Ego

A complete let down as a start to our evening. The restaurant looks lovely staff are friendly and cheerful but as the meal progressed it all fell appart. Our starter 2 sharing platters between 4 were ok but nothing special. Adding a small salad dish to share seemed a bit pointless and more suited to offer to just one of the sharers.
Our main courses were varied two of them a risoto and a pasta dish were utterly bland to the point of having no flavour at all. The pasta dish was left after proving too much of a chore. The pork belly was better in that it did have flavour, salt and sage and little else. The pork belly meat was all wrong, dried out and stringy when suculance was expected. The salty sage infused sauce added lubrication but did little to enhance enjoyment.
Desert was good but we waited 35 mins for it to arrive by which time we were nervously looking at our watches. We ordered the bill imediately once desert arrived but then couldn’t pay as nobody was attending to us by this time.
In the confusion of our departure we left no tip, the first time I have ever done this. I have been told I tip too much. On this occasion though I must say I don’t feel too bad about it.
Appologies that this was a bit of a blast but better was expected. Its been a while since I visited any of the ego chain and this is the first time ego have let me down.

Deep fried calamari
Buffalo mozzarella, tomato & basil salad
Stone-​baked pizza
Prawn and chilli linguine
Pan-​fried sea bass with artichokes & cherry tomatoes
Fresh mussels in a shallot, cream & white wine sauce
& Greek and Spanish mezes with fresh meat, cheese & olives
The menu at Ego is packed with dishes that would usually make my mouth water. The problem is, the restaurant itself isn’t that inspiring or memorable. The food is good rather than great, the wine is okay rather than wonderful and the décor reminds me of home make-​over shows from the eighties. Think too many different colours, fabrics, tiles and textures.
To top it all off, there’s the abysmal name!

There’s little wrong with Ego but there is nothing terribly exciting or unique about the place either.
As a chain restaurant it lacks any sort of personal touch that you will find with an equivalent ‘mediterranean’ restaurant owned independently or in your local vacinity. It is however still as popular as it was when it first opened nearly 15 years ago which is largely due to a safe menu of ‘mediterranean’ favourites and of course a Monday night offer of 2 courses and a bottle each for £18.
I keep saying ‘mediterranean’ because it is a bit of a catch all description for the type of food on offer which does not specialise in any one country’s cuisine so there’s much to choose but without it really capturing the care and attention needed to make the meal special.

I’ve been to Ego a couple of times, and each time I’ve had a completely different experience. The first time the atmosphere was buzzing, there was a very friendly waiter tending to my every need, and the food was lovely. I had steak and chips if I remember rightly — the steak was cooked exactly how I asked (I can’t handle any blood on my plate!)
The second time I came here, I waited towards an hour for my starter which was adequate, and then the main meal (vegetable casserole) was awful, it had no texture to it whatsoever — I know this isn’t very pleasant but it actually looked like sick. It also seemed a lot more expensive the second time around, I don’t know if there was new staff with new prices but it seemed like a completely different restaurant. I don’t know if I’ll go back again.

Egos is located amongst many other up-​market restaurants on Hope Street and sits just next door to the Liverpool Philharmonic. With that in mind, the cuisine on offer here is quite expensive but the Mediterranean dishes on offer are well prepared and cooked.
My own experience of Egos is somewhat mixed as I decided to be adventurous and go for the Bouillabaisse (fish stew). Unfortunately, the dish wasn’t quite what I expected as it was basically a bowl of different type of seafood and whilst it looked delicious enough to be enjoyed by any seafood fanatic, it wasn’t for me. My girlfriend fared much better, ordering the vegetarian Tajine with cous-​cous that I was lucky to try and was delectable.
Despite my own poor experience of the food at Egos, it would not be enough to put me off going again (so long as I avoid seafood) and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fine Mediterranean meal.

