BITE user comments - Coldie
Comments by Coldie
Spoo
Haven't been down there for a while. What happened to the guy that ran it?
11 Jan 2008 14:52
Must admit to this being my favourite bar in that area. Well kept beers and the bar-food menu is just fantastic and good VFM, as stated below. The only downside is the size, which often entails having to put up with staring latecomers, desperate for a table and eyeing your food up! Still, a great bar!
11 Jan 2008 14:43
This used to be a haunt of mine for years back in the '90s. Was a great bar then, very student friendly, good (free!!) jukebox and a pin table with the tilt sensitivity turned off!
Would love to pay a visit, but any bets an old GF of mine still hangs around in there!
11 Jan 2008 13:42
And yet again.
Mate and I popped in there last Friday around 8pm. Place was dead bar one guy at the bar. Whilst I was scanning the whisky gantry, I caught the (new?) Elmer Fudd-a-like barman doing the nudge-nudge and the nod-of-the -head to his pal at the bar about us. We sat in complete silence; the vibe was appalling, so we just got up, left the drinks, and went. Awful, and a bloody shame to see a once-vibrant boozer going downhill. Doe anyone know who's running this bar these days?
11 Jan 2008 13:36
Update from me.
The CR is slowly improving. The food is great and the beers are being better kept. Still a problem getting served, though, even when the bar is not that busy. Annoys me why the don't light the fire during these winter months, unless there's some local regulation against it.
11 Jan 2008 13:25
The Scotsmans Lounge, Edinburgh
I was in here last nite for the first time in a decade and - dear God - the punters!!! It's like a miniature looney-bin, and a big, fat dancing granny tried to pull me!!
15 Dec 2007 12:23
SCFC
Disgruntled? No. As stated, the bar is an old haunt of mine that I loved, and it was being run into the ground by successive bad management. However, I did pop in last night, and what a change! Will have to try an afternoon stint again, before I an convinced, though.
You sound like one of those scowling cooncil wallahs that live in there,. Are you?? :-)
15 Dec 2007 12:19
Luncheon was blown out, so nothing to post back about. Bet it's still shite!
15 Dec 2007 12:13
Wow! Dragged a mate in here last night after telling him about it and within three minutes we were involved in a brawl!! All over the old excuse of "Did you spill my pint??"
15 Dec 2007 11:57
Can I just re-iterate my second comment below?
Still, a good bar and a great wine list. The annoying, distracting football on the pull-down screen hopefully wont last much longer as the warning light was flashing on their projector last time I was in! :-)
5 Sep 2007 14:04
This is a nice boozer in a lovely location with unparalleled views to the Forth. A good range of ales, and the locals are friendly. The wee nyaff that owns it though... watchout - small man syndrome!!!
5 Sep 2007 14:01
Nobody has posted on this place, for those that go in don't come out!
5 Sep 2007 13:53
I remember this pub when it has the oval bar. Word had it that an American bought the woodwork and had it shipped back home. I wonder if those mugs who agreed to that would give their right nut to have that bar in theri grasp again!
So-so bar, now. A bit cold in winter (they don't put the heating on!).
5 Sep 2007 13:46
Errmmm... are you one of heid-job locals, perchance?
What am I gonna get, and how? A pint of your choice, then. Leave it in the till for me and I'll be up towards the end of the year. You'll recognise me as I'll have a balaclava on!
5 Sep 2007 13:39
Well, I have to change my tune.
I've been watching the demise of this pub since the beginning of this year. The crap make-over, the cessation of food orders in the affy, and the un-hygenic, unrepairable gents' toilets! They've had four price hikes since January, and the beer - ale and lagers - is not being kept right. Popped in there yesterday with a mate to see if any improvements, but no. Soul-less, and a shit pint. One step away from a jakey's den! Drew Nicol would be alarmed at what's happend to a once vibrant boozer!
5 Sep 2007 13:33
I am being dragged to Luncheon here next week and will repost back!
5 Sep 2007 13:26
This is where those suits (male & female) who can't pull end up! It's glory days of the '80s will never return!
5 Sep 2007 13:23
Warm kronenbourg and warm Guinness: mmmm.........
And those annoying screens! Impossible to navigate on a busy night!
5 Sep 2007 13:16
'Best pies in town' - prove it!
An ok bar, but there are a few men in there who spend a bit too long trying to catch your eye!
5 Sep 2007 13:14
IMO, not the best pub in Edin, but certainly trendy, like a 21st Century version of the Antiquary, whose erstwhile denizens occasionally drink/sleep.
Yes, Chav and Yah free, which can only be a good thing!
5 Sep 2007 13:12
Ahh.. the Balmwell! Unfortunately, I can't comment on it these days, other than I recall the staff and the nosh being rather ok, and the place was clean. The large schemie families were the problem though, once with a large father getting stroppy with staff in an attempt to get all the food they'd scoffed for free!
