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A long, thin dosa sits on a silver tray on a wooden surface. The tray also holds five small silver bowls of chutneys and sauces.
A crispy dosa from Madras Dosa Co.
Madras Dosa Co.

Where to Eat Vegetarian and Vegan Food Around Boston

15 of the area’s best meat-free options

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A crispy dosa from Madras Dosa Co.
| Madras Dosa Co.

It’s not too difficult to dine well as a vegetarian or vegan in Greater Boston. The number of great strictly vegan restaurants in and around the city is growing, and plenty of restaurants that aren’t meat-free also offer substantial meatless options, satisfying any appetite.

From a Newbury Street ramen shop to a locally sourced tasting-menu destination in Harvard Square, here are 15 of the best Boston-area restaurants for vegetarian and vegan diners.

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True Bistro

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True Bistro is Somerville's high-end spot for fully vegan dining. Founders Linda and Michael Harrison opened the restaurant in 2010, and chef and co-owner Stuart Reiter oversees the menu of seasonal dishes that have included roasted pepper ravioli with corn, crispy oyster mushrooms, and, at brunch, waffles with buttermilk-fried tofu and chile-infused agave.

Taco Party

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Taco Party, which began as a food truck, is located in Somerville’s Ball Square. The vegan restaurant specializes in tacos, as the name suggests, like chorizo seitan and lentils al pastor, and rounds things out with a few sides including nachos, bean dip, and tortas.

Koshari Mama

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Vegan Egyptian restaurant Koshari Mama is a graduate of Somerville’s Bow Market, now open in its own space just a little bit outside of Union Square. The restaurant features its namesake dish, koshari, which layers rice, lentils, pasta, and chickpeas with deep-fried onions and a variety of sauces, like the spicy tomato and garlic sauce shatta. You’ll also find treats like mushroom shawarma, a spinach and split pea stew, and moussaka, plus beer and wine.

An exterior of a restaurant with bright red lettering spelling out the name of the restaurant and two red benches out front.
Koshari Mama.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Forage, a farm-to-table bistro near Harvard Square, always offers a vegetarian or vegan tasting menu alongside its omnivore and pescatarian options. There are typically plenty of meatless dishes on the a la carte menu as well, from house pickles to stuffed delicata squash.

Fish stew with hake & mussels in a green peppercorn & parmesan broth; broccoli rabe, carrots, toast with aioli at Forage, a restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., June 30, 2016.
A fish stew on one of Forage’s past menus.
Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Life Alive

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For nearly two decades, Life Alive has been serving an organic, meat-free menu that caters to vegans and vegetarians: salads, grain bowls, soups, juices, and more. In addition to this longtime location in Cambridge’s Central Square, Life Alive has several other locations throughout Massachusetts, including collaborations with Down Under School of Yoga in Harvard Square and Boston’s South End.

Three vegetarian dishes sit on a bar next to a window, paired with a glass of orange-colored juice.
Food at Life Alive.
Abigail Jean Photography/Life Alive

PlantPub

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In Cambridge’s Kendall Square, PlantPub serves meatless takes on burgers (either Impossible or a house veggie blend), pizza, soft serve, and more. It’s “pub food for the modern world,” as the team describes it, with well-curated beer and wine lists to match.

Veggie Galaxy

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A classic diner sans meat, Veggie Galaxy has a full breakfast menu with the likes of pancakes slathered in caramelized banana butter, plus soups and salads, veggie burgers, and assorted entrees, including a variety of hearty sandwiches like a BLT with tempeh bacon. But save room for pies, frappes, cheesecake, and other all-vegan desserts.

Grasshopper Restaurant

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One of Boston’s longest-running vegetarian restaurants, Grasshopper serves a meat-free pan-Asian menu in Allston. The vast selection ranges from a crispy taro nest to veggie dumplings to sweet potato curry soup, but the house favorite is the so-called “No Name,” a sesame chicken-like dish of battered gluten in a sweet and sour sauce and sesame seeds.

