Cafe Viva

Italian, Pizza, Vegetarian, Vegan-friendly

Uptown branch, completely vegetarian and very vegan-friendly Italian food with great homemade soups, calzones, pastas, and of course pizzas with all kinds of interesting veggies, miso-marinated tofu, and interesting crusts like whole wheat, spelt, or hemp.

I don't go up here as often cause it's out of my jurisdiction, but when I'm in the neighborhood I often go cause they have a few things I don't get downtown. It's a simple thing, but up here they make pasta with garlic & oil which is sort of a personal preference over marinara sauce. Something about how they do it here is just delicious. Maybe it's garlic-infused oil or maybe it's just smothered in garlic or something, but I just get that with broccoli and soy sausage and love every bite. The pizzas and other dishes are quite similar to downtown, though there are some variations. It seems like there was some sort of split between the two and I'm not sure if it was acrimonious or not, but they don't seem to acknowledge each other in a pleasant way. That said, they are far enough apart to seemingly coexist without any problems and I am happy to eat at Viva uptown or Viva downtown, whichever is closer. Oh, silly small detail, they have a clean bathroom at this one, downtown there is no bathroom. Also, I don't think they have the huge Vegan Treats dessert selection up here though it has been a while and I'm not 100% sure on that, but the ridiculous dessert selection downtown has always been a draw for me.

This place last confirmed to exist about 14 months ago.