J D Wetherspoon Pubs

[treaclemine]

I'm definitely planning to try this vegan curry next time I'm near a Wetherspoons. It will probably be the Briar Rose or the Square Peg in Birmingham City Centre.

Anyone else got a review to post? What did you think of the meal (as a pub curry, or compared to authentic ones?), and the service from the staff (in which Wetherspoons where and when)?

(Can we watch vegan yumminess spreading across the UK?

[Risker]

We just shared one of their new curries, it was very nice, it says it's in a rich coconut sauce (which put me off a bit) but it didn't taste in the least bit coconuty. I think it's overpriced at £6.19 tbh. If you ask you can get stuff from the curry club menu added to it even if it's not a Thursday, we had onion bhaji's, 3 for £1.

[treaclemine]

We just shared one of their new curries, ... I think it's overpriced at £6.19 tbh. If you ask you can get stuff from the curry club menu added to it even if it's not a Thursday, we had onion bhaji's, 3 for £1.

That's useful to know!

Does it seem overpriced compared to other items on their menu?

Did you talk to the staff about the vegan thing - did they seem to understand what it really means?

Don't suppose you want to say the name of the Wetherspoons pub in particular?

[Gorilla]

£6.19 is very pricey for a veggie curry, i think i'll stick with Bombay Aloo

their burger was nice, i'd rather they brought that back, bah.

[Risker]

That's useful to know!

Does it seem overpriced compared to other items on their menu?

Did you talk to the staff about the vegan thing - did they seem to understand what it really means?

Don't suppose you want to say the name of the Wetherspoons pub in particular?

I told the guy we wanted it veganised, I don't think he got that, so we just said give us poppadums instead of naan bread. I don't think he did get it tbh but he didn't really seem all that with it at the time.

It doesn't cost much more than their other main meals but their other main meals are on 2 for £6.69 offers or contain huge amounts of meat or other expensive ingredients. Considering the small amount of curry you get (which is made of cheap ingredients) and the large amount of rice I think it should be about half the price.

Next time we go I think I'll just get them to make us a meal out of curry club items, worked out cheaper when we did that and was very nice.

[Pearl]

I had this the other week. I forgot to ask for the extra poppodums though and it turned up with the naan bread. It was ok I suppose. Nothing special, but I ate it because it was vegan. I agree, it would be nice if they bought the vegan burger back. Or even run it alongside the existing one.

[BlackCats]

I'm going to have to go and try this curry, expensive or not. I wish they would bring the old burger back too.

[Gorilla]

I agree, it would be nice if they bought the vegan burger back. Or even run it alongside the existing one.

i don't think it'd be cost-effective for them to sell two veggie burgers. but it would make sense for them to just make the veggie burger vegan again, thus increasing their potential sales by quite a bit. all i can assume is that the cheesy burger is cheaper than the one they used to sell which happened to be vegan, and they don't believe an increase in sales would outweigh the extra costs.

[twinkle]

.... Considering the small amount of curry you get (which is made of cheap ingredients) and the large amount of rice I think it should be about half the price....

Yeah, but with meals out you're paying a lot for the cost of serving and washing up and all that, I shouldn't think the cost of the basic ingredients makes a massive difference to a place like that when they are able to buy in bulk.

[Corum]

i don't think it'd be cost-effective for them to sell two veggie burgers. but it would make sense for them to just make the veggie burger vegan again, thus increasing their potential sales by quite a bit. all i can assume is that the cheesy burger is cheaper than the one they used to sell which happened to be vegan, and they don't believe an increase in sales would outweigh the extra costs.

Even the Lewes Arms does a vegan veggieburger! (as I found out yesterday lunchtime, when I went out for a birthday gurgle )

[Gorilla]

^ was that because they went out of their way to make it vegan, or is it just coincidence?

(it was your birthday yesterday? happy birthday!)

[Corum]

I never asked, but was nicely surprised! (It's been taken over by Fullers, which is a great improvement over Greene King).

(Thx! Old fool turned 36 )

[treaclemine]

I think it's overpriced at £6.19 tbh.

