Eating out as a vegetarian. Aaaaggggghhhhhh!

[Neolara]

Once again I've come back from a meal out and my food has been terrible while everyone else has had great food. Every. Bloody. Time.

This time, we were at a nice pub. There actually weren't any vegetarian options. The only option was vegan. Could I swop the coconut feta for normal feta? No, unfortunately you can't which (according to the waitress) is a shame because they get asked that a lot...

When it arrives, my dish is a plate of lettuce with about 10 small diced pieces of aubergine (maybe a third of an aubergine?) and a scattering of coconut feta. It tastes ok, but it's really just a starter, bulked out with a lot of lettuce. The lettuce is covered in a very dressing that is so sweet, I didn't even manage to eat all the lettuce. It costs £15. Everyone else (meat eaters), talks about how full the are and how good the food is. I've come home after spending £50 on two drinks, a starter and a rubbish main meal, and made myself a piece of toast because I'm still hungry.

If it was a one off, I wouldn't mind that much. But it's every time. The rise of veganism has been an absolute disaster for vegetarian.food in restaurants. Eating out is very rarely a pleasure any more.
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Was veggie for 30 years. Can’t deal with this shit food eating out. So eat meat and fish now selectively when out.

I agree it's getting harder to find nice veggie food that includes eggs and real cheese as so many places think it's easier to just have vegan. I can’t stand vegan cheese fakes, they are totally rank unless it's been so long since you ate real cheese you have forgotten the taste.

But all the restaurants I go to are fine to swap out the vegan weird stuff for real cheese.

The best food I have ever had for vegetarian taste is in Brighton!! My daughter has just moved and granddaughter now at a different nursery.The food they are offering as alternative is revolting!

Yup! Vegan feta- yuck

Urgh the fake meat. I only know one vegan who will entertain the stuff and she's as unhealthy as hell. I don't even mind all the butternut or aubergine, as it's an escape from the evil mushroom which always used to be the veggie staple.

I often resort to eating fish when I'm out. Which makes me not a vegetarian, I know.

I don't eat meat, but if I go out for a meal I'll chose fish rather than the usual aubergines/chickpea shite they serve up. I don't eat fish at home usually.

Wagamama is great for a high street lunch/dinner and strangely, Nando's vegetarian menu is cracking!

Love a McPlant from McDonalds too.

100% agree. So many formerly vegetarian meals which are now only offered with vegan 'cheeze' or some shit. It's awful.

Order something nice like everyone else, enjoy your meal and go home full. It's a choice you make, you could order the yummy steak too if you wanted to.

Toastofthetown. Where do you live? Sounds brilliant.

I'm actually quite happy to eat vegan food at home. It's just that, as others have said, the vegan food in restaurants is often not very good. Fake meat is grim. Fake cheese is euww. Bring back bean burgers and actually vegetables.

Totally agree that Indian restaurants are generally very good for veggie food.

But nobody's including fake meat in the meat options, are they?

Was this meant to be some kind of gotcha? Or making a clever point? It failed.

I've come home tonight from a 25 pound plate of pasta and mushrooms. I asked for mushrooms instead of prawns on a main and got charged full price.
I should have known when the vegetarian section was called in the garden, it was for rabbits. Really sick of everything except mexican and Indian.

Oh ps, I think restaurants are using veggie plates to subsidize meat options.
Hence lots of leafs and not actual real food.

This really used to piss me off when I was veggie.

Now I'm vegan and I'm delighted!

Never had an issue here in London tbh. There's always many options

Try being a vegetarian with a chilli allergy...

There are times where I have resorted to putting sides and starters together in a desperate attempt to cobble a meal together

And to those who like to casually suggesting I eat meat its a texture issue. I've tried to eat it I've tried for years but I ended up with an eating disorder. So it's not that simple. Well that and the involuntary vomiting if there is fat in the meat which tends to make me a less than pleasant companion unless I eat veggie

I've gotten a meal before called potato three ways.
It was three salad potatoes, one boiled, one pureed and one sliced. I had to add for some chips as there was so little food even the waiter looked embarrassed.

I would second the recommendations of Indian restaurants though, they usually have amazing veggie options and cater for wierd allergies well.

Also I've been to some amazing Greek restaurants with loads of options

Ah when you ask for three starter's and sides on one plate.....
And the asshole chef sends you three plates. Depressing.

I'm a meat eater and even I think you're a knob.

As someone who worked in catering for several years, was a teen veggie and in general knows their way round a kitchen, it's really not that hard to have some dishes that can be flexible to suit either veggie or vegan (or a meat eater) with ingredients that don't go off overnight or could be used in multiple dishes...... Unless the restaurants whole menu design is to a specific ethos (super local, farm shop etc that is ..)

I ended up ordering off the kids menu in a pub recently, because the adult veggie menu was all fake meat or fake cheese.

I'd be really happy eating vegan if it was recognisable food like you used to get such as a nut loaf, bean chilli, shepherd pie made with lentils.

It's crap. I'm not even veggie but I like veggie food so always check out the "options". I'd have had a bowl of chips to go with your lettuce!

I had cauliflower ‘steak’. Recently which was a piece of steamed cauliflower. So not only do restaurants not give options they want to starve us.

It’s better than risotto I suppose, sick on a plate.

I totally agree op, just when things were looking good for vegetarians in terms of choice on menus vegan replacements took over.

Agree . . . I am currently finding the bigger chains much better than local pubs. Pubs always used to do cheap, slightly rubbish cheese sandwiches or a veggie burger but now can only get vegan tiny salads with, as a pp said, very sweet dressing, or massive fake meat vegan burgers for ££. Annoying as would like in theory to support local businesses.

Blimey, people do love to moan. Go to a different restaurant if the choices are shit. They’re not all terrible.