• CLOSED: Amico Bio - Holborn

  • (21)
    9

    Closed

  • White Vegetarian
Vegan-friendly
Lacto
Ovo
Italian
Organic
Beer/Wine

Vegetarian organic Italian restaurant with intimate setting, partner to Barbican restaurant. Most produce used is from its own farm and is delivered weekly to the restaurant. JAN-MAR 2016 THIS OUTLET SHUT FOR REMODELING -- LET HAPPYCOW KNOW WHEN IT RE-OPENS!


Venue map for Amico Bio - Holborn
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21 Reviews

First Review by Edent

ChloeTesla

Points +169

Vegan
19 Dec 2015

Why not !

1- Location : 4.5/5
2- Service : 4.5/5
3- Food : 3.5/5 (small portions)
4- Price : 3/5
5- Decoration : 4/5

GO VEGAN

Tomericko

Points +218

Vegan
14 Oct 2015

Some and Some

Some dishes are very nice
Some are absolutely tasteless
Don't take ravioli, it's really doesn't worth it.

I like this place, but service can be quite bad sometimes.

AnneBam

Points +96

Vegan
10 Oct 2015

lovely dining experience

Delicious vegan food in an entirely vegetarian restaurant, most of the dishes are vegan or can be made vegan. Amazing of dessert selection including a cakes and ice team as well as a range of vegan cheeses and crackers.
So much choice for starters and mains, gluten free options available.
Lovely restaurant although quite small, staff are attentive and friendly. Extensive wine list.
Expensive but worth it for a nice upmarket meal.
Would definitely return.

vegan_for_life

Points +90

Vegan
09 Aug 2015

We like it here, we like it a lot

We have been here MANY times. I've been here with vegans and omnivores, everyone has really enjoyed it.

The main guy (don't whether he is the owner or manager or what) is really friendly. We haven't seen him in a while there but most of the other staff are friendly too, particularly one waiter recently who was quite the entertainer with all his jokes.

The food is brilliant. And is great value for money, with portions being very good. I'm told by friends and family that the vegetarian dishes, such as the goat's cheese starter, are brilliant as are the vegan dishes, like the tempura vegetables main.

Their desserts don't really do it for me. I find their cakes too dense, but the ice-creams are nice.

Pros: Great food, Very friendly staff, Good value for money

konlish

Points +5101

Vegan
10 Feb 2015

Nice place, good food

They used to have very nice pizza's shame they have stopped them now. They are a lacto ova vegetarian restaurant with Vegan options.We have been to both Amico Bios. The owner Pascal is such a friendly guy.

They have a paper based lunch menu that changes every day.They also sell some of their organic vegetables from their own garden which I just love. They also sell organic pastas and beans.

Good food, nice environment.

As it has non-vegan options I give it a 4 star.

Pros: Good Food, Nice Environment

Cons: Staff English needs improvement

Pitaya

Points +1191

Vegan
06 Jan 2015

Nice Italian restaurant

We had hard time to choose from different delicious sounding options on the menu. There are also lots of vegan options. Finally we chose set Christmas menu. Some of the dishes were really tasty, some of them a little bit boring. But everything tasted really fresh and I really value that they use biodynamic products that they have largely grown by themselves in their farms in Italy.

Pros: Central location, Authentic Italian restaurant, Organic products

Cons: Some dishes a bit boring

floopylou

Points +157

Vegan
20 Nov 2014

bland

I went for a work lunch to the New Oxford Street branch. A couple of the dishes people had were enjoyed including the goats cheese starter and a risotto main from the set menu but the vast majority were poor. The polenta starter on the set menu was completely tasteless and not eaten. I had bruschetta to start which was nice but the vegetable and mushroom burger I chose for my main at £14 was completely bland again. There is nothing Italian about non-seasoned food! My colleague had the filled pumpkin pasta, the pasta wasn't cooked properly, another colleague's bake was cold, so both were left. The staff were not unfriendly as mentioned in previous comments but the toilet were not clean and overall the food at lunch time was rubbish. I have seen quite a few comments about it being tasteless food, it is a shame they aren't taking on customer feedback.

Pros: organic, gluten free options

Cons: tasteless food, unclean toilets

megs828

Points +226

Vegan
12 Nov 2014

average food

We ate here because it was the closest vegan restaurant to our hotel. The food was ok but nothing special. We ordered the bread/olive oil starter which came with a lot of bread. The gnocchi was good but the pasta with pumpkin was tasteless and the pumpkin was a bit too hard. I ordered a side salad that had way too much salt on it. We had a dessert (I think it was an apple crumble) which was nothing special.

Pros: Vegan options, Good service

Cons: Salty or tasteless food

MSR

Points +43

Vegetarian
17 Sep 2014

Pretty Good

Had an excellent lunch here. Inexpensive considering its location. Also tried the Cloth Fair branch - just as good.

