Having driven past this bar on several occasions, two friends and I thought it would be a good idea to sample the food on offer. After all, it’s pretty much my only option of a local (except the City Inn) I walked in the main entrance leaving behind a damp Scottish afternoon to be greeted by the smell of a damp, slowly rotting Scottish building. After this initial intrusion to my nasal passages, things began to look up… The design of the bar was very impressive, with walls stripped back to well restored brick, modern minimal decor and a spacious interior with some booths around the side. I imagine the place would be great on a Friday or Saturday night, although space may be an issue with capacity around 40-50 people.
Despite the rugby playing in the background on a big-screen, the staff were attentive and friendly, even noticing my discomfort when the sun came out and blinded me as we were sitting next to the window. Despite the bar being fairly busy, the guy still came over and asked if I’d like to pull the blind down. Having thourghly disliked the 1998 movie with the same name, my tarnished idea of the word ‘Lebowski’ was improving as my experience at this bar continued… So on to the food, the main reason for visiting. The menu, which greeted customers with the words ‘Dudes and Dudettes’ (nice movie link?), had a good selection, but looked as if it had been created by my 5-year old nephew who had just learned to use Word ’97. It was printed on recycled A4 paper, loosely stapled together and placed before each of us.
The food on offer was your standard pub stuff… I’d already decided what I was going to have based on this review of the same restaraunt. So my order for the Lebowski burger went to the kitchen. Andrew was greedy and ordered a starter. I can’t remember exactly what the dish was but it contained black pudding and some kind of cheese. Presentation for this dish was excellent and he seemed to enjoy it (and this man doesn’t give praise lightly) Stuart had the chicken burger and didn’t pull any scowling faces during the eating process.
Had I known what was in store in the journey/rollercoaster ride afterwards, I probably wouldn’t have eaten anything except a few Zinopin (only kidding Stu), but I decided to order the Lebowski Burger with Cheese. Despite taking an exceptionally long time to be served (as noted in Boydie’s review), it was well worth the wait. The meat was good, the potato wedges weren’t too steeped in batter and there was a generous and fresh side salad to boot. In summary, a good experience for pub grub, but I can think of places I could spent £11/head and get a better meal. Great local, nice staff, good building and pretty good food. 7/10