By Flori Pate, Dig Local co-founder and creative director
I grew up in Georgia, where Sunday meant steak and the grill stayed busy. Then I moved to Portland, Oregon, gave up meat, and got used to creative meat-free food everywhere I went. When we moved to Asheville in 2010, I found that same kind of cooking here, from fully vegan kitchens to barbecue joints with sides worth the trip.
This guide covers where to eat vegetarian and vegan in Asheville, with my own picks along the way. It starts with restaurants and markets that have real meat-free menus, then more places to try, picks by what you're looking for, and answers to common questions. Menus change with the seasons, so a dish may rotate off. Updated October 2026.
North Asheville: plant
North Asheville, 165 Merrimon Ave.
plant is a fully vegan restaurant on Merrimon Avenue that serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday. The kitchen cooks from scratch with local, seasonal produce, so the menu changes often. Recent plates have included a raw lasagna and a housemade vegan cheese plate, and it's the kind of place you can take a meat eater without anyone missing anything.
Tip: Reserve on Resy, especially on weekends.
Flori's pick: Go in open to the menu. I've loved the smoked mushroom mole and the crusted tempeh, but whatever is in season is the move.
West Asheville, Downtown and East Asheville: Dobra Tea
West Asheville, 707 Haywood Rd., plus 78 N. Lexington Ave. and 1011 Tunnel Rd.
Dobra Tea is a vegetarian tea room with more than 100 teas and a food menu where a lot of the dishes are vegan. The West Asheville location has the fullest kitchen, with kitchari, rice bowls, spring rolls, a seitan Reuben and a vegan cheese plate. Downtown and East Asheville keep a lighter menu of hummus plates, toasts, bowls and sweets, and everything on the East Asheville menu is gluten free.
Tip: In West Asheville, savory food is served until 3 p.m. Ask for coconut oil on the kitchari and oat or coconut milk in your tea to keep it vegan.
West Asheville: West Village Market and Deli
West Asheville, 771 Haywood Rd.
West Village Market is an organic neighborhood grocery with standalone vegan cases. The deli makes vegan wraps and sandwiches, and the shelves carry local vegan cheese from Darë, local bread and plenty of produce. It's an easy stop to stock up for a cabin weekend or grab lunch on the way to a hike.
Tip: Check the grab-and-go case first. It's the fastest way to a meat-free lunch on Haywood Road.
Flori's pick: The grab-and-go veggie burrito for breakfast.
Downtown and North Asheville: Mountain Madre
Downtown, 13 W. Walnut St., and North Asheville, 791 Merrimon Ave.
Mountain Madre is a Mexican kitchen and agave bar with vegan versions of the dishes most places only make with meat. The menu has vegan chicken, vegan chorizo and vegan queso, plus vegan enchiladas, so vegans can order tacos and enchiladas like everyone else at the table.
Tip: Ask your server which dishes can be made with vegan chicken or chorizo.
Biltmore Avenue and South Asheville: Biscuit Head
417 Biltmore Ave. and 1994 Hendersonville Rd.
Biscuit Head builds its menu around giant biscuits, and it doesn't leave vegetarians or vegans out. There's a vegan, gluten-free biscuit, a vegan sweet potato coconut gravy and a veggie sausage gravy, and you can swap veggie sausage onto any dish at no extra charge.
Tip: Order the vegan biscuit with the sweet potato coconut gravy.
West Asheville: Thai Pearl
West Asheville, 747 Haywood Rd.
Thai Pearl is a Thai restaurant on Haywood Road with a menu that marks its vegetarian and vegan options. There's a dedicated vegan curry, crispy tofu and edamame, and most noodle and curry dishes can be made with tofu.
Tip: Look for the V marks on the menu, and tell your server if you're keeping it vegan.
Downtown and Weaverville: Twisted Laurel
Downtown, 130 College St., and Weaverville, 10A S. Main St.
Twisted Laurel is a downtown restaurant with a second location in Weaverville, and its menu has more for vegetarians than you'd guess. Order the falafel Street Cart Bowl or the falafel gyro, start with hummus, or swap a falafel patty onto the smashburger. Vegetarians have more to choose from here than vegans.
Tip: The falafel patty swap works on most of the burgers, so ask.
South Slope: Tiger Bay Cafe
South Slope, inside Ben's Tune Up, 195 Hilliard Ave.
Tiger Bay Cafe serves breakfast, Latin and West Indian food from inside Ben's Tune Up, with a garden courtyard to sit in. Alongside the smoked meats, there's a vegan burrito with rice, black beans and vegetables in a spinach tortilla, vegan wraps and a V Bagel with jalapeño cream cheese and vegetables.
Tip: It's a breakfast and lunch stop, so plan for the morning or early afternoon.
River Arts District: The Grey Eagle Taqueria
River Arts District, 185 Clingman Ave.
The Grey Eagle is one of Asheville's longest-running music venues, and its taqueria serves tacos and more with vegetarian and vegan options on the menu. It makes dinner before a show easy, even when the group doesn't eat the same way.
Tip: Check the show calendar and eat at the taqueria before the music starts.
South Slope and North Asheville: Asheville Brewing Company
South Slope, 77 Coxe Ave., and North Asheville, 675 Merrimon Ave.
Asheville Brewing Company is best known for pizza and house beer, and its menu has vegan and vegetarian options, including what it calls its famous spinach burger. The Merrimon Avenue location also has a movie theater, so you can make a night of it.
Tip: Order the spinach burger. It's a vegetarian patty, not a vegan one.
Flori's pick: The spinach burger with a side of tots. It's been my favorite for years.
North Asheville: 828 Family Pizzeria
North Asheville, 946 Merrimon Ave.
