17th September 2007
The Bard certainly would not come here
We had the misfortune to eat here a few weeks ago. Out on a Friday night, during the Festival, we were after a place that did not have a queue, require a booking and was not dependant on a deep-fat fryer. Surprisingly, The Rabbie Burns was open, serving and on the Royal Mile. It was almost empty too. That should have been a clue. We didn't pick up on it.
The place itself was quite pleasant, with plants, dark wood and alcohol bottles giving it a pub-cum-cafe ambiance. The service was fine, but sadly, that is about as positive as I can get. The fact that they only accepted cash was somewhat surprising in this day and age, but only mildly annoying as there was a bank 5-minutes away.
The food, was disgusting. I chose meatballs in spicy sauce. I make this sort of thing regularly, and have tried all sorts ranging from gourmet options, through Ikea Swedish right down to barely edible tinned meatballs, and for the person pretending to be a cook in the Rabbie Burns kitchen, opening up a tin of Campbells would have been a better option. The sauce was bland - neither seasoned, nor spicy. The spaghetti was overcooked. The parmesan was the dried variety, and stale to boot. Worst of all were the meatballs, that were hard - as if they had been badly microwaved, and certainly not freshly made. I would guess that they were the cheapest cash-and-carry variety available.
Maybe I hit a bad day, and all the other options were lovely, but I think life it too short, and frankly too valuable for a second chance. We recovered, and now this 'meal' is just a bad memory.
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