Vegan Pizza in Orlando: How We Source Ingredients and Make It Actually Good

Vegan pizza has a reputation problem. Too often it means a sad flatbread with a few vegetables and a smear of tomato sauce — technically vegan, but not actually satisfying. At Mario's Pizza & Subs on Curry Ford Road in Orlando, we took a different approach: build a vegan menu that holds up to the same standard as everything else we make.

Here's how we do it, and why the ingredients we chose matter.

Starting With the Right Cheese

The cheese is everything. Get it wrong and the whole pizza falls apart — literally and figuratively. After testing several options, we landed on Selfish Cow vegan cheese. It melts properly, it stretches, and it has a flavor that complements our sauce rather than fighting it. If you've had bad vegan pizza before, there's a good chance the cheese was the culprit. Selfish Cow solves that problem.

Meat Alternatives That Actually Work

For customers who want the full pizza experience without animal products, we offer two protein options:

Impossible Meat — the ground version works well on pizzas where you'd normally use crumbled sausage or beef. It browns in the oven and has enough fat content to stay juicy rather than drying out.

Monarch Vegan Pepperoni — this is the one that surprises people. It crisps up at the edges in the oven the same way regular pepperoni does, and the flavor profile is close enough that it satisfies the craving. If you're a pepperoni person who's trying to eat less meat, this is worth trying.

Gardein — we also use Gardein products for certain applications, particularly where a chunkier protein texture works better.

The Garlic Knots Question

Our garlic knots are one of the most popular items on the menu — and yes, we have a vegan version. The key detail: our vegan garlic knots use a vegan butter substitute, not oil. This matters because vegan butter gives you the richness and coating that makes garlic knots worth eating. An oil-based version tends to be greasy without being satisfying. We made the call to use the better ingredient.

How to Order Vegan at Mario's

This is worth explaining clearly because it's different from what some customers expect. Our vegan options aren't a separate checkout flow — they're built into the regular ordering process. When you're ordering online, each item has a vegan button that swaps in the plant-based ingredients. So if you want a Crown Pizza with vegan cheese and Monarch pepperoni, you select the Crown, hit the vegan option, and you're set.

This approach means you get the full Mario's experience — the same crust, the same sauce, the same oven — with plant-based swaps where it counts.

What's on the Vegan Menu

Our vegan menu at /vegan-menu includes:

• Vegan specialty pizzas — including the Crown Vegan Deluxe, Crown Vegan Buffalo Chicken, Crown Vegan Veggie, Girlfriend Vegan Deluxe, Specialty Vegan Alfredo, and Specialty Vegan Buffalo Chicken
• Build-your-own with any vegan toppings
• Vegan garlic knots with vegan butter substitute
• Vegan Philly sub with plant-based protein and vegan cheese

Why We Take Vegan Seriously

East Orlando has a growing vegan and plant-based community, and we've seen that firsthand at the restaurant. Vegan customers are often dining with non-vegan friends and family — which means the vegan option at the table needs to be good enough that nobody feels like they're settling.

That's the bar we set for ourselves. If you've been skeptical about vegan pizza, come in and try the Crown Vegan Deluxe. We think it'll change your mind.

We're at 7213 Curry Ford Road, open Tuesday through Sunday. You can also order online at marios-slice-pos.com and select vegan options directly on each item.