Madras Dosa Company

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Gigantic dosas are the move at this casual, counter-service spot in the Seaport. There’s a wide variety of veggie options — spicy potatoes, green chiles, and Lays potato chips, to name a few — and each dosa comes custom-stuffed with however many fillings you want.

Red White

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Vegan Japanese restaurant Red White features several styles of ramen, such as the creamy sesame “Masterpiece” with vegan meat and tofu, corn, spinach, leek, and crispy onion chips. Aside from ramen, you’ll find a rice bowl with roasted miso avocado and a few sides, including spicy mac and miso.

Stoked Pizza

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Stoked Pizza — which now has Brookline and Cambridge locations — isn’t meatless, but it does offer a full vegan menu with appetizers and a range of pizza options, some without cheese and some with a vegan mozzarella alternative. Be sure to check out the fun tropical cocktail list, too.

A mushroom pizza ($9) is sliced inside the Stoked Pizza Company food truck at Dewey Square.
A mushroom pizza from Stoked.
Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Lulu Green

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A short walk from the Broadway T station, the cute, casual cafe Lulu Green serves a fully vegan menu of all-day breakfast like acai bowls and avocado toast, juices, coffee and tea drinks, plus cocktails and a full dinner menu at night.

A person at Lulu Green holds a takeout bowl at the restaurant in Boston on Jan. 28, 2021.
A takeout bowl from Lulu Green.
Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Blue Nile

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Blue Nile, a handsome Ethiopian restaurant in JP, offers plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, many of which you can sample all at once via a combo plate, which includes multiple vegetarian sides (collard greens, split yellow peas, and more) and a salad. Also worth a visit: Blue Nile's sibling, Ethiopian Cafe, just a few doors down at 377 Centre Street.

A long, narrow restaurant features tables with white tablecloths, dim lighting, and pale green walls.
Blue Nile in Jamaica Plain.
Blue Nile

Across The Border Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurant

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Boston’s vegan taco options are few and far between, which makes one of JP’s newest restaurants even more of a welcome sight. The food truck-turned-burrito and taco spot has a sizeable vegan and vegetarian menu that includes taco plates, nachos, bean-filled burritos, and burrito bowls.

Oasis Vegan Veggie Parlor

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Vegan Dorchester restaurant Oasis Vegan Veggie Parlor has comfort food locked down, serving items such as Ethiopian stews, African couscous bowls, curry chickpea wraps, and mac and cheese pie, as well as an assortment of invigorating juices and smoothies with ingredients like moringa, cayenne, and mango.

True Bistro

True Bistro is Somerville's high-end spot for fully vegan dining. Founders Linda and Michael Harrison opened the restaurant in 2010, and chef and co-owner Stuart Reiter oversees the menu of seasonal dishes that have included roasted pepper ravioli with corn, crispy oyster mushrooms, and, at brunch, waffles with buttermilk-fried tofu and chile-infused agave.

Taco Party

Taco Party, which began as a food truck, is located in Somerville’s Ball Square. The vegan restaurant specializes in tacos, as the name suggests, like chorizo seitan and lentils al pastor, and rounds things out with a few sides including nachos, bean dip, and tortas.

Koshari Mama

Vegan Egyptian restaurant Koshari Mama is a graduate of Somerville’s Bow Market, now open in its own space just a little bit outside of Union Square. The restaurant features its namesake dish, koshari, which layers rice, lentils, pasta, and chickpeas with deep-fried onions and a variety of sauces, like the spicy tomato and garlic sauce shatta. You’ll also find treats like mushroom shawarma, a spinach and split pea stew, and moussaka, plus beer and wine.

An exterior of a restaurant with bright red lettering spelling out the name of the restaurant and two red benches out front.
Koshari Mama.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Forage

Forage, a farm-to-table bistro near Harvard Square, always offers a vegetarian or vegan tasting menu alongside its omnivore and pescatarian options. There are typically plenty of meatless dishes on the a la carte menu as well, from house pickles to stuffed delicata squash.