5 Sep 2007 13:02
Don't think Rodeohead do any Radiohead stuff. Think they do Country tunes. This pub is ok, one of the - for me - more relaxing bars on Leith Walk. You can feel the ension build in each one as you head towards the Foot.
11 Jan 2007 14:26
This place has all the atmosphere of a bus shelter. Much better off across the road at the World's End.
Previous poster should have reported Chef's behaviour to whatever chain owns the bar.
11 Jan 2007 14:20
A marvellous interior, but WAAYYY too cramped. Staff have habit of spotting you but not serving you. How odd - don't they want paid??
Beers well kept, though. Can't comment on the nosh.
5 Jan 2007 14:22
Well, I finally tried it last month with a mate, around noon. Each beer we asked for, the barman told us was 'off'; get the picture? We opted for bottled lager and left without finding out exactly what the 'Safari Lounge' up the back looked like as it was shut.
Stank of old men. Yuk!
5 Jan 2007 14:03
Anonymous post 13/10/06: You know when you're at home when you can smell the chip fat!! :-)
5 Jan 2007 13:34
With recent unfortunate events, I fear my previous post has been justified!
5 Jan 2007 13:23
I've been to this boozer every time I go to Oz. I found the staff - each time - extremely unAussie-like. Sour-faced, just like the one's back in Edinburgh! Worth it only for the tunes in the pm and the Toohey's Old.
17 Oct 2006 13:19
The Auld Brig Tavern, Musselburgh
A belhaven pub, frequented during the day by guys visiting the bookies, and posties who are p***ed by 5pm. Beers are well kept, and has big screen for sport/music. Attentive staff. Smells of old men.
17 Oct 2006 13:13
I went in here, once. Aside from the Barmaid, there were two old guys, a rent-boy anda local crazy, who was shadow-boxing. The place stank of backed up sewage. Had one and left.
Quite a few Tennent's pubs have a stink to them, and it's not the beer!
17 Oct 2006 13:11
An old, scabby wee Tennent's pub. Never been done up in years, but you can get a good craic with the old guys once you get to know them. Serves Tennent's Light, which I haven't seen for years and is dead easy to drink. The downside of this place is the pervasive smell of fart!
17 Oct 2006 13:06
Strange clientele.
Pal and I go in and order pint. A wee thug notices us.
Thug: Youse dinnae usually come in here. Whair ye live?
Me: Why?
Thug: Jist might ken some gadges frae whair ye live.
Whair ye live, then?
Me: Berlin. We're visting for the week. Do you know
anyone from Berlin??
Thug: Nah. Playing pool, are ye? Mah name was oan the
board furst! Ye cummin the c**t?
We left.
10 Oct 2006 15:28
Errmm...that last post about the border being on th floor?? Someone is having us on! The actual pub that sat on the border was further up the Walk, and was known as the Boundary Bar.
10 Oct 2006 15:08
Been visting this bar for years, latterly as a stop-off on way home from mid-week libation with mates. It's on the skite, I'm afraid. Some of the barstaff (esp. male barmanager)do NOT look happy in their work. Some stare elsewhere whilst serving you and a couple of them have the insulting, annoying habit of dropping your change into your hand from a height!
But I digress. Still a wonderful bar, and everytime I go in I still gaze at the tile murals on the wall. The beers, I fear, are not being kept well, and neither are the pipes for the RFU stuff!
10 Oct 2006 15:03
This bar is ok, but spoiled - punter wise - by the braying Suits that flock there at 5pm on a Thursday and Friday. I wd agree with previous poster about the beer levels: I, too, have pointed out that the measure is 'to the line', and have been met with the bottom lip, and the response of '..that's how we're told to fill them!'
CAn't say I have had a problem with the food, other than there's never enough on the shared platers.
10 Oct 2006 14:48
Wd agree with previous poster. Was a good bar back in the '80s, but over the years has become the domain of a gang of superdrinkers, backslappers and drug-users. David Attenborough would love this place as an anthropological reference! You can feel the egos bearing down on you in this place. Beers are og... if you can break the staff away from parleying with the 'locals'.
10 Oct 2006 14:33
Was dragged in here again recently, during the Festival. Ditto my previous comments, but to the power of ten !! Except that last one, though.
29 Aug 2006 16:56
A pretty good bar all round. Just don't be afraid to hand your lager back to the untrained girls who ocassionally don't put any heads at all on the beer! Been visiting this bar most of summer to sit outside and catch the rays. And a bottle of p.grigio and a rammekin of olives is a great way to unwind in the evening.
Recommended. An no, I don't know the management! :-)
29 Aug 2006 16:54
This is a good, wee real ale boozer. Real fire in winter, and dog friendly ( at least on last visit). Small selection of real ales, but they do get rotated, albeit at length.
