by Gordon Hamilton

Created on: February 02, 2009

As one who was raised by a vegetarian mother but who is anything but himself, I well know what difficulties can be encountered when eating out - or attempting to find a place at which to eat out - in such mixed companies. Although the vast majority of restaurants nowadays are beginning to offer some form of vegetarian option on their menus, said choices can often be extremely limited and frequently totally unappetising. The difficulty is in a carnivore or omnivore restaurant owner or chef trying to put themselves in to a vegetarian's position and think of appetising meal ideas from the vegetarian's perspective.

Santa Rosa does, however, offer several options of restaurants where the carnivore, omnivore and vegetarian alike can join together and enjoy a tasty meal. Below are details of a few of them.

Seed, 463 Sebastopol Avenue, Santa Rosa

Seed is Santa Rosa's first dedicated vegetarian and vegan restaurant and therefore has to top this list. It even has "Seed on the Go" located right next door for those wishing their vegan food in take away form, or even to purchase certain utensils useful in vegetarian or vegan cooking at home. Whether your taste is for raw or cooked vegan food, you will be certain to find something here to appeal and make your visit worthwhile.

Govinda's Restaurant, 1899 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa

Govinda's is in an Indian restaurant that also offers a range of international dishes. Its vegetarian and vegan selections are varied and many and at a cost of less than ten dollars for the all you can eat buffet, provides excellent value for money whatever your particular eating habits and inclinations happen to be.

East West Caf, 557 Summerfield Road, Santa Rosa

This Mediterranean style restaurant offers a wide variety of vegetarian options, as one may expect from a restaurant of such an ilk. Select from such as a Mediterranean Grilled Eggplant Sandwich, a Garden Burger (made from assorted vegetables and served with egg-free mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce tomato and red onion) or many more mouth-watering vegetarian dishes.

Sapporo, 518 Seventh Street, Santa Rosa

This Japanese restaurant, although very much specialising in sushi, does cater for vegetarians and its extremely friendly staff are always happy to assist. The prices too are very budget friendly for those keeping an eye on their expenditure.

These are but a varied sample of the restaurants which do cater sufficiently for vegetarians in Santa Rosa itself, without adding the expense in both money and time of having to travel further afield. I hope that at least one of them appeals to and meets your specific requirements.

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