UPDATE May 2020: It's been a few years now since I first wrote this Vegan Restaurants Mobile AL Guide. Like most places in the US, Mobile, Alabama has become more vegan friendly in recent years.
There are still no fully vegetarian or vegan restaurants in Mobile, but there are several that offer vegan options. At the end of this post, you'll find a list of other vegan-friendly restaurants in Mobile that I plan to check out on my next visit.
I don't make it "home" very often. By home I mean my hometown, Mobile, Alabama, where I was born and raised for the first 18 years of my life. And I'll be honest, it usually feels less and less like home every time I go back.
Each visit is a reminder of how much I've changed and grown since the last time I was there, and how those changes have brought me further and further away from my roots.
Except this time was different. This time around, I had made the most monumental, life-altering change to date - I had become vegan. And the most amazing thing was, this time I wasn't the only one.
My Mom became vegan not long after I did, and going through this awakening at the same time has really brought us closer together.
While we talk on the phone every week, we hadn't seen each other in person since this transformation, and I was really looking forward to grocery shopping together, cooking together, and just generally sharing our new-found understanding of the world and appreciation for food.
All of this was every bit as wonderful as I had expected it to be, but what I hadn't expected to find was a flourishing vegan movement right there in my hometown. Somehow, while I wasn't watching, Mobile had become a vegan-friendly city.
I know many who live there will disagree with that statement, and it's true that Mobile is no Portland, Austin or Asheville. But trust me when I say that, compared with my current home in cheese-obsessed Switzerland, it's a plant-eater's paradise.
For starters, there's the local organization ARC, which stands for Awakening Respect and Compassion for All Sentient Beings. Tracey Glover and the hard-working volunteers at ARC are doing so much to raise awareness about the rights of non-human animals, and their efforts are already paying off.
And then there's the brand-new Whole Foods that opened literally three days before my arrival. Wood-fired vegan pizza? Check. Vegan sushi dragon rolls? Check. A freezer full of every flavor of vegan ice cream you could possibly imagine?? You betcha.
So if you're planning to visit Mobile (and you should! As eager as I was to get away as soon as I had graduated from high school, it's really a beautiful city), here are some of the highlights when it comes to vegan eating and shopping:
ARC Vegan Café
Address: 604 Bel Air Blvd, Mobile
Telephone: 251-510-2418
Email: info@arcforallbeings.org
Opening Hours: Fourth Saturday of every month.
Website: arcforallbeings.org/
The Good: Amazing home-cooked food, welcoming atmosphere, educational film showings, lectures, etc.
The Bad: Only open once per month.
Southern pulled "pork" and baked beans at ARC Vegan Café
At the end of every month the volunteers from ARC put on a vegan dinner inside an antique store. Dinner is served from 6 pm to 7:30 pm and is followed by other activities, like special guest speakers, screenings of documentaries, or even live music. The cost is a suggested donation of $15-20 for an all-you-can-eat buffet meal. If you're in town at the right time, this is not to be missed!
The ARC website also include a vegan dining guide to Mobile that gets updated much more regularly than I'm able to update this post. Check it out here to find the latest restaurants that have added vegan options. There are quite a few of them now!
Whole Foods
Address: 3968 Airport Blvd
Telephone: 251-206-7028
Opening Hours: 8 am - 10 pm daily
The Good: Every vegan product you can imagine is sold here. Hot meals also available.
The Bad: Prices tend to be higher than at other grocery store chains (but so is the quality).
Save on packaging by buying in bulk at Whole Foods
This was my first-ever visit to a Whole Foods, and it was pretty surreal. Staff are unbelievably friendly and helpful. The customer service desk can provide an extensive (but not exhaustive!) list of vegan items available in the store.
Vegan pizza with Daiya cheese is made fresh in the wood-fired oven. If you don't see any on display, ask and the staff will make you one.
How ironic that Whole Foods is meant to be a healthy grocery store, and yet I came out of there with nothing but vegan junk food! I just couldn't pass up the chance to try Dandies vegan marshmallows.
Virginia’s Health Foods
Address: 3055A Dauphin St, Mobile
Telephone: 251-479-3952
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 11-6
Website: http://www.va-fairhopehealthfoods.com/
The Good: Wide selection of supplements and other hard-to-find health foods, as well as sweet treats and organic produce.
The Bad: Smaller than Whole Foods. A place for picking up a few specialty items rather than doing your weekly shop.
Don't panic, it's all organic at Virginia's Health Foods
Virginia's is Mobile's oldest health food store and has been serving the local community for nearly 30 years, though I was certainly oblivious to it when I was growing up here.
All their produce is organic, and they also have bulk bins with nutritional yeast, nuts and other staples. Staff are friendly and eager to help. There are two locations - one on Dauphin Street in Mobile and another one across the Bay in Fairhope. Both have attached cafés that serve delicious meals (see below).