I still think it's worth encouraging them! As someone else has pointed out, the basic ingredients probably make up less than one third of the price. They might even be able to bring the price down if enough people order the vegan curry - if scaling up production means that they save money by supplying it in large quantities? I wouldn't expect a vegan meal to be any cheaper than a non-vegan one in a non-vegan restaurant.

[Risker]

^ That's what I'm saying, it's not any cheaper, it's more expensive as all the other meals are available on 2 for £6.69 offers (so pretty much buy one get one free). I only mentioned the cost of the ingredients because the other meals that aren't on BOGOF for that price involve expensive ingredients like large steaks.

[Buddha Belly]

We tried the curry tonight. we agree with all the previous posts on it. The curry itself was small but very good, the rice was very nice and the poppadoms were ok. They ran out of mango chutney and a food heater lad came out with minty yoghurt, I agree with Risker shame its not on the 2 for £6.20. I am sending an e-mail to them tonight to ask why there is no vegan option on the 2 for £6.20 thing.

[!!]

I had the curry today, and it was rather good I thought It was nice to be able to go out and not ring ahead etc!

[Rebbecca]

Don't forget to e-mail your praise to 'Spoons! If they get a big enough response then they may make more options vegan!

[!!]

Good idea Will do!

[alisont]

I tried the curry dish yesterday whilst out with work friends - really nice curry and rice - but needs more curry! Could not eat all the poppadums!

So needs to be on the 2 for 1 offer.

Yep well impressed with the taste.

[Risker]

I emailed them a few days back to say that I appreciated them having a vegan meal and asking that they do more. I just got a letter in response saying that they'd pass the compliments on to the pubs area manager (ignoring the rest of my comments). I'd rather they'd responded by email, surely it's good etiquette to respond in the same medium to which you were contacted, perhaps they do it by post to avoid getting drawn in to conversations. (I think I might have moaned about this before)

[Gorilla]

when they've replied to my emails they've done so by post, total waste of paper!

[Corum]

That's as might be, but you're dealing with the corporate world where they spend shedloads on paper, just to prove their status in 'their world' – speaking as someone who used to design the flippin' stuff

Risker, you're just emailing the 'customer service' line. All you're doing is adding to the spam they get every day. As I said, the boss' name is Tim Martin. Try writing to him (on paper, of course... if you achieve your aims, then it's not a waste of paper) directly via the Watford office, at least you'll get a proper response (the amount of refunds I've had by writing to MDs in the past has been amazing), even if - as is usually the case - it gets moved down the food chain but at least it's got somewhere and will be actioned accordingly.

Don't forget to e-mail your praise to 'Spoons! If they get a big enough response then they may make more options vegan!

Absolutely! Comments work both ways!!

[emzy1985]

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, here is a pic:

[Risker]

^ Nice one Emzy, good idea

[emzy1985]

It's not the best pic in the world, but hey I was munching on it yesterday so meh!

[Risker]

They forgot to give us mango chutney, I had to go to the bar and ask for it - despicable

They should include lime pickle as well imho.

[emzy1985]

My ex works there so I got everything as it should have been, albeit a tad slow. I actually got her to shove in another tub of mango chutney...simply because I love it!

Mmmm lime pickle!

[Gorilla]

lime pickle, yuk! thanks for the photo, Emzy.

[Hemlock]

I'm definitely planning to try this vegan curry next time I'm near a Wetherspoons. It will probably be the Briar Rose or the Square Peg in Birmingham City Centre.

Anyone else got a review to post? What did you think of the meal (as a pub curry, or compared to authentic ones?), and the service from the staff (in which Wetherspoons where and when)?

(Can we watch vegan yumminess spreading across the UK?

We stayed at the Briar Rose (they have a v. nice Wetherlodge, right above the pub) when we were last in Birmingham. We'd just been to the NEC to see Iron Maiden just after we got together (eight years ago!)

[Crafterga]

I'm so glad that I read this thread yesterday. We headed out to Saffron Walden last night to visit a turkish restaurant that usually serves us a good vegan meal...it had closed down :-( We then decided to try the pizza restaurant that can usually provide a cheeseless pizza for us...fully booked.

