Meal for 6 vegan restaurant

[Upcyled]

Going out for an evening meal 6 people a week on Friday.
1 person is vegan so has suggested we go to a vegan restaurant.
I'm not against veganism and have family that are vegetarian and vegan which is great their choice.
I am struggling with a vegan restaurant as a choice to be honest. If it were vegetarian I'd be fine with it but vegan seems too much to expect. Obviously the drinks will also be vegan.
I've eaten at great vegan places for lunch not an issue just a whole 3 course meal has annoyed me a bit. Vegan butter, vegan cheese etc (they're not butter or cheese)
So I guess AIBU to suggest a vegetarian restaurant as a compromise?
I guess I don't want to come across as 'the awkward one'

Why on earth does it annoy you? Some vegans like processed junk food and some will miss specific dishes they used to eat - for a lot it’s about eating vegan for ethical reasons and might miss some food they used to eat.

Plenty of meat based restaurants that provide processed junk food.

If you've looked at the menu and won't be able to eat any of it then sure say it won't work for you

Unless they can suggest a specific vegan restaurant that you can all agree on or they are absolutely mad about, it seems a bit extreme to expect you to all bend to their whim/choice.
How about Indian pure vegetarian? I'm pretty sure that's knocking on the door of fully vegan. It's also often quite reasonably priced.
If you're not keen on that type of food I think finding a place that does a few vegan options but also meat? It's not so easy, especially if you're not in a big city.

I think it depends on how much of a ‘treat’ this is. We eat out a lot so I would be up for trying a new vegan place. Esp if it was Indian! If I went out for dinner rarely, and this was a big deal, I might perhaps be more choosy.

I'm a veggie who can't stand the vegan options!

With the vegan trend a lot of places have got rid of their decent veggie options, and it's just not the same any more!

I'm a veggie and my meat eating friends would be fine with a veggie lasagna (i.e. with real cheese), but alas there is no longer this choice in many places.

So we eat in, instead!

6 people go to a restaurant that will only really suit one person? Not on your life.

Who said it won't suit the 4 others.

YANBU but expect all the vegans to pile in wondering why you can't possibly manage without animal products for one meal.

The sane, rational thing to do would be to choose a standard restaurant which has a good range of vegan options to cater for the 16% of the party who chooses to follow vegan diet.

I'd definitely ask to go to a vegetarian restaurant which had options for the vegan. It's not about wanting meat etc but eating out is way too expensive to limit yourself and the others to somewhere suited to the dietary choices of just one person in the group.

I'd be very surprised if you were the only one unhappy with his suggestion.

I'm vegan
I'd never expect everyone to go to a vegan restaurant
However
Our local pub does 4 vegan meals to choose from ,then says in tiny writing right at the bottom of the menu , that the vegan food is cooked in with other dishes and they can't be held responsible for cross contamination issues.
I've noticed a few times in different places this has also been the case .
If vegan food is cooked in with meat of fish ,then it's not vegan
Maybe that's why she / he suggested a vegan restaurant

Vegetarian good compromise

Absolutely not! Find a place with good vegan options.

‘No, thank you, I don’t fancy a vegan place. Let’s look at places with good vegan options… here’s one…’

I love it how in any thread that mentions vegan food there are always a couple of people who need to say how horrified they are by ultra processed vegan foods.

1. Haven't you heard of sausage rolls?
2. I don't think for one second these people eat a super clean Gwyneth Paltrow style diet of bone broth and organic meat and veg.

I could do vegetatarian, but I wouldn’t waste money having a vegan meal. Too processed for me.

Totally agree.
All my old veggie restaurant haunts in London have gone vegan - fake cheese - no thanks! I went to veggie restaurants to have the cheese option 😆

I’d find somewhere with a decent selection of dishes which suit everyone and suggest that. Vegan restaurants are often expensive because of the novelty factor. A friend organised a group meal at Mildred’s recently and I paid £18.50 for a tofu salad and another £7 for a small side of some spicy potatoes. I wouldn’t say either had any wow factor. We eat out a lot so I can chalk it up to just a meh meal, but I’d have been annoyed if eating out was the sort of thing I only did for a treat and ended up paying that for that when I’d have much preferred the option of something with meat in a place which served both meat and vegetarian/vegan options.

Vegan doesn't equal processed. It can be, of course, like much of what is non-vegan. A decent vegan restaurant will cook from fresh ingredients, and have a minimum of processed ingredients in the same way that a non-vegan restaurant would do. A quick google of vegan restaurants, and a look at some of the example menus will show you that there are many many places offering many choices that don't contain any highly processed ingredients.

It's people saying that it's healthy that's the issue. A dietary choice which lacks essential nutrients and often contains UPF's isn't healthy.

I don't eat UPF's and I wouldn't eat a sausage roll. I sometimes make them for the kids..

Which vegan restaurant is it OP? You can always just decline.

I felt the same as you and ended up on a works night out at a vegan restaurant. Tbh it was one of the most tasty meals I have ever had. Allotment when it was on Stockport what a treat (apart from the vile cheese course!).

I love meat but have eaten at a vegan restaurant and it was great! I would go.

There are good vegan restaurants and bad ones. You’re unlikely to find an abundance of vegan cheese because nobody really likes it.

YABU.

"It's people saying that it's healthy that's the issue. A dietary choice which lacks essential nutrients and often contains UPF's isn't healthy."

One meal isn't going to leave you with malnutrition. You can also easily avoid UPFs in that meal.

A full time vegan diet can be healthy and can include all essential nutrients. A meat-eating diet can be unhealthy and lacking in essential nutrients.

I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand until I'd had a look at the menu. There's a fantastic Vegan restaurant in my town which has a brilliant menu that my meat eating/veggie curious husband raves about and has used for business lunches and dinners. No fake cheese or fake meat - the menu looks amazing. I still haven't been but heard lots of good reports.

Its very unlikely that my town has such a good Vegan restaurant...but there you go.