Like many other Liverpudlians, I must have walked past Ego a million times before I decided that it was finally time to give it a try. And I must say I’m really glad I did. I went there for a quick Friday afternoon lunch with a friend and was really satisfied both with the quality of the food, and the wonderfully attentive and friendly service which was provided to me by the staff there.
The two salads which were served to my friend (one with chicken, grapefruit and pistachio nuts, and one with Tuna and Fennel) looked to be both fresh and delicious, combining interesting flavours and textures on each plate. The pasta with prawns, garlic and chilli I had was light and delicious — the fish was fresh and filled with bounce and zing, whilst the pasta was covered with just the right enough amount of chilli oil to give it the exact kick it needed.
Best of all, our server realised that we’d just popped out of the office for lunch, and so service was brisk and helpful. And, perhaps best of all, a lunch here didn’t break the bank. I paid the princely sum of £8 for a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine — bargaintastic!
Ego is a great little café, and a lovely place to go for a light lunch. Best of all, it’s situated in a really great little spot on Hope Street, making it a great place to go if you want to get something to eat prior to going to see a concert at the Philharmonic Hall next door.

Hope Street isn’t half spoilt for restaurants. Between The Quarter, 60, Host and the like, you’ve more eateries than you can shake a stick at, not that you’d want to be shaking sticks at random cuisine suppliers. And so we come to Ego, a place whereby you feel that if the head of the establishment were interviewed about the name they’d say, ‘I realise it’s arrogant but…’
But is it good, that’s what you want to know. Well, when I arrived, what struck me was just how happy everyone in there was, including the staff. A mixed clientele of families and young professionals complemented the light and airy décor, offset by dark wood features and tables. You can see the kitchen, which is always a great sign, and those in there are busy and working like clockwork. Oh and a tip for a happy evening — come on a Monday. Ego offers a free bottle of wine to every customer. ‘Ooh,’ you’re thinking, ‘wine for the table? Lovely!’ No no no. Wine for YOU. Literally. Whether you’re in a couple, a group, whether there’s ten of you, you get a bottle of plonk EACH. Wa-​hey, that’s one way to pack the place out at the start of the week.
The food here is fresh and rather yummy, occupying a Mediterranean spectrum. Expect salads, garlic mushrooms, plenty of fish and chicken but with a British twist with a few traditions scattered in like mash and root veg, bacon, black pudding, cabbage and leek and lashings of cream. The puds are the stars really, with a firm favourite being the dark chocolate torte, and the cheeses are stunning as well — biscuits and celery with brie, dolcelatte and manchego. It’s definitely the sort of place that can brighten up an otherwise rainy day.

This is a perfectly nice, bland and devoid of character or atmosphere restaurant. The food can’t be faulted, but everything else can, unfortunately. I’ve been here on several occasions, one time experiencing an extremely rude and nonchalant waitress who could possibly have been Swedish and blatantly didn’t care whether we got our food or not. Another time I was with a large group of people for a party, some of which ordered steaks and bottles of wine, the poorer end of the party ordering only two of the cheapest courses and water. When the bill came, it seemed impossible for the staff to itemise it, which led to arguments amongst the group (some of whom I’d never met) and we ended up having to split the bill evenly, meaning those who ate less had to pay more. We were not happy.
There are some good meal deals here, and it is really handy for the theatres (Philharmonic or Everyman) as well as a pre-​night out out meal. However, the rudeness or unhelpfulness of staff has put me off, as did the vacuum into which you seem to walk into once you enter. A pity, because it really does have potential.

I have always walked passed this place wanting to go but never realized that had wonderful weekly specials. My group, of 12, received great service, great food, and not one thing went wrong, as they often do with such a large group. The place itself is clean, lively and very charming. I’m going back!

Nice place and handy setting for local theatres. Hope street is a nice busy little street with trendy restaurants these days! The food in here is lovely as with all ego restaurants. There is a 2 for ~£9 menu where you get 2 courses for about 9 quid, and 3 courses is about £13 i think, but this changes with early bird menus etc. On Mondays they do a deal where you get a bottle of wine included, so well worth checking out the offers before you visit. Put at 3 stars as I tried to arrange a group booking with a special menu for an event at work and they were quite unaccommodating, preferring to leave sorting out the menus until the week before etc. so we went elsewhere. For a small family meal it is lovely.