Veggie Grill is a vegan chain with 28 locations that recently made its way up the West Coast to Seattle. Everything on the menu is vegan, a rare find for a chain restaurant serving up fast, casual meals.

We recently paid a visit to the South Lake Union location to try some of the items on their seasonal winter menu. The seasonal menu offers a wide variety of comfort food such as the Polenta and Meatball Bowl to the Southeast Asian Lettuce Wraps, Fire-Roasted Burrito and Butternut Velvet Soup. Plus, the Lucky Star Burger starring a grilled Beyond Burger, smoked Gouda ‘cheese’, balsamic onions, blue cheese sauce, arugula and Sriracha ketchup on a pretzel bun, is back by popular demand!

The staff at Veggie Grill are highly attentive, and if you’re new to vegan food like me, they can offer up advice and recommendations for what to order. If you’ve never been to Veggie Grill before, make sure to mention it and you’ll be get a free organic iced tea or lemonade and a slice of the housemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! 

We enjoyed the Cucumber Mint Limeade, an Arnold-Palmer-ratio-mix of Strawberry Lemonade and Unsweetened Black Tea, and the Pineapple Ginger Beet Agua Fresca.

Neither my dining partner nor I stick to a vegan diet, but every dish we tried had us reaching for more. First up were the Southeast Asian Lettuce Wraps, which consisted of organic tofu, mushrooms, water chestnuts, scallions, cashews, and crispy shallots, accompanied with shredded carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts, cilantro, lettuce leaves + dipping sauce.

We had to try one of their most popular dishes, the Chickin’ Milanese Salad: Two crispy Chickin’ cutlets, romaine and arugula, balsamic glaze, grape tomatoes, shredded Parmesan ‘cheese’, basil, and citrus vinaigrette. For a side with the salad I chose the Butternut Velvet Soup with pepitas.

Finally, our favorite dish of the night was the Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’ Sandwich: Fried Chickin’, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, and spicy mayo.

Veggie Grill is open for lunch and dinner, and with the South Lake Union location drawing Amazon and Microsoft employees, students from surrounding colleges, and an increasing number of construction workers as word spreads about Veggie Grill’s delicious meals, lunch is their busiest time by far. The seasonal menu is available through February across all 28 locations.