Brasserie 19

The place looked nice but unfortunately the food and staff were a let down. Wanted to serve you as fast as they could (3 courses complete in under an hour). Food is over priced and although 'okay' absolutely nothing nice about it.

Under priced cuts of meat at over rated prices. I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to visit.

This was a Wednesday, October 2010, 8.00pm. Shortly after my wife & I arrived 3 people left and we were the only customers remaining. We commented on how cold the restaurant was, expecting the portable heater to be lit, but the waitress just said "yes it is !" My wife had a starter, black pudding & poached egg, which was just acceptable. I was reserving my appetite for the next two courses. For mains my wife had chicken & I had pave of beef. Both dishes arrived on soup plates with identical vegetables which looked like a thick soup. The little loaf which was served alongside looked nice but was cold & dry. The chicken & beef were lukewarm & sloppy. I ordered the cheeseboard which, in our experience, would have been plentiful. What arrived was a piece of dry Cheddar not as big as a Dairylea triangle but only half as thick, garnished with a disgusting example of "chef's chutney" and three stale biscuits. We were so cold that we did not stay any longer for coffee. We have used this restaurant since it was Tony's " La Bavarde". It is disappointing that what was a favourite Bearsden restaurant with a great atmosphere has deteriorated to this extent.

Hmmm. Not very impressed with the service and found the restaurant to be a little cramped. Althought I thought the food was quite nice, we waited quite some time. The price needs tweeking and the waitress could look a little happier. Wines nice and not too expensive but the food is def overpriced for what you get.

My husband took me here for my birthday. The restaurant is small and lacks atmosphere. Service was poor. The wine was expensive and the food was a little bland and a bit overpriced. Otherwise ok for a quick lunch although we had to wait a while. Had a nice time although I don't think we would go back.

My husband took me here for my birthday but the restaurant is a little small and lacks atmoshpere. Ok for a quick lunch but not for a celibratory occasion. The wine is expensive and the food a little overpriced. Had a nice time though but don't think we would go back.

Having read the posts by Irish Cheddar and Iain, I was a little apprehensive about taking my family to this restaurant last night, but in the end we had an enjoyable meal which we all felt was good value.

I suppose I could be picky about a few things. Yes, Irish Cheddar, it's a bit noisy, but I think that's becasue the cosier, soft furnishings of the old La Bavarde have been removed and we now have a slightly starker interior.

My Lancastrian father-in-law thought the Stornoway black pudding wasn't quite up to Lancashire standards spice-wise and I felt it could have been a bit hotter, but it was pretty good and the flavours worked well.

The fetuccine of mussel was very tasy (I'll try to recreate it at home) and the kids enjoyed the steak pie and burgers. My wife was fortunate is getting the sea bass as we overheard that it sold out pretty quicky. It was also good, although there could maybe have been a bit more of it.

Surprisingly perhaps, the £22 bottle of wine I chose was excellent. (We had a very, very disppointing similar bottle at a different local restaurant recently.)

The service was admittedly slow, but that seemed to be because there were only two on and the place was full. No sign of the aggressive, scowling waitress although I did get a waft of cigarette smoke at one point when being served, but maybe he/she had just been in close proximity to a smoker.

All in all, these minor grumbles won't stop us going back. As a chef, Iain is probably justified in his criticism, but this is a suburban restaurant charging under £20 for a three course meal and to my mind it performs more than adequately.

I forgot to state in my previous review that if you don't leave a tip (because of cold, small portions), the waitress scowls at you on the way out. In addition, it is a complete waste of time trying to complain as they won't accept any form of complaint whatsoever, let alone take them into hand. Not very bright. Keep walking and go into Massimo's instead.

Personally, and speaking as a chef myself, I would avoid this place at all costs. As a chef with a good knowledge of bread, I know that it should never be served directly from the fridge and shouldn't even be stored there as a rule as it stales at seven times the normal rate. But that's where our bread came from. It was cold to the touch and had a crumbly texture. Good bread should be an indicator of a good meal so this didn't bode well. It was, however, baked in-house, and this is certainly laudable. But why ruin hard work by being amateurish?

The scallops for the starter were well cooked and well complemented by the parsnip puree. The potato rosti on which they sat, however, was rubber like. They should have been served with sakura leaves but actually came with micro-chard, but most people wouldn't know that and perhaps I'm being somewhat pedantic.

I was more hopeful about my halibut main course. I shouldn't have been. It was served with little breadcrumbed and deep-fried risotto balls which were lukewarm. The halibut itself, in my view had been microwaved. The skin showed no sign of having been panfried-in fact, it was soggy. The texture of the fish had become cotton-wool-like, not transluscent and flaky as it should have been, a sure sign of amateurs at work. The halibut again sat on a potato rosti-equally as bad as the first. The dish seemed unfinished. It was crying for a tangy beurre blanc to complete it. As for my partner's Gressingham duck breast which certainly wasn't Gressingham at all. Why pass things off as things they are not. This duck breast was plumper than Katie Price's, a sure sign of false advertisement. The carrots were verging on being off. They left that subtle acidic taste in one's mouth and the potato fondant appeared to have been cooked in an overly-salty stock- perhaps the ones that come in the form of cubes. Not good enough. Did I mention that the duck was chewy?!

On complaining about certain aspects of the meal, I summoned the restaurant manager. I asked if egg white had been added to the potato rostis and he said that he thought it had. strangely enough, he was unable to check this query with the chef as he had apparently gone home. It was only 9.30 in the evening. Who had been cooking our food? Which head chef or chef is lucky enough to be out the kitchen at that time on a busy Saturday evening? A complacent one? You get out of it what you put in. It was obvious now. The rostis had had the life cooked out of them in a microwave. I would guess, but I actually do know that my halibut met the same sad end. An undignified end for a magnificent piece of fish.

No need to say that we didn't order dessert. Very sad considering we'd had a really nice meal at Tattie Mac's the week before. Maybe the chef was working then?

TERRIBLE!!! to be avoided at all costs. Aggressive waitress scowling all the way through our meal and talked over us when we complained. Still hungry after the meal which consisted of cold food that could only be seen with a magnifying glass!
Glasses cleared whilst we were still drinking and would not put right any complaint we made. Expect dogs abuse if you dare to complain about the size of the food portions. The manager was rude and would not accept any form of complaint. Nb. owner would not even have the courtesy to speak to me on the phone when I complained. I called three time. Not very bright as we chose somewhere else for our friends large 40th lunch party.

Only eat there if you are going for a fish supper afterwards and don't dare complain or you will get it in the neck!!!!

Slow, aggressive service with no welcome or smile in sight! Food was poor and the service terrible!!