Surviving as a Vegetarian in Las Vegas
Last update: April 2021
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Las Vegas casinos don't care about vegetarians. All other metro areas in the U.S. accommodate vegetarians readily, but restaurant managers on the Vegas strip didn't get the memo that going meat-free among Americans is now mainstream:
- 54% always or sometimes eat vegetarian or vegan.
- 25% always or sometimes eat vegan.
- 6% (1 in 16) are vegetarian or vegan.
- 3% (1 in 33) are vegan. (source for figures)
Heck, even casino mogul Steve Wynn, poker pro Daniel Negreanu, and boxer Mike Tyson have gone vegan, so it's clear that this idea is definitely a new normal. Except on the Vegas strip.
So you're going to have to put a little more effort into getting
fed here than you would in other tourist cities. First,
if you're willing to venture beyond the strip, then you have lots of
options, detailed below. You won't starve on the strip, but
the options just aren't as good (also detailed below). In a
pinch you can always order a pizza without meat (and without cheese,
if you're vegan, and if you stay away from Mr. Gatti's, which uses
meat in its tomato sauce). Incidentally, before the buffets
were closed for COVID, no Strip buffet was ever especially good for
vegetarians. They typically put chicken powder in the Asian
vegetables, lard or meat in the refried beans, and chicken stock in
the Spanish rice—and they never labeled it as such.
This page is divided into two sections:
- Truly veggie-friendly places with several choices, where you might actually want to go to eat.
- Places with only 1 or 2 veggie "options", useful only for avoiding starvation.
In each section, the restaurants are listed roughly in order from
North to South. My Vegas Strip Map
will help you get oriented. I also made a special Google
map of Indian lunch buffets.
Please let me know of any corrections or worthy additions to this list. (e.g., If it's not on the Strip or downtown, then it should be way better or way more vegetarian than what you can get on the Strip or downtown.)
Truly veggie-friendly
(multiple and/or exceptional vegetarian offerings)
Downtown
Vegenation • 616 E. Carson Ave. #120 (3 blocks form the Fremont St. Experience) • 702-366-8515 • 11a-8p every day) • website
Extensive menu that's all 100% vegan. 4.5 stars on Yelp with 1763 reviews, I've never seen any other business match that. It's worth staying downtown instead of on the strip just to be close to Vegenation.
On the strip
FASHION SHOW MALL, 3200 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
- India Masala • Fast-casual restaurant. Tons of vegetarian options, though only one vegan.
- OPA! of Greece • Wraps, falafel, hummus, chickpea salad.
- Pizza Press • Daiya cheese option!
Near the Strip (listed from North to South)
None of these is completely vegetarian, except Paradise City.
Paradise
City Creamery • 197
E. California Ave. #140
Vegan ice cream, founded by a Las Vegas stripper. (added 9/2020)
Komol
(Thai) • 953
E. Sahara Ave.
Komol has a generous vegan and vegetarian sections on its menu. Vegetarians used to having to pick the one veggie item at a restaurant will be overwhelmed with the choices here. The atmosphere is also nice and the food is satisfying. A warning, I got one of the dinner sets (#3, I think) and it came with a soup that was mostly oil. It looked like they used four parts oil and one part water. The waiter noticed I didn't eat it and he graciously offered to bring me a normal soup, which I was happy to accept. Note that Namaste Indian (below) is in the same shopping center.
Mount
Everest India Cuisine • 3641 Sahara @ Rainbow
Offers a whopping 18 vegetarian items on their menu.
Ronald's Donuts • 4600 Spring Mountain Road
If you're not a veg*n for health reasons, you'll love this place, since you can't get more junk food than white flour, sugar, and oil. Most of the donuts and pastries here are vegan, and are on two completely separate shelves from the non-vegan stuff. Also note that Veggie Delight is only a block away from Ronald's, so if you're already making a trip out for one of these places, the other one is close. Note that they tend to close EARLY, like around 4pm, and 2pm on Sundays.
India
Palace • 505
E. Twain Ave
The vegetarian section of their menu boasts a whopping 17
vegetarian entrees, not even counting the veggie options on the
South Indian part of their menu like dosas.
