Long Island's 16 Best Restaurants With Vegetarian Fare

Opened in the summer of 2015, this restaurant is the only all-vegan eatery on New York's Long Island. Owned by Jay Astafa of 3 Brothers Pizza Cafe in Farmingdale, this venue is packed to capacity with those who love delicious, healthy food without meat or dairy products.

3 Brothers Vegan Cafe
1038 Montauk Highway
Copiague, New York

If you love Indian food, this New Hyde Park restaurant offers some of the best on Long Island. When Madras Woodlands was created back in the 1970s, it was the first authentic vegetarian South Indian restaurant in the New York area. All dishes are prepared in the South Indian "udupi" culinary style, which incorporates spices, curry powder, herbs, fresh fruits and vegetables, and coconuts and nuts. Still completely vegetarian, the food is also certified kosher. From mulligatawny soup to tempting samosas, the appetizers are well-prepared and lightly or heavily spiced to your taste. Entrees include many dosas—large lentil crepes filled with a variety of luscious stuffings—and other tasty fare such as the mattar paneer, a combination of spiced green peas with chunks of cheese in a rich, savory sauce. Save room for a dessert like the badam halwa, a sweet almond concoction topped with ice cream.

Madras Woodlands
1627 Hillside Avenue 
New Hyde Park, New York

In 2009, 3 Brothers added a separate upscale vegan menu to its standard offerings of pizza with meat toppings, making this a cozy place that's great for vegan dining with carnivore friends. The new menu includes appetizers like oyster mushroom scampi and no-meat, no-dairy, all-delicious seitan Marsala and eggplant rolatini. There are also savory whole wheat and gluten-free pastas, for instance, whole wheat crust with pesto sauce and more.  There's also a decent wine list. In 2011, the restaurant received PETA's award for the Best Vegan Pizza in the United States. Initially located in Rockville Center, the restaurant moved to Farmingdale in 2012.

3 Brothers Pizza Cafe
75 Merritts Road
Farmingdale, New York

Hicksville is famous for its many Indian restaurants and boutiques. The House of Dosas is totally vegetarian, and you'll find many Indian families enjoying meals here. The restaurant specializes in South Indian food, and they'll honor your requests for mild or spicy meals. As the name implies, you're going to get a lot of dosas here. These large, paper-thin lentil crepes can be ordered with fillings like onions and potatoes, or other tasty ingredients. Their delicious vegetable curries range from eggplant curry to vegetable khorma, cooked with coconut and mild spices.

House of Dosas
416 South Broadway
Hicksville, NY
(516) 938-7517

Port Jefferson's Tiger Lily Café has a '60's retro look, and the vegetarian dishes as well as non-veggie meals are served in a funky setting with psychedelic art. Music plays while you eat or amble outside in warmer weather to the deck. The juice bar features soy smoothies, protein shakes, fresh juices, wheat grass shots and more. If you need a caffeine fix, Tiger Lily's also serves black and tans, mocha blanca, Tahitian vanilla chai and Red Bull chai at the Java Bar.

Tiger Lily Café
156 East Main Street
Port Jefferson, New York

Naturally Good Foods & Café is primarily a health food store, but there's take-out and you can enjoy your food at a few tables in the back of the store or at tables in the backyard. The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch every day year-round and offers a wide range of fresh juices and smoothies. The muffins are freshly baked and there are multigrain pancakes as well as sprouted grain bagels for breakfast. For lunch, there are salads, platters and even tuna for non-vegetarians. Kids can choose from a tasty whole wheat peanut butter and banana wrap, grilled cheese on 7-grain bread, tofu doggies and more.

Naturally Good Foods & Café
38 S. Etna Avenue
Montauk, New York

Green Earth is a health foods market offering an informal setting in the front of the store for delicious, nutritious food. You can enjoy organic meals, fresh vegetable juices, smoothies and mostly vegetarian and vegan foods made on premises.Try the oyster mushroom burger with pine nuts and vegetables. There's an occasional turkey burger and tuna salad for those who prefer meat or fish.

Located in Riverhead, the café is a great place to go before or after you visit the nearby Long Island Aquarium or take an Atlantis Explorer Tour Boat Cruise.

