525 S.R. 16 #106
Westgate Plaza
St. Augustine, Florida

Just a couple of days ago, on our way to an overnight visit to Amelia Island, Fla., we made a stop for lunch at The Manatee Café, which is located in historic St. Augustine. We had eaten there two times before, once just stopping in for lunch and once with the Jacksonville Vegetarian group.

The mostly vegetarian restaurant is located about four miles off the freeway in a shopping center. Being a manatee fan, it’s easy to love the décor of this restaurant. There are pictures of manatees and a marine life feeling throughout. Breakfast is served all day, in addition to lunch options, as they are closed later in the day.

This was our third time to the restaurant and each time it has had plenty of customers. Today I ordered the tofu Rueben, minus the cheese, with a side of blue corn chips and hummus. I only ordered water to drink, because I had been sipping on an iced tea in the car before arriving. My husband ordered the exact same thing and for the kids we ordered the healthy version peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a side of fresh fruit.

The tofu Rueben sandwiches were great and different, as I hadn’t tried one like it before. It had baked tofu, red cabbage sauerkraut, tomato, sprouts and mustard, on toasted bread. It was delicious! The chips and hummus were also very good, with the hummus having a more garlicky flavor than I am used to. The kids liked their food as well, no complaints from them.

For dessert we decided to order one slice of the vegan chocolate tofu pie for the four of us to share. The pie was delicious! It had a thick and creamy chocolate flavor that was great. My daughter especially loved the pie and tried eating it as fast as she could to get more of it than the rest of us. She always wants to order dessert in restaurants and I always say no, mostly because they aren’t usually vegan (and they can be quite costly).

We spent our night in Amelia Island and on the way back decided to stop in and eat at Manatee Café again. Déjà vu, anyone? While I didn’t know other vegetarian restaurants to eat at around there, I would still prefer to give the business to one that I know is vegetarian friendly. On that stop my husband ordered the same sandwich again and I ordered the veggie burger, minus the cheese, add the vegan mayo. We both opted for a side of hash browns, with both of us adding their organic ketchup to the top. The food was very good again and my daughter was pretty insistent that we ended it again with the vegan chocolate tofu pie again, which tasted great!

Our experience visiting The Manatee Café has been very good and whenever in the area we will opt to stop and dine there. They offer a nice atmosphere, an almost completely vegetarian menu (there are couple of non-veg items), friendly employees, and good vegetarian food. And you can’t beat that vegan chocolate tofu pie!

VegBlogger rates The Manatee Café 5 stars out of 5 stars.