08/04/12 - Rose and Grants, Merchant City, Glasgow

What’s the point in describing your “Vegi Special” sandwich as being “Roasted Veg, houmous and salad on brown” then giving the customer some raw tomatoes, raw red onion, lettuce and a miniscule spreading of houmous? Where was the roasted veg? Truly the worst sandwich I have ever had.

The carrot and coriander soup was severely bland and tasted it had little or no seasoning in it. There was no black pepper on the table to help it along. The plastic menus were dirty and the place was freezing cold. We caught the female member of staff’s eye when we entered but got no smile or welcome. In fairness, the gentleman who served us was very nice but we won’t be back. It’s a shame as it’s in a good location and they could do a lot with it.  

10/04/12 - Shandon Belles, Glasgow

Don’t like it. Yes its £15 for 3 courses (without wine), but that’s no excuse for lacklustre, cold food. This place gets rave reviews - have no idea why. 

Starters – seafood and clam chowder plus 2 overcooked bony, sardines sitting on a few leaves. Chowder was acceptable but nothing startling. Sardines were terribly disappointing.

For mains it was £2 extra for fillet of beef stroganoff with basmati rice. It was lukewarm and it tasted like a school dinner beef stew. Horrible.

Mr B had dry, overcooked chicken with olive and lemon stuffing with a tiny amount of basil pesto cream. It was also almost cold. A small dish with greasy carrots, a couple of slices of soggy courgettes and 3 small potatoes was our accompaniment.

Sticky toffee pudding wasn’t sticky toffee pudding. It was a piece of dry, plain sponge with no dates in it served with a tiny amount of butterscotch sauce. I asked for ice cream with it but there was hardly enough to compensate for the dryness of the cake. Butterscotch sauce was nice, but then it always is! Husband’s fruit crumble was better with crème anglaise although the top of the crumble had a few black, burnt bits on it.

It wasn’t all bad – the saving grace was the nice bread and butter we had and the glass bottle of water brought to the table.

Won’t be back. Only 6 tables on a quiet Tuesday night yet service was very slow and there really is no excuse for cold food.

29/03/12 - Battlefield Rest, Southside, Glasgow

We have been coming to the Battlefield Rest regularly for over 10 years and it never fails to please us. It has been my venue for business lunches, romantic dinners, quick impromptu 'on passing' dinners, lunches with gal pals, dinner with parents, birthday celebrations and Christmas meals there and it continually serves up great food and brilliant service - whatever the occasion.

Popped in on Thursday night but with a sore tooth I decided not to go for a pizza although the Calzone Battlefield is to die for. (Black pudding in a pizza - what's not to like!)! Started with their Mussels Stew and went onto Sea Bass which came on smoked haddock risotto. My husband had his favourite Pate and then Lasagne. Huge portions for both of us but we squeezed in an affogato for him and a child's portion of ice-cream for me! Everything was absolutely delicious. Couldn't fault anything. Love love love this place.

I would put my hand on my heart and say this is honestly the best restaurant in Glasgow.

05/04/12 - Citation, Merchant City, Glasgow

Nice place – very busy in the wine bar area downstairs but we had booked a table upstairs in the restaurant. Didn’t seem like my sort of place at first (more of somewhere for annoying rich women out after a bit of shopping) but once the food came, none of that really mattered! It was a cold night and my starter of French Onion soup was magnificent and warmed me up considerably. It came with a large gruyere crouton floating amongst the thick, brown, oniony, delicious broth. It was a huge bowl with more bread on the side and it was just what the doctor ordered! Mr bunglingidiots starter of lovely Fresh Daily breads with with olive oil & balsamic also came with some kind of pesto dip. Lovely. No complaints there.

They have a great menu with plenty to choose from and I opted for a main course portion of mussels in a tomato, coconut and coriander broth at £11.95 and I ordered a side of hand cut chunky chips. (Which I needn’t have!) The portion of mussels was massive and it came with yet more bread. The tasty broth was a winner for me and the fat chips came with a dish of home made tartare sauce that was bursting with flavour. The metal pot the mussels were served kept everything super hot and although I tried my best, I just couldn’t finish it all. K's beer battered haddock (£10.50) came with the same hand cut chips and tartare sauce, (he asked them to leave off the mushy peas!) and again, the portion size was on the large side. We couldn’t manage a dessert but left feeling warm, full and happy. Service was really excellent – a minor blip of an extra few items from another table’s order added on our bill (£35 worth!) was the only thing that slightly detracted from a great meal.