Fish stew with hake & mussels in a green peppercorn & parmesan broth; broccoli rabe, carrots, toast with aioli at Forage, a restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., June 30, 2016.
A fish stew on one of Forage’s past menus.
Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Life Alive

For nearly two decades, Life Alive has been serving an organic, meat-free menu that caters to vegans and vegetarians: salads, grain bowls, soups, juices, and more. In addition to this longtime location in Cambridge’s Central Square, Life Alive has several other locations throughout Massachusetts, including collaborations with Down Under School of Yoga in Harvard Square and Boston’s South End.

Three vegetarian dishes sit on a bar next to a window, paired with a glass of orange-colored juice.
Food at Life Alive.
Abigail Jean Photography/Life Alive

PlantPub

In Cambridge’s Kendall Square, PlantPub serves meatless takes on burgers (either Impossible or a house veggie blend), pizza, soft serve, and more. It’s “pub food for the modern world,” as the team describes it, with well-curated beer and wine lists to match.

Veggie Galaxy

A classic diner sans meat, Veggie Galaxy has a full breakfast menu with the likes of pancakes slathered in caramelized banana butter, plus soups and salads, veggie burgers, and assorted entrees, including a variety of hearty sandwiches like a BLT with tempeh bacon. But save room for pies, frappes, cheesecake, and other all-vegan desserts.

Grasshopper Restaurant

One of Boston’s longest-running vegetarian restaurants, Grasshopper serves a meat-free pan-Asian menu in Allston. The vast selection ranges from a crispy taro nest to veggie dumplings to sweet potato curry soup, but the house favorite is the so-called “No Name,” a sesame chicken-like dish of battered gluten in a sweet and sour sauce and sesame seeds.

Madras Dosa Company

Gigantic dosas are the move at this casual, counter-service spot in the Seaport. There’s a wide variety of veggie options — spicy potatoes, green chiles, and Lays potato chips, to name a few — and each dosa comes custom-stuffed with however many fillings you want.

Red White

Vegan Japanese restaurant Red White features several styles of ramen, such as the creamy sesame “Masterpiece” with vegan meat and tofu, corn, spinach, leek, and crispy onion chips. Aside from ramen, you’ll find a rice bowl with roasted miso avocado and a few sides, including spicy mac and miso.

Stoked Pizza

Stoked Pizza — which now has Brookline and Cambridge locations — isn’t meatless, but it does offer a full vegan menu with appetizers and a range of pizza options, some without cheese and some with a vegan mozzarella alternative. Be sure to check out the fun tropical cocktail list, too.

A mushroom pizza ($9) is sliced inside the Stoked Pizza Company food truck at Dewey Square.
A mushroom pizza from Stoked.
Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Lulu Green

A short walk from the Broadway T station, the cute, casual cafe Lulu Green serves a fully vegan menu of all-day breakfast like acai bowls and avocado toast, juices, coffee and tea drinks, plus cocktails and a full dinner menu at night.

A person at Lulu Green holds a takeout bowl at the restaurant in Boston on Jan. 28, 2021.
A takeout bowl from Lulu Green.
Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Blue Nile

Blue Nile, a handsome Ethiopian restaurant in JP, offers plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, many of which you can sample all at once via a combo plate, which includes multiple vegetarian sides (collard greens, split yellow peas, and more) and a salad. Also worth a visit: Blue Nile's sibling, Ethiopian Cafe, just a few doors down at 377 Centre Street.

A long, narrow restaurant features tables with white tablecloths, dim lighting, and pale green walls.
Blue Nile in Jamaica Plain.
Blue Nile

Across The Border Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurant

Boston’s vegan taco options are few and far between, which makes one of JP’s newest restaurants even more of a welcome sight. The food truck-turned-burrito and taco spot has a sizeable vegan and vegetarian menu that includes taco plates, nachos, bean-filled burritos, and burrito bowls.

Oasis Vegan Veggie Parlor

Vegan Dorchester restaurant Oasis Vegan Veggie Parlor has comfort food locked down, serving items such as Ethiopian stews, African couscous bowls, curry chickpea wraps, and mac and cheese pie, as well as an assortment of invigorating juices and smoothies with ingredients like moringa, cayenne, and mango.

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