Launched Mar 2021, Sage features rebrand and menu reconstruction of the Belfast-based restaurant Eat Street that was previously at this spot. Expect some of the classics and mixed with new items such as tofish and chips, chef's signature tagliatelle, bbq chickn strip, broccoli and leek pasta. For dessert get a milkshake, chocolate coconut tart, or chocolate orange sponge served with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. Has a separate brunch menu. Reported closed August 2023.
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231 Lisburn Rd, Belfast, Northern Ireland
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- Wheelchair accessible
- Accepts credit cards
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Last update on 20 Aug 2023 by findingisla
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Added by Benkei on 11 Mar 2021
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11 Reviews
First Review by rjr
lauraakingg
Points +678
Crazy prices and small portions - Edit
Had ordered from Sage a few times as had been so fond of Eat Street and assumed it was just a rebranding rather than change of owners, portions were much smaller and quality was very average, had never sat in the restaurant but reading the reviews below explains a lot! Menu looks promising but is not all it seems
Read moreGuest
Happyhippy88
Points +16
Very disappointed - Edit
To begin there is a sign when you enter which states ‘please wait to be seated’- if we’d done that we would have been standing there for 10 mins even though there was only 1 person in already.
Read moreMy partner ordered the garlic and chilli tofu bites which arrived rock hard to the point they hurt to bite (had definitely been reheated) along side some barely warm sweet potato fries ‘loaded’ with one slice of reheated bacon and sprinkle of cheese.
I ordered the ‘chicken’ baguette and while I made a few changes to what it came with I definitely ordered it to come with more than just onions and 10-15 mins after my partners. Even with the ‘special offer’ to reduce the bill by 50% we still felt the amount and quality of food and service was very unacceptable. Our server did say they welcomed the feedback but they were definitely lying to us about the freshness of the ingredients even when challenged. Would definitely not return unless there is a change in everything about the place unfortunately. The 2 star review is only because I could not choose 1 star as the website would not let me
Cons: Price, Portions, Professionalism
Guest
IdunC
Points +59
I worked here - Edit
I worked here for three weeks in April/May 2021. It should have zero stars but happycow doesn't allow that.
Read more•Everything was dirty, dishes washed by hand in cold water as the owner didn't want to fix the dishwasher and didn't want to pay for hot water, cloths used repeatedly for days (I literally started bringing them home myself to wash them so they'd be clean)
• Manager refusing to pay the legal minimum wage, to the point where I was fired when I told him he legally had to pay me minimum wage
•Often a single chef in the kitchen who would not come in until the beginning of service as the manager did not want to pay him before that so no prep would be able to be done
•There was no till system so all orders had to be hand written and brought down to the chef and I had to hand write and calculate all receipts
• Manager was also delivery driver for the restaurant so he would just disappear for hours
•I would show up to my shift and be made to wait 30 minutes outside cause no one was there to let me in.
•Onions etc stored in a box (that didn't have a proper seal or anything) outside
•I was made to use my own personal phone to play music for the restaurant
•My third day there, the police showed up as apparently his ex business partner was threatening them, gave me very sketchy vibes
• Manager is not vegan and on multiple occasion bought ingredients that were not suitable for vegans because he hadn't bothered to check
•Charged nearly £4 for a milkshake that was mostly ice, a little milk, a little ice cream and 2 biscuits (he told me I wasn't allowed to use any more)
• Any bookings were randomly texted to me by owners missing info and some not sent to me at all which led to a lot of people coming and I wouldn't have their booking on record
•Nothing served matched what it said on the menu, wrong sauces, missing ingredients, etc
Having moved on from this place to work in another restaurant, I can say literally everything about how the business is run is wrong and the place should be shut by the health department.
