R.E.D. Bar and Restaurant

Advertised as a cocktails and lounge bar outside we are told “they are not ready yet” 9although later I find out that this is actually two venues rolled into one and we are seated in the restaurant area. Old people argue in the corner to slow Spanish music while others drink tea. The service is painfully slow, it takes our waiter takes half an hour to serve us and they are eager to snatch back the menus from us quite promptly. The decor is respectable, very bright inside and more like a kitchen showroom than a bar, with a deli counter at the back. It seems to be more staff than residence filling the places as waiters chefs and old folk stand about nattering, blocking walkways and raising the volume. Fake fruits and wines sit in the window as tacky additives. I think what enticed us inside was the seating out front, which apparently was not served by the staff.

Drinking our drinks we notice the waiters watch us too closely and we feel uncomfortable, the smell of olives in the air is one of the few nice touches. I remain unimpressed with no ice for my bottled cider and everything is too expensive- at around 425 a pint. Apparently the venue is part of the Samuel smiths brewery. We leave with the natter of foreign tongues behind us, oh and the rose is misadvertised as blush - 2/10