We wondered around with hungry tummies, until I remembered this thread and said hey, there's a Wetherspoons, they do a curry thats suitable for us! We were well impressed! The curries were excellent and at £5.99 a shot, good value. They came with a huge pile of poppadoms and 2 tubs of chutney each. Washed down with a pint of Westons cider, I left the pub in a very good mood!

It's great that we've now got somewhere that we can visit with omni friends, and they can see that it's no hassle at all being vegan. So often I get asked "but it must be so difficult for you to eat out", now I can say that even Wetherspoons caters for us!

[BlackCats]

I went to my local Wetherspoon's yesterday and they didn't have the vegan curry available and when I asked for something else they didn't have it either. Absolutely f*cking useless. Lol.

I will try their vegan curry one day I hope.....

[bradders]

the big chains:
JD Wetherspoon
Punch Taverns (owns spirit group and others)
Lorell (owns Yates's)

to be honest when I'm in central I'll drink in one place and we'll eat somewhere else and then go back for drink, I may briefly split to get food separately if need be.
(thanks to bry and co for introducing me to glasshouse and vitaorganic)

[Risker]

We're in wetherspoons now, just got their curry club meal, 2 curries, basmati rice, onion bhajis, vegetable samosas, bombay potatoes, poppadums, mango chutney (extra samosas instead of naan bread) and 2 pint of coors light - £14

Shame they gave us lamb samosas instead of vegetable ones, I swallowed it too.

Still, we got a full refund and are getting a new meal for free.

EDIT: we also got another 2 pints free, but I did eat lamb, so not so good.

[Buddha Belly]

Coors aint vegan either. Sorry

[Risker]

^ I hope it is, this website says yes - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/geraint...ers.html#Coors

I'll ask.

[Buddha Belly]

The last thing i read about beers said Coors was not vegan, but as we all know they change everyday, so sorry if it is not now.

[Risker]

TBH after eating lamb it wouldn't phase me much if it wasn't.

[Gorilla]

sorry that happened to you Risker, i've been totally put off eating samosas from non-veggie places since an Indian restaurant accidentally gave me a meat one, and i bit into it before realising. hopefully Wetherspoons will make sure it doesn't happen again.

[bradders]

I usually break a piece off them now for this reason

[Gorilla]

i did that for a while, but it's so easy for them to make this kind of mistake, and if they have to take the meat one back they're only going to throw it away which is almost as bad as if i'd eaten a piece IMO!

[Risker]

Is it really almost as bad? I'd be much much happier if I hadn't eaten any but realised it was meat beforehand.

We decided to do the same thing as bradders after realising what had happened, (breaking a bit off to check), even though it happened I'd still eat there again, the manager gave me confidence that it wouldn't happen again.

[emzy1985]

I find alot of places do that with spring rolls aswel. Like Bradders I often break a peice off, have a look and have a smell just to make sure.

[Gorilla]

Is it really almost as bad? I'd be much much happier if I hadn't eaten any but realised it was meat beforehand.

obviously i'd be happier if i'd realised first too, but if the meat's only going to get thrown away then that's just a waste of the animal and more meat samosas have to be made to replace them. i'd rather they didn't serve them up to me in the first place.

[bradders]

It is one of those things though that once it has happened and has been dealt with it can ensure good practice in the future (like uni where there are now daily and very popular they are too vegan options)

[emzy1985]

Kicking up a fuss in those situations might not be fun, but will definately lead to improvements. I always kick up a fuss if shit ain't right.

[bradders]

if it was a case of realising before biting there would be a half decent chance that the 'chef' would eat them when sent back.
Chef = microwave and high temperature viscose fluid operations technician

[bradders]

fuss kicking and fear of god into people type situations can be so much fun.

[Gorilla]

if it was a case of realising before biting there would be a half decent chance that the 'chef' would eat them when sent back.
Chef = microwave and high temperature viscose fluid operations technician

possibly, although in a place like Wetherspoons i'm not sure the staff would be allowed to eat incorrectly served food.

[Risker]

They would, I worked there. (many years ago but I'm sure it hasn't changed).

There was definate fear of god in the manager when he realised what had happend.

Me: "Excuse me, is this lamb?"
Manager: "Yes"
Me: "We're vegans"
Manager: (oh shit!)

[emzy1985]

Haha! Yeah they fear law suits and shit these days more than anything.