Green Earth Natural Foods Market
50 East Main Street
Riverhead, New York

Located in Long Beach, Bob's Natural Foods is a well-stocked health food store with a cozy café in the back. Established in 1975, it is Long Island's oldest independently owned health foods store. Choose from delicious wraps like the avocado and hummus wrap or a wealth of salads. In addition, there are 22 delectable smoothies to please every taste. You can also purchase organic juices, wheat grass and more. 

Bob's Natural Foods
104 West Park Avenue
Long Beach, New York

Jandi's Natural Market & Organic Cafe offers a wide variety of healthy foods including gluten free, raw foods, organic and more. Located in Oceanside, Jandi's is a 6,000 square foot natural foods supermarket and it includes a small cafe in the back of the store where you can relax at a table to enjoy the food and fresh juices, tea and more that you purchased at their vegetarian deli counter.

Jandi's Natural Market & Organic Cafe
3000 Long Beach Road
Oceanside, New York 

This cozy cafe is located inside Port Washington's Dolphin Bookshop, and offers casual fare that's vegetarian, sometimes vegan and sometimes gluten-free.

The Dolphin Bookshop & Cafe
299 Main Street
Port Washington, New York

This isn't exactly a restaurant. But if you're in the mood for some good, quick vegetarian fare, you can buy a meal at the deli in this emporium of healthy food and eat it at the small tables just outside the store.

Whole Foods Market, Jericho
429 North Broadway
Jericho, New York

Cornucopia Natural Foods has a deli-cafe with a menu that features a variety of vegan, vegetarian and raw dishes. (Your carnivore friends can dine on organic, free-range meats.) The fruit juices and smoothies contain only organic produce, and the desserts, such as the peanut butter tofu cheesecake, are all dairy-free and vegan.

Cornucopia Natural Foods
39 North Main Street
Sayville, New York

With a name like limani, Greek for "harbor," of course this high-end restaurant specializes in Greek-style seafood. But if you look at the appetizers, you'll see that most are, indeed, vegetarian. There's a mouthwatering plate of spreadable Greek salads, such as skordalia, a divine blend of ground almonds and garlic; and melitzanosalata, an eggplant and garlic puree. The saganaki, or pan-fried Greek kefalograviera cheese, is also excellent.

As for side dishes, horta is a delectable blend of cooked red, white and gold Swiss chard, escarole, dandelions and spinach. The white and green asparagus are steamed and tossed with a vinaigrette, as are the grilled red and yellow peppers.

Limani
1043 Northern Boulevard 
Roslyn

Formerly known as Fratelli Iavarone Café & Backroom Trattoria, the upscale, renamed Iavarone Café serves delectable Italian cuisine. For vegetarians, this means plenty of savory non-meat appetizers and side dishes. Order the trattoria's superbly prepared polenta with a delicate mushroom and gorgonzola cheese sauce. With one or two appetizers like this, you won't miss a meat entree.

After eating, drop by Iavarone Brothers Foods next door and buy some excellent Italian staples. You'll find plenty of non-meat choices to bring home.

Iavarone Café
1534 Union Turnpike
Lake Success Center
Lake Success, New York

In addition to traditional meaty main dishes, Ariana in Huntington Village also offers a wide range of Afghani vegetarian and vegan appetizers, entrees and dessert with a Western twist. From the vegetarian kechri, brown rice risotto with mung beans topped with falafel and chick peas in marinara sauce, to the potato and leek turnovers with a tasty yogurt and mint sauce, Ariana serves up plenty of meat-free delights. Conclude your savory meal with the vegan key lime pie or sheer brinj, a hearty, spiced rice pudding.

Ariana
255 Main Street
Huntington Village, New York

Along with a wide variety of sustainable seafood and grass-fed meats, this highly rated cafe offers plenty of vegan and vegetarian options, with many of the ingredients sourced from local organic farms. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner all day long, either to stay or to go. You can order real eggs, but there are also vegan versions, such as tofu "bacon" and "eggs" and even dairy-free "cheese." 

There are also lots of delicious desserts, even gluten-free chocolate brownies.

The Purple Elephant
81b Fort Salonga Road
Northport, NY