To think vegans can’t really complain if they don’t like what’s on the menu when the menu is clearly advertised

[Foodreviews]

NC as I’ve been talking about this IRL

Now we’re allowed to eat out again I’ve been checking out the reviews of a few different restaurants and am astounded how many people complain that the restaurant didn’t cater for their vegan requirements

I’d get it if the restaurant claimed to do so, but from the examples I’ve seen, the menus are clearly advertised on line

Most have maybe 1 vegan option, and often not loads of other options anyway

In my head it’s like going to a Chinese restaurant and moaning that you can’t get a vindaloo or going to a pizzeria and moaning you can’t get sweet & sour chicken and egg fried rice

If the restaurant doesn’t serve what you want, surely you go elsewhere rather than slate the restaurant on review websites because they didn’t make you food that wasn’t on their menu

YABU. Choice of options for vegetarians/pescatarians/vegans is quite crap in a lot of restaurants. Seems to be a choice of mushroom risotto (boak), grilled sea bream (meh) it goat’s cheese salad (meh x 2).

I’d complain if I’m not satisfied.

Vegan isnt a cuisine but a food preference.

@Lelophants

I agree if you're talking about a steak place. But for most restaurants, a vegan option is easy. It more just seems silly as they are limiting their market.

They obviously are not limiting it much otherwise they would do more of it.

Vegetarian offerings are bizarrely dairy heavy and many contain parmesan which isn't vegetarian.

Most vegans I know would check it out before anyway. But the ones I know are the proper ones, not the 18 year olds doing it for 10 mins whilst wearing leather because they want to be skinny.

I don’t whinge, I just don’t go.
I always always pre check the menu to find a suitable plant based dish.
There’s rarely anything there so I just do go.

With regards to caesar salad, it would have to have no anchovies and no parmesan to be vegetarian, so it wouldn't really resemble a caesar salad at all. But having said that, that's the sort of situation that I'd have thought lends itself quite well to a vegetarian option in that they could offer a caesar salad or a vegetarian equivalent that has a different dressing.

As a non vegetarian, if I got a Ceasar salad without anchovies I'd probably be sending it back as it would have been misrepresented on the menu as being something that it's not.

Well I often don’t have a choice because of work so I will complain if I don’t like the food.

Too many years of nut cutlets.

It's interesting that folk think restaurants somehow owe them an interesting meal choice. They put things on their menu that sell and are popular, since they're a business, not a charitable public service. In some places it makes business sense to offer a range of veggie/vegan options, in others it's not economical.

@HavelockVetinari equally restaurants aren’t owed favourable reviews. If someone wants to bemoan the lack of good non-meat options then that’s perfectly fine. Meat eaters can just skip those reviews.

Yes they can just skip the reviews, but it brings overall down. Which, unless food or service was bad is unfair

I’m vegetarian, it pisses me off when I can’t even order a Caesar salad because they insist on putting anchovies in the dressing when it can be made just as nicely without

Yes or shove ham in a leek and potato soup or ham in a turkey pie. What's with adding ham to everything?

But if you decide that you are going to exclude a massive number of foods from your diet you can't really complain that there's nothing on the menu to suit. One of the reasons I am not veggie is because I am too fussy and there'd be nothing left for me to eat.

On thinking about it, I think that I would expect a more varied menu from a hotel restaurant, on the grounds that a lot of people staying there might need to eat there too eg if they are there for work, or it's not convenient to other alternative options. I think from a guest comfort point of view it would make a lot of sense to be able to cater for different preferences.

The main issue for veggies and vegans is that most restaurants will at best only have one or two options and typically the same sort as every other restaurant, it use to be mushroom risotto or goats cheese something or other, now it's more likely to be cauliflower or meat-free burger. It gets very boring very quickly, and that if you even like the one or maybe two dishes they do.

So you have veggie and vegan restaurants, but not every area has one, many aren't very good, and if you go to the same place a lot it can get boring. All this is improving though. But a lot of family and friends won't go to them. Restaurants that have a good balance of the two are gold but mostly Lebanese or Indian, again particular tastes that not all friends and family like. So vegans and veggies end up being dragged a long to a lot of restaurants where they eat the same dish that they ate in the last one they went to, or don't even like.

