While the Horse Capital of the World doesn’t have much in the way of completely vegan restaurants, that doesn’t mean that vegans and vegetarians have to miss out on great eats. A number of Lexington restaurants now offer dedicated vegan menus and tasty vegan dishes for those that follow a plant-based diet or who are ethical vegans.
Dedicated Vegan Restaurants in Lexington:
Not Your Ordinary Vegan Cafe
This is the only dedicated vegan restaurant we know of in Lexington. If you know of another one, please let us know! Not Your Ordinary Vegan Cafe started as a vegan catering service and has since developed into a restaurant serving tasty vegan meals out of the back of Total Grace Church. The menu has a heavy focus on veganized comfort foods with highlights such as vegan nachos, chili cheese fries, burgers, bbq sandwiches and mac and cheese. Follow the signage to the back of the church, there’s plenty of parking.
1313 N. Limestone Street, Lexington, KY 40505 | (859) 545-0130
Restaurants with Vegan Options in Lexington
Alfalfa’s
Alfalfa’s is a Lexington mainstay, serving up tasty southern and global dishes from their brick-walled, art-filled space on E. Main Street. Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free items are clearly marked on the menu and other items can be customized to make them vegan. Highlights include the Tofu Burrito and the Vegan Hoppin’ John. Burger lovers will find an Impossible Burger on the menu as well as a house-made Black Bean Quinoa Burger. The weekend brunch also has tasty vegan options.
141 East Main Street, Lexington, KY 40507; 859-253-0014
Vegan sushi in Lexington, Kentucky
Blue Sushi Sake Grill
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Gorgeous (and delicious) plate of all vegan sushi today @bluesushisakegrill
Blue Sushi Sake Grill has a clearly-marked menu with numerous vegan items including a whole page of vegan sushi offerings. Start with the regular and charred edamame, miso soup with vegan kombu broth, house or seaweed salads, or the Cucumber Sunomono. Don’t miss the Crispy Brussels Sprouts or Nasu Tempura (deep fried Japanese eggplant served with a tasty aioli) from the medium plates section. But, make sure you save plenty of room for the sushi. It’s no boring California roll here, rather, you’re tastebuds will be delighted with the BBQ eggplant eel, seaweed caviar, fried tofu and avocado nigiri. The vegan maki options include some truly creative options such as the Eden Roll (sweet potato vegan tempura, grilled asparagus, edamame hummus, sun-dried tomato and more), or the Shittake to Me which is a roll that captures the tastes of Thailand with mushrooms sautéed in coconut milk, thai basil and a sweet soy sauce.
105 Summit At Fritz Farm, Ste 130, Lexington, KY 40517, 859-554-4452
Vegan Pizza in Lexington, Kentucky
Mellow Mushroom
This hippie-themed sit down pizza restaurant has a range of vegan toping options for their pizzas and sandwiches. You can order the Veg Out pizza from the specialty menu with vegan cheese, or build your own pizza to suit. They offer vegan cheese, tempeh, and tofu as topping options. In addition to pizzas other vegan options include the hummus, pretzels (ask for no parmesan and no garlic butter), bruschetta (with no feta). You can also veganize their calzones and hoagies.
503 S. Upper Street, Lexington, KY 40508; 859-281-6111
Blaze Pizza
Blaze Pizza is a hip, counter-serve pizzeria that serves up crispy, thin crust pizzas with a wide array of creative toppings and sauces. Build your own pie at this assembly-line style pizza joint. Toppings include vegan cheese, vegan chorizo, and tons of veggies. Their Original, House-made Gluten-Free and High-Rise dough options are all vegan. For specific vegan info about each of their ingredients, please visit Blaze Pizza’s allergen page.
4049 Finn Way #110, Lexington, KY 40517, 859-692-4086
Mod Pizza
This chain restaurant offers assembly-line style, build-your-own pizzas with a large variety of toppings. Vegans will appreciate the vegan cheese and crusts and a range of vegan sauces including red, bbq and garlic rub. Start by choosing your size and then build from there with more than 30 choices of sauces, cheeses, dressing, meat and veggies. It’s easy to make your perfect pizza or make it a salad instead. We love that you pay one set price no matter how many toppings you add, so feel free to pile on all the veggies you want! There are two Lexington locations.