Pros: None
Cons: Everything
Lalelilolu
Thanks for the information, could be also a good advice not going to a place😉
Read moreGuest
LiterallyAlive
Points +16
Weird but not in a good way - Edit
Frozen food heated up, terrible service, the only people in there the entire time, freezing, the owner disappeared and the waiter didn’t know how to take our payment so we had to wait for the owner to return. Over £40 for two main courses and two cans of kombucha. There was no love in the food, no love in the cafe and no care for the diner. Don’t go.
Read morePros: Nothing
Cons: Food, Decor, Service
Guest
beatricemaee
Points +356
Would put 1* but HappyCow won’t let me! Don’t go here it’s awful! - Edit
I hate saying this because I love to support fully vegan restaurants, but I just had to write this review because it was so awful and I would 100% recommended NOT to go here! The owner is very unprofessional and we were the only ones in the restaurant the whole visit. There was crap everywhere like a pair of shoes on the tables, boxed and clothes etc. the owner sat at the next table on his laptop while we were there and the whole vibe was off. The decor was really strange and felt dirty. That wasn’t the worst of it. We both ordered cauli wings and vegan burger. We were in and out within 30 mins. I felt like I had been to mc Donald’s. The burger was soooo plain and had no taste and I’m sure mc Donald’s do better with there burgers than this. The cauli wings were no better and the chips were like mc Donald chips. Way too much salt to. We tried to explain all of this to the owner but he didn’t want to know. We now know why we were the only ones in there.
Read morePros: Awful , Awful , Awful
Cons: Horrible food , Weird vibes , Dirty and messy
Guest
rachelwilson1
Points +122
Bad vibes, food not much better - Edit
Strange place. Stood at the door waiting to be seated while being ignored by the one member of staff. Then he took ages to take a drinks order and even longer to make coffee. At no point wore a mask for covid safety. The food was edible but not tasty by any means. I had the spanakopita and my partner had the pie which came in a tin foil case and had obviously just been reheated. The jackfruit tasted unseasoned and like it was straight out the tin. Both dishes were lukewarm. They were served with a couple of massive lettuce leaves and the food was also in bowls which made it hard to cut. Toilet was bizarrly decorated, almost in the kitchen, and dirty. Wouldn't reccommend
Read moreUpdated from previous review on 2021-08-08
Updated from previous review on 2021-08-08
Pros: All vegan food
Cons: Weird vibe, bad service, bad food
Guest
kittysquee
Points +37
Disappointing - Edit
I would give 1 star but Happy Cow doesn’t allow for it.
Read moreOrdered from here a few times since the reboot hoping I just had a one off bad experience but no. Chips are awful, just frozen pub style chips. Burger and tofu fish were very bland. Ordered from Just Eat and everything arrives freezing needing to be put in the oven.
Really disappointing as Eat Street which was there before was _so_ good and I love to support vegan businesses but I’ll not be back.
Updated from previous review on 2021-05-29
Guest
MitchLovesFood
Points +61
AVOID SAGE AT ALL COSTS - Edit
AVOID SAGE AT ALL COSTS. I rarely write reviews but had to make an exception for this place, for the sake of sparing others the experience we had.
Read moreWhere do I begin? Arrived at the “restaurant” (if you can call it that) and staff were nowhere to be seen. Restaurant has a somewhat ‘eery’ feel to it with such strange decor. Took around 20 minutes until manager finally brought out the menu. After ordering was told several items missing. Food took a long time to arrive and when it did was given to the WRONG TABLE (HELLO COVID?!). Manager took plates downstairs to kitchen for a few minutes before bringing them back out to our table?
(Now might be a good time to mention that the customer toilets are literally in the kitchen - weird?)
Food was poor. Advertised as Beyond Meat burger but they brought out the much cheaper Moving Mountains burger - was still charged the same extortionate £13.95 for this.
… the other half of our order never arrived.
At this point we were feeling pretty upset with the service so requested the bill. Manager brought out a handwritten note with various prices on it (these did not match up with the advertised prices on both the menu and the Deliveroo app).
