Those of you that personally know me, you know I need to Yelp everything. I’m the type of annoying human being that will look up the restaurant on Yelp before I step foot inside. Maybe it’s being OCD or maybe it’s just having pride in what I’ve built for 3 years working at Yelp in the early days…who knows. Either way, I’m here to tell you that if you’re not using Yelp to find great Vegan businesses, then you are missing out on the action! Now, it’s not rocket science to find those Vegan gems, but it is definitely not as easy as it should be, so here are a few steps to take during your next search for some bomb ass Vegan food in your hood (or the hood you’re traveling too.)
Current Location Vs. City Wide
It’s super important to know when you need to search for things in the entire City, or when you need to just narrow down and find something in your immediate vicinity. Rule of thumb is, search city wide when you’re preparing for your trip.
Search, “Current Location,” when you’re in need of Vegan food ASAP because you’re just not a planner.
When you run these two searches, you’ll notice a HUGE difference in the results. I’d recommend getting used to doing both, so you can navigate instinctively. Sometimes we want to search for the BEST shit in the city, and sometimes we just need to eat. I’m the type of person that does both.
For the sake of writing an extremely long blog post, I’m going to show you the best way to use, “Current Location,” because I feel like that’s typically when people are using Yelp (on your mobile phone, and when you’re halfway starving), so let’s take the example of finding Vegan food in my current location.
Finding a great local business
Step 1: Search, “Vegan,” in “Current Location”
This step should be obvious, but I want to make sure you’re aware that you are searching for the general word, “Vegan,” and not something that’s auto populated, such as this drop down list 
Step 2: Click on, “MO’ Map”
Once you’ve searched Vegan, in your current location, you’ll notice a list that populates business names with the word, “Vegan,” in it, and definitely some highlighted reviews on businesses mentioning, “Vegan,” in bold. Those types of restaurants are always going to be great. But, what I find is that sometimes the restaurants on the first search results aren’t what I’m in the mood for. Clicking on “MO’ Map,” is a great way to stay in your local range of distance, while also finding those hidden gems!
Once you click on the “Mo’ Map”, you’ll want to click on the “Redo Search in Map” button to update your search results. What you’ll find is a different list, with even more options!
Now, what’s caught my eye, are businesses that don’t seem to Vegan, BUT, I know that they must have some Vegan options because they’ve appeared on this search result. What I’m going to do now, is click on #10 La Vie Vietnamese, because I’m feeling like some Vietnamese food, and to be honest, I’m quite curious what they offer for Vegan food! Once you’re on the business page, we’ll now want to go to step 3.
Step 3: Use the review search bar and search within the reviews for, “Vegan.”
This is perhaps one of the most important steps when you’re vetting out a place that offers Vegan food. In many cases, you’ll find that other Yelpers are telling you what dishes are Vegan, and what you should order.
Once I conduct this search, here’s what I’ve JUST found out – They have a VEGAN PHO!!!!
Step 4: Bookmark it!
This is actually super interesting to me, because I’ve personally NOT been here, and this is right down the street from my house! What I’m going to do now, is bookmark it, so I can continue to explore other places, without losing this restaurant!
If you’re set on just picking this restaurant, then awesome! What I’d consider doing beforehand is browsing the photos and searching for someone who posted a photo of the Vegan Pho. Not a requirement, but ultimately will help you determine if this is really the place for you! Side Note, if you’d like to get back to your bookmarks, using the Yelp mobile app will be the easiest option to find your bookmarks. If you aren’t on mobile, just click on your login icon > about me > bookmarks (Left side panel).
There’s a lot more tips and tricks with Yelp and I’ll most likely do another write up on more advanced tips on finding Vegan restaurant gems soon! In the meantime, if you have any questions whatsoever, don’t be shy to hit me up or leave a comment below. Hope this was helpful!
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