Hamburg: 2217 War Admiral Way, Lexington, KY 40509 | 859-263-0110
Tates Creek Centre: 4101 Tates Creek Centre Drive, Lexington, KY 40517 | 859-368-0855
Pearl’s
Sister restaurant of Ona and County Club, Pearl’s Pizza Pie offers a vegan Caesar salad, multiple vegan pizzas and a vegan dessert. You can make any pizza on the menu vegan with their vegan sausage, vegan ricotta and vegan parm. There are also tasty vegan cauliflower wings on the starter menu. The breadsticks can be served with marinara or vegan ranch.
133 N Limestone, Lexington, KY 40507 | (859) 309-0321
Vegan Asian Food in Lexington, KY
Archa Nine Thai Kitchen
Even though Archa Nine Thai Kitchen serves many meat-based dishes, there’s an array of vegan options available. Pick one of the 5 dishes on the ‘Vegan Glory’ section of the menu. You’ll find a Thai salad, Woon Sen noodles, Szechwan Eggplant and more. Other menu items can easily be made vegan, so just let your server know. Finish off your meal with a tasty dish of dairy-free coconut ice cream for dessert.
162 Old Todds Road, Suite 110, Lexington, KY 40509 | 859-309-2726
Asian Wind
Asian Wind is a local favorite known for their modern interpretation of traditional American Chinese favorites. There are a number of vegan options available with a whole list of tofu and mock meat entrees to choose from. Their vegetarian meat options are nicknamed Kwachic and there’s a whole slew of choices. The Sesame Kwachic is one of our favorites.
3735 Palomar Centre Drive #40, Lexington, KY 40513 | (859) 223-0060
PF Changs
This popular US chain offers Americanized Chinese cuisine and includes a number of vegetarian and vegan-friendly menu options. There are marked menu items that are vegetarian and some of the sides and appetizers are vegan or can be made vegan including the lettuce cups, wok spinach and Sichuan asparagus.
3405 Nicholasville Rd, Lexington, KY 40503 | (859) 271-1165
Vegan Indian Food in Lexington, KY
Tandoor Indian Cuisine & Bar
Tandoor Indian Restaurant is a family-owned Indian eatery that serves Northern Indian entrees. They specialize in Tandoori dishes, which are dishes that are cooked in a special clay oven. The menu has a dedicated vegan section with options such as Aloo Gobhi, Bhindi Masala, and Eggplant Bharta. They serve dinner and a daily lunch buffet.
3146 Maple Leaf Drive #110, Lexington, KY 40509 | 859-263-5771
Vegan Mexican, Latin and Southwestern Food in Lexington Kentucky
Chipotle Mexican Grill
One of our favorite options for a quick meal, Chipotle is an assembly-line style, fast-casual Mexican restaurant. You can customize your order of tacos, burrito, burrito bowl or salad. Make sure to skip the cheese or sour cream to keep it vegan. They have a savory sofritas filling made from soy protein or have fajita veggies instead. The rice, black beans and guacamole are all vegan but the pinto beans have pork at most locations. Many locations in LEX.
Moe’s Southwest Grill
Moe’s offers a similar assembly-line setup where you can build your own vegan Southwestern American dish. Choose from tacos, burritos, nachos or rice bowls and fill them with beans, tofu and grilled veggies. You can round out your meal with a side of chips and salsa. Three locations in Lexington.
Corto Lima
This Latin restaurant has vegan options clearly marked on the menu to make it easy for vegan and vegetarian customers to choose a delicious option. Choices include the salsa trio, black bean dip, guacamole, quesadillas, cauliflower tacos, arepas, and our favorites, barbecued jackfruit with cashew cream.
Vegan Coffee shops and bakeries in Lexington
North Lime Coffee & Donuts
Celebrating everyone’s favorite union, coffee and donuts, this coffee shop has 2 locations in Lexington (the original on North Limestone and a second on Clays Mill) and one in Old Louisville. They have non-dairy milk options and always have a vegan donut or other sweet treat available.