29 Aug 2006 16:49
I've often wonder about this place. I, too, reckon it's 'New Leith', but in a dodgy way. Don't like it, so will not rate it. The clientele put me off, and that's enuff!
29 Aug 2006 16:46
Much improved than I remember it! Been in several times this summer for drinks, and once for nosh, which was bloody good. Main bar area, though, is too cramped for comfortable eating, and as such, you have to put up with people eyeing you nosh up an wigging in on your tete-a-tete with the dame.
29 Aug 2006 16:41
I pop in here maybe twice, three times a year. Was in last week, and let me tell you this: the barmen in there do not deserve that title! Next to no service, with no conversation at all from the guy I ordered and paid my coin to; not a word of acknowledgement or thanks. They put the TV on around 6pm, wherby they all jumped up and down to see their pub and their boss(?) on the telly, then shut the thing off again once that news bulletin was done. 'Can I see the rest of the news?', said I, and was ignored by all barstaff, too busy chatting with the pot-bellied suits that normal shore up that place.
Gone downhill. Bigstyle! Still, if you are lucky you can get a frisson of excitement sometimes, rubbing shoulders with cast members from Take the High Road!
29 Aug 2006 16:31
Wetherspoons, Edinburgh Airport
Thank God for the smoking ban re this place! Far too small, and EXPENSIVE! Maybe it's beacuse of their rental. Better off going airside to the other bars.
29 Aug 2006 16:21
Stinks of chip fat. Or that's what it seems like. Better off with the Last drop, or the Bull.
29 Aug 2006 16:17
I am gonna try this bar soon! It holds a bizarre attraction for me when I pass by on the bus. Looks v. old school. Wonder if it has IPA on draught ( the RFU one, that is!).
29 Aug 2006 16:13
A real 'star wars bar'! Full of cottaging poofs, posties ( back in the day) and railwaymen, with clubbers heading for one final drink to stave off the comedown. That floor, though! Worth ONE visit, but no more.
29 Aug 2006 15:50
Lagers are kept well, and staff friendly. It's the punters that put me off: t-shirts and shades (indoors, and when it's cold!); mobile phones and laptops sitting unsed on tables. The beer garden def makes it!
29 Aug 2006 15:43
Milne's Bar Update!!!
Just came out of Ottakar's with Mr Welsh's latest offering, and decided to find a quiet corner with a pint and enjoy. Decided to try it once more, but I was barely over the door when I spun on my soles and walked right back out! It was busy-ish, but the pint glasses were lined up on the bar like ammo, and the cloying stench of industrial-grade tomato sauce hits you as soon as you're over the threshhold. That was enough; never got near the beers.
29 Aug 2006 15:35
McLachlans Ale House, Edinburgh
Was an OK bar for a quick on the way home from the town; nothing special. The Northern was better. Used by guys from the bookies. I found a fiver on the floor in there one night a few years back, and the barman went in the huff with me for not handing it in (to his pockect!!!) :-(
29 Aug 2006 15:25
Now, they had a good chance to DO something with this! An old Bank building, but look inside! Awful, almost '70s-style furniture. And the smell! Needs pipes cleaned, and that's just on the RFU stuff!
29 Aug 2006 15:12
Used to be a good pub back in the '80s/'90s, but last time I was in it, it was full of rough types, and was selling CHEAP drink! Finished half my pint and left. Awful!
29 Aug 2006 15:07
I once got lost driving around in Broomhouse, and stopped here, about 10:30 in the morning to ask directions. Expecting to find only the bar staff prepping the bar, the place was in full swing! The reek of drink at that time of the morning made me gag! Pissed as farts, but friendly enough.
29 Aug 2006 15:05
Hven't been in it for years, but I am sure it can lay claim to being the first pub in Edinburgh with a Space Invaders machine!!
29 Aug 2006 15:00
Nice, open plan gastro-pub, with excellent menu! A wee bit chilly in winter-time, but much more relaxed - for me - than some other bars around that area. BONUS: NO GOON DOORMEN !!!!!
6 Aug 2006 12:54
The Duddingston Mill Inn, Duddingston
went here once; wouldn't go back. Typical, clique-y locals bar. Ourselves and another couple were treated like lepers at the bar. Went out to the 'beer garden (!)', sunk our drinks, and left. CAn't even remember what the drinks were like, we were out that quick!
6 Aug 2006 12:45
The Ormelie Tavern, Portobello
Another pub that's not seen a refurb since God knows when. Awful decor, but serves a purpose as being the only pub in Joppa.
6 Jun 2006 09:55
Good bar, good food and you can sit out in good weather. Ruined by the burning oil smell that hangs about up the back bar.
6 Jun 2006 09:52
Weird piped jazz music played way too loud. Not sure about the wines and I'm defo not sure about the staff. Restaurant has a good rep, though.
