The Good 
The Buffets
The Fast
The Ugly
The Potlucks
The Untried
Abu's
Abu's has been voted as having the best falafel in town for ten years in a row. We think that Casablanca's is a bit better, but Abu's menu is a vegan's dream as they clearly separate menu items into vegan and non-vegan sections. 1978 N. Farwell Avenue, (414) 277-0485.
Beans & Barley
This is the spot for vegetarian dining. There's a good selection of breakfasts and dinners, as well as a deli and store. 1901 E. North Avenue, (414) 278-7878![[Serves Breakfast]](/images/breakfastToaster.gif "Serves Breakfast")
Café 1505
Haven't tried the breakfast there yet, but it is a nice spot for lunch. The downside is that their hours are limiting as they don't serve dinner. 505 W. Mequon Road, Mequon, (414) 241-7074.Chancery
The Chancery is a pretty popular family restaurant all over Southeastern Wisconsin. They're not really catering to vegetarians so if you go, be sure to fill out a comment card requesting that they offer up a black bean burger (because their toppings are pretty good otherwise) or maybe a tofu option with their pastas and pizzas. That said, you can easily swing quite a few menu items to be vegetarian- or vegan-friendly. For example, Scott's favorite, Hey Curly, Where's Moe? is a great noodle stir-fry that can be prepared without meat. The same goes for their tasty Cashew Stir-Fry. They also offer the East-Side Market Wrap made with hummus and veggies and a build-your-own-pasta bowl with meatless options. If you visit a Chancery with a wood-fired oven (such as the Chancery in Mequon), you can order a great-tasting build-your-own pizza with no cheese. Oh, and the kids' meals are now offering a fruit or veggie cup as the side dish, which is good to see.Classic Slice
Not only does this place serve pizza that tastes as close to East coast pizza as we've ever had in the Midwest, but they use organic ingredients and have vegan pies. So far, we've sampled 2 of the 3 they serve and give them a hearty thumbs-up. This place also serves monster slices, and that's no joke. While you're waiting for your pizza, enjoying watching the pizza maker toss the largest pizza pie in the air. The sauce is fantastic, let's hope for more vegan options soon! 2797 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue, Bayview, (414) 238-2406
Comet Café
This coffee shop has a great selection of items that can be made for carnivores, vegetarians, or vegans. They have good coffee, a great selection of beers, and it is also a really good spot for breakfast as well. Some of the foods are fried, which is good for satisfying a certain craving but can also detract from the attempted healthful benefits of going meatless. 1947 N. Farwell Avenue, (414) 273-7677.
EE-Sane
Everything on the menu of this Thai-Laotian restaurant can be made vegetarian. They have many excellent and tasty curries and sauces. The have you specify on a scale from 1 to 10 how hot you'd like your dish. Watch out because different chefs interpret the numbers differently so it is best to aim low on your first visit there. 1806 North Farwell Avenue, (414) 224-8284.
Good Life
While they're not a true vegetarian restaurant, they have several delightful vegetarian options. For appetizers, there's the veggie cakes or cuban corn on the cob. They offer a veggie burger that sounds good, but we haven't tried it yet. The jerk tofu was truly good, and if you're hungry, we recommend getting the platter so that you get the corn on the cob and plantains included with it. 1935 North Water Street, (414) 271-5375.
Ichiban
We finally tried this Japanese restaurant and found it to be good. There is a large selection of vegetarian appetizers (we recommend the seaweed chips), sushi rolls, and entrees. They even have a kids menu and the kids get a kick out of the compartmentalized bento boxes that the food is served in. 2336 N. Farwell Avenue, (414) 278-8056.Izumi's
This place was pretty busy around 6 p.m. on a Friday night when we tried it, so that's a good sign. While we didn't get a table, we had an equally enjoyable time at the sushi bar where remaining dinners ended up being seated. There are several vegetarian appetizers, and their grilled asparagus may be the best asparagus ever. There are only so many ways to make a vegetarian sushi, especially when it is an AAC roll but theirs had a bit of a twist on it that's worth investigating. Lastly, the teriyaki tofu was served on a sizzling plate with crisp carrots and green beans which was a refreshing alternative to the hibachi tofu we often get at Samurai. Izumis: 2150 N. Prospect Ave, (414) 271-5278.