LauraMay

Points +135

Vegan
16 Aug 2014

Pretty average

I've been to many vegans and vegetarians across Europe, as well as knowing proper Italian food, and I'd have to say although this place isn't bad, it's not great either.

I took two omni friends who were equally not impressed and one admitted to still being hungry upon leaving. The portions were small and not filling, I actually ordered two mains after my starter, the Aubergine and the gnocchi. The sauce/pesto for both dishes was watery and quite bland, as well as my friend's risotto. The Aubergine dish was just a small half of an Aubergine with a couple pieces of onion, tomato and chick peas, no herbs or real distinct taste. The pumpkin slices in my starter were the only well-seasoned food I had there. The portions were way too small for the price (each of my mains was about £10-my bill was £33 without service charge and no drinks) I actually spent less money for exceptional food and setting earlier in the week at la suite west's vegan restaurant which is much fancier. the menu for this place is far more exciting on paper.

The staff was nice but the waiters were pretty distracted, forgot my dessert etc.

This place is fine for a quick pick-me-up but with all the amazing veggie places nearby, some just around the corner, I would go elsewhere if you want a dining experience as opposed to food you could just make at home.

Pros: central location, nice setting, varied menu

Cons: expensive, small portions, bland flavours

Miggi

Points +2647

Vegan
12 May 2014

Veggie Italian

Amico Bio had a good range of vegan / vegan-option dishes and a three-course set meal with wine offer.
We tried the bean hummus and bruscetta for starters, side of onion rings, a pasta dish and seitan burger for main and chocolate cake and vegan cheese board for third course.
Everything was beautifully presented and had good flavour, with organic ingredients grown on their own farms. The bean hummus and pasta dish were a bit bland but pleasant. The onion rings were fabulous. The burger was very meaty. The chocolate cake with pear sorbet was a bit disappointing as the cake was quite dry and the sorbet very icy. The vegan cheeseboard with slices of four different Vegusto cheeses showed there is no excuse for anyone to refuse to quit cheese!
Overall, a pleasant meal and vegan Italian made a nice change but felt they could do better.

Pros: range of vegan options, vegan cheese board, onion rings

Cons: dry cake, some dishes bland

MuK-UK

Points +262

Vegan
18 Mar 2014

Wouldn't Bother

Varied menu with lots of vegan options and good choice for coeliacs too. However the meagre portion sizes and average quality are not reflected in the quite expensive prices. The salad I had sounded amazing on the menu but turned out to be mostly lettuce with some tiny quantities of garnish. My pasta arrived lukewarm to cold. There are many other places I would rather eat in London.

Pros: Varied Menu, Friendly Staff

Cons: Expensive, Average Quality, Small Portions

Sciurus85

Points +39

Vegan
09 Dec 2013

Ok

This place is very nice and the staff is very friendly. Food on the menu sounds amazing and there is a very good variety, but the portion are quite small, taste a little bit plain and it is quite expensive. we were 4 people, taking a 2 starters, 4 main courses, 1 pizza and and 4 desserts, we spend 110£.

Pros: Good vegan selection, Friendly staff

Cons: plain taste, quite expansive, small portion

SpyraSea

Points +71

Vegan
23 Oct 2013

Delicious Italian cooking

We though the food was delicious, really Italian-tasty. We both had set vegan menus for 12 pounds each (vegetable soup, pasta/pizza, ice-cream). We loved the fact to be able to try vegan pizza. The dough was excellent, vegan-mozzarella something to get used to but a nice try. Vegetable soup was excellent but small portions. Vegetable pasta was just as good. Ice-cream was fly-me-to-the-heaven delicious. The only reason I was a bit disappointed in the end was when the lady brought us the receipt totaling 45 pounds but we had 2 set menus for 24?! All was settled in the end, but nonetheless it ruined the experience.

Pros: Vegan pizza, Vegan ice-cream

henj

Points +37

Vegetarian
18 Sep 2013

good restaurant

the menu contains signs for vegan dishes and for vegan-optional dishes. in that case, I would expect a good dish if I order a VO dish and asking to make it V. I was wrong. I ordered the risotto and it was very disappointing. the waiter said he's very sorry but the truth is the rissoto is much better if not vegan. well, I think he should have said it before. any way I ordered the vegan lasagna and it was great. the waiter was super nice.

Pros: good food, good service, central

Cons: don't ask to make vegan a VO dish

OneNightStanzas

Points +127

Vegan
10 Aug 2013

Bread-ish awkwardness redeemed by vegan affogato.