6 Jun 2006 09:50
Aptly named. A drunkard's den. If you value your well-being, stay away from this part of town.
6 Jun 2006 09:47
Just look at it !! HAs not had a make-over since S&N's glory days of the '70s. Appalling beer, and rubbernecking locals who look like they've been glued to their seats since 1979 !! Better off heading toward Newhaven. Avoid!
6 Jun 2006 09:46
Nice, cosy wee bar, with live music.RFU beers, but it's the music that livens this place up.
6 Jun 2006 09:44
Observing the staggering, vomiting middle-aged men coming out of here, I kept on trucking!
6 Jun 2006 09:40
The Sheeps Heid Inn, Duddingston
Indifferent bar staff combined with scowling, rubbernecking locals made our visit here unwelcome. We sat in silence in the 'beer garden'drinking quickly. In and out in 10 mins, never to return. Avoid!
6 Jun 2006 09:37
A good, although small, bar on the mile, poular with backpackers and other touries. Watch out, though: staff have been observed turfing drinking regulars off a table so two touries could sit for two hrs with 1 x haggis'n'mash and 2 Cokes!!
6 Jun 2006 09:35
Vastly overpirced, although there are a coupla fires up the back which are great in winter time.
6 Jun 2006 09:31
A good ,wee bar, tucked away in a quiet part of the New Town.
6 Jun 2006 09:29
The ONLY pub at Goldenacre! Quite good, spacious bar. Again, spoilt by rubbernecking locals and the smell of fart!
6 Jun 2006 09:27
Has never stepped away from its rep as a biker's bar in its heyday.Back then, bar staff where called 'Bar Crew' ! Rawwkk onn!! Serves the students well, though.
6 Jun 2006 09:25
Great bar for a good few years after it first opened. Lovely inside, and good beers. Rubbernecking locals can put you off, though.
6 Jun 2006 09:21
A great bar; lovely building. Always liked going there but it's been ruined with all the 'sports bar' vibe they have presently.
6 Jun 2006 09:19
Reminds me of an old Culture Club song:-
"Do you deal in black money? Do you deal in black moh-nee?"
Note nice, at all.Doormen were actually quite polite, though. They get a '1' for that!
6 Jun 2006 09:17
Trendy and pretentious when it first opened in the '80s. I hated it then and I hate it now. Only plus is, indeed, the beer selection. Only go there if dragged and outnumbered! :-(
6 Jun 2006 09:14
This used to be a good bar, years ago. The upstairs loung used to be good fun on a Saturday affy/evening. Now, cook smells permeate the whole bar, and even when it's not busy, staff have a difficulty in keeping it clean.
Beers were ok, but it's not what it used to be.
6 Jun 2006 09:11
I agree with all previous posts. The place also smells strongly of fart !
6 Jun 2006 09:07
Beware! This pub is run by the locals, not the Brewery. A shame, cos the building is rather nice, and at least the Brewery made an attempt to knock down the Old Captain's Cabin and give the locals a nice boozer to relax in.
Current events suggest otherwise.
Beer is ok, but the experience is spoiled by rubber-neckers.
6 Jun 2006 09:06
An excellent Boozer, and most probably my fave! Quaffing here since 1990, and the current management are pretty good and keep the pipes clean. Nice big windows, where one can sit and relax and watch the panoply of human life that traipses by, in all its glory!!
6 Jun 2006 09:00
A pick-up joint for West End Suits and Skirt! Was in there one night and, from the wee balcony, watched them all parading about, quaffing champers. The men all guffawed loudly, whilst the heads of the women constantly revolved, looking to smell out a lucrative conquest and land a City Boy who can squander his cash upon her.
VERY Yuppie/'80s vibe. Beer was ok, though.
6 Jun 2006 08:56
Jimmy Corkhill's comments I can echoe. The 'Heb' was just like that about 15 years ago!!
'Let's do the Time Warp again!!'
6 Jun 2006 08:51
A Posuer's Paradise! Always was, always will be. Was in it twice, and just about EVERYBODY stared at us.
Mickey H (Rockabilly wannabe): " I'm gonna the City Cafe tonight.... to see and BE seen !"
6 Jun 2006 08:42
I wd agree with Zaphod. Met friends in there who were working at Festival Theatre, and the places was full of action: folk arguing about football; folk drunk and staggering. I even had the honour of the barmaid tipping her can of fag-ash all over my jeans, after being in the place five mins. A rubber-necker's bar.
6 Jun 2006 08:37
Appearance as a good, old Victorian-style bar, with good range of beers, and free cheese and biccies with a bottle of wine. Ruined, however, by the rancid smell that permeates the whole bar, and by the off-hand and indifferent staff.
6 Jun 2006 08:29
The Marksman Bar, Leith
And I'll back that up! drove past there a couple of months back to spy and old guy spewing his ring right out side the door! Quality!
11 Jan 2008 14:54