Zeffirellis

Vegan options clearly marked on menu and on wine list.Beautiful interior. Would recommend.Vegan cake.

Zefferellis opened in 1980 as a vegetarian restaurant, but now includes a cafe, jazz bar and cinema. I have been visiting Zefferellis for more years than I care to remember and hope to visit for many years to come.

We were staying at its sister venue Ambleside Manor on a three night break, including dinner at Zefferellis one night, though we did in fact end up dining there two nights in a row.

The menu is extensive, with clearly labelled vegan options and being recommended the Nut Wellington I was disappointed to hear they had sold out. The wine list has clearly labelled vegan wines, which makes life so much easier. Starter was avocado caponata and main course was a vegan version of Pasta alla Genovese. I chose elderflower and lemon sorbet to finish...I could not fault the food.

I was so determined to try the Nut Wellington, I went back the following night and lucky for me, there were two portions left. The Wellington made of pecans and cashews, served with mashed potato, roast vegetables and a red wine sauce, has to be the best rendition of this dish, I have ever eaten.

Went today for the first time and I was amazed at all the vegan options I could chose from. Had the Wellington and it tasted incredible, the red wine sauce complemented perfectly the plate.

The rest of the family party (all omnis) had vegetarian main dishes and desserts and also enjoyed the food.

Big portions and good quality. The menu had around 8 vegan dishes, and the possibility of veganising 2 more (stated in the menu), plus 3 desserts. Will come back when visiting the Lakes.

Visiting Ambleside for the day and arrived with an appetite for lunch. Used Happy Cow to locate this great cafe. Lots of Vegan/Vegetarian options!! Has the Mexican Red Bean Chilli stuffed baked potato along with organic ginger beer. Excellent!!

Zeffirelli's provided me and my non-vegetarian family with an amazing meal out.
The menu was clearly marked, there were many vegan options and all of the dishes were cooked and presented beautifully.
It is classic Italian food done incredibly well and the service was very quick (we had a the course meal in under an hour with no more than 20-30 minutes waiting). We booked a table and, although quiet at first, it soon got busy in an atmospheric way.
The staff were very friendly and helpful, explaining what things were to my sister and being very kind and knowledgeable about my vegan diet (they even replaced my coffee when it came with chocolate powder on - I felt so bad

We were on our way back and came here for a breakfast. Very disappointed we had to eat junk food for breakfast cakes and coffee. They wouldn't make us a proper meal and we had no time to wait for lunch time. I hope they will improve their breakfast menu. This was mid Feb 2015

Went here twice during my stay in the Lake district, but was most impressed by the Pecan and Cashew Nut Wellington. Really really good! Staff is really friendly and I would def visit again.

I've been to Zeffirellis several times - most recently last week with my father on a visit to Ambleside. I've always found the food and service excellent. A surprisingly large restaurant for one that is exclusively vegetarian, and it always seems to be busy.

Vegan options are clearly marked on the menu, and there is a choice of starters, main courses and puddings (I recommend the summer pudding!) In an ideal world there would be vegan ice cream, but other than that I can't fault it. Definitely 5 stars for a vegetarian and 4.5 for a vegan. Reasonably priced too, and they do special offer cinema evenings.

This place gets busy very quickly, so I'd recommend booking. The food is tasty and the portions are generous. I had the vegan wellington, and it was really flavoursome and delicious. It would be nice to have a few more vegan dessert options - there was only sorbet and a summer pudding. Service was fast and friendly.

The meal and cinema ticket was a good deal and would be a great way to spend a rainy afternoon/evening in the Lake District. The starter I had was excellent and the pizza was OK. Overall I would thoroughly recommend it.

I'm just finishing my vegan wellington and have nothing but rave reviews for the food. The red wine special is fantastic as well. Quite happy. Presentation of food was lovely. I came early and I'm glad I did as it gets quite busy. Highly recommended.

Zeffirellis has been reliably excellent over the many years I've been going there. High-class place with delicious food. Staff are very aware of vegan concerns and the one time they gave me a cheese pizza by mistake I got a grovelling apology! Some good and interesting desserts, which vegans sometimes struggle to find. And on top of all that you can go straight to their cinema!

Great meal. The Vegan cheese on request made this the most enjoyable pizza experience we've had for a long time. Both pizzas we ordered were delicious. Along with the sweet potato and potato wedges, it made for a very tasty, filling meal. Luckily we got a doggy bag to take away the pizza we couldn't finish at the time! Made a for a lovely supper snack ;)

I have been to Zeffirelli's a number of times since about 2008 and I have always liked it. On my most recent visit in June 2014 the menu seemed to have been updated.

It now includes more vegan main course options, such as a pasta and artichoke salad and a veggie version of beef wellington (i.e. lentil roast wrapped in pastry).

I was very happy to see that there is now the option to have vegan cheese on your pizza - I ordered 'The Big One', which was delicious, but it was so big I had to take half home with me!

I would recommend Zeffirelli's to anyone - especially cinema-loving vegetarians - but it is still a lacto-ovo vegetarian restaurant with some vegan options, rather than a restaurant that caters primarily for vegans. Hopefully the most recent menu changes are evidence that vegan dishes are becoming more central to their menu. I hope so!

Tasty food in a pleasant and cheerful setting. A decent number of vegan options, but a mostly vegetarian menu. We had antipasti followed by stuffed onion and red beans, which were good.