Mint
Indian Bistro ★★★ • 730
E. Flamingo
Editor's pick! Their menu explicitly lists seven vegan entrees, as well as an additional two more vegetarian entrees. They also have vegan naan (!), and explicitly list which appetizers and breads are vegan. Wow! Why can't all restaurants be like this? But I'm not done yet: their $10.99 lunch buffet is almost entirely vegetarian and has several explicitly-labeled vegan items. Eighteen thumbs up.
India
Oven + India Masala • 1040
E. Flamingo Rd.
These two restaurants merged. Serves north + south Indian cuisine.
Gandhi
India's Cuisine • 4080 Paradise Rd.
A whopping 19 vegetarian choices are listed explicitly on their menu. And like just about every Indian restaurant in town, they have a lunch buffet. Really nice interior and tableware, would impress a date.
Paymon's
Mediterranean Café • 4147
S. Maryland Parkway
Offering Greek, Italian, Persian, Middle Eastern, and Indian fare, much of it vegetarian, and much of that vegan. The vegan & vegetarian items are clearly identified on the menu, leaving out the guesswork. A 29-time "Best of Las Vegas Winner" from the Las Vegas Review-Journal (as of 2021).
Abyssinia Ethiopian • 4780 W. Tropicana
One of the better Ethiopian restaurants, with a large vegetarian section, and my go-to for Ethiopian since Cottage Café closed. Get the Veggie Combo.
South
Whole Foods Market • 6689
Las Vegas Blvd. S
Large organic / natural foods grocery store.
West
Go
Vegan Café •
This is it, baby.
Viva
Mercado • 3553 S. Rainbow
702-871-8826, M-W 11-10, Th-Sat 11-11, Sun 11-10
A veggie-friendly Mexican restaurant. Their sopa and rice contain chicken broth, but at least they tell you that in large bold letters on the menu so you know what not to order. Their beans are fried in canola oil and they have a vegetarian section on their menu with seven different entrees. The overwhelming majority of the menu is meat-laden, but it's still a relief when a restaurant takes specific notice of vegetarian diners by printing a note about ingredients and offering a complete vegetarian section on its menu, which is certainly enough for them to get a listing on this page.
Paymon's
Mediterranean Café • 8380
W. Sahara Ave. (6 miles W. of the
Strip), 702-804-0293
Offering Greek, Italian, Persian, Middle Eastern, and Indian fare, much of it vegetarian, and much of that vegan. The vegan & vegetarian items are clearly identified on the menu, leaving out the guesswork. A 29-time "Best of Las Vegas Winner" from the Las Vegas Review-Journal (as of 2021).
Whole Foods Market • 8855 W. Charleston (9 miles West of the Strip), 702-254-8655, 8am-10pm every day AND 7250 W. Lake Mead. @ Tenaya (9 miles West of downtown; map),• 702-942-1500, 7am-10pm x7
Two West locations for this large organic/natural foods grocery store.
On the Strip (from North to South)
| Fashion
Show Mall 3200 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; near Nordstrom & Bloomingdales |
California
Pizza Kitchen. Four veggie pizzas and
several veggie pastas, including portabello mushroom-stuffed
ravioli(!) (unfortunately for vegans, it's also stuffed with
cheese). The mall's Food Court also offers wraps,
subway sandwiches, and Asian food. |
| Mirage 3400 Las Vegas Blvd. S. |
California Pizza Kitchen. (see review above) |
| Planet
Hollywood |
P. F. Chang's (Chinese). Menu has a vegetarian section with five separate entrees. Also has five veggie sides and four appetizers. Everything on the menu that's vegetarian is denoted with a special mark. And brown rice is available instead of white! Spice Market Buffet. No Strip casino buffet is particularly good for vegetarians, but Planet Hollywood's isn't as bad as most. It features Mediterranean station with falafel, hummus, dolmas, baba ganoush, and tabouleh. |
| Park
MGM In Hawaiian Marketplace, 3743 S. Las Vegas Blvd. (702) 798-7889 |
Tamba,
an Indian restaurant in the Hawaiian Marketplace across
the street from the Park MGM. Fourteen of their entrees
are vegetarian, and they have a lunch buffet. They can
also boast about winning a fistful of awards. Park MGM
also gets a shout-out for having the only non-smoking casino
in Vegas. |
| Mandalay Bay | The Border Grill has Portabello Mushroom Mulitas ("grilled marinated mushrooms layered with black beans, roasted peppers, and pickled onions served with roasted tomato sauce braised greens, and guacamole"). Kind of pricey at $16, but on the South Strip your options are limited. They also have Chile Relleno ("roasted poblano peppers stuffed with manchego, panela, and cotija cheeses, served with roja and tomatillo salsas, rice, and black beans"). |
Closed / Out of Business
if you can no longer find these on the web, that's why
Bombay Indian (north of Wynn) • Cottage
Café
Survival only
(typically only one or two veg. options on the menu)
On the Strip
listed from North to South
Most Strip hotel restaurants now have at least one thing that's vegetarian. I'm not going to list the one or two vegetarian options for each the dozens of Strip restaurants out there, but instead I'll list (1) entrees that are a little more interesting than normal, (2) cheap eats, esp. familiar fast food.