PF Chang's
Sure, it's a chain restaurant but it sure is tasty. They've got some vegetable dumplings as a good appetizer and a host of flavorful vegetarian plates. The Milwaukee location is at Mayfair Mall.Riviera Maya
[From guest reviewer Barb Paegelow] This used to be across the street from its present location with the name Xel-Ha. I am not usually thrilled with Mexican restaurants; the vegetarian choices tend to be cheese, cheese, and (for variety) cheese and you take your chances with the potentially lard-riddled frijoles. This place is different. Most of the entrees are various moles over your choice of meat but there are also two vegetarian choices: Papitas (potatoes, corn, poblano pepper) or Calabazitas (zucchini, corn, carrots, and red pepper). I had Pipian Verde (pumpkin seed mole) over calabazitas enchiladas. Very yummy, not too spicy, and the only dairy was a light garnish of Mexican cheese (which I could have asked them to leave off). All entrees come with tortilla soup, which they will give you a vegetarian variant if you ask for it. They also have three specifically vegetarian entrees, only one of which appears to have cheese in it.Scott and Kathy finally got a chance to try this place and it was good. The tamarind specialty margerita was extremely good, and we tried the calabazitas. Unfortunately, they were out of papitas which is what Scott would have preferred. Kathy had the fried plantain patties that unfortunately had cheese in them. An appetizer of chips came with a really fresh-tasting guacamole salsa that was enjoyed by all. 2258 S Kinnickinnic Ave, (414) 294-4848.
Riverwest Co-Op Grocery and Café
Most of the menu can be made vegan, and the prices are a real bargain. This is a serve-yourself kind of place with only about five tables but they offer up a fantastic breakfast burrito. 733 E. Clarke Street, (414) 264-7933.Roots
They serve locally-grown organic food. We tried them before we gave up meat and found it to be a neat atmosphere and good food. We finally got around to trying them for breakfast and found it to be good. So far, we've just tried the tofu scrambler, but it was different enough from other places' that it's worth checking out. They include asparagus, broccoli, and eggplant in their tofu scrambler. Next time, we'll try their a la carte breakfast menu. They open around 10 a.m. on Sunday for breakfast and get a crowd quickly, so a reservation is recommended. 1818 N. Hubbard Street, (414) 374-8480.
Samurai
Even if you can't get a seat at the entertaining cook-the-food-in-your-face hibachi tables, it's still worth a trip to this restaurant. The hibachi tofu and vegetables is a fantastic dinner, and they have good appetizers such as vegetable dumplings and edamame. You can top things off with a dish of green tea ice cream. 6969 N. Port Washington Road, Glendale, (414) 228-8818.Seoul (formerly Han Kuk Kwan)
[February, 2008] We finally got a chance to try this place for dinner. They recently hung a banner out front advertising vegetarian options. They have a couple of vegetarian appetizers, such as very yummy potstickers and some nice glazed tofu. The vegetarian dinner options are limited mostly to a couple of dishes that they substitute meat with tofu, but what we had was good. Supposedly, they have a bigger crowd at lunch but who knows if they have vegetarian options on their buffet. 2178 N. Prospect Ave, (414) 289-8208.
Casablanca
An all-you-can-eat Middle Eastern vegetarian lunch buffet that's both tasty and a bargain. 728 E. Brady Street, (414) 271-6000.
Maharaja
This is a favorite of ours for lunch. They serve a large variety of Indian dishes on their buffet along with two soups and multiple desserts. An equivalent alternative also in the Milwaukee area is Tandoor. 1550 N. Farwell Avenue, (414) 276-2250.
Chins
This is a variation on the noodles places whereby you're essentially getting rice in lieu of noodles. However, at about half the price of BD's Mongolian Grill, this place offers quick, fresh vegetables and even the option to have brown rice instead of white (bleached) rice. The kids menu seemed to be a hit as well, especially the chocolate-dipped fortune cookie included with each. The menu is clearly marked with vegetarian options, including which stir fry flavors are vegetarian.
Chipotle
Vegetarian tacos and burritos are a great deal and fill you up easily. This is a family favorite, and what's an added bonus is that at least they are making an effort at serving humanely-raised meat. You can sign up for their mailing list at their website. An equivalent alternative also in the area is Qdoba.
Noodles & Company
The noodle dishes can be made with tofu, and the Indonesian peanut saute is a favorite. An equivalent alternative also in the area is Nothing But Noodles.
