Philly-Vegetarian/Vegan Restaurants

[jjwls7]

My sister is coming into town tomorrow and she is a vegetarian..practically vegan. Where in center city/south philly..really anywhere in the city..are there good veggie places to eat? Nothing too fancy, just a place to go for a nice lunch or decent dinner. I'm looking for anything. It can be an all vegetarian place or somewhere that has a good veg. selection. Thanks!

[lillotis]

Horizons is unbelievable!!! I am not vegan or vegetarian, but went there with my vegan friend from LA (She was in town for 6 nights and she went to horizons 3 of the 6 nights) and I was blown away. It is so yummy. I think Monk's and Nodding Head offer Vegan too.

[rabidog]

i just went to a full plate cafe, in liberties walk in the northern liberties neighborhood (a block south of girard, the pedestrian mall runs between 2nd and 3rd). it was awesome!!! while it's not a 100% vegetarian menu, a good half of the items were vegetarian (so much so that i took forever looking over the menu, because as a frequent dining-out vegetarian, i am somewhat used to having my choices fairly limited!!) and many could be made vegan. it is an extremely veggie-friendly place.

i had pierogies which were quite possibly the best i've ever had! (granted, i've not yet had a chance to make it to the polish places on allegheny for comparison) i really insist you get the pierogies if you go.

i've lived in the neighborhood for 8 months now and i cannot believe i haven't visited them before. i'll be back for sure.

here's the website with a menu: http://afullplate.net/

[Laura D.]

Wow...this looks like a great find (and that's without even considering how "alarmingly" close it is to Brown Betty). Thanks for sharing.

[Bride of the Juggler]

Try New Harmony Chinese Vegetarian restaurant on 9th street. Get one order of the steamed dim sum and one order of the fried and you'll have a great meal with lots of leftovers for $20 (better deal than ordering the all-you-can-eat). Mama's Vegetarian at 20th and Market has great falafel on fluffy homemade pita (ask for it with the eggplant salad on it). Any Thai restaurant will have a selection of tofu/veggie curries. New Samosa Indian/Ghianian vegetarian buffet at 12th and Walnut is also very good and cheap. If you're up for a trip to West Philly, Kabobeesh Pakistani restaurant always has a huge vegetarian platter complete with main dish, side dish, basmati rice, homemade naan, and yogurt dip. Interesting flavors if you've never had Pakistani food, and they also do take-out and have parking. Thank you.

[saturninus]

Yay! My people.

Su Xing House on 15th and Sansom serves suprising great chinese vegan lunches, plus they run around $6-7 for soup, entree, side and rice. Really love it.

[spyturtle008]

Seconding Su Xing -- my favorite of the four vegan chinese restaurants in the Center City area. (The other three are in Chinatown; New Harmony's already been mentioned, but I think Su Xing and Cherry St. are leaps and bounds better than the others.)

Su Xing has more tofu dishes, while the others' menus allow you to choose from dozens and dozens of dishes that are meat analogues. So, they've got a slightly different style.

[Cruz]

Michael Klein reported last week that Cherry Street Vegetarian has closed.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/column...

[spyturtle008]

If any of you heard a loud crack coming from a southerly direction at about 10:23 Wednesday night, that was indeed a piece of my heart breaking... *sniff*!

[Tonyjlive]

How about Bitar's in S. Philly? You said nothing too fancy, but I'm not sure what you are looking for.

[Buckethead]

Go to Horizons, it's fantastic. I guarantee that you and your sister will be blown away.

Spyturtle may have been there more recently than I have, but from my recollection, the downstairs bar menu is actually quite different than the upstairs dining room menu. If you want to keep it casual, go to the bar. The dining room is a bit more upscale. Either way, go to Horizons.

[pronek]

I was at Horizons a few weeks ago and ate at the downstairs bar- it seems these days they're doing the exact same menu upstairs and downstairs, with no difference in price or portion size.

[Buckethead]

Dang, that's too bad. Last time I was there I had a beer downstairs while waiting for the rest of our party, and the menu downstairs looked better to me than the upstairs menu.

[spyturtle008]

Do a search on this board for recs & raves for Horizon's. The upper level / dining room may be more 'fancy' than you are looking for, but if you have dinner at the bar on the lower level you get the same excellent food / drinks / desserts, lower prices / smaller portions (sans some of the side dishes), and more casual atmosphere.

I also like Tamarind's on South St. (near Front) for thai; they have some great mock duck dishes and good curries.

[FayeD]

Search on Horizons which has gotten excellent reviews even from non-vegans. I have never been there but from what I hear it is quite good.