Traveling Vegan: Las Vegas, NV

I'm really excited to bring you my first vegan traveling post. Veganism and traveling are both passions of mine so there is no reason for them not to coexist in my life. Being a vegan has added another layer to the richness and experience I gain when traveling. I'm a natural planner. When my husband and I are planning a trip, I spend hours and hours researching vegan friendly food. I will be compiling my research from past and future travels, so you can take some of the guess work out of traveling.

Las Vegas is one of my favorite travel destinations. It's relatively cheap and almost everything is on one street! I love the lights, shows and the shopping. Every time I revisit Vegas I find new and exciting vegan options to try. I hope that growth will continue! Here are some of my favorite vegan spots in Vegas.

Garden Grill
Food Truck

Las Vegas, NV 89145

(619) 888-2579Menu

I've been trying to get to Garden Grill on my last several trips to LV, but never made it! Since it's a food truck it was hard to fit it's schedule into what we already had planned. Luckily, Garden Grill came to me! I attended the 2016 Portland Vegan Beer & Food Fest and Garden Grill was there. I was so excited to finally get to try this place that I had been chasing for years! Like all the other vendors at the fest, to accommodate the massive amount of people that attended, they only offered one or two food options. Garden Grill offered their donut burger called, The Thrillist and a philly cheesesteak. We opted for the philly cheesesteak since I'm not as adventurous as a burger with a donut bun. Not yet anyway. The philly cheesesteak was amazing. There was nothing special about the bread but it went perfectly with whatever "meat" they used and the amazing sauce that covered it all. It is pretty high on the list of the best vegan philly cheesesteaks I've ever had. If you can make it to the Garden Grill food truck while you are in Vegas, do it! I will definitely be making it a priority when I make it to Vegas next.

The Philly Cheeze Steak Sandwich
Sauteed Philly style steak, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions topped with mozzarella style cheeze sauce on freshly made hoagie roll.

Society Cafe
Permanently Closed :(
The Encore Hotel & Casino
3131 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 770-5300
Menu

This is one of my favorite vegan spots on the strip. Society Cafe has at least 2 vegan options for each meal time and the atmosphere is absolutely beautiful. The restaurant is open plan but it is located in a pretty quiet part of the casino (quiet for Vegas, anyway). The delicious pretzel sticks and butter they offer you are vegan upon request, so don't pass these up! Below are my favorite breakfast and lunch/dinner options.

Breakfast: The Vegan French Toast is a must when having breakfast at Society. It contains almond milk batter, caramelized bananas, and Vermont maple syrup. This french toast is so delicious that we will have it several times for breakfast while we are in town.

The other breakfast option they have is a Florentine Benedict which contains smoked tofu, spinach, English muffin, romesco sauce, and tomato cucumber salad. My husband had this our first time at Society and although he liked it, once he had the french toast there was no going back to the Benedict.

Lunch/Dinner: For lunch the stand out choice is the Wynn Burger with cheese. It contains a Gardein™ burger patty, American "cheese", ketchup, yellow mustard, pickles & onion, fries, and a chocolate shake. This meal is very reminiscent of a drive up (not drive through) restaurant of my youth. It's very cute and tastes amazing. No one would ever know that the shake was not made with cow's milk.

Their other option unfortunately falls short of it's competition. The vegan organic spaghetti with organic tomatoes, garlic, and basil is eight dollars more expensive than the burger and is much less satisfying.


Terrace Pointe Cafe
3131 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 770-3360
Menu 

The Terrance Pointe Cafe is a beautiful atmosphere to dine in, as are most places in the Wynn/Encore resort.

Some of the vegan options are similar to other restaurants in the Wynn/Encore but it also has a few original dishes.


One that will look familiar from Society Cafe is the french toast. This dish was very similar but the bread was much thicker and softer, compared to the almost crunchy texture of the french toast at Society. It's great to get to choose from two vegan french toasts in such close proximity.

An original dish we had there was the tofu scramble skillet. This was a great warm breakfast dish that came with some spicy sauce on the side (thankfully). It was tasty but the portion did seem a little small.

All in all, the Terrance Pointe Cafe is another great option for casual vegan dinning in the Wynn and Encore.


Allegro
3131 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 770-2040
Menu

Allegro is your typical semi-fancy restaurant where the prices are high and the portions are small. Well, that might be a bit harsh. It's a very nice restaurant that everyone in the family can enjoy, but it is pretty over priced.

For our appetizer, we split the butternut squash soup. It was definitely a different take on the soup with Tuscan kale and pumpkin seeds. It was surprisingly good and was a perfect size to split.

My main course was the Gardein Parmigiano. As you can see, the portion is really small but there is enough there to satisfy your hunger. The vegan mozzarella is not great but the Gardein chicken and pasta is spot on.

If you are celebrating something or have exhausted all of the other vegan options in Vegas (like that could happen), I would give this place a try.


NOTE: All of the restaurants in the Wynn & Encore have vegan options in a wide array of cuisines. Visit their website for more information.


Holstein's Shakes and Buns
3708 S Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 698-7940
Menu


Holstein's. Sigh. I feel like this place has real potential to be a good place for vegans and their families to eat while they're in Vegas. They have one vegan food option and one vegan shake.

Their vegan burger is called the "Urth Burger." It's a house made patty with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, and avocado. The burger is good but I feel like there was something missing in the patty. It was a little bland for me. I got a small salad as a side because their french fries are fried in the same fryer as their seafood. So stay away from their fries.

The vegan coconut raspberry shake is the best thing about this place. It's got a really good taste and consistency to it and it topped with soy whipped cream and a yummy coconut marshmallow.

So you might be thinking, "So what's the problem with this place, Ashley? It doesn't sound so bad!" Well, here are my issues with Holstein's.

