Vegan’s beef with restaurant after he is served meat dish

A VEGAN was horrified to discover he had eaten meat for the first time in five years after a restaurant served him a meal containing beef.

James Smith, from Salford Quays, was looking forward to a quiet night in and decided to try out the new vegan menu at the Italian restaurant chain Zizzi.

The 28-year-old used the home delivery app Deliveroo and ordered the gluten-free vegan lentil ragu pasta meal, costing £8.95.

He also chose two portions of fried herby potatoes and a vegan margarita pizza to share with his girlfriend on Sunday evening.

When the order arrived, James took a couple of mouthfuls of the pasta dish before realising something was wrong. He says the meal contained pulled beef instead of lentils. James said he called the Zizzi branch, located in Piccadilly Gardens, and discovered the restaurant handed the Deliveroo driver the wrong order.

He said Zizzi initially agreed to refund the pasta dish, but he asked for a full refund for the entire meal costing £28.90. The restaurant chain said a full investigation into the incident is now taking place. James, a sales account manager said: “I just took a mouthful or two. I could smell the beef and taste it. I have been vegan for five years, and my girlfriend has for a few years. “It upset us so much. We are quite chilled vegans. If it was egg you would ignore that, but with it being meat it is quite bad. If you can’t offer a vegan service, don’t do it.” James said he has been vegetarian for four years and more recently The beef dish sent to James Smith and, right, his order receipt became vegan. He said: “If you were coeliac and it wasn’t gluten free it could be dangerous. Management are going to get in touch, we will see what happens. I am vegan primarily for animal rights, but also the health benefits as well.

“I have been vegetarian for years, it is the first time I have eaten meat since then because of this mistake.”

James is warning other vegans or those with food intolerances to make sure to check their meals before tucking in.

The description of the dish on the Zizzi website describes it as a ‘vegan/non dairy lentil ragu’ with ‘linguine and fresh oregano,’ but James was accidentally served a bolognese.

A spokesman for Zizzi said: “We have strict processes and procedures to try and ensure these incidences do not occur, unfortunately on this occasion the issue occurred due to genuine human error in the kitchen.

“We take these breaches extremely seriously and I have personally followed up with the restaurant team and the operations director to reinforce the need for accurate checking of all dishes that have dietary and allergen implications before they reach customers.

“The customer was compensated on the evening for his meal and I have asked our customer service manager to contact the customer to reiterate our apologies.”