Vegan-friendly
Lacto
Ovo
Pizza
Italian
Mediterranean
Beer/Wine
Take-out

Vegetarian cafe and restaurant set in a complex that also houses cinemas and a jazz bar. Menu offers snacks like olives and potato wedges, pizzas, pasta dishes, salads, and mains like wellington plus drinks and ice cream for dessert. Established since the 2000s. Open Mon-Sun 10:00-22:00. Restaurant is closed Mon but the caféi s for drinks and cakes until 5pm.


115 Reviews

First Review by jonnie

plates_full_of_joy

Points +79

Vegan
05 Sep 2021

Great atmosphere and very tasty food

Excellent service and a really lovely atmosphere. Loads of space when a lot of restaurants were full and we were getting hangry! Plenty of vegan options and staff were very thorough. Incredible vegan sticky toffee puddings 🤤

KT001

Points +1594

Vegan
30 Aug 2021

Lots of vegan options

Tasty food, lovely setting in the middle of Ambleside.
There is a vegan alternative for most veggie options. The sticky toffee pudding dessert was delicious

Pros: Lots of vegan options clearly indicated on menu , Efficient staff, Wine and beer clearly indicated as vegan on menu

Cons: A tad expensive , arrabiata not spicy (even with xtra chilli)

sparkledust

Points +374

Vegan
30 Jul 2021

Good pizza!

Couple of different vegan pizza options. Great service. Wine clearly labeled vegan.

Guruofsurf

Points +651

Vegan
30 Jul 2021

Lovely food but they served feta to me by mistake.

Firstly lovely looking restaurant and super efficient and friendly staff. Online booking system works well and was busy but the kitchen was coping well.

Ordered the mezze platter and made sure they knew it was the vegan version. The player turned up and I happily tucked into the garlic bread and then noticed that there were feta looking pieces in one of the pots. At first I assumed that it was one of the many replacement cheeses you can get now but upon smelling I wasn’t sure. I asked the waiter and to be fair to him he looked horrified and quickly grabbed everything and hurried it to the kitchen. Including my half eaten bread. Shortly a new platter arrived with vegan cheese. It may be that the new garlic bread was oil rather than butter based. Not a good start but the platter tasted good and the two meals of a pizza and a chilli were very good. The restaurant didn’t charge us for the platter and were very apologetic but I would expect a fully vegetarian restaurant to do better. A shame because for the rest of the evening I was checking that everything was vegan and okay.

oliveras

Points +67

Vegan
09 Jun 2021

Okay, but expected better

The restaurant was nicely decorated and the staff were nice, but was left mostly disappointed. Maybe that's just because we expected more of an authentic Italian style pizza, which it was not. The toppings were fine but the base was that kind of oily thin crust but deep pan cooking style which you'd expect from more of a fast food place. I loved the fact they cater for vegans so well, and I hate to not highly rate places doing so, but we wouldn't return for the pizza at least. If I rated the pizza as a thing of its own, then it was decent.

Pros: Lots of vegan options, Good staff and atmosphere

Cons: Pizza was a let down

VelillaDeOswestry

Points +3612

Vegan
01 Jun 2021

Nice venue and some good dishes

We got the movie deal wich is £25 per person. We thought that depending on what you get it is a bit expensive. We highly recommend the vegan Wellington and the ginger and pear toffee pudding. They were amazing. Staff were really friendly.

naomip123

Points +5547

Vegan
22 Dec 2020

Classy Italian place

This place is beautifully decorated and really has the ambience of a restaurant in Italy. The staff were knowledgeable and polite. The food was delicious - I had the vegan garlic bread with cheese to start (beware, it's the size of a 9" pizza!) and then a vegan Rain Forest for my main (some money is donated to an Indian charity). The garlic bread was amazing - so cheesy and garlicky! The pizza was also lovely - lots of good vegan cheese, peppers, jalapeños and spinach. Delightful! I was worried there wouldn't be enough food because the 12" pizza base isn't vegan, so you can only have the 9" one, but luckily the pizza was so piled with toppings that this wasn't a problem. My wife had a Caprese salad and the Big One (non-vegan) pizza and enjoyed them both. Some of the desserts looked good but we didn't have any room, sadly. Upstairs is a cinema which is cool.

Pros: All veggie and lots of vegan options, Atmosphere, Good quality of food

Nicola1111

Points +1273

Vegan
04 Oct 2020

Tons of vegan options!

Vegetarian restaurant.. Deserves 5 stars as this is a full vegetarian restaurant. Loads of vegan options. We had garlic bread, pizza, and sticky toffee pudding. All of the pizzas are vegan, the base in vegan, they will add whatever topping you want and if course vegan cheese. Amazing food!