I went to Zeffirelli's as one of a party of five. We had booked but showed up early -- they didn't seem to mind and made us comfortable in the bar upstairs while they made our table ready. This was done quickly and we were welcomed and seated by friendly staff.

Unfortunately the five of us were seated at a table that was really only big enough for four, with bench/booth type seats and no space to put a chair at the end... so we were a bit squished! A bigger table would have been appreciated! But it was a weekend and very busy.

I was extremely excited to see the sheer choice of vegan options on the menu. The Lake District is busy and cosmopolitan but vegan options are usually still quite limited. I was impressed! And all the food was delicious. In particular the vegan summer pudding with cashew cream which I ordered for dessert. A big portion and absolutely heavenly! My vegetarian friends were actually jealous of my vegan option! Everyone in the party was super happy with their meals and again, the desserts were especially popular. My partner raves about their frozen yoghurt to this day!

The restaurant is very busy and can be quite noisy, but personally I like quite a lively atmosphere. The decor is a bit, er, 'cruise ship', with lots of coloured lights/fountains/fake Italian stonework/statues and whatnot... kind of tacky but also fun and not taking itself too seriously! The staff seem very busy and sometimes rushed but they are still pleasant and make sure you have everything you need. Prices are medium range -- perfect for special occasions. Thanks, Zeffs!

I had a lovely dinner at Zeffirellis.
Pros: They had quite a few vegan options on the menu and even specified the vegetarian wines on the wine list which was brilliant! The raspberry pudding (vegan) for dessert was excellent, I was tempted to order two.
Cons: The restaurant was a little expensive but that whole area is expensive so was not out of the ordinary. And they were very busy so the service was a little slow.
Updated from previous review on Wednesday July 06, 2011

We ate there twice while on holiday in the Lake District. The vegan options were good but limited and they can not (in my experience) 'veganise' dishes. I ordered a pasta dish which the waitress said they could make vegan. It was terrible I ordered a tomato sauce to go with it as it was completely tasteless and dry and I wouldn't have eaten it. I am not a fussy eater (apart from my veganism) so for me to say this really is bad. I can veganise most dishes and they always are tasty so basically the chef lacks imagination. If they can't do better than that they should stick to the vegan choices and not veganise dishes. They could do with some more vegan sweets - chocolate! Ice-cream would be good as well.

Basic menu, international, but largely pizza & pasta based with the odd soup/casserole was uninspired, as was the food itself. Nothing bad going on here, just nothing special, the type of dishes you get too bored to eat, rather than full, before finishing your meal. Decent location, good staff, just nothing to write home about. And that's the crux of it: there's very little to say, because we are in the land of acceptably average.

lovely place, popular you wouldn't know it was vegetarian without looking at the menu. staff were friendly unfortunately our waitress a bit slow and forgetful. The food was better than ok but nothing special especially for the price.Limited chice of desserts for vegans.

Have been to Zeffs a few times and have always found it a good place for vegans, also staff are very friendly. Recently went to the restaurant for an evening meal - it was excellent, tasty, beautifully prepared, and a lovely experience. Highly recommended.

We wandered in here when we were on holiday last summer not realising it was a veggie restaurant and I did my usual trick of scanning down the menu looking at anything marked with a 'V.' Only when my boyfriend said what he was having did it suddenly click that this was a veggie place and the 'V' acutally meant vegan rather than vegetarian! I was really plesantly suprised by this.

The food itself was gorgeous, we had three courses in the end. Can't recall exactly what we had, but I do remember that we really enjoyed it. The staff were very helpful and friendly, the atmosphere was good and I very much liked the style of the place. I would highly recommend it if you are in the area.

My partner and I were in the Lake District for 5 days and ate here twice in the evenings. We had absolutely no problem getting a table, but it was not peak tourist season. The waiters and waitresses were excellent, we had a great choice of vegan food, and all our meals were very tasty. Would highly recommend.

Great restaurant with good selection of veggie dishes but not all of the cheeses (Parmesan and Mozzerella) on the evening I went were suitable for vegetarians. So it's best to check with the staff on the night as this information is not clear on the menu. After I did this I ordered a suitable starter and it turned up with Parmesan cheese grated on top! That said, it was quickly whisked away and replaced. Overall, the food was very good, the staff friendly and we had an enjoyable evening.

Hi ate here with my wife and we really enjoyed the food the place fills up very quickly and is huge the great thing for veggies is being able to order anything off the menu service was attentive and very quick considering how large the place is I was surprised at how good the food was we had a meal deal with the cinema. I agree its noisy but in a good way, as it was people chatting and having a good time rather than loud music. Book if going in peak season because they do get very busy, I think this is due to the fact that its probably serving the best food in Ambelside and everybody know it.

We ate at Zeffirellis as part of a bargain cinema/meal deal on a jam-packed Saturday evening. The service was excellent and friendly, and we were amazed when the waitress not only pointed out the vegan options but produced a specially marked up menu which was much appreciated. Unfortunately the pizza without cheese that I ordered was indifferent and similar to that described in another review and the level of ambient noise was so high that I couldn't hear myself think - I won't be rushing back but really did appreciate the fact that for a change vegans were at least knowledgeably catered for in what is obviously a very popular venue.

Perusing the menu I could see there were going to be vegan difficulties and once again opted for pizza without you know what. The pizza was bland with a very chewy base. Garlic or chilli oil (to enliven it)was unavailable. I have never had such a flavourless pizza.

The dining room was dark and cramped and the service was indifferent.