Ambleside, Mediterranean Restaurant Guide

“In the area, Zeffirelli‘s is rightly celebrated” – this Lakeland fixture (est. 1980) has been a feature of the town centre for nearly 45 years and is part of a quirky site incorporating a cinema and jazz bar. “Although it‘s a vegetarian restaurant, often people eat there without realising there’s no meat on the menu! The food’s well-presented and doesn‘t make a big fuss about being vegetarian”. “With lots of friendly staff, it’s deservedly popular”.

2023 Review: This “tiny restaurant in Windermere specialises in expertly cooked fish and seafood”. Established in 2010, it changed hands three years ago and now shares ownership with Bowness-on-Windermere’s Urban Food House. On the debit side, it can be “a bit lacking in atmosphere” (one reporter discerned a “retail shop feel”) and a couple of reports diagnose service issues relating to “post-Brexit and pandemic staff shortages”.