Pros: Tons of vegan options

Cons: None

Kerryyork

Points +228

Vegan
14 Sep 2020

Amazing 5 Star Food

We had a fantastic meal here whilst staying at Yewfield nearby. Lots of vegan options, 3 delicious courses. The Pecan and Cashew Wellington was outstanding and house wine was really good. Staff were friendly and helpful. Would definitely return, wish it wasn't 3 hours away!

Pros: Excellent selection of vegan options , Great atmosphere

Cons: None

Esiuolouise

Points +47

Vegan
28 Jul 2020

Perfect!

Really lovely restaurant with lots of choice for vegans and vegetarians alike.
The food was amazing and I particularly enjoyed my Pecan and Cashew wellington. It was so flavourful and my husband wishes he'd ordered it too as he'd never tried anything like it before- although he loved his own meal as well (pizza)

We thought the place had a great atmosphere and it was so nice to go to a restaurant that felt luxurious, whilst still having a fantastic menu for vegans and vegetarians. With that said, it was very reasonably priced and we wouldn't hesitate to visit again if we were in the area. We'd definitely recommend it here! If it was possible to give it 5* we would!

Pros: Good prices for what feels like a high end place, Great atmosphere, Wonderful food

Zeffirellis

08 Aug 2020

Hi,

Thank you so much for taking the time to write us such a lovely review. We are delighted to hear that you both enjoyed your meal as well as t he atmosphere and we look forward to welcoming you back soon!

Kind regards,

Maria & the rest of the team at Zeffirellis

MateuszWoch

Points +67

Vegan
29 Feb 2020

Outstanding food!

Perfect, delicious food and outstanding service! Full range of vegan pizzas and almost every meal with a vegan option😄

Pros: Lots of vegan options, Vegan pizza, Service

Kirky

Points +58

Vegan
27 Feb 2020

Very happy vegans!!

Superb food vegan & veggie options plenty too choose from.. pecan&cashew wellington was insanely good! A must try! 10 out of 10!!

Cons: More cake deserts

Fattyted

Points +4910

Vegan
17 Feb 2020

Lots of choice for vegans

I really like this place. The food is delicious and there's a lot of choice for vegans. There's a nice cosy atmosphere and good service

Pros: Delicious vegan food, Friendly staff, Cosy

JohnPettifor

Points +94

Vegan
27 Sep 2019

Fantastic vegan pizza, so much choice

Took ages to choose what we wanted on the menu as they have so many vegan options, we had pizza and coleslaw salad, even the wine and Beers are labels vegan on the menu, very impressed, friendly staff, next time we will stay for the cinema.

lrosina

Points +264

Vegan
25 Aug 2019

Wonderful restaurant, loads of vegan options

A great vegetarian and vegan Italian restaurant in Ambleside. A cinema is attached to the restaurant and they do a great meal deal with cinema tickets. Pizzas, pasta and other dishes available. Highly recommended!

Pros: Extensive vegan menu , Great food

Cons: Drinks are on the expensive side

alexanddan

Points +165

Vegan
25 Aug 2019

The Good, The Bad and the Pizza

There were lots of vegan options on the menu, which was great to see! I had the nut wellington, my partner had a pizza. Mine was FANTASTIC! Absolutely delicious, would recommend to all. The pizza however - very average. The base tasted like it was a cheap frozen one. Not bad! But not great either. The service was a bit... robotic? Very polite, ticks all the boxes, but delivered in an unfriendly manner. Must have just been our waitress as every other server seemed in good spirits. It was a little on the slow side, but we weren’t in a rush (fortunately)! Overall I would recommend - just maybe avoid the pizza, go with one of the other mains!

Beau77

Points +105

Vegan
16 Aug 2019

Very enjoyable.

Horrific weather meant we were drenched when we arrived 50 mins early for our table reservation, however friendly staff pointed us to the bar in the cinema area upstairs so we could grab a cocktail and dry off before our table was ready. When it was we found even friendlier waiting on staff and we throughly enjoyed our food, soup to start and then the vegan wellington and Mushroom Bourguignon, both extremely tasty. Unfortunately we didn’t have room for dessert, but I was pleased to see that the sundaes could all be made vegan......which was a refreshing change to fruit salad.....if only I could’ve squeezed one in! We will be back.

Pros: Lots of vegan options, Lovely ambiance , Friendly waiting on staff.