First, the attitude of the staff. I have been there twice and have had at least one bad interaction with an employee each time. The hosts act like you are inconveniencing them by wanting a table and some of their servers almost seem annoyed that their place of work serves one vegan option. When I asked to add cooked onions to my burger but wanted them cooked in oil, they said that wasn't possible. I guess this restaurant is oil free! After taking our order, she asked my father-in-law if he would like some tasty meat or something like that. Really?

Second, is the art in the restaurant. There are images of cows over EVERY inch of this place. Smiling and happy cartoon cows. Sure, to a vegan, it naturally seems insensitive and weird to eat an animal with it's image all around you. But it gets worse, some of the larger art on the walls depict cows making burgers in some kind of backyard BBQ setting. I found all of this pretty disturbing and offensive. This many not bother some people but it really bothered me. So keep this in mind if you are thinking of visiting this place. With so many great vegan options on the strip, I would keep Holstein's as a backup option for dinner if your other plans don't work out. 


TIABI Coffee & Waffle
3961 S Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 222-1722
Menu 

When I heard that there was a coffee shop in Vegas that offered vegan waffles, I was really excited. They have a basic vegan waffle and you can chose two toppings. I chose strawberries and my husband chose chocolate chips, both with agave nectar. Honestly, they were just ok. If I REALLY wanted waffles, I would go again but other than that I wouldn't rush back. If you're a huge waffle fan, give it a try but it wasn't a huge hit for me.


























Violette's Vegan
 8560 W Desert Inn Rd
 Las Vegas, NV 89117
(702) 685-0466
Menu

One of the best kept vegan secrets in Vegas is Violette's Vegan. This new all vegan restaurant opened in February 2015 and we were happy to find it when we went back to Vegas this Thanksgiving. We went for lunch and were thrilled to add Violette's Vegan to the list of our top vegan restaurants.

As you know may know, mac and cheese is a big favorite in my house. So had to split the mac and cheese they offered up at Violette's. It was thick, creamy and crunchy on top. Can mac and cheese get any better? It definitely makes our list of top vegan mac and cheeses.

My husband got the California Dreaming Bacon Cheeze Burger with fries, which he dubbed the best burger he has ever had. EVER. That is quite a compliment coming from him. The king of vegan burgers.

I tried The Godfather which was hearty and delicious. It was meatballs in marinara sauce over linguini. It also came with beautiful garlic bread and salad. So good!

While this lunch alone was enough to keep us coming back to Violette's every time where in Vegas, the stand out meal here was when we came back the following day for their Thanksgiving dinner. A life changing culinary experience. Read all about it here.

So, run don't walk to Violette's Vegan the next time you are in Vegas.








Hussong's Cantina
3930 S Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 632-6450
Menu

Hussong's Cantina is very close to Slice of Vegas in Mandalay Bay and is owned by the same company.

Hussong's Cantina is a Mexican restaurant and has a impressive vegan menu. I'm a sucker for burritos, so I ordered the burrito with Gardein chicken and green sauce. As you can see from the picture, this burrito was serious business. It was huge and topped with all kinds of goodness. The servers love that they serve vegan food and were happy to answer any questions we had. We had this twice while we were there and it's a dish and resturant that I would highly recommend.


VegeNation
616 Carson Ave #120
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(702) 366-8515
Menu

VegeNation is a very hip spot near Fremont St. with plenty of seating and trendy servers. I am so determined to try as much vegan food as I can while I'm traveling, that we arrived at VegeNation with full stomachs.


We decided to have dessert there (there is ALWAYS room for dessert, right?) and take something substantial with us to go.

For our dessert first method, we ordered the brownie sundae with chocolate and vanilla ice cream and caramelized bananas. It was pretty amazing I must say.

For later, we ordered the muchos gracias, which is an organic sweet potato quesadilla with black beans and chipotle creme. I had it later that night in my hotel room and I was really impressed. The sweet potato filling was just right and with the chipotle creme and the sides with guacamole and salsa, this dish was really good.

I would really like to go back there when I'm starving to try more of there dishes and actually have a full meal in the restaurant. This is one you definitely don't want to miss when visiting Vegas.



Slice of Vegas Pizza
The Shoppes at Mandalay Place
3930 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 632-6470
Menu

Slice of Vegas has one of the best vegan menus around. Period. Pizza, pasta, sandwiches, deserts, you name it. It's vegan junk food, but we all need a treat once in a while. We ordered the garlic bread for an appetizer, which came with an actual clove of garlic (Yum!)

I couldn't resist ordering the "meatball" sub with the rosemary-basil french fries. It was A-mazing and was a favorite of mine in a past, meat eating life.

For desert we ordered the chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. If you have a sweet tooth, this is the cake for you but if you are sensitive to sugar, you might want to try something less sweet.

Ronald's Donuts
4600 Spring Mountain Rd.
Las Vegas, NV 89102
Chinatown
(702) 873-1032

I'm not a huge fan of donuts. If I had a choice between a vegan donut or another vegan friendly desert, I would choice whatever the other choice was. BUT Ronald's is another story. Their donuts are so tasty, they even converted an ole' donut hater like me. 90% of their donuts are vegan (Usually the donuts on the top two rows are vegan but confirm when you get there.)


If it isn't enough that their donuts are vegan and delicious, they are VERY reasonably priced. You will be amazed at how many donuts you will get there for under $10. So stock up! Ronald's is CASH ONLY so be sure stop at an ATM before you arrive.

Honorable Mentions:

Pink's Hot Dogs
3667 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 405-4711
Menu

Squeeze 
3545 Las Vegas Blvd SLas Vegas, NV 89109
The Linq
(800) 351-7400
 Menu

If you have any favorite vegan spots in Las Vegas, let me know in the comments!

All photos by Ashley of theveganadventure.com