glaze with melted jack cheese on top. The burger is entirely home made and a very thick patty served with thin cut fries. Even if you only go here once, please try this. We treat ourselves to this burger only a couple of times of year.
5 Napkin Burger multiple locations: This is somewhat of a chain across New York, but some days you just want a burger and fries. Get the 5N Veggie burger, not the impossible burger. They typically let me substitute in the patty into any of the other fancy burgers. I personally think it might be one notch above Hillstone but both are still worth the try.
Best Asian-Inspired Food
Tushar loves trying Asian food from multiple countries as there is such a large diversity of flavors and dishes you can choose from. I tried to list a diverse grouping of restaurants that I believe are the best Asian-inspired vegetarian friendly restaurants in Manhattan.
Very Fresh Noodles 409 W 15th St in Chelsea Market: Very Fresh Noodles a quick grab and go if the line isn’t super long where you can get fresh hand pulled and pressed Chinese noodles. We get the spicy vegan noodles with mock duck, bok choy, and shitake mushrooms. Their dan dan noodles are extremely spicy, unless you can handle maximum level spice I would not recommend. You can taste the freshness of these noodles at first bite. The noodles are bouncy and have a good chew to them. If you have never had mock duck it is a gluten-based meat substitute so it is a different texture.
Tiger Sugar 197 Canal St Hands down the best brown sugar bubble tea you will ever drink. It is a Taiwan-based bubble tea store that is popping up everywhere in New York with the signature tiger stripes. You have to get the Black Sugar Pearl Milk with the creme mousse. The tapioca they have is super soft and fresh with the milky tea being very smooth. Make sure you invert the cup multiple times before inserting the straw!
Thai Villa 5 E 19th St In the past I wasn’t the biggest fan of Thai food because I hate the taste of coconut. This place has really allowed me to expand my palate and really enjoy Thai cuisine. We would recommend the Pad Krapraw with mock duck, basil fried rice, tom yum fried rice, and kea mao noodles. Tushar enjoys the red, green, massamun, and panang curry with tofu. You can always substitute your protein of choice! You will need a reservation at this restaurant as it tends to fill up very quickly.
Num Pang Kitchen 1129 Broadway Num pang is the Cambodian name for sandwich which is traditionally served with cucumber, pickled carrots, cilantro, and chili mayo in combination with a variety of proteins. I get the spicy tofu sandwich that is glazed in a ginger-soy sauce with scallions served with delicious pickled vegetables on the sandwich with a crusty roll.
Saigon Shack 114 Macdougal St. This is another recommendation for a Vietnamese noodle and sandwich shop. Tushar and I love the vegetarian pho and the banh mi sandwich that is made with soy protein, similar to mock duck taste. The flavors here are top notch. The location is also awesome for impromptu food tours and a late night comedy show.
Han Dynasty 90 3rd Ave This is our favorite restaurant in NYC that serves traditional Szechuan cuisine. Whenever we are absolutely starving this is easily the only place we think about going to. Everything is so consistently delicious and we walk away content. We got to two of the locations, East Village and Upper West side. Both restaurants obviously have different chefs but the same menu. I find the fried rice and cumin style tofu to be better at the Upper West side location. If you like more of a peanut-flavored dan dan noodle I would suggest the East village location. When we go we order dan dan noodles (no pork), cumin style tofu, vegetable fried rice, dry pot style tofu, and mapo style tofu (no pork). You will definitely have left overs but they taste amazing the next day.
Five Senses 9 W 32nd St When visiting, the dol pan kimchi bokum bap (kimchi fried rice) or the dol sot bibimbap are my absolute favorites!. When you order the kimchi fried rice, they deliver a little container or egg to your table. Then they bring out the rice on a hot stone pan where they pour the egg to cook. The egg is then mixed in with the rice and cheese to create this flavor explosion. I typically wait for about 5-7 minutes for the rice to cook on the hot stone to get crispy on the bottom then devour.
Nakamura 172 Delancey St Their truffle miso ramen is a house blend miso broth with white truffle oil, bean sprouts, chewy noodles, sautéed crimini mushrooms, and cauliflower. This is Chef Shigetoshi Nakamura’s first restaurant in the United States and he known as one of only 4 “Ramen gods”. The restaurant itself is super small so you might have a little bit of a wait, but it is entirely worth any amount of hours standing outside. When the ramen comes to the table you can smell the rich truffle oil. When eating the ramen, I don’t find the truffle to be too overpowering as the dish is well balanced with the vegetables, noodles, and miso broth.
Best Mediterranean Food
Tushar and I need to do some more food exploration in the Mediterranean section, but our options are typically pretty limited in this category. We have tried numerous places which I will not name that didn’t quite live up to this list.
Taim 45 Spring St This place is a hidden gem for quick food at a very reasonable price. You can create your own bowl or pita with numerous topping customizations. My typical order is: Bowl with toasted cumin rice, green falafel, with olives, pickled onions, hummus, tabouli, and scallions. On the side you have to get the saffron aioli fries and a za’atar pita that is like a soft pillow. The food is very fresh and full of flavor so you can’t go wrong!
Ilili 236 5th Ave Tushar and I first visited during restaurant week so we were able to try a variety of items as the serving sizes are like Mediterranean style tapas. We loved the pine nut hummus with fresh pita, falafel, phoenician fries, arnabeet mekle, brussel sprouts and for the dessert, the candy bar. As you can see this menu is very meat heavy but we were able to find some tasty options.
Pierogies and Pasta
Get ready for the most calorie dense section! There are so many wonderful Italian restaurants in Manhattan that we haven’t visited, hence the lack of additional recommendations. Since Tushar was diagnosed with a wheat allergy we have to get extremely creative finding restaurants with gluten-free options. If you have an Italian restaurant that you absolutely cannot live without please let me know!
Veselka 144 2nd Ave If you crave pierogies like I do, this is the place for you! Pierogies are Ukrainian-style dumplings that the restaurant makes handmade daily served boiled or fried with sautéed onions & sour cream. They have numerous vegetarian fillings including potato, cheese, arugula & goat cheese, sauerkraut & mushroom, and potato & mushroom. I personally like mine boiled with a side of potato pancakes. As larger options, the restaurant does offer vegetarian friendly platters to sample more items.
Cacio e Pepe 182 2nd Ave This is the famous pasta in a cheese wheel that you have probably seen many videos of. We went here for my birthday in 2019 and I think it is a must try for the experience. The portion was not very big but it is very dense in flavor. If you don’t like the flavor of black pepper, please avoid this dish. There are larger morsels of black pepper throughout the pasta. Obviously if you are a world traveler I am sure there are numerous places that have this on the menu.
Cafe Buon Gusto 236 E 77th St They make all of their own bread, pasta, and sauces which include pomodora, primavera, alfredo, pesto, piselli e funghi, vodka, ricotta e pomodoro, bolognese, puttanesca, marinara, and carbonara. I crave their penne with vodka sauce and fresh mozzarella on top which slowly melts into the pasta. This is the most famous dish so you would be missing out if you didn’t order it! The vodka sauce is thick and you ask to make it slightly on the spicy side if you want a kick.
Happy Food Touring!