Cons: Too far away from home

KathrynLamb

Points +311

Vegan
11 Aug 2019

Very mixed review

We were staying at Ambleside Manor B&B, owned by the same people as the restaurant, and had an exceptional stay there with wonderful food - would highly recommend! We therefore had high expectations of the restaurant but were a little disappointed. The double feature deal of a 2 course meal and cinema ticket is good - check out their website.
The vegan desserts menu is only ice cream and a summer pudding, which seemed to be lacking slightly.
My partner's bruchetta had 2 cherry tomatoes and a lot of lettuce - very bizarre and disappointing. My soup was delicious but was served with dairy butter, despite the dish being labelled vegan on the menu (not "vegan option"). I began to eat this without realising which dampened my meal to begin with.
My nut Wellington with mash and roasted veg was lovely, and my partner's pizza was okay, but we didn't like the vegan cheese very much and expected better of the pizza base etc itself.
Lovely wine, and we visited for drinks another evening at the jazz bar above - really lovely atmosphere and great music.
Overall would recommend, but we had better food in ambleside elsewhere, and care needs to be taken with allergens and some of the dishes.

rubyjones13

Points +56

Vegan
11 Aug 2019

Delicious vegan food

Amazing vegan pizza!! Yummy varied options. Fab live music. Amazingly welcoming staff!

Pros: Great vegan pizza, Loads of wine, Fab live music

zerlinya

Points +50

Vegan
27 Jun 2019

Gorgeous food

We had a great visit to Zeffirellis, they seem to have mixed reviews from others, but we loved them.

Our starters were delicious, avocado caprese and the "ultimate in nibbles"
I had the nut roast Wellington, it was unbelievably delicious. My partner had mushroom bourguignon which he raved about.

I ordered a cider, forgot to check if it had sweeteners, it did, I gave it back and they didn't charge me for it. It was my mistake, so I wasn't expecting that, happy surprise.

My only feedback for improvement is they could have had a greater variety of vegan options on the dessert menu. We got the summer fruits pudding which was lovely. It was either that or vegan ice cream.

The mains portions didn't look enormous but they were very filling, you could have rolled the two of us out of there.

I like that when they delivered the food, they presented each item as the "vegan" dish. It was nice to have that verbal confirmation without asking.

Pros: Really delicious mains and starters, Super speedy service without rushing us, Verbally confirmed that dish was vegan

Cons: Limited but nice dessert menu

onavegantip

Points +22

Vegan
25 May 2019

Excellent

It is fully vegan/vegetarian. One of the best vegan meals I’ve had in this country, it was like a proper dinner. Had the nut wellington which was delicious. Good selection of desserts too, they made us a vegan banana split. Live music was good too, and no cover charge. The service was exceptional; they were very attentive.

viboro

Points +22

Vegan
27 Apr 2019

Good to have options but the food is only okay

I have tried both daytime and evening menu (from 5.30pm). The Chickpea Jacket potatoes are the best option for lunch, dillitng, fairly priced but don't expect too much. I wouldn't recommend the Lentil Burger, dry (no sauce)and tasteless. (the bun is actually not dry, fresh and crispy but there is no sauce and the patty is just lentil with tomatoes)
From the evening menu the Avocado starter was ok, not much flavour more like a side salad but the Nut Roast was absolutely perfect!

Pros: Nut Roast!, fair prices

Cons: Tastless lunch options

tofu_panda

Points +839

Vegan
07 Dec 2018

Busy but average

Busy restaurant probably because of a good cinema offer deal. Limited vegan options. My friend enjoyed the Wellington. My chilli lacked flavour expected in a chilli and who puts vegan cheese on a chilli? Only vegan desert option was fruit salad

Pros: Good meal deals

Cons: Poor vegan desert options

newcastlehypnotherapy

Points +110

Vegan
16 Sep 2018

Vegan Food In the Lakes

So pleased to find this place in the Lake District.
A great choice of Vegan Options and plenty of vegan wine.

Pros: Lots of vegan choice, vegan wine & beers

infolibre

Points +20

Vegan
25 Aug 2018

Excellent

Very busy but fast and excellent service, great choice of well marked vegan options in a 99% vegetarian restaurant. Would have liked a bigger range of vegan desserts but it was adequate.

Pros: Loads of vegan options, good service

Cons: Small selection of vegan deserts

DitaCarlita

Points +483

Vegetarian
17 Aug 2018

Okay if no other options

The service and speed our food came out was good. The food was okay - not bad but not worth coming back for. We tried the vegan Wellington and vegan basil pesto pasta - it was very oily. The bruschetta was nice. The vegan cheese was yummy. It was a very 90s feeling place!

Pros: Service, Vegan options

Cons: Nothing too exciting

Matt&Kim

Points +46

Vegan
31 Jul 2018

Great Vegetarian Restaurant

Zeffirelli's is definitely worth a visit. The menu is very varied, and there are many vegan options. We were very satisfied with the nut wellington and the funghi pizza with vegan cheese.




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