Vegan
Italian
Fast food
Beer/Wine
Take-out

Previously known as Alchemilla Bio. The shop is now owned by creators of La Zappa e il Mestolo. Specializes in street foods, piadines, burgers, chips and more. Open Mon-Sat 11:30-15:00, 18:00-22:00.


Venue map for ZEM Bistro
© OpenStreetMap contributors

45 Reviews

First Review by ConcettaDAddabbo

MCNS

Points +25

Vegetarian
18 Sep 2024

Ok as a port in a storm

Had tigalle and tortellini. Bit bland. Staff ok. Not cheap

toroBonobo

Points +394

Vegan
13 Sep 2024

Not just burger

We stopped in Bologna on our way back just to try their tortelloni and it was not disappointing. We also tried the grigliata, it was a bit too oily for us but tasted good. The staff was friendly and the beer was good.

Pros: not just burgers, friendly staff that speak English too, 15 min on foot from the central station

Cons: small, toilet on other premises, in front

margypargy

Points +108

Vegan
09 Sep 2024

Very weird experience (not good)

Everything was wrong about this place. The overflow restaurant space is treated as a takeaway, so I had to go backwards and forwards to order and to collect the food (twice). We got takeaway cartons, plastic cutlery and plastic glasses. The portion size was TINY. Not a main meal. The tortellini was ok, but there was no sauce and hardly any tortellini. The wine was undrinkable, absolutely vile. The salad, clearly from a bag, was brown and wilting. There was zero love or care in the food, which for a vegan restaurant was perhaps the biggest, saddest surprise. We have never had such a poor vegan restaurant experience in nearly 30 years as vegans. I would give this zero stars if Happy Cow would allow me to. Sorry Zem, but I would.

Pros: Fully vegan.

Cons: Very poor food, awful wine., Tiny portion in a very small takeaway container., No love or care was involved in any aspect.

K24A

Points +113

Vegan
09 Sep 2024

Worst vegan food I have ever eaten. Salty and a very very small portion. Ordered across the road then collected in a bag later.

By cooking nice tasty vegan food.

Pros: The area.

Cons: The food was poor. , The salad was brown.

LaLaila

Points +88

Vegan
09 Sep 2024

Just amazing

Very cute and small bistro but amazing!!!
Loved it.

twisterforever

Points +91

Vegan
03 Sep 2024

Meraviglia 😍

Posticino meraviglioso, piccolo, coccolo e con dei tortellini meravigliosi alla bolognese!
Personale gentilissimo ed ottime birre, prezzi onesti, cosa volere di più?!? 😍

Pros: Tutto

Cons: Niente

Ele999

Points +386

Vegan
27 Aug 2024

Fantastico

Carinissimo mini locale completamente vegano con opzioni uniche e buonissime. Tutti gli ingredienti sono prodotti dalla locale azienda agricola o comunque locali/di ottima qualità. Il menù cambia stagionalmente anche se i tortellini ripieni di arrosto di ceci in brodo o con la panna ( loro cavallo di battaglia) e altri classici rimangono sempre. I tortellini sono speciali, parola di onnivori che li hanno preferiti a quelli classici mangiati il giorno prima. Dagli antipasti, ai burger, primi, grigliata vegana, torta salate fino si dolci tutto eccellente. I biscotti poi sono un mondo a parte 😘
unica pecca locale molto piccolo, hanno da poco aggiunto una stanza dall’altra parte della strada e il bagno è esterno.
Consiglio di prenotare!

Pros: Eccellenti materie prime, menu ampio e vario, cambia stagionalmente , Tortelli ripieni di arrosto di ceci in brodo

Cons: locale molto piccolo

MartiDori

Points +47

Vegan
25 Aug 2024

Very tasty italian food

Tortellini with creamy sauce are amazing, same as their tigella with mayo, lentils and chickpea. It is something you have to try.

davidus

Points +118

Vegan
22 Aug 2024

Probably the Best traditional emilian food in the world!