The Sunflower Café
Address: 3055A Dauphin St, Mobile
Telephone: 251-479-3200
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 10:30am-4pm, Sun 11am-2pm
Website: https://www.facebook.com/SunflowercafeII/
The Good: All organic café with plenty of vegan items, all clearly marked. The food is delicious.
The Bad: Some of the items marked as vegan include both vegan and non-vegan options (e.g. turkey or tofurky), so it's important to specify what you want.
Jamaican Jerk Wrap at Sunflower Café
This little café is tucked away in the back of Virginia's Health Foods and serves delicious meals, all made from scratch. While the Mobile location is open only for lunch, the Fairhope branch also opens for dinner on Thursday and Friday evenings.
A variety of salads, wraps, sandwiches and stir-fry and pasta dishes are on offer. I highly recommend the Jamaican Jerk Wrap.
Sunflower Café also has a second location in Fairhope, inside the Eastern Shore Shopping Center.
Yak The Kathmandu Kitchen
Address: 3210 Dauphin Street, Mobile
Telephone: 251-287-0115
Opening Hours: Tues-Sun 11am-10pm
Website: http://www.thekathmandukitchen.com/
The Good: Tasty curries, staff are used to vegan customers and know what vegan means.
The Bad: Many of the buffet items are cooked in butter, so you'll probably need to order à la carte.
Curries at Yak Kathmandu Kitchen
This Nepalese restaurant near Virginia's Health Foods has several naturally vegan dishes on the menu, such as aloo gobi and chana masala, and other dishes can be made vegan on request.
The vegetable korma, for example, can be made with coconut milk and is highly recommended. Some of the volunteers from ARC are regular customers here, so the staff understand vegan needs and are happy to accommodate. Like Virginia's, Yak also has a second location across the Bay in Fairhope.
Mellow Mushroom
Address: 2409 Schillinger Road South, Mobile
Telephone: 251-471-4700
Opening Hours: Mon-Thurs 11am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10:30pm, Sun 12pm-10pm
Website: https://mellowmushroom.com/location/al-mobile-5660-old-shell-rd-36608/
The Good: Pizza can be made with Daiya cheese, toppings include tofu and tempeh.
The Bad: Pizza crust is normally made with butter and parmesan, so ask for it without.
The Mega Veggie at Mellow Mushroom
This national chain of pizzerie is especially popular in the South of the US. The Mega Veggie Pizza comes loaded with as many vegetables as you could possibly fit on a pizza. In addition to pizza with Daiya, other vegan options include the hummus (which can be ordered with veggies instead of pita if you want to make it healthier), and the tempeh or tofu hoagies.
There are two locations in Mobile. One is in West Mobile on Schillinger Road, and the other is on Old Shell Road. The Old Shell Road location is close to the University and definitely as a college hangout vibe.
Here are a few more that I have heard good things about and look forward to trying next time I'm town:
These places have also been added to the Vegan Restaurants Mobile AL map below. Just click on the star next to the title to save the map in your Google account.
Click here to view the map below as a webpage.
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Love this blog post Wendy! I have been vegan for almost 3 years and worked in Mobile for 5 years and I knew nothing about ARC Vegan Cafe! I look forward to catching them on their next monthly opening…THANK YOU! You’ll have to visit Instabul Turkish Grill the next time you’re “home”…their buffet is everything. $10 for all I can eat grape leaves, hummus, lentil soup, tabouli and more…yes please and often, LoL.
Anywho…I am so glad that we found each other in blog land and even more thrilled that without knowing until recently we’ve been connected thru our mutual dear friend Lorna.
Take care and happy travels!
Hi Johanna! I’m so glad you got in touch. Lorna has told me a lot about you. I actually visited Virginia’s and Sunflower Café with her and her Mom! It’s a shame you and I didn’t have a chance to meet while I was in Mobile; I’m sure we would get along like a house on fire. Thanks for the tip about Istanbul Turkish Grill. I’ll be sure to check it out next time I’m there!
Hi Wendy,
I wish you would have visited Foy Superfoods while you were in Mobile. We have 2 locations and have a large vegan selection on our menu. We are locally owned and well know in the Vegan community.
Hi Elizabeth,
I definitely would have visited Foy Superfoods if I had known about it! I just checked out the menu, and it looks great. I think it must not have opened yet the last time I was in Mobile, which was in 2015. I’m hoping to visit again sometime in the next year if the pandemic situation allows, so I will be sure to stop by. I’ll also let my Mom know about Foy, as she lives in Mobile and is also vegan.
Thanks so much! I live in Mobile and found this post when I searched for vegan restaurants in Mobile.
That’s great, Kina! I’m so glad the article was helpful for you. I’m planning a return visit to Mobile this winter so I’m hoping to try a couple more restaurants this time around. Hopefully I’ll have some new recommendations to add to this post.