Ottawa's five A-grade anchors skip Canadian entirely, with Gongfu Bao on Taiwanese, Peace-Garden and Ceylonta running Indian and Sri Lankan, Keepin it Vegan on bakery, and Hareg Variety holding Ethiopian. Poutine still tops the signature list at 5 venues, but the real depth sits in 10-deep American and Japanese lineups, with Odd Burger leading burgers and Farinella Rochester carrying pizza.
Ranked by overall rating, signature dish strength, and how much reviewers praise the food. If you only have a weekend, start here.
Must go · #2 
Must go · #4 Staff are very helpful for accommodating vegan and other dietary restrictions
Must go · #5 Try the vegan platter for a variety of filling, delicious Ethiopian stews
Must go · #6 
Must go · #7 
Must go · #9 Try the tofu doner sandwich with both vegan sauces for full flavor
Must go · #10 Enjoy the vegan waffle cone, a popular and highly recommended choice
Must go · #11 Order the vegan dumplings, especially the Kimchi Tofu and Sweet Lentil Purple Yam varieties
Must go · #12 Try the pumpkin scone and coconut-based ice cream flavors
Must go · #14 
Must go · #15 Dishes ranked by how well this city's plant-based venues make them, compared to the other 157 cities we track.
5 places worth stopping for poutine
Try the Famous Burger and Buffalo ChickUn burger
Try the cauliflower wings—they are highly recommended and considered legendary
Try the vegan chicken burger for a flavorful meal
Try the vegan grilled cheese and poutine
5 places worth stopping for gelato
3 places worth stopping for cinnamon roll
Customize your cinnamon rolls with a variety of icings and toppings
Try the cinnamon buns with vegan cream cheese frosting
Try the almond croissants, highly praised as the best vegan croissants around
spinach · Vegan Food Guide All 206 Ottawa venues on the map. Filter by what's open, save what you'd return for, get walking directions in two taps.
Completely plant-based kitchens. No swaps, no asking, no surprises.
Try the almond croissants, highly praised as the best vegan croissants around
Try the falafel and multiple hummus flavors
Customize your cinnamon rolls with a variety of icings and toppings
Try the Famous Burger and Buffalo ChickUn burger
Mainstream restaurants where the vegan side of the menu is treated seriously.
Try the red-braised tofu bao for a crispy, flavorful vegan option
Try the vegan grilled cheese and poutine
Order the vegan dumplings, especially the Kimchi Tofu and Sweet Lentil Purple Yam varieties
Try the vegan platter for a variety of filling, delicious Ethiopian stews
Open before 10, good coffee, the kind of place you walk back to on day two.
Weekday fuel and weekend stretches.
Try the samosa platter
Order the vegan dumplings, especially the Kimchi Tofu and Sweet Lentil Purple Yam varieties
Try the pickled vegetable curry and buckwheat
Try the almond croissants, highly praised as the best vegan croissants around
The reason you planned the trip.
Staff are very helpful for accommodating vegan and other dietary restrictions
Try the vegan tom yum pho noodle soup, highly recommended for its rich flavor
Try the vegan gyoza and spicy mayo, highly recommended by multiple reviewers.
Ice cream, pastry, and the honest dessert case.
Enjoy the vegan waffle cone, a popular and highly recommended choice
Customize your cinnamon rolls with a variety of icings and toppings
Try the birthday cake and ube ice cream with a lavender cone.
Try the scones, highly recommended!
Menus kids recognize, staff who don't flinch at strollers.
Enjoy the vegan waffle cone, a popular and highly recommended choice
Staff are very helpful for accommodating vegan and other dietary restrictions
Try the vegan grilled cheese and poutine
Try the vegan platter for a variety of filling, delicious Ethiopian stews
Try the cauliflower wings, highly recommended!
Try the cauliflower wings—they are highly recommended and considered legendary
Try the curried vegan tofu scramble at brunch
Try the cauliflower wings, especially the buffalo and Korean BBQ sauces
Cities where the poutine signature also earns a spot in the top essentials — pack a weekend around one.
Yes — Ottawa has 206 vegan-ready venues. The top-ranked are Gongfu Bao, Peace-Garden, Keepin it Vegan. Spinach ranks them daily on overall rating, signature dish strength, and reviewer praise for the food.
Ottawa scores 53.6/100 on the Spinach vegan city index. The city has 30 vegan-friendly venues and 63 high-quality restaurants out of 206 analyzed.
Ottawa has 11 fully vegan restaurants and 10 vegetarian restaurants. 30 venues score B or higher on the Vegan Friendliness grade.
Ottawa's top signature dishes for vegans are poutine, gelato, cinnamon roll, and the city also does burger and salad well. Signature dishes are ranked by how the city's venues score against the other 157 cities we track.
The vegan scene in Ottawa leans American. American is particularly strong, with 10 venues serving quality plant-based options.
Gongfu Bao is ranked #1 in Ottawa by the Spinach Essentials algorithm, which weights rating, signature dish performance, and reviewer praise. See all 15 Essentials for the full ranking.
Spinach ranks vegan venues using the same algorithm the mobile app runs: a composite of Google Maps rating, the Spinach Rating (Wilson-confidence scored), dish-quality Wilson scores from extracted review signals, and city-specific signature dish strength. Essentials add a tier weighting; category lists add their own mood/occasion weights. No pay-to-play.
The ranking refreshes daily from Supabase. The last refresh is stamped at the top of this page. Venue data comes from Google Maps, HappyCow, and Spinach's own review-analysis pipeline.