African Hut
The menu looks to be pretty good, but for some reason all I remember was that we were not that impressed with it when we tried it. Now that we are vegetarians, it probably warrants another try. 1107 N. Old World Third Street, (414) 765-1110.bd's Mongolian Barbeque
The concept looks great: you pick the ingredients and sauces for your own custom stir fry. However, at $11.50 for a bowl, we can go over to the Samurai restaurant in Glendale and for $10.50 get a delicious hibachi tofu and vegetable meal that is cooked right in front of us. The food is not dazzling enough to warrant the long wait nor the fact that the customer is doing half the work since you have to put together the bowl and then stand in line while it gets cooked. When we inquired about their advertised vegetarian option, they sent us to the "allergy-free" cooking station and "grilled" us as to whether we really were strict vegetarians. I'm assuming that they have to clean that grill after each bowl is cooked and were feeling a little lazy about doing so.No. 1 Chinese Restaurant
This place is right around the corner from us and we finally tried it on Christmas Eve, 2007. Instead of "No. 1", they should call this place "No one" because we think no one would really want to eat there. Maybe we just hit them on a bad night but the food was about as dull as possible. The veggie egg rolls were a complete joke as typical veggie egg rolls have a minimum of 3 vegetables (carrots, cabbage, maybe bean sprouts) and theirs basically were just cabbage. The rest of the food continued down the flavorless path, unfortunately.Oriental Coast
While we haven't tried their inexpensive lunch buffet, a family dinner there was disappointing. We arrived at dinner time on a Thursday night and the place was empty, which was not a good sign. While they have a reputation as a decent Chinese restaurant with vegetarian options, it didn't live up to the expectation. All three dishes we ordered consisted of sauces or coatings in which you could taste the sugar in each. Even cheaper places surround their sesame chicken with steamed broccoli but here the ingredients are minimal, save for the excessive sugary taste of the sauces. I'm not sure we're going to even eat the leftovers. 1230 E. Brady Street, (414) 278-8680.
Palomino
They definitely have quite a few vegetarian options. However, this is not healthly eating as all of their dishes are fried. To top it off, it's actually a bar so you're battling a potentially-smoky atmosphere as well. 2491 S. Superior Street, Bayview, (414) 747-1007.Shiraz Persian Grill
This is a decent option for fast-food vegetarian, but they missed on just enough things to not really make this is favorable dining option. While they offer a good amount of vegetarian options such as samosas and falafel, they seem to still be coming up to speed with their new restaurant. The service was iffy with one staff member being particularly helpful while the other one was utterly confused and disinterested in actually even working. The falafel plate, which doesn't actually appear on the menu but is an option, was $6.99 but lacked the typical lettuce, tomatoes, and other garnish that would make a falafel plate complete. It was only when one of the employees asked if we wanted tahini that there was at least something to put on the falafel sandwich we made out of the pita bread. Oh, and the pita bread comes fresh out of the bag rather than toasted or grilled the way most places would serve it. The rest of the food had a fast-food feel to it, with the vegetable side dishes typically cooked down enough to practically dissolve on your fork. 2921 N. Oakland Ave., (414) 967-1000.
Twisted Fork
We used to eat there a lot before they changed their menu as the Jamaican jerk tofu was awesome. While their menu now lists black bean burgers and a Mediterranean hummus wrap that we have yet to try, it's not very vegetarian-friendly and they've since cut back on kid-friendliness as well. 2238 N. Farwell Avenue, (414) 431-1080.
West Bank Café
This place has pretty tasty Thai food. However, their ridiculously slow service makes this a poor dining-in option. I am sure that if you call ahead and order it to-go that it is more satisfying. 732 E. Burleigh Street, (414) 251-4455.
Milwaukee Area Resources for Vegetarians
Typically held exactly at 5:30 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month at the Friends' Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Place in Riverwest. This is very kid-friendly and the turn-out is usually around two dozen people.
Urban Ecology Center
We love the Urban Ecology Center and now one more reason for us to keep showing up there is the vegetarian potlucks that are from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the 3rd Thursday of each month. Bring a plate and fork along with your meatless dish to share at their picnic-style meal. It's also kid-friendly, and typically between a 12 and 18 people attend.
Ardor Pub & Grill
607 N Broadway, Milwaukee, (414) 224-1476.
Café Manna
[March 5, 2008] This is a new all-vegetarian restaurant out in Brookfield. Supposedly, the portion sizes are good for the price and they have more than just tofu. Unfortunately, they're in a strip mall where they're not likely to get a lot of business, but let's hope they can make it. 3815 N. Brookfield Road, Brookfield, (262) 790-2340.
City Market
We haven't tried them for breakfast yet. Supposedly, they have vegetarian chili as well as a build-your-own-sandwich option; but they have a reputation for being a bit pricey. 2205 E. Capitol Drive, Shorewood, (414) 962-0100.
Ethiopian Cottage
Haven't eaten there yet but we saw their menu and it looks good. It looks like they are now advertising a vegetarian and vegan lunch buffet! 1824 N. Farwell Ave. 414-224-5226
Soup House
Their menu shows 6 soups a day, with at least one always being a vegetarian soup. There's free soup on your birthday as well! 324 E. Michigan Street, (414) 277-7687