Review: Dixie Dharma in Sanford
Looking for a vegan restaurant in Sanford, Florida? Don't miss checking out Dixie Dharma, located at 212 W. First Street!
Dixie Dharma has been in Orlando for a while now, but I have never went. That's because I don't make it over to Orlando that often (it's an hour away), and when I do it's Ethos Vegan Kitchen that we always go to (my favorite restaurant in the state). But I've been following Dixie Dharma online and knew that opening a location in Sanford, which is closer to me, was in the works. I eagerly awaited them opening.
Today (August 7, 2020) we stopped in to check it out. The restaurant is in its 5th week of being open. They are located minutes from the waterfront, where there is a nice long pedestrian trail that goes on for miles along the lake. Dixie Dharma is located inside a building where numerous restaurants share space. I love that these kind of places are popping up! It's like a food court that isn't inside of a mall. You walk in and there are tables around to dine in, and then there are numerous restaurants where you can walk up to get your food. These are great!
Dixie Dharma is an all vegan restaurant. They have a permanent menu, offer weekly specials, and also offer a list of things from the Vegan Hot Dog Cart. There were a couple of things that I wanted to try, and it came down to me grappling between trying the fried green tomato sandwich and getting the Dixie dippers. I ended up opting for the Dixie dippers (BBQ style) and mac and cheese. My husband got the special of the week, which was a Nashville hawt chicken sandwich, with a side of black eyed peas.
We placed our order and walked around checking out the other places while we waited. My husband grabbed a bear from the bar, while I got an unsweet iced tea from another place. They have electronic dart boards in there! I can't wait to go back and take my darts!
Our food was ready and I was surprised at how great it looked, so nicely displayed and kind of fancy. We dug in and it was great! The mac and cheese is honestly the best vegan mac and cheese I've tried in a vegan restaurant. It was good! I love that it didn't taste like nutritional yeast mac and cheese. It was creamy, and topped with bread crumbs and fresh chopped red pepper. The Dixie dippers are their version of a vegan wing. It came with a side of ranch dressing, and they were so good. I loved the taste and texture.
My husband really liked the sandwich, although he said it wasn't nearly as hot as the vegan hot chicken sandwich he had a couple of weeks ago at Vege-licious in Nashville. But hey, that was actually in Nashville! Still, he really liked it and the black eyed pea salad, which was cold. The cold salad was black eyed peas mixed with grilled corn and other ingredients. I tasted some of both of his items and both were really good! They also had great customer service.
I'm happy to have Dixie Dharma open in Sanford. Now we have another vegan restaurant that is closer to home, and the food was great. Once we were done eating, we took a stroll along the lake on the pedestrian trail. We plan to go back during the winter and take the bikes with us. We can take a nice bike ride on the trail and then have lunch at Dixie Dharma (although we will be back at the restaurant long before it's cool enough to take that bike ride, and we'll have our darts with us).
By the way, there is a pizza place in the same building that offers vegan pizza, and there is an ice cream shop that offers vegan ice cream!
Check out their menu here.
Comments