Kayla Dube · September 21, 2021 · 5 min read As many vegans know, finding restaurants that provide options for you can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you live in an area where this type of food isn’t readily available. If you’re traveling or have recently moved, you may not know nearby options.
Thankfully, the internet can make this a bit easier. Plenty of websites either cater to finding vegan food or can be used to filter through restaurants to find what you’re looking for.
Here are some of the best sites to find vegan food near you. Also, check out our list of the best mobile apps for vegans.
1. Happy Cow
This site is well-known among the vegan community as the best site to find great food. All you need to do is enter your city, region, or zip code, and Happy Cow’s search function will do the work for you, presenting all the options that are closest to you.
You’ll see a map with the restaurants nearby, and you can sort them to show fully vegan, vegetarian, or restaurants that have vegan options though may not be fully vegan. Reviews on the site are from other vegans, so it’s easy to find what’s really good. Even if there may not be any fully vegan restaurants near you, it’s easy to see which places have some dish options. Happy Cow is definitely the site you want to visit first when you’re searching for places to eat.
2. Veg Dining
This site works well if you live in or around major cities, and shows places you may not have already heard of. To use the site, you just select your region in the sidebar and then narrow it down to the city you live in. The site will list a good amount of both vegetarian and vegan restaurants in your area.
The site labels clearly which restaurants are just vegetarian or fully vegan, and is a great place to look if you haven’t found what you want on other sites. Veg Dining has also been recognized for its work by the American Vegan Society, so you know you’re getting only the best results when you use the site.
3. Vegetarian Resource Group
This site is another great place to visit during your search. They have a ton of listings of clearly labeled vegan or vegetarian restaurants, and it’s easy to find your area if you’re from the U.S. or Canada.
It also has a nice small blurb about each restaurant, including the atmosphere and types of dishes they serve, so you know what to expect. They also list each restaurant’s hours and what type of payments they’ll accept. You can find each restaurant’s website linked to their listing if you want to find out more.
Overall this site is one of the better ones, covering many restaurants and offering an extremely easy way to find a place to eat.
4. Yelp
Now we move into the sites where their main focus isn’t vegan food, but you can still use them to find some. Yelp is a good option, as you can find “Best Vegan” lists, which look through restaurants that have reviews or descriptions which mention vegan options.
To search for vegan options, just enter the city or area you want to search in, and then type “vegan food” in the search bar. A list will come up of the best options close to you, and with Yelp you can further narrow down your choices by specifications such as price, features, type of food, and more.
Yelp will also point out the reviews which mention the restaurant’s vegan friendliness so you can easily make a decision.
5. Tripadvisor
Tripadvisor is another great site to use, even though they don’t focus on just vegan restaurants. When you search for food or are looking at a certain location, the site allows you to filter your search result through the “Dietary Restriction” options on the sidebar. There are options for vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free to filter your search.
The best part about using Tripadvisor for finding vegan food is that you can find entries for cities all over the world, as it’s an extremely widely-used site. So no matter where you are, you can probably find something near you that’s worth checking out.
6. DoorDash
Finally, if you’re looking specifically for a restaurant to get some take-out food, Doordash is a great option for vegans. Doordash automatically lists the restaurants closest to you that provide delivery through their service, and it’s easy to find plant-based options.
When searching through Doordash’s offerings, you’ll see a list at the top of types of restaurants. At the end of the list, there is an option to search for vegan restaurants. You can also filter through options like pickup availability, rating, delivery time, and price. If you’re looking to stay in but still want to have a take-out vegan meal, it’s easy to find on Doordash.
Finding Vegan Food
Whether you’re going vegan for health reasons or for the animals, finding places to eat may feel intimidating at first. Thankfully the resources above can make it very easy to find great vegan food near you.
If you have any other sites you use to find new places to eat, tell us about them in the comments below.
