Vegan Restaurants in Austin: What to Look For

Vegan restaurants in Austin range from vegetarian cafes with all-day breakfast to vegan sushi, plant-based tasting menus and comfort food trailers on the east side. Choose by mood, order one dish and rate it so the next diner has a lead.

This page covers vegan breakfast, vegan sushi, plant-based fine dining, comfort food trailers and community-style meals, with what to order at each. Menus shift from season to season, and any allergy is a question for the kitchen, so ask before you order.

Which vegan restaurants in Austin should you try first?

If you want a morning, start with a vegetarian cafe that serves breakfast all day, with large omelets, tofu scrambles and a patio. Weekends can mean lines, so arrive early or on a weekday.

If you want a night out, choose between sushi and a tasting menu. Austin is spread out, so pick one or two stops for a day and leave time to drive between them.

Where is Austin vegan breakfast?

The tofu scramble is a good order for a vegan table, and an omelet with sides is the choice for a vegetarian one. Weekends can mean lines.

Rate the dish by name and note whether it was filling. A cafe with a large patio and weekend lines rewards a plan: put your name down early, bring a book, and ask whether the patio or the dining room has the shorter wait. If you are eating with a group of mixed diets, say so when you arrive, since a menu that is entirely vegetarian makes it simple to seat everyone together.

Where can you find Austin vegan sushi?

Some Austin restaurants serve fully vegan sushi, ramen and gyoza, with maki rolls built from vegetables and plant-based fillings. A vegan menu is open to everyone, which makes it a good choice for a group with mixed diets.

Order a roll, a bowl of ramen and gyoza to share. Compare the roll with a traditional one if you have a memory of it, and say what you thought of the texture.

What is Austin vegan fine dining like?

Some Austin restaurants offer a multi-course vegan tasting menu or upscale plant-based small plates built on a seasonal menu and local ingredients. It is a planned night, so book ahead where you can, or at least check the days the kitchen opens.

Tell the kitchen about allergies in advance. Name the course you liked most in your rating, and say whether the pacing suited a celebration.

Where can you get Austin vegan comfort food?

Vegan comfort food trailers, many of them on the east side, serve fried oyster mushroom sandwiches, burgers and fries, often on short hours.

Check the days before you go, since a trailer keeps short hours. Go with a friend and share a sandwich and fries. Trailer food is made to order, so allow a little time, and bring something to sit on if seating is limited. A note on the crunch of the coating and the sauce is the most useful thing you can add to a rating of a fried sandwich, because those are the details people ask about.

What about a community-style vegan meal?

Some health-focused community kitchens serve a simple vegan meal of soup, beans, greens and grains, from breakfast through dinner. They are a good choice for a quiet, simple meal.

Ask what is being served that day, since menus change daily in a place like this, and ask whether a plate can be made lighter or heartier to suit you. Say in your rating whether it was filling. Add a note on the room and the pace. A simple meal of soup, beans, greens and grains is a different experience from a restaurant dinner, so say in your rating what you expected and how it compared, and mention whether it suited a quiet conversation or a family meal.

How do you keep track of vegan Austin with Mosey?

Rate each dish by name. Mosey needs only the place and stars; then you can name the dish, such as a scramble or a roll, add tags such as Vegan or Vegetarian, and add a photo. A rating that says "oyster mushroom sandwich, crisp, share the fries" helps a vegan visitor choose. A tag is a note from a person, so confirm ingredients with the kitchen if you have an allergy.

Make a list called Austin vegan with one place per meal and a line on what to order, and invite a friend by link so they can add their own. Follow friends to see what they rated and saved, and tag the people you ate with so each can add their own rating of the same meal. The lists page explains sharing.

What else should you read?

For more of the city, the vegan tacos guide goes deeper on Mexican food, the East Austin guide covers the east side and the brunch guide covers the weekend. See the Austin page, the Texas page and the US food guides.

On your next plant-based meal, open the Mosey app, rate each dish by name and keep the best in a list.