Carmo

We had really amazing food. They have many world flavors. Our waitress kindly pointed out all of the vegan and gluten-free options, and there were a ton. I really recommend eating here!

Creative menu with lots of vegan options. It's hard to decide because everything is yummy. Many vegan dessert options too. We tried the date toffee cake, which was amazing. I highly recommend this cake!

I almost got a salad in attempts as eating healthier, but read the reviews and saw so many people suggest the Rico "sandwich", so I went with that. No disappointments. Every bite was phenomenal. Very creative menu and the staff/ambiance is also lovely. Try the house made hot sauce!

Carmo works on so many levels. I had one of the best salads of my life here: fresh, flavorful, unique, and satisfying. Also, you can bring your meat-eating friends who will find plenty on the menu. In fact, you can get three versions of the Rico breadless sandwich: vegan, vegetarian, and meat-eater. I didn't try the non-vegan ones, but was told they were very good. And finally, the location is bright and fun, with some outdoor seating as well. This place is amazing. I would rate it 5 stars if I could.

The staff at this restaurant were always nice and their food is incredible that I went here twice on my trip. Vegans and nonvegans should go to this restaurant!
Very cozy location as well in the CBD.

The people at Carmo really understand culinary arts. Every dish I've had there is outstanding. They use really fresh ingredients, so the flavors really pop, and the prices are incredibly reasonable. I'm so glad we have this place in New Orleans, and I honestly can't believe we have a restaurant with vegan dishes of this caliber here-- you'd think that this place would be in Austin, LA, or NY. The "meat" substitutes in the vegan dishes are the best I've ever had anywhere.

Carmo's menu has enough unique offerings that it's worth a couple visits. Sadly, I only made it there once to enjoy the plantain patty, which was very nice. They were out of bananas, so I missed out on the cinnamon-sugar banquette. The line can back up a bit during busy hours since you order and pay at the counter before sitting down, but it allowed enough time to check out the exotic juice menu posted on the wall.

Any vegan or vegetarian in NOLA should try this place. I went twice while in the area for a conference. I highly recommend.

Usually on vacation we like to try new places and don't often repeat, but with Carmo we did. A local who is vegan recommended the place, and while it is not vegan, they have many dishes that are, or can be made so.

The first time, I had a special, some kind of Syrian dish which was excellent, and my husband had the Carmo salad. The second time we each had a banquette bread. We also tried the banana cake and chocolate chip zucchini cake (vegan desserts).

Food seemed to have a lot of Caribbean and Asian inspired choices, but there was a mix of a lot of different types of cuisine. Everything was excellent.

After spending several days in New Orleans for a conference and struggling to find vegetarian food, Carmo was a welcome change. They had several vegetarian/vegan options. Also, their menu focuses on Brazilian/South American food, which was a welcome change from all the other restaurants I had seen in New Orleans. I ate the Carmo salad. The vegan ham was not the best fake meat I've eaten, but everything was fresh, light, and just what I wanted on a hot, summer day. The real treat at Carmo was their huge menu of tropical fruit juices. Many of the juices are hard to find in the United States. I enjoyed a huge glass of Graviola (aka Guanabana or Soursop), which tastes kind of like a mild pineapple/banana. What a treat! I would return just for the juice (and want to try every flavor on the menu). The environment was chill, and a welcome change from the French Quarter.

This place is very chill and has a lot to offer. I was not as happy with the menu as I wanted to be, though. There were three or four choices for vegans, and nothing seemed to speak to me. Though, my sister really enjoyed her salad and if she were the one writing this, she probably would rave about the place.

How good was this place? Well I'm pissed that I won't be able to give it 5 stars (they serve meat and happycow doesn't allow meat serving places to be given 5 stars).

This place deserves all five of them, however. The staff was friendly and accommodating. The food was so good that we've already made reservations to go back.

This is one of the places not to miss if you are veg and coming to NOLA.
Updated from previous review on Wednesday May 01, 2013

It is now 2014 and we've been back two more times. It seems to get better each time. The food was outstanding and the service was attentive and friendly.

We are also planning to check out their booth at Jazz Fest. It will be great to get some real veg food inside of the Fest.

Go to Carmo and you will enjoy your meal.

Updated from previous review on Wednesday April 30, 2014

And now it's 2015.

We've eaten there twice so far and it has been consistently great.

The only people who don't love the broken noodle salad are the people who haven't had the broken noodle salad.

I know we'll go several more times before we skip town this year.

Carmo's is absolutely fantastic. I would have given five stars if the entire menu was vegetarian. My husband and I had dinner there after listening to live jazz at the Ogden on a Thursday night. The service was excellent. The vegetarian/vegan options were delicious. We also enjoyed the paintings displayed by local artists! We will definitely visit this place again next time we are in NOLA!

This place really delivered. New Orleans can sometimes be tough for a vegetarian, but this place was such a welcome surprise. Their vegan gumbo was spicy and delicious, and the Esmeralda salad was an interesting mix of flavors. Will definitely come back during future visits to NO!

Came here for lunch solo. The space is much bigger than I thought and has a chill vibe, which is cool. I ordered the daily plate vegan style — feijoada (Brazilian sausage-black bean stew on rice) — even though it seemed kind of spendy at $12. I was just curious to try this national dish.

It came out pretty much exactly as described on the menu: black beans with vegan sausage pieces served on rice with a little stewed greens, salsa, and two orange slices on the side. The most interesting thing for me was the sprinkle of farofa on top, which, I looked up later, was a toasted flour mixture made from yucca. The whole dish was tasty but too simple for what it was, the rice wasn't even brown rice, just plain white.

Aside from that daily special, the rest of the menu is actually also very vegan-friendly, which doesn't come by easy in New Orleans. For this I commend them.

This place offers vegan options for almost everything on the menu. I had what they called banquette bread which was essentially a super thin crispy crust pizza. It was made with Daiya cheese, vegetable and their own made meat substitute which was wicked good. I would happily eat it many more times. They also had about 4 desserts all of which were vegan- I had a vegan creme brûlée there which was crazy good and got a piece of Apple coffee cake to go was also crazy good! Delicious food, great staff.

Thank goodness for Carmo, serving a handful of vegan options on their Caribbean menu. The fermented tea leaf salad was a hit with our group! I'm a long term raw vegan visiting New Orleans regularly from Los Angeles, so the vegan options are still prepared heavyily in comparison. Though all delicious. That's the south, right?

We had the "rico" vegan sandwich -- with fried plantain instead of bread. It was yummy, well-seasoned and fresh. The sauces and dressings are very good. The vegan gumbo z'herbes was hearty and satisfying.

They offer a selection of beers, sodas, wines, etc.