What is the most famous vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco?

Greens at Fort Mason, open since 1979 and still the one visitors ask me about. The waterfront view is lovely, but the vegetable cooking is why it has lasted.

Where can I get vegan sushi in San Francisco?

Shizen in the Mission. It is an izakaya, the whole menu is plant based, and the queue outside tells you everything you need to know.

Where can I get a healthy lunch in San Francisco?

Nourish Cafe for raw bowls, wraps and cold pressed juice, or Wildseed on Union Street if you want to sit down properly. Both use the local produce the city is blessed with.

Do I need to be vegetarian to use this San Francisco guide?

No. The guide is plant-forward, not plant-only. These kitchens simply give vegetables the leading role.

Do these restaurants pay to be included?

Never. Every entry is my own judgement on sourcing, freshness and how much real produce reaches the plate.

San Francisco · United States

Gillian McKeith's guide to healthy restaurants in San Francisco.

Written by Gillian McKeith

San Francisco has the best produce of any city in America within an hour's drive of it, and the good kitchens here know exactly how lucky they are. When the growing is this good, a chef has nowhere to hide behind sauce.

Greens at Fort Mason has been doing this since 1979, rooted in the Zen Center, with a view over the water and vegetable cooking still worth the trip. Ananda Fuara near Civic Center is the calm, long running vegetarian room. Shizen in the Mission serves vegan sushi people happily queue for, Wildseed on Union Street is all plant and unfussy about it, and Nourish Cafe does raw bowls, wraps and cold pressed juice without a lot of noise.

The test is unchanged: purity, wholesomeness, organic wherever the chef can manage it, and an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables, pulses, grains and seeds. Nobody pays to be on this page.

5 restaurants in San Francisco

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Vegetarian

Ananda Fuara

San Francisco, United States

Long-running meditative vegetarian restaurant near Civic Center.

California vegetarian

Greens

$$$

San Francisco, United States

Fort Mason institution since 1979, a Zen Center-rooted vegetarian restaurant with one of the city's great waterfront views.

Cafe

Nourish Cafe.

San Francisco

Cafe

Nourish Cafe

San Francisco, United States

Small plant-based cafe doing raw bowls, wraps and cold-pressed juice.

Japanese

Shizen

$$$

San Francisco, United States

Mission izakaya serving vegan sushi and Japanese small plates good enough to queue for.

Plant-based

Wildseed

San Francisco, United States

Airy all-plant restaurant and bar on Union Street doing bowls, pizza and cocktails.

Eating well in San Francisco: your questions

What is the most famous vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco?: Greens at Fort Mason, open since 1979 and still the one visitors ask me about. The waterfront view is lovely, but the vegetable cooking is why it has lasted.
Where can I get vegan sushi in San Francisco?: Shizen in the Mission. It is an izakaya, the whole menu is plant based, and the queue outside tells you everything you need to know.
Where can I get a healthy lunch in San Francisco?: Nourish Cafe for raw bowls, wraps and cold pressed juice, or Wildseed on Union Street if you want to sit down properly. Both use the local produce the city is blessed with.
Do I need to be vegetarian to use this San Francisco guide?: No. The guide is plant-forward, not plant-only. These kitchens simply give vegetables the leading role.
Do these restaurants pay to be included?: Never. Every entry is my own judgement on sourcing, freshness and how much real produce reaches the plate.

Every San Francisco restaurant in the Gillian McKeith Restaurant Guide

Every San Francisco kitchen in the guide, with my notes on each.

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Gillian McKeith, author of the Gillian McKeith Restaurant Guide

About the author

Written by Gillian McKeith

I'm Gillian McKeith: television presenter, creator of the global hit show You Are What You Eat, writer, nutritionist, and the editor behind this guide. Every San Francisco entry here is chosen and written by me. I judge kitchens on the things that actually matter: real ingredients, honest sourcing, vegetables cooked with care, and food you feel better for eating.

Nothing on this page is a paid placement. Restaurants cannot buy a recommendation, and any listing marked as sponsored is labelled as such. If a kitchen slips, it comes out of the guide.

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