• Diesel Cafe

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  • White Veg-options
Lacto
Ovo
American
Take-out
Non-veg

Serves meat, vegan options available. Coffee shop offering a food menu of sandwiches, soups, and salads. Several vegetarian sandwiches. Will substitute soy milk in your drink.


Venue map for Diesel Cafe
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9 Reviews

First Review by slithers

gcoll01

Points +34

Vegan
11 Aug 2022

Need to Get Better About Veganism

They told me the mayo in the veggie club was vegan. It was not. Now I smell terrible and have a stomachache.

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Prajna

Points +4004

Vegan
19 Aug 2021

Great atmosphere and food

Diesel is a classic spot to hang out. They have a funky decor, even with a photo booth and two pool tables.
They have great sandwiches and can easily accommodate vegan alterations.
The staff is friendly and the whole place is worth it.

OleanderShadowFox

Points +64

Vegan
14 Jul 2021

Fantastic veggie club

I go here for the vegan veggie club sandwich. If you get a latte, the soy milk is free and they have other options for an additional charge.

kelseyfayep

Points +431

Vegan
27 Dec 2019

Nice coffee shop!

Has a couple of vegan baked goods and both breakfast and lunch items that can be made vegan. A fun indoor setting with lots of art

veghead007

Points +236

Vegan
16 Aug 2019

Nothing vegan - have to ask

Nothing here is vegan, but you can ask to make the veggie sandwich vegan by substituting the special sauce for mustard. So annoying. Why not go the minimal effort to list a few items as vegan!? Two stars for having tempeh and tofu though!

jonh

Points +160

Vegan
20 Sep 2018

how hard is it to offer a vegan option?

They have a couple of vegetarian sandwiches, but nothing that's vegan by default. Annoying thing is that at least one of their sandwiches would be vegan if they just used vegan mayo! But no, instead you have to ask them to replace the mayo with avocado.

cameodemon

Points +157

Vegan
28 Aug 2018

Don't let the cute facade fool you

I get why people want to hang out here. This is where the young and beautiful and lonely go to hang out and 'do work', obviously. But the coffee and food is not good and quite expensive. People pay for a place to hang out but it's usually overcrowded and you can't find a place to sit anyway. I get it's an institution. Frankly Starbucks is better for vegan options, is across the street. It just lacks the cool factor and decor, which Diesel obviously wins at.

NealCormier

Points +24

Vegetarian
13 Sep 2016

Pretentious is a real thing.

Diesal Café is a tad bit better than say, Starbucks, and yet thinks it's a lower East Side coffee shop.

It's not.

The lattes were okay as long as the female baristas were working. Three males in a row were all bad apples, another 2 I noticed, didn't seem to work much.

Great décor, average coffee. Wifi, average speed. Booted me off somewhat frequently.

Also - The following happened like 4 or 5 times in variations at Diesal in my first week living and going there - everyday - after just having moved into Somerville:

I ordered a caramel latte with a breakfast burrito, and scone. It took 23 minutes.

One bro looking 'barista' told me my latte wasn't mine, after I waited like 10 minutes staring at it dying in the coffee window.

Then he insisted it was someone else's, half paying attention, then without even looking at his screen, told me that it was mine after all, when he'd called out the wrong name several times. No acknowledgment of a mistake. At all.

Five people stood there like idiots waiting for their average $7 drinks.

Finally I took the dead latte to my table. Its heart, no longer recognizable. Then tasted it.

No caramel! OMG.

- I brought it back and asked for caramel.

- The Bro did something seemingly abstract with his arms and the latte behind the counter.

- I took it back to my table.

- No caramel. Not even at the bottom.

The guy there had actually just lied to me.

On top of another guy serving me an old breakfast burrito, really--DRY. The original 'bro' then refused to remake my drink and gave me an attitude like I didn't know what I was doing in his private club. Wow.

Then, he refused to refund my coffee until I insisted more severely. Which I did, pretty severely insist upon.

Never going again.

Pros: Decor, Ambiance, Bathrooms

Cons: Service, Male servers, attitude

slithers

Points +701

Vegan
27 Jul 2016

some vegan options

Back in 2000, Diesel used to be one of my favorite vegan friendly places in the area, but while the world has grown more vegan-friendly, Diesel is slightly less so than it used to be. Still, it is better than its sister cafe (Bloc 11 in Union Sq).
Diesel usually has 1 or 2 vegan items on the menu, plus 1 or 2 vegan baked goods & sometimes vegan soup. Like Bloc 11, the can modify menu items as desired & they have bagels & soy milk.
It's a big place, but usually crowded & can be hard to get a table at times. The vegan options the have are OK, but nothing to go out of your way for. Plus, there are plenty of vegan-friendly eats in Davis Sq.
Diesel is very queer-friendly, so if you're gender-nonconforming like me, you'll be socially at home here.

Pros: Some vegan options, Vegan baked goods, Good atmosphere

Cons: Crowded, Not many nor great vegan options




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