Manager informed us at the end of our meal that the card machine is out of service and told me to drive several minutes to the nearest ATM. Manager then changed his mind and told us to pay via the Deliveroo app, with the knowledge that this adds an additional service charge.
Manager proceeded to stand behind/lean over my partner and take her phone out of her hands. He was adamant that we didn’t know what we were doing and behaved in a very intimidating manner.
I asked the manager if I could speak to him in private away from the customers. I explained that we were unhappy with the service we had received by referring to the several points mentioned above. Myself a vegan of 6 years, I expressed to him that I care a lot about the success of small businesses such as his and suggested that menu pricing could be more clear, the advertised products actually being served etc.
He became very defensive and hostile, blaming my partner for several things that had happened and alternating between reasonings behind the price discrepancies.
“If you didn’t like what I was doing and I made you feel unsafe, why don’t you speak up? You are a grown adult.” … those were his words to my partner.
BE WARNED: many of the Google reviews and hygiene rating is from previous owners Eat Street, not Sage.
Pros: None
Cons: Extremely rude staff, Misleading prices, Very expensive
Guest
MrsWoodlands
Points +2384
Unique Belfast offerring - Edit
By my reckoning, this is the only vegan place in Belfast open in the evening, in fact possibly all of Northern Ireland. That alone deserves 5 stars. I'm happy to stand corrected. I think it has only been open for a few weeks. It is on the site of eat street. We visited when only outside dining is permitted and prebooking is recommended. There are six tables outside with parasols but no heaters so dress up warm. We brought a bottle of wine. Corkage is £2 per bottle. We had chilli tofu and deep fried cauliflower for starters. For main I had chicken type fingers served with chips and salad and hubby had the daily special of falafel served with chips, salad and pitta. I had a chocolate tart and he had lemon tart for pudding. We had herbal teas which kept us warm and let us sit on for a while. All the food was tasty. Our choices were mostly deep fried and unhealthy but as long as you know that is what to expect you won't be disappointed. The falafel meal was a bit dry I'm told but they have only been in business a few weeks and we had a lovely experience overall and would happily go back. A few things were not available on the menu such as the pasta dishes. We also had a side order of veg which was tiny but done without oil as requested.
Read moreUPDATE
Just opened for brunch at his week. Separate menu. See pictures.
Updated from previous review on 2021-06-12
Pros: 100% vegan, Bring your own booze, Friendly
Guest
EtheVegan
Points +154
Sadly disappointed - Edit
It’s sad to be writing this especially because the woman working was so incredibly lovely and couldn’t have been more apologetic for what we were served but I was really really disappointed
Read moreDespite the menu saying anything could be made gluten-free (staff said they’ve no idea why it says that?) there were only two options that had to be adapted
I had very high expectations before coming in but felt we paid for essential a few heads of lettuce with a beyond patty in between one
I do hope the menu is adapted soon as the fact it said anything could be adapted yet they were totally unprepared for anything to be made gluten-free was very disappointing
Alternatively I hope they are more prepared for further dietary restrictions in future but unfortunately I probably won’t be returning
Pros: Staff were apologetic
Cons: Misleading menu/advertising, Disappointing food
Guest
rjr
Points +57
Absolutely awful, cold and inedible - Edit
Ordered from Deliveroo and the food is delivered by the restaurant who didn’t even use a heat proof bag to keep it warm. The “skinny fries” were in fact oven chips that weren’t fully cooked and had to be cooked at home. The chicken burger was thin and tough almost like a seitan slice. The macaroni cheese turned out to be penne with a small amount of creamy sauce with unmelted vegan cheese on top (nothing like any vegan Mac and cheese I’ve had before) The tofu bites were flavourless but probably the highlight of the meal. Overall would not recommend and absolutely devastated to see such terrible vegan food as I love to support vegan business and have been a vegan over two years. But please save your money and check out 387 Ormeau Rd or Jumon for around the same price.
Read morePros: Free garlic bread
Cons: Cold, Overpriced, Inedible
Guest
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