Top 10 BEST Vegan Restaurants in Rochester, NY

By Morgan Apperson - November 10, 2022
Top 10 BEST Vegan Restaurants in Rochester

Find out the tastiest eats in Rochester with my top 10 count down. Rochester, New York is known for its large collection of places to eat and believe me when I say, they got us vegans covered. I am a hard critique when it comes to quality vegan food, so I chose the best of the best to put on this list. I hope you enjoy! Let me know if you’ve tried any of them and if you agree!

#10 Lori’s Natural Foods Cafe While Lori’s is not a restaurant, the natural grocery store has a bomb deli area. It sells a variety of different prepared meals and is completely vegan! You can find things like tofu buffalo sticks (my fave and I’m not even a tofu lover), the best roast “beef” sandwiches, calzones, cake slices, cookies, and always some good roasted coffee. However, it is…very pricey.

#9 Natural Oasis If you like Ethiopian food and like buffets, then this is the PERFECT restaurant to go to! It’s a small business with the nicest owners and the most delicious Ethiopian food like stews and injera bread. It also has a couple non-Ethiopian dishes as well like pizza, gnocchi, and coconut milk-based ice cream. It’s completely vegan as well! Oh and incredibly cheap!

#8 Grassfed Grassfed is a completely vegan “butcher shop”. They have your salami, sausage, bacon, and deli meats all veganized. It’s a bit pricey and some of the meats you can definitely tell are plant-based, but it’s all super tasty. The owners are a groovy couple that make you feel welcome as soon as you walk into the door. They’ve invented the most creative hand crafted veg meats I’ve come across in my years of vegfood discovery. It’s a great place to buy your vegan ham for Christmas or veg turkey for Thanksgiving. My husband hates vegan deli meats, but I got him some from here and he devoured them with his sandwiches.

#7 Royal of India This is another buffet for those with big appetites, but with a craving for Indian style food! This is not a completely vegan restaurant but has TONS of Veg options to choose from. Numerous curries, rice, fresh chapati bread, and a fruit bar. My favorite was their veggie pakoras and samosas, they’re a lot like fried breaded fritters. This is also on the most affordable side of dining options out there.

#6 Voula’s This is a lot of my friends’ favorites with traditional Greek Desserts such as baklava and brunch foods. It has an awesome atmosphere and signature teas! The price is not too pricy, but not cheap either. I would definitely recommend their breakfast potatoes and gyros. Make sure to ask for the vegan options! This is a vegetarian restaurant, so some dishes have dairy/egg unfortunately.

#5 Balsam Bagels I don’t know about you, but I LOVE me some bagels with a good dollop of quality veg cream cheese. Balsam bagels has it all! Over five different cream cheeses, fresh baked bagels right in front of you, and even some yummy treats. It is not completely vegan, but has lots of veg options (like veglox, vegmozzerla, and vegsausage) aaand is quite affordable. However, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND ordering online ahead of time. This place is JAM packed with long lines out the door most mornings.

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>#4 The Red Fern</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is one of the most popular vegan restaurants in town with good reason! They have lots of lunch style dishes like sandwiches, mac n cheese, and a vegan inspired garbage plate. BUT they’re best known for their scrumptious desserts. They make the best vegan cheesecake I have ever had-so that’s a must if you go here! For all those gluten free peeps out there, Red Fern will have LOTS OF GLUTEN-FREE OPTIONS! Also, this restaurant contributes a great deal of their earnings towards helping animal shelters! Not only are you keeping animals off your plate, but your money will also go towards helping local animals in the Rochester area as well <3</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

#3 Dogtown Dogtown is ranked number three in this count down! Although it’s not a fully vegan restaurant, they know how to dress a vegdog right! They have vegan hotdogs, bratwurst, chili, cheeze, sauerkraut, and more! If you want a good hotdog or some chili cheese fries-this is it! Also, very affordable

#2 HollyCakeHouse Hollycakes is the newest of the restaurants, but is an incredbile cafe brunch style place! It’s in the nook n cranny of a neighborhood in east Rochester so you may need google maps to find it! They have the best breakfast sandwiches, fried mushrooms, burgers, and don’t get me started on their desserts. Best place to get a vegan cake or cupcakes for any celebration. Their dishdeep chocolate chip cookies are unlike anything else-a must try! I’d recommend their pesto chkn sandwich or (my husband’s fav) cranberrybbq smuthered jam on a breakfast sausage n egg bagel. I took my nonvegan friends here and they could not tell the difference!

#1 New Ethic Pizzeria New Ethic is hands down the BEST vegan restaurant in all of Rochester. New Ethic’s pizza is the best I’ve had even better than Little Caeser’s which was my fav as a kid before going vegan. New Ethic has wings, pizza, garlic knots, and doughnut holes (which are HIGHLY addictive). Their toppings and sauce selection are endless. The only downside is they’re 30 minutes outside of Rochester’s main vicinity and are incredibly pricey. BUT-it is a must try if you’re ever in the area!

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photo of authorI'm a public speaker on sustainable food systems, advocating for plant-based eating.  I blog about how to make that transition easier!  Read about where to find the BEST vegan eats on the go!
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