Meet & Eat

I met my friend Deborah for lunch the other day at Meet & Eat in the Land Park neighborhood. I had eaten there before, and hadn't found it to be particularly vegan-friendly, but thought I'd give it another chance.


I asked about a few different dishes before deciding on the spicy veggie spaghetti, which is vegan if you order it without the Parmesan, and if you skip the garlic bread that would normally accompany it. The dish consisted of spaghetti tossed with a nice variety of vegetables and chili oil, then topped with avocado slices and raw pumpkin seeds. It was very good and I would order it again.

I went back for lunch a couple of days later with my husband Phil. This time, I ordered the Buddha Bar tacos, which are vegan if you get them without the feta cheese. They were also very good -- corn tortillas filled with roasted sweet potato, arugula, guacamole, pico de gallo, radishes, pumpkin seeds, and micro herbs.

I've found that Meet & Eat and its sister restaurant in Curtis Park, Café Dantorels, are very vegetarian-friendly, but it's not always easy to veganize their vegetarian dishes. One thing that sounded interesting on the Meet & Eat menu, for example, was a tofu burger. The menu didn't list any ingredients that sounded particularly problematic, but I thought I'd ask the server if it was vegan, just to be on the safe side. She checked with the kitchen and came back to tell me the onions, the barbecue sauce, and the bun weren't vegan. Similarly, I noticed one day recently that Café Dantorels was offering the Impossible Burger, but the mayo, cheese, and bun weren't vegan. I could live without the mayo and the cheese, but I sent a message asking why on earth they didn't have a vegan bun to go with their vegan burger. They responded that they didn't have the storage capacity to carry vegan bread, but I could always order the burger wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Umm, no.


The bottom line is that it's entirely possible to get a lovely vegan meal at both Meet & Eat and Café Dantorels, but you have to be very careful. Don't assume that a dish is vegan based on the menu description, and be prepared to ask questions.


Meet & Eat is located at 3445 Freeport Boulevard, and their phone number is 916-476-3082. Their website address is https://meetandeatsac.com/, and their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/meetneatsacramento/. The restaurant is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.