My bloke and I came to Amico Bio for lunch, quite early in the day we thought, but it was already pretty busy -- a good sign! We were seated by a very friendly waitress and waited on by her and her colleague -- they were both pleasant and cheery throughout :)

We weren't too hungry and we knew we were going to be eating a fancy dinner in the evening, so we decided to just order a main course option each, even though the menu is classic Italian style with lots and lots of courses. However, our waitress had other ideas and seemed totally baffled by the idea of ordering just one course! I'll admit, this did bug me a LITTLE, as we felt kinda bullied into ordering the bread-basket starter. Again, our waitress was friendly and nice but really, we didn't WANT bread! But bread we ended up getting... and actually, it was very nice. There was a LOT of it and we didn't want to finish the whole thing, but we did enjoy it! Unlike your usual bread basket there was a lot of variety... however, we were a bit leery of the fact that there seemed to be cheesy breadsticks in there, when it's marked as vegan on the menu!

Anyway, after the slightly awkward bread-basket course (would've been better to get everything at once TBH), we got our mains. I had the tofu sausage dish and my bloke had the roasted pepper with puy lentils. When the plates arrived we kinda realised why the waitress had been so insistent about the bread -- the portions are not large. However, by this time we were full of carbs, so all was well. The tofu sausage was really delicious, well cooked and in a lovely arrangement with beetroot etc. I liked it a lot! My bloke was less impressed with his roast pepper -- the pepper itself was kinda lukewarm when it arrived (had maybe been sitting under the hotplate waiting for my dish?), and the puy lentils could have done with more flavour.

Being full of bread I HADN'T WANTED DAMMIT, I couldn't try dessert :( However, aforementioned bloke was EXTREMELY excited by the vegan affogato, and claimed it made up for his less-than-fabby main dish. Yay?

(Fun unrelated anecdote: While we were eating, two women came in and were seated. Upon realising the place was veggie, they looked horrified and started to leave. A waiter very pleasantly tried to convince them to stay, and one of them snootily announced, "WE DON'T EAT VEGETARIAN FOOD BECAUSE WE DON'T LIKE VEGETABLES!" The waiting staff looked so sad and baffled! It made us giggle, so thanks, Snooty Lady!)

Pros: Lots of courses = lots of choice, Vegan affogato :), Nice, cheery staff

Cons: BREAD-RELATED PEER PRESSURE, Quite small portions, Roasted pepper dish a bit meh :(

Kris G

Points +108

Vegetarian
28 Jul 2013

Great fresh italian food

The restaurant is Italian and at its best. Full of flavors, ran by very energetic Italian lady which will ensure you have all you need and you can enjoy your food. We had best mozzarella and best pizza ever. Even the olive oil was to die for. Place is small but definitely worth visiting. Happy to found it!

artiechoker

Points +24

Vegan
12 Jun 2013

Amazing Vegan Pizza

I went here last night and had some amazing vegan pizza. It was a proper thin and crispy base with rice mozzarella on top, tasted amazing. And only £7.50! For dessert I had some apple fritters with chocolate sauce which were slightly greasy but pressing in a junk food kind of way. The meal plus a soft drink came to £16, good value in central London. It had a lovely atmosphere and there were quite a few repeat customers coming through the doors.

Pros: Vegan Pizza!, Authentic, Good Value

lauraXsynthesis

Points +525

Vegan
21 Apr 2013

Great atmosphere

I'd been to the Barbican branch once before and was very impressed and this was my first visit to the new Holborn Amicio Bio. I really liked the atmosphere - the place was packed though that did mean a bit of a wait for ordering and receiving so I wouldn't go here on my way to the theatre. It's not a cheap place to eat, though they have various deals including a particularly good one at lunchtime.

On to the food which ranged very widely. The ingredients were clearly good quality, but some had lots of flavour and some was bland. I recommend the peppers on bruschetta and the seitan kebab but not the artichoke main course or the barley pudding or pear cake. There was lots of other vegan stuff on the menu and I'll certainly be returning and trying those. The juices are great too - an organic brand from Italy.

Pros: Unusual cuisine - organic Italian veg, Good for special occasions, Location

Cons: Food hit & miss, Can be slow service, Will be too pricey for many

cade

Points +17

Vegetarian
24 Mar 2013

Amico Bio - Holborn

This is the worst vegetarian food I have ever had in Europe.
Tasteless pizzas - the pizza base was a bland disk without flavour, the completely bland tomato sauce's only connection to a tomato was a similarity of orangeness to varieties of tomato, the small sliced disks of mozarella tasted smoked. The risotto was more like rice cooked with cabbage water, and a dish of mixed vegetables was utterly bland. The ice cream was full of granular ice crystals, a very unpleasant texture and hardly chocolatey. I thought the food here was a disservice to vegetarianism.

Pros: Location

Cons: Awful food

Edent

Points +557

Vegetarian
18 Mar 2013

A New Favourite

A great assortment of vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Booking is a must as the smallish restaurant gets very busy in the evening.

Food is delicious - especially the desserts - and there's a wide range of wines.

Pros: Italian, vegan

Cons: crowded, limited beer




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