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Two brief Glasgow restaurant posts, that seemed as well to roll in to one.

Bouzy Rouge’s Seafood and Grill

We popped along to Bouzy Rouge’s Seafood and Grill on Saturday. We’d hoped to get in somewhere else to be honest, but every restaurant we’d tried was booked up, until we hit on this part of the Bouzy Rouge chain, and they had tables available. Whilst the food tasted very good, we were a bit disappointed for a few reasons:

• We weren’t offered any bread, despite having butter knives on our place settings. When it did arrive, it seemed like a sandwich loaf they’d got down the supermarket rather than anything else.

• Start portion sizes for two of us were rather small, especially given the £8 price tag. Tasted good, but tiny portions at that price tag needed to make you feel really special, and these didn’t. 

• Sluggish service in what was not even a half-full restaurant. If it hadn’t been for a large-ish party in at the time, I’d have been worried! That said, if there had been more diners, I’d have been worried we’d not have had any service at all. Whether it was the fault of the kitchen or the waiting staff, or even my perceptions, I don’t know, but we stated to feel a bit conspicuous as people paid and left.

• Prices seemed generally high for what was on offer.

My suspicion is that the ‘Seafood and Grill’ outlet is perhaps struggling to compete with other, newer fish restaurants in Glasgow, including the town-centre Two fat ladies, and the new Gandolfi fish over in the Merchant City.

Perhaps we hit them on an off day, or just a strangely quiet day. But whilst the food at this restaurant was certainly good, the prices were high and the quality of service too sluggish. We’ll probably not be rushing back.

Miso no more

Whilst heading over to the Bouzy Rouge Seafood and Grill, we walked past Bar Miso, and it appears to be no more. Frances and I had been there a few years back, and really enjoyed it. To see that it had closed down was a shame.

That said, I suppose I’d never quite worked out if it was a bar, club, or restaurant. I fear it was trying to be too many things, and not coming across as anything. If it had been a more focused Japanese restaurant, it would have been a more regular part of our eating, but as it was we always felt out of place squeezed on to some stools, and never too inclined to try booking a table given it always felt more of a bar.

Japanese food has a few remaining outlets in Glasgow. Ichiban, Wagamama, Oko and a few others remain, but there’s still nowhere offering brilliant Sushi (We go to Ichiban when we want such, but I wish they’d be a bit more generous and use better looking/tasting tuna). But Miso going means there’s a Sushi chef there in need of a new outlet, so here’s hoping something new may come along

This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Food, Glasgow, Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.