As a Bologna-born vegan, this place is the only one in Bologna and probably the only one in the world providing typical food of the bolognese tradition in the vegan version. Tortellini (both woth broth and with cream) tortelloni, lasagne, tagliatelle and tigelle.
I tried tortellini and tigelle several times and they were mezmerizing. Tigelle great as starters (chickpea and capers' mayo my favourite bybgreat surprise, even better than the traditional tigella with "ham", which is great as well. Tortelloni amazing tool. Ask for nutritional yeast (lievito alimentare) in case you want to add the parmesan taste to your dish (to your tortellini especially).
You can find many attempt to replicate these dishes around, but this is THE place so far😄

Pros: Traditional food and local production, Kind staff, Athmosphere

FlorianG

Points +335

Vegan
30 Jul 2024

Delicious food, many options, local beers

We had a great dinner at ZEM Bistro, sharing three mains and a side: the tortelloni alla Vecchia Modena (surprising flavors of balsamic vinegar and seitan ‘bacon bits’), tortellini al brodo (stuffed pastas in broth), and the seasonal lasagna (with lentils). It’s always amazing to find a casual place with a full menu of vegan options. Perhaps we would’ve preferred to have lunch here since it is rather casual, as the name bistro suggests. 5 stars for amazing food, friendly staff, and a very good number of choices on the menu!

habitat20

Points +30

Vegan
25 Jul 2024

Average plus

The place has good vibes and crowd. Staff super nice but menu slightly confusing and taste was somehow not as great as expected. Still a good place for vegan fast food. My expectation was maybe too high in the first place.

Pros: Staff, Atmosphere

Cons: The menu, The smoochy patty in the burger

FrancescoApruzzese

Points +72

Vegan
21 Jul 2024

Tortellini vegani. Vegan tortellini.

IT: Siamo molto soddisfatti di aver potuto mangiare i tortellini in stile vegano. Piatti veramente ottimi e una scelta che può soddisfare diversi tipi di gusti. Ci sono piaciute anche tantissimo le tigelle.

EN: We are very pleased to have been able to eat the tortellini in vegan style. Really great dishes and a choice that can satisfy different kinds of tastes. We also really enjoyed the tigelle.

Updated from previous review on 2024-07-21

Pros: La scelta , Personale disponibile, Prezzi onesti

Cons: Non sarebbe male qualche tortellino in più :)

Olzoone

Points +437

Vegan
05 Jul 2024

Not what we've expected

Of course, were glad that there is plenty of vegan options in Bologna, but this one was actually disappointing. The staff was very friendly and nice and we got our meals quick but they were pretty small and also tasteless. Would sadly not recommend it!

marcozanga

Points +376

Vegan
02 Jul 2024

Buona cucina, adatto a chi apprezza i panini homemade

Davvero una bella realtà, buona cucina, soprattutto se piacciono i panini homemade. A fine pasto abbiamo preso due dolci, uno era molto buono, l'altro non lo riprenderei sinceramente. Unica pecca è il bagno che non è presente all'interno del locale ma ci si accede uscendo ed andando dall'altra parte della strada nel locale che viene utilizzato per le riunioni dell'associazione.

Cons: Bagno dall'altra parte della strada

usbeizbsianwhss

Points +28

Vegan
01 Jul 2024

Good vegan fast food

It's fast food so it won't blow your mind but it's tasty and the portions are big!

hanhanveg

Points +65

Vegan
20 Jun 2024

Really disappointing :(

We must’ve ordered the wrong things because our food was awfully bland and stodgy. Genuinely disappointed because it was busy so seemed like a great spot. It’s a tiny space and the food took a long time to come out - we asked for a side of veg which didn’t arrive until after we had paid the bill and stood up to leave, and it was only carrots and greens.

Asked for tap water and was given a key and a cup to go to the Zem Garden opposite and let myself in to fill up from the tap in the bathroom, a bit strange really.