| Circus Circus (across the street from Circus Circus at 322 W. Sahara; cross Sahara to get to it) | Capriotti's
Sandwich Shop has a vegetarian section on
its menu, with four sandwiches. |
| Slots-A-Fun (between Circus Circus and Westward Ho) | Has a Subway sandwich shop. |
| Fashion Show Mall 3200 S. Las Vegas Blvd. | • Chipotle • India Masala (tons of vegetarian options, but only one vegan) • Johnny Rockets (one veggie burger) • OPA! of Greece (wraps, falafel, hummus, chickpea salad) • Pizza Press (Daiya cheese option!) • Solo Qui (pasta with marinara sauce, panini). x Panda Express: Nothing is vegetarian; every seemingly-vegetarian item has secret meat and/or fish ingredients. |
| Treasure Island / Venetian | Subway across the street from Treasure Island, next to the Venetian. Beware of the Grand Lux Café which perverts things you'd expect to be vegetarian. (e.g., the Crispy Sesame Tofu has oyster sauce, that fact isn't disclosed on the menu, and not all of the staff are even aware of this and might give you the wrong answer if you ask about it). |
| Casino Royale | Subway inside the Casino Royale. |
| Harrah's | Chipotle (burritos) between Harrah's and Casino Royale |
| O'Sheas | Subway inside O'Sheas. |
| Bally's | Sidewalk Café has a portobello mushroom sandwich. |
| Planet Hollywood (formerly Aladdin) | No Vegas buffet is good for vegetarians, but the Spice Market Buffet has many Mediterranean options that the others don't. Yolo's restaurant has portobello mushroom fajitas. |
| Harley
Davidson Café 3725 Las Vegas Blvd. S. |
Harley Davidson Café has an $11 Veggie Wrap with roasted carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, shredded lettuce, and portobello mushrooms, wrappend in a tomato basil tortilla with a cream cheese ranch spread, served with seasonal fruit. Also has a $9 veggie burger, grilled on the same grill as the meat. |
| New
York New York Food Court across the street from NY NY, 24 hours |
In the food court across
from NY NY, Del Taco offers cheap 1/2-lb. bean &
cheese burritos. Vegans should ask them to hold the
cheese and sour cream.) There's also a Subway
here (and a Panda Express, which looks vegetarian, but has
secret meat and fish ingredients). In NY NY itself, their burger shop has veggie burgers on the menu. And I found this on a messageboard: "Il Fornaio at New York NY has vegan minestrone and a vegan salad. Everything is made on site, and they are very good about answering questions." |
| MGM
Grand |
Subway Sandwiches in the Grand
Canyon Shops next to the MGM Grand. |
Airport
Subway Sandwiches in Terminal C.
Downtown
| The
Beat Coffeehouse (520 Fremont) |
Roasted veggie sandwich
and veggie pizza on the menu. |
|
Walgreens |
Has a Subway sandwich shop. |
|
Four Queens |
Has a Subway sandwich shop. |
|
The Plaza (Fremont & Main) |
Has a Subway sandwich shop. |
East
Merkato & Axum Ethiopian Restaurants • 855 & 8630
E. Twain (2 mi. E. of the Strip),
702-796-1231 & 640-9440
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