I think it's fair to put in a review but I would base the rating on the option given rather then lack of them.

Yes they can just skip the reviews, but it brings overall down. Which, unless food or service was bad is unfair

But it gives non-meat eaters a chance to decide if they want to eat there. Reading the menu in advance doesn’t always help as some restaurants put up sample menus.

I’m a carnivore but I know vegetarians who have been treated abysmally in burger restaurants. If you’re offering veggie / halloumi burgers etc than you should treat your veggies as well as your meat carnies and not like second class customers.

Many people are vegan because of dairy allergies, so I would expect them to be able to order something these days.

YANBU
I'm part-time vegan (yes, it's a thing: only eating meat and dairy products occasionally, because I'm a crap dietetician and it's the only way I can be sure I get enough proteins, iron and vitamin B12, while minimising my impact on the environment), and it's a personal choice, not a dietary requirement.

It's seriously offensive to bundle together belief-based diets (including religious beliefs: halal, kosher, lent, etc.), which are personal choices, with health-based dietary requirements (allergies, intolerances, or even stuff like diabetes or high blood pressure), which can be genuine life-or-death issues, and very much not by choice.

Restaurants should aim to accommodate the latter, but it's a bit ridiculous to force them to consider the former.
From what I understand, the Equality Act says they should care about both, but honestly, it's a bit daft for beliefs to be given equal weight to medical conditions.

@Kaiserin no one has said restaurants should be forced to accommodate vegetarians/vegans/ halal/kosher. Otherwise McDonalds would have halal and kosher choices.

All people are saying is that reviewers should have the right to say if they didn’t like the options.

YANBU.
Veganism is a choice. I'm a vegetarian and have to accept that sometimes I have to make do with the limited choices on offer. People should plan accordingly and check in advance.

I agree with you, Kaiserin.

I find people with serious allergies tend to do research. For example a friend of mine is vegetarian (personal choice) but allergic to onions, so she contacts restaurants in advance to check there will be a dish she can order.

I find people who expect others to facilitate their lifestyle choices supremely annoying

I think the veganism may be a red herring here. Nobody who knows what a restaurant serves, knows they aren't prepared to eat any of it for whatever reason and still chooses to go there is being sensible.

Can’t decide. Some people are overly fussy, don’t want to try new things, & need to be more adventurous if they are going to voluntarily restrict their diet. OTOH, some places offer 1 vegan option which is frequently spicy & either not palatable or not suitable for people with (for example) GI issues.

I have been vegetarian on & off my whole life. I now have so many food intolerances than fully committing to vegetarianism isn’t viable, let alone vegan (which I’d rather). I usually get a plain undressed salad & either chips or rice. I am just grateful to get something that won’t make me ill.

People should plan ahead & be grateful for what is available.

I hate the current culture of slating businesses online so yanbu for that. Otoh it is really annoying and embarrassing to go out somewhere with meat eating friends and not be able to order a meal for myself. Vegan food is so easy but a lot of places are lazy and I begrudge paying my hard earned cash for something tasteless that I had to order because it was the only thing I could eat. Veganism is growing massively so it is in the restaurant's best interests to provide decent options. We can go to vegan restaurants but a lot of meat eaters will not be keen to do that

YANBU - ad-hoc and last minute choice - then go to a dedicated vegan restaurant!
Most restaurant can cater for them, some has this as their main choice
If you are a ‘Vegan’ use some common sense!
I read the menu beforehand. Don’t like it, then try to choose one I like. 🤷🏻‍♀️

What annoys me about vegetarian or vegan meals out is that its invariably just as expensive as the meat based equivalent, but costs half as much to make. So you sit there, eating something you don't particularly want to eat, knowing that you are paying an inflated amount of money for it. (We don't go out often but when we do we often go with family and don't get a choice of venue.)

The hugely worrying thing is the number of places that don't know what is vegetarian and what isn't. You still go in lots of places and have weird conversations about gelatine and whether parmesan is actually parmesan. I don't generally care either way I just want to know. But it makes me worried for people with genuine allergies that so may places are so clueless about what is in their food.