The best vegan and vegetarian food in Portsmouth: 6 restaurants rated by diners

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Southsea has quietly become one of the best places on the south coast to eat plant based. Within a few streets of Albert Road and Palmerston Road you can sit down to a vegan tasting menu, a plate of plant based dishes drawn from across the globe or a brunch where the whole kitchen is meat free, and that is before you reach the pubs and cafes that now treat vegans as a given rather than an afterthought.

To build this ranking we worked through more than a dozen plant based and vegan friendly spots across Portsmouth and Southsea, reading the public scores diners leave on Google, Tripadvisor and HappyCow alongside each venue’s own menu. The aim was to separate the places that genuinely do vegan food well from those that simply tick a box on an otherwise meaty menu.

Each one was weighed on the same six things, from reputation and the strength of the menu to the setting, the value and how easy it is to reach. Reviews counted for the most, because a loyal, well reviewed kitchen tells you far more than any marketing line. The full breakdown of how the scores were built sits at the foot of this article.

This is a living list, and our writers will revisit it as new places open and the numbers shift. For now, these are the six we would point a hungry vegan towards first.

1. OFFBEET

OFFBEET on Albert Road is the place that put Southsea on the plant based map, and it remains the one serious vegan eaters tend to name first. Everything that leaves the kitchen is vegan, but the point was never the label, it was the cooking. The regular menu runs to inventive small plates and mains, with the to’fish tacos a long standing favourite, while a monthly tasting menu turns the place into a proper event and pulls in curious carnivores as readily as committed vegans.

The room is small, warm and unmistakably independent, the sort of Southsea spot that feels run by people rather than a brand. Prices sit at the higher end for the city, which is fair for food of this ambition but worth knowing if you are after a quick, cheap bite. What sets it apart is an attitude that treats vegetables as the main event instead of a consolation prize, and the steadiness of its reviews shows the kitchen delivers on it night after night.

Upsides

• fully plant based, with no compromise on flavour or ambition;
• inventive cooking that makes vegetables the main event;
• a monthly tasting menu worth building an evening around;
• a warm, independent Southsea room with real character.

Downsides

• prices sit at the higher end for the city;
• the tasting evenings book up, so plan ahead.

If you have room for only one plant based meal in the city, spend it here.

2. Mangosteen

A newer arrival on Palmerston Road, Mangosteen takes a different route to the top of the list, serving plant based dishes drawn from around the world. The menu travels widely, taking in crispy chilli mushrooms, beetroot gnocchi and a butternut squash wellington, and it is built to be shared and explored rather than ordered by rote. The dining room is bright, modern and colourful, and the whole operation reads as a proper restaurant rather than a cafe that happens to offer a vegan option or two.

Because every dish on the page is plant based, nothing is off limits, which makes it one of the rare easy choices for a group where one person is vegan and the rest are not. It has built a following quickly, so weekend tables fill fast, and the sheer length of the menu can feel like a lot to weigh up on a first visit. Go with an open mind and a few friends, order across the menu and let the kitchen show its range, and the breadth stops being daunting and starts being the whole appeal.

Upsides

• a globe trotting menu that rewards sharing and repeat visits;
• fully plant based, so nothing on the page is off limits;
• a bright, modern dining room that suits a group;
• dishes that hold their own against any meat kitchen.

Downsides

• its popularity means weekend tables fill quickly;
• the long menu can overwhelm on a first visit.

The place to bring a sceptic and quietly win them over.

3. Hunter Gatherer

Hunter Gatherer, also on Albert Road, is the brunch favourite, a cafe where the food is entirely plant based and made largely from scratch. It carries a 4.5 on HappyCow and a loyal local following built on generous burritos, homemade cakes and properly made coffee. The style is relaxed and unfussy, the kind of place you fall into on a slow Saturday and leave two hours later, and it quietly proves that plant based brunch can stand toe to toe with any eggs and bacon spread in the city.

It turns up regularly in our roundup of Portsmouth brunch spots too, which says plenty about how far its appeal reaches beyond the vegan crowd. The trade off is that it is a daytime operation, so there are no evening meals, and the small room fills on weekend mornings, when a short wait for a table is not unusual. Come early, order a burrito and a flat white, and let a Southsea morning unfold at its own pace.

Upsides

• a hundred per cent plant based kitchen;
• some of the best vegan brunch in Portsmouth;
• good coffee and generous homemade cakes;
• a relaxed, low key room for a slow morning.

Downsides

• daytime only, so there are no evening meals;
• small, and busy on weekend mornings.

Start a Southsea morning here and the rest of the day tends to look after itself.

4. The Wave Maiden

Not everyone in the party is vegan, and that is exactly where The Wave Maiden on Osborne Road earns its place. This easy going pub runs a full menu of comfort food in which every single dish has a vegan version, so flatbread pizzas, loaded nachos and burgers all come plant based without a fuss, washed down with a solid list of craft beers and ciders. The appeal is that nobody has to compromise, a committed vegan and a committed meat eater can sit at the same table and both order exactly what they want.

