"I last reviewed the Red Cow restaurant at the beginning of 2022, when I also gave it an ‘average’ rating – and recently returned for the first time since then. I ordered the ‘Red Cow Burger’, on the menu for £18 and offered with ‘red onion jam, crispy streaky bacon, Emmental cheese, brioche and fries’. The patty tasted less like beef and more like liver – which was a surprise, although the menu description didn’t actually specify the ingredients; so I assumed that it would be beef. I then asked the server which meat was used in the patty, and they replied: “I think it’s beef”. I then told them that it tasted very much like liver to me, so they checked with the chef. After a few minutes, they returned, explaining that the chef was very sorry, but the mince is supplied by a butcher, who ‘sometimes’ adds liver to the mix. This seemed a bit vague. To my chagrin I continued to eat the burger, but wasn’t enjoying it, so gave up after I’d consumed over half of it. I was wondering what other mystery meats the butcher might have thrown-in to ‘enhance’ the flavour and binding properties of the mince (and possibly reduce the cost per weight)? What do you do in this situation? You’re hungry; other people in your party are enjoying their meal, and the menu didn’t specify that the patty included offal – so I felt that I couldn’t send it back and get something else (not that this option was offered by the apologetic server). Before my far from empty plate was cleared, I informed the person who originally took my order that