Vegan Restaurants in San Miguel de Allende: Finding Tables for My Sister
Here’s my growing list of vegan-friendly restaurants in San Miguel de Allende.
My sister is coming to San Miguel in a month for Día de los Muertos, and since she’s vegan, I’ve started doing a little research of my own. As I visit restaurants around town, I’m scouring their menus to figure out which ones are genuinely vegan-friendly.
I’m not talking about restaurants that have one sad vegetable plate or a single vegan dish tucked away as an afterthought. I’m looking for the places that actually care about their vegan diners, with interesting food, thoughtful choices, and enough on the menu to make you want to sit down and stay awhile.
Here’s my growing list of vegan-friendly restaurants in San Miguel de Allende. I’ll keep adding to it as I eat my way around town.
ITÖ Estudio Gastronómico
First up is ITÖ, a new restaurant in the Guadalupe neighborhood run by three chef friends who are clearly passionate about what they’re doing. It’s open in the morning for takeaway sandwiches, then for lunch and dinner, with a small, considered menu.
There’s no alcohol, but there is an interesting list of mocktails. When we arrived, they brought out a little welcome bite of hummus with a homemade tortilla, which was a lovely introduction to the kitchen.
We tried their watermelon tiradito a clever and beautiful dish that would make any vegan happy, along with their take on chile en nogada, with the filling tucked inside a tortilla rather than a pepper. We also had a very comforting beef bourguignon served with polenta.
What I liked most was the sense that the chefs are incredibly passionate about their food and that they want to welcome people of with all culinary preferences.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/ito.rest/
📲Book us at 415 138 9931
📍María Félix 16, Guadalupe, 37710 San Miguel de Allende, Gto.
Agavia 115
Next up is Agavia 115, one of those fun San Miguel restaurants where you’re never quite sure what you’ll find around the next corner. It stretches up four floors, with little nooks and tucked-away tables, an open kitchen and, at the top, a rooftop where you can settle in for a drink and watch the city change as the sun goes down. There’s often a guitarist playing, adding just enough music to make the whole place feel lively without overwhelming the food.
Agavia is particularly interesting for my vegan-sister project because they really do seem to take plant-based food seriously. This is not a case of finding one vegan dish buried at the bottom of the menu. Their famous Mama’s Mole is made with 45 different ingredients, and there are vegan versions of the mole as well as vegan cheese and a number of other thoughtful plant-based choices.The menu is also gluten-free.
Don’t skip dessert: the Mamey “No Cheesecake,” made with cashew and tofu and topped with an oat-and-agave crumble, is vegan.
Agavia
https://www.sanmiguelrestaurants.com/restaurants/mexican/agavia/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/agavia115/?hl=en
Néctar
Néctar is one of the places I was particularly excited to find for my sister. Tucked inside Camino Silvestre, it feels like a little secret garden in the middle of San Miguel, with tables scattered through a leafy courtyard and hummingbirds darting around the feeders. It’s the sort of place where you could easily linger over breakfast or lunch and then wander through the beautiful shop next door.
The food is vegetarian, with a substantial vegan selection, and this is another restaurant where vegan diners aren't treated as an inconvenience. Vegan chilaquiles, tofu, quinoa salads, enchiladas, soups, sandwiches and vegan pâté have all been noted among the offerings. The kitchen also has a lovely obsession with tea, using it to infuse sauces and dishes, so there’s more going on than the usual vegetarian café fare.
The vegan chilaquiles seem to be a particular favorite, and recent diners have praised the freshness and flavor of the food as well as the generous portions. One recent review specifically called it a good choice for both vegans and non-vegans.
What I love about Néctar for this particular list is that you don't have to be vegan to want to eat here. A person can order tofu or chilaquiles while someone else has eggs or fish, and nobody feels as though they're eating from a separate menu. And then there are those hummingbirds. Honestly, that alone makes me want to go back.
For vegans: vegan chilaquiles, tofu scramble, vegan pâté, quinoa salad, sandwiches, soups, enchiladas and other clearly marked or adaptable dishes. The menu changes, so it’s worth asking what is vegan on the day.
Néctar Restaurant en Camino Silvestre
Address: Correo 47, Zona Centro, 37700 San Miguel de Allende, Gto.
Phone: 415 145 4068
IG https://www.instagram.com/nectarencaminosilvestre/?hl=en
Jacques
Jacques is another easy addition to my list, not only because it’s vegan-friendly, but because the setting is hard to beat. It sits on one of the prettiest streets in San Miguel, just around the corner from the artisan market, making it an ideal place to stop for breakfast or lunch while wandering that part of town. It has a lovely rooftop.
The menu has plenty to tempt a vegan, from beautiful salads and bowls to falafel, pitas and pizzas, with enough variety that no one at the table feels like they’re eating the “special” meal. The food is fresh, colorful and generous, and I like that you could come here with a group of people with completely different tastes and everyone would find something they want to eat.
Jacques- A little neighborhood breakfast restaurant since 2020.
Open daily Hours : 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Well-behaved pets are welcome 🐾
Callejón Del pueblito 3A, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato 37700
IG: https://www.instagram.com/jacques___official/?hl=en
Raíces
Raíces is owned and operated by chef Vanessa Romero, whose cooking is deeply connected to the food she grew up with. Romero spent much of her childhood in her grandmother’s kitchen. Today, she continues that exploration by working with traditional cooks from different parts of Mexico, researching ingredients, techniques and the stories behind the food.
There is a strong Oaxacan influence in her cooking, particularly in the use of moles, chiles, corn and the deep, layered flavors that make Mexican food so much more than a collection of familiar dishes. One local guide describes the food at Raíces as Oaxaca-style cooking, while Eater highlights dishes such as the Oaxaca-style amarillo mole.
For my purposes, Raíces is particularly interesting because a vegan can eat here without leaving the world of Mexican food behind. The tacos dorados de Jamaica, Bowl Azteca and Amor Amarillo are among the plant-based choices, and other dishes can be adapted by leaving off cheese and cream. The tacos dorados de Jamaica are especially appealing: the hibiscus flower, usually thought of as something for a refreshing agua de Jamaica, becomes the filling for a crisp taco.
That is what I’m looking for as I make this list. Not just restaurants that will remove the cheese from something if you ask, but places where the vegan food has a point of view.
And for you non-vegan co-diners, check out the chilaquiles embarazados, one of Raíces’ signature dishes. Fresh corn dough is stuffed with pressed pork rind, covered in morita chile sauce and finished with crema, pickled onion and black chile ash. It’s not vegan, obviously, but it tells you a lot about Romero’s cooking: taking something deeply familiar and giving it an entirely new form without losing its Mexican soul.
Raíces now has two locations in San Miguel: the original on Salida a Celaya, and Casa Raíces, its newer location at Paseo Real 16 in La Lejona. The second location opened recently and offers the same food in a more relaxed setting.
