You've been there before: You're making dinner plans with a group of friends, some of you are vegetarian and some of you are not, and you're trying to remember which restaurants offer more than a couple options for the veggie crowd.
Well, we're here to help, because nothing is more maddening than searching through a dozen menus and reciting options out loud until you find something you can all agree upon.
Here are 17 Denver restaurants that either offer good options for both carnivores and herbivores, including the all-veggie joints (because maybe you or your friends are not the type of meat eaters who absolutely must eat meat at a meal). See more about the all-vegetarian Denver restaurants places here.
(Got one you'd add? Tell me: [email protected].)
Aloy Modern Thai
aloymodernthai.com
2134 Larimer St.
303-379-9759
You could throw pretty much any Thai restaurant in here, so we picked this big, fun, centrally located one to represent them as a category. You can get any of the curry, noodle, wok fry and fried rice dishes with tofu.
Beet Box
beetboxdenver.com
1030 E. 22nd Ave.
303-861-0017
This place does vegan sandwiches and pastries. Go crazy.
City O’ City
cityocitydenver.com
206 E. 13th Ave.
303-831-6443
Huge vegetarian menu with plenty of vegan options, including sandwiches, pizza, pasta, barbecue, tacos, comfort food and Asian food.
Crave Real Burgers
craverealburgers.com
1550 Blake St.
303-534-5878
I know what you’re thinking, but you can substitute a black bean soy patty for any burger on the menu.
Govinda’s Garden
govindasdenver.com
1400 Cherry Street, Denver
303-333-4000
This vegetarian and vegan spot has a regularly changing menu.
Handy Diner
facebook.com/handydiner
2958 Downing St.
619-730-5264
It’s “vegan comfort food,” so just image a regular diner menu, but vegan.
Las Margs
facebook.com/lasmargstavern
1521 N. Marion St.
720-361-2137
This little Mexican spot has vegetarian options including tacos, rellenos and enchiladas.
Mercury Café
mercurycafe.com
2199 California St.
303-294-9281
Super-charming café for when one of you wants ham and cheese potatoes and the other wants grilled tempeh with black bean sauce and quinoa.
Mezcal
mezcalcolorado.com
3230 E. Colfax Ave.
303-322-5219
This Bluebird District Mexican restaurant (perfect for pre-show fueling) offers veggie options for their fajitas, enchiladas, burritos, tamales and tacos.
New Saigon
newsaigon.com
630 S. Federal Blvd.
303-936-4954
The massive menu at this Federal Boulevard Staple offers 12 tofu variation of the standard entrees.
Sputnik
sputnikdenver.com
3 S. Broadway
720-570-4503
Another good pre- or post-show spot, serving veggie options like the Israeli falafel and it’s top-notch grilled cheese (seriously) next door to the Hi-Dive.
The Ethiopian Restaurant
yelp.com/menu/ethiopian-restaurant-denver
2816 E. Colfax Ave.
303-322-5939
They make it easy and throw all 14 veggie options in their own section of the menu.
Trattoria Stella
trattoriastella.squarespace.com
3201 E. Colfax Ave.
303-320-8635
3470 W. 32nd Ave.
303-458-1128
Both locations have a couple veggie pasta dishes. My personal favorite is the truffle asparagus spaghetti: asparagus, arugula, toasted pine nuts, mushrooms and truffle oil over egg spaghetti.
True Food Kitchen
truefoodkitchen.com
2800 E. 2nd Ave., Suite 101
720-5097661
Technically there’s only one veggie entree, the spaghetti squash casserole, but with creative veggie pizza and bowl options (butternut squash pizza with smoked onion, organic kale, vegan almond ricotta and dried cranberry, anyone?) we’ll count it.
Vital Root
vitalrootdenver.com
3915 Tennyson St., Denver
303-474-4131
The all-veggie sister restaurant of Root Down, which only has one veggie entree right now, opened on Tennyson fairly recently.
WaterCourse Foods
watercoursefoods.com
837 E. 17th Ave.
303-832-7313
Another "vegan comfort food" spot, but as you probably know, this is more upscale than a diner.
Yard House
yardhouse.com
1555 Court Place
303-572-9273
The gardein portion of the menu takes 13 of the tasty meat-based dishes and swaps in this soy-based chicken substitute.
Obviously, this is not a complete list of every restaurant in Denver that offers more than two vegetarian entrées. If you'd like to tip us off to a particularly good one we've missed, send it to [email protected].