828 Family Pizzeria is a pizza shop on Merrimon Avenue, and its kale specialty pizza is one of the most ordered pies on the menu. There's a cauliflower crust and a dairy-free gluten-free crust too, so most of the table can find something.
Tip: Ask for the dairy-free gluten-free crust if you're avoiding both.
Flori's pick: The kale pizza. I crave it.
West and South Asheville: Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack
West Asheville, 1455 Patton Ave., and South Asheville, 3749 Sweeten Creek Rd.
Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack makes Nashville-style hot chicken, and it also makes a meat-free version. The "Not Chick" plate comes with two Quorn cutlets and two sides, and there's a "Not Chick" sandwich too. When you order, ask for the vegetarian sauce.
Tip: The four-sides plate is the other meat-free move. Ask which sides are made without meat.
Flori's pick: Sweet potato casserole, corn pudding and fried okra.
Arden: 12 Bones Smokehouse and Brewing
Arden, 2350 Hendersonville Rd.
12 Bones is a barbecue restaurant and brewery, which makes it a surprise pick for vegetarians. The menu marks the sides that contain meat, so it's easy to build a Side Plate with four sides and cornbread.
Tip: Pair the Side Plate with a 12 Bones beer brewed on site.
Flori's pick: Damn Good Corn Puddin', cucumber salad, mac and cheese and jalapeño cheese grits, with cornbread.
Downtown: Old Europe Pastries
Downtown, 18 Broadway
Old Europe is a European-style pastry shop and coffee bar on Broadway, and the case has vegan options next to the cakes and eclairs. Look for the vegan chocolate cupcake, the vegan seasonal cobbler and the oatmeal date bar, all gluten free, and the vegan lemon poppyseed bread in the morning.
Tip: The lemon poppyseed bread is a breakfast item, so go early if you want it.
Fully vegan and vegetarian kitchens
- Rosetta's Kitchen, 68 N. Lexington Ave.: Vegetarian and vegan comfort food downtown since 2002, with a full bar. Flori's pick: the peanut butter tofu with kale and mashed potatoes with vegan gravy.
- Pulp + Sprout, 233 S. Liberty St.: A vegan cafe and juice bar with bowls, toasts, sandwiches like the Mushroom Banh Mi and raw vegan cheesecakes.
- The Smokin' Onion, 697 Haywood Rd.: A fully vegan restaurant and food truck in West Asheville known for burgers, gyros and an all-plant breakfast. The truck parks at New Belgium on Tuesdays.
More places with strong meat-free menus
- Chai Pani, 32 Banks Ave.: Indian street food with plenty of vegetarian chaat and thalis.
- Heiwa Shokudo, 87 N. Lexington Ave.: A Japanese restaurant where more than half the menu is vegan, including sushi rolls like the Sweetie Pie and spicy garlic tofu.
- Jerusalem Garden Cafe, Patton Avenue: Middle Eastern food downtown. Flori's pick: the Vegetarian Platter with hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouleh, falafel and stuffed grape leaves.
- Green Sage Cafe, 5 Broadway: An organic breakfast and lunch cafe with plenty of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes.
- Wise Eatz, 144 Biltmore Ave.: A downtown cafe with vegan and vegetarian bowls, wraps, quiche and smoothies.
- Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, 121 Biltmore Ave.: Japanese barbecue with vegan plates and a veggie ramen. Flori's pick: the Beech Mushroom Tempura.
- Itto Ramen, 3 Biltmore Ave. and 630 Haywood Rd.: Ramen and Japanese tapas with labeled vegan dishes, like tofu and eggplant buns and vegetable ramen.
- Gypsy Queen Cuisine, 807 Patton Ave.: A Lebanese market and deli in West Asheville with vegan and gluten-free choices.
- Nine Mile, Montford, West Asheville and South Asheville: Caribbean-inspired pasta and rice bowls, and nearly everything can be made vegan.
- Smiling Hara Tempeh: Tempeh made in Barnardsville, sold in local grocery stores and used in restaurant kitchens around town.
Vegetarian and vegan Asheville by what you're looking for
- Fully vegan: plant, Rosetta's Kitchen, Pulp + Sprout and The Smokin' Onion.
- Vegan breakfast and brunch: Biscuit Head's vegan biscuit and gravy, The Smokin' Onion's all-plant breakfast, Tiger Bay Cafe's vegan burrito and Dobra Tea's kitchari.
- Gluten free too: Posana has a dedicated gluten-free kitchen with vegetarian and vegan options, everything at Dobra Tea's East Asheville location is gluten free, and 828 Family Pizzeria has a dairy-free gluten-free crust.
- Dessert: Old Europe's vegan chocolate cupcake and cobbler, Dobra Tea's vegan sweets and the raw vegan cheesecakes at Pulp + Sprout.
- Groceries and takeout: West Village Market's vegan cases and local tempeh from Smiling Hara.
- With a group of meat eaters: Mountain Madre, Rocky's, 12 Bones and Asheville Brewing Company all have solid meat-free choices for the vegetarians at the table.
Frequently asked questions
Is Asheville good for vegetarians and vegans?
Yes. Asheville has several fully vegan restaurants, and many other restaurants mark vegetarian and vegan dishes on their menus or will swap in tofu, seitan or a plant-based protein.
What are the fully vegan restaurants in Asheville?
plant on Merrimon Avenue, Rosetta's Kitchen on North Lexington Avenue, Pulp + Sprout on South Liberty Street and The Smokin' Onion on Haywood Road.
Is Laughing Seed Cafe still open?
No. Laughing Seed closed for good on May 31, 2025, according to WLOS.
Where can I get a vegan breakfast in Asheville?
Try Biscuit Head, The Smokin' Onion, Tiger Bay Cafe, Pulp + Sprout or Dobra Tea in West Asheville.