It is pub food done properly rather than a worthy afterthought, and the atmosphere is relaxed and unpretentious, the sort of place you settle into for an afternoon. Being a shared kitchen, it is vegan friendly rather than strictly vegan, which matters to some diners more than others, and it gets busy and loud on match days and weekends when Southsea spills in. For a pint and a plate that keeps a mixed group happy, few places in the city manage it so easily.

Upsides

• a vegan version of nearly everything on the menu;
• proper pub comfort food rather than worthy salads;
• a good craft beer and cider list alongside;
• a relaxed spot that makes no fuss about it.

Downsides

• a shared kitchen, so vegan friendly rather than fully vegan;
• loud and busy on match days and weekends.

The one to pick when a mixed group needs to agree on somewhere.

5. Pie & Vinyl

A Southsea institution on Castle Road, Pie & Vinyl pairs proper pies with racks of second hand records, and its vegan pie menu is every bit as inventive as the meat one rather than a token gesture. With a 4.7 from well over nine hundred Google reviews, it is one of the most loved addresses in the city, vegan or not, and the plant based fillings have built a following of their own. The setting is pure Southsea, a cramped, cheerful room where the smell of pastry mingles with crate digging, and the food is hearty and filling at prices that will not sting.

It is a mixed menu rather than an all vegan room, so anyone after a fully plant based space should know that going in, and the small, popular space often means a queue at the busiest times. Go for the novelty of pie, mash and vinyl, and stay because the pies, the vegan ones included, are genuinely good rather than a gimmick.

Upsides

• a dedicated vegan pie menu, not a token afterthought;
• one of the highest review counts of anywhere on this list;
• a quirky record shop setting that is pure Southsea;
• hearty, filling food at fair prices.

Downsides

• a mixed menu, so not an all vegan room;
• the small, popular space often means a queue.

Worth the squeeze for a pie and a flick through the records.

6. Becketts

Becketts, set in a handsome Grade II listed building on Bellevue Terrace, is the pick for a smarter, slower meal. It keeps dedicated vegetarian and vegan menus built around seasonal, locally sourced produce, so plant based diners are looked after properly rather than handed a single lonely option at the bottom of the card. The cooking leans on what is good at the time of year, and the setting, all period features and calm, candlelit rooms, lifts an ordinary evening into something closer to an occasion.

There are rooms upstairs as well, which makes it an easy choice when you want dinner and a bed without moving on. Being a broader restaurant, vegan is one strand of the menu rather than the whole story, so it will not suit a diner who wants a fully plant based room, and the step up in surroundings comes with a step up in prices. It is the kind of place you book for a reason rather than drop into, and it rewards the effort.

Upsides

• full vegetarian and vegan menus, not a token dish;
• seasonal cooking built on local produce;
• a lovely listed building with rooms upstairs;
• a genuine step up for a special night.

Downsides

• vegan is one strand of a broader menu;
• the smarter setting brings smarter prices.

Keep it in reserve for the night you want to make an occasion of.

The scores in full (out of 10)

The six at a glance

What stood out across the six

The clearest pattern is that the kitchens built entirely around plants came out on top. OFFBEET and Mangosteen lead not because vegan food is judged more gently, but because a restaurant with nothing to fall back on tends to try harder, and the reviews reflect it. The vegan friendly pubs and cafes further down are not worse places, they simply spread their effort across a much wider menu.

Geography tells its own story. Five of the six sit within a short walk of each other in Southsea, most on or just off Albert Road and Palmerston Road, which has quietly become the plant based heart of the city. If you want to eat vegan in Portsmouth, that is the postcode to aim for first.

The last lesson is that review volume and rating pull in different directions. Pie & Vinyl carries one of the largest review counts anywhere in the city yet sits mid table here, because much of that goodwill is for its pies and records rather than its vegan range in particular. A smaller, sharper plant based kitchen can rate higher on a fraction of the reviews.

How we scored, and the caveats

This ranking was put together by Portsmouth And from openly available information as it stood in October 2026. Each venue was scored from 0 to 10 across six criteria, adapted to suit eating out rather than a generic business checklist. Reviews and reputation carried the most weight at 30 per cent, followed by the food and the menu at 25 per cent, consistency backed by the number of reviews at 15 per cent, the setting and atmosphere at 10 per cent, value for money at 10 per cent, and how easy the place is to reach at 10 per cent. We read the public scores on Google, Tripadvisor and HappyCow, looked at every menu and how much of it is genuinely plant based, and weighed the venues against each other rather than auditing any of them in person. The result is an editorial opinion and a snapshot, not an official ranking, and the order may move as menus change and new reviews land. Prices and opening hours shift too, so check before you set out.