Charlottesville, Virginia, offers a vibrant and diverse culinary landscape, with an increasing emphasis on healthy and nutritious options. For those committed to superfoods and wholesome meals, the city boasts a variety of restaurants that prioritize fresh, locally-sourced ingredients and cater to various dietary needs. This guide highlights some of the best healthy restaurants in Charlottesville, offering everything from salads and bowls to smoothies and plant-based cuisine.
Roots Natural Kitchen: Bowls of Goodness
Roots Natural Kitchen is a popular spot known for its super healthy salad and grain bowls. Founded in Charlottesville in 2015, Roots was born from the idea of providing tasty, natural food in a fast-casual setting. Their bowls are designed to be filling and nutritious, making it a great way to fuel any group.
Favorites include the El Jefe, the Mayweather, and the Pesto Caesar. Customers can choose kale as a base for a salad-focused meal or customize their bowls with a variety of toppings, including beans, avocado, and BBQ tofu. Roots uses Roots rice, a blend of signature-seasoned black and brown rice, for their savory grain bowls.
The Mayweather combines pesto and lemon tahini dressings, while the Apollo mixes Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors for a light and lemony experience. The Tamari features a miso ginger dressing.
While the line at the corner can get long and parking can be tricky, Roots is also available on delivery apps and in various hot spots. You can even use their app to skip the line and pre-order your food.
Read also: Healthy food access with Highmark Wholecare explained.
The Juice Laundry: Organic Freshness in a Glass (or Bowl!)
Located near downtown on Preston Ave, The Juice Laundry is a juice bar that offers organic, freshly pressed juices, oatmeal, smoothies, salads, and soups. Everything on the menu is designed to be super healthy.
Smoothies can be served in a bowl topped with house-made granola. Popular choices include the Coco Verde, made with coconut milk and greens, and the CB&J, a cashew butter delight. The Gentle Green juice is a favorite, and the Strawberry Shake is an almond milk creation.
Rev Soup: Diverse and Healthy
Rev Soup, a Charlottesville classic, has a diverse menu featuring salads, soups, wraps, and quesadillas. With lots of vegetarian and vegan options, there's always something healthy to choose from. The Gulf Salad, which includes shrimp, hard-boiled egg, and avocado, is a popular choice.
Firefly: A Funky Spot with Healthy Options
Firefly, a downtown spot known for its tea, has a healthy menu. The Bazaar Salad, topped with wild Alaskan salmon, is a mixed greens salad tossed with ginger-miso vinaigrette, feta, pear, candied walnuts, raisins, cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes. It also comes with warm herby pita triangles. Other options include dahl and rice, hummus platters, and wraps. The Goatherder is a platter with hummus, veggies, herby pita, cheese, olives, and dried fruit, and is large enough to share.
Corner Juice: Quick and Convenient
With two locations, one on the Downtown Mall and one on The Corner, Corner Juice is a great spot for juices, smoothies, avocado toast, and other healthy options like chia pudding and overnight oats. It's a popular choice for a late post-workout breakfast or a healthy lunch, although it's worth noting that their hours don't start super early.
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Botanical: Plant-Based Delights
Botanical is a favorite lunch spot with a menu that is completely plant-based, otherwise known as vegan. Botanical strives to create a welcoming atmosphere for all styles of eating and allergies. The restaurant's goal is to demonstrate that vegetables should be the main event, not a side dish or second thought. Everything at Botanical is free from meat, dairy, and peanuts.
The menu includes sharables like street corn and sticky cauliflower, salads like kale Caesar, and sandwiches like avocado toast and chickpea tuna (which come with a side salad). There's also a kids’ menu with options like cashew cheese mac and cheese or an almond butter and jam sandwich, as well as desserts and coffee/tea/pastries. While the entire menu can be made gluten-free, a few pastries and the breakfast burrito are exceptions. The kitchen contains some allergens such as cashews, almonds, gluten, soy, and sesame, so it’s important to make any allergies or dietary restrictions known to the staff.
Tilman’s: Cheese, Wine, and Fresh Salads
Located on the downtown mall, Tilman’s specializes in cheese, wine, and snacks, but also has a nice assortment of salads, baguette-style sandwiches, and small plates, too. The food is super fresh with a European ingredient theme.
Feast!: Market and Restaurant Combined
Half restaurant, half market, Feast! has a bunch of healthy salads, soups, and sandwiches. Order at the counter and sit down to eat lunch or take away sandwiches, cheeses, fresh break, and lots of other local treats, including chocolate and wine. It does get crowded on the weekends, so be aware of that and go early to miss the lines.
Chopt: Customizable Salads
Chopt is a chain that is one of the favorites when you just need a salad.
Read also: Mobile Dining Revolution
Mezeh: Mediterranean Bowls
Another quick lunch spot is Mezeh, located in the Stonefield Shopping Center. Their Mediterranean bowls are popular, particularly the caramelized eggplant, the Turkish yogurt dip, and the spicy hummus.
Organic Krush: Organic and Healthy Bowls
Organic Krush, a newish spot at the Shops at Stonefield, is a favorite for healthy salad bowls. They use organic meats and sustainably caught seafood. Customers can create their own bowl or order from one of theirs. Toppings include coconut shrimp and salmon. The price is higher than other options, but they are also all organic.
Otto Eats: Mediterranean-Inspired Dishes
Otto Eats was founded in 2020 by friends Ali Sevindi and Haldun Turgay, who both came from hospitality and business backgrounds and studied in Europe. With a shared passion for food and people, they created Otto Eats to bring fresh, Mediterranean-inspired dishes to the community.
Otto Eats offers authentic Turkish food that is healthy, affordable, and delicious. Their menu includes döner, a type of kebab made of seasoned meat that’s stacked in an inverted cone shape and cooked slowly on a vertical rotisserie. Döner was first founded in the 18th-century Ottoman Empire and has inspired similar dishes such as the Arab shawarma, Greek gyros, Canadian donair, and Mexican al pastor.
Customers can build their own falafel bowl with a variety of toppings. The beef döner, served in a bowl or pita, is also a popular choice.
Other Options
Charlottesville also offers a variety of other restaurants with healthy options, including:
- Ten: A modern Japanese tapas-style restaurant on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall, serving traditional and original cuisine with ingredients from local, regional, and international purveyors.
- Mas Tapas: Offers organic and locally grown tapas dishes inspired by the flavors of Spain and Latin America, with a variety of meat, seafood, and vegetarian options.
- Maya: Serves dinner 7 days a week with a menu prepared daily that honors the Old Southern Kitchen.
- Matchbox Charlottesville: A casual spot with artisanal pizzas, creative American bistro fare, and a come-as-you-are vibe.
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