• 2
• Disappointing

I ate at Ethos this evening with a friend and we were not at all impressed - we are both vegans. The drinks board on the wall stated that 'all wines were vegetarian or vegan' but there was no symbol to say which were vegan. At first I assumed they must mean it was vegetarian AND vegan but on enquiry I was given a laminated paper menu which marked two of the nine wines as suitable for vegans (a white and a rose, unbelievably no red wine option). The beer and champagne were not marked and staff told me a lager I knew to be vegan was not. It seems silly to me not to mark vegan items on the board, for customers to have to wait til they are at the counter to identify which drinks are vegan from the menu or by asking the staff - this will surely cause unnecessary delay and irritation at busy times. Although cider was listed on their (brand new) wall board I was told they do not actually stock cider. The food labelling was inconsistent, for example there were two plates of the same dish, one at each end of the buffet table, one was labelled vegan but the other was not. Some of the food was not labeled vegan but it turned out to be when we asked and they checked with the kitchen. Also there were quite a few dishes without tongs or spoons in them which meant cross contamination in vegan and wheat free dishes. The food is pricey but was nothing special and much of it wasn't warm enough. There were only two vegan options for dessert and they did not appeal (it seemed to us that the more interesting desserts could have been made vegan) so we went elsewhere. The decor is stylish but not especially practical (very noisy and the screens between pairs of tables were not very effective). I had high hopes for this place but I won't be going back unless things dramatically improve.