Pros: Absolutely lovely staff, Cute artsy vibe, Cool art on the wall outside

Cons: Bland / stodgy food, Took ages for tiny portions to come out, No toilet

Frederik96

Points +80

Vegan
10 Jun 2024

Good but small dishes

Very delicious food with plenty of options. However sizes of dishes are a bit small

vegantravel93

Points +368

Vegan
31 May 2024

Tasty but stingy

The flavours were really good, however the tortellini portion was VERY small for the price, it felt like a tapa. This is something that unfortunately happens a lot in vegan places and in my opinion prevents some people from going vegan.

Updated from previous review on 2024-05-26

Pros: Tasty, Friendly staff

Cons: Small portions , Pricey

Silvia🌱

Points +153

Vegan
27 May 2024

Da provare!

Bellissimo il concetto di sostenibilità che il locale trasmette. Voto 10 e lode! Difficile scegliere...Tutto ottimo, provato tigelle, erbazzone e nuggets di ceci con majo cipollina. Tornerò 😋!!

Pros: Concetto di sostenibilità vegano e km 0, Menù ricco si scelte, Ambiente informale come piace a me

SarahHa

Points +190

Vegan
16 May 2024

Perfect Food

Small Bistro with all vegan Food. We went for local options such as Tortelloni, Tortellini and Tigella and we loved it. We tried the cakes (Sacher and Della Nonna) and those were also very good.

Updated from previous review on 2024-05-16

Pros: Staff is super nice, All vegan

Fang

Points +321

Vegan
05 May 2024

Lovely range of vegan dishes

Our food was tasty and plentiful. Well worth the visit.

·X·

Points +20670

Vegan
04 May 2024

ZEM Bistro “DNF” 🙁

We must have ordered the wrong things from the menu because everything we had was surprisingly terrible. The Lambrusco was served flat and warm, we only took one sip. The tortellini was very bland and I had to add salt to make it palatable. The pasta was so bad we took 1-2 bites and did not finish it. We ordered a beetroot item and received a spinach item, which wasn’t good at all. We tried to order other things at the start but they were out of many of their menu items. I actually regretted eating here, sadly.

margheritafae

Points +58

Vegan
27 Apr 2024

Ricerca e valori

Piccolo locale che offre piatti realizzati con materie prime biologiche e coltivate nella loro azienda agricola situata a Soliera. Abbiamo provato la grigliata contadina la quale ci ha piacevolmente sorpreso in quanto composta da salsicce, würstel e arrosto tutti realizzati con l’utilizzo di legumi e cereali. Il servizio è stato accogliente e l’ambiente trasmette la forza degli ideali in cui credono, e che noi condividiamo.

alessandro.co.jp

Points +191

Mostly Veg
25 Apr 2024

Ottimo cibo, le porzioni un po' piccole

Locale piccolino, curato anche nei coperti fuori. Personale gentile, cibo buono e vasta scelta. I prezzi sono buoni ma le porzioni decisamente striminzite.

MelissaW

Points +940

Vegan
12 Apr 2024

Great options and reasonable price

Not the best food I’ve had in Bologna but consistently good and so many options.

Pros: Great options , Reasonable price

SebastianHoesing

Points +30

Vegan
04 Apr 2024

The food is vegan, but not really good

The food was rather bland. It was not to expensive. They didn't have many choices for non alcoholic beverages, only juices and Kombucha. We had the lasagna and the falafel. The falafel were pretty dry. The lasagna didn't taste like much. The person's next to us had the burgers ant weren't to happy either

Pros: Everything was vegan, The service was good and friendly , The food was inexpensive

Cons: Bland food

poll1cina

Points +44

Vegan
27 Feb 2024

Gentilezza e piatti della tradizione top

Dopo un po' di incertezza siamo riusciti a prendere il nostro pranzo da asporto perché il locale era strapieno e sinceramente capisco il perché!!
Tutto semplicemente meraviglioso, sono rimasta super soddisfatta dalla gentilezza e dai sapori.
ps: vi consiglio la tigella con la rapa, spaziale!!

Pros: Gentilezza, Prodotti molto buoni e sapori tradizionali, le tigelle!!!




This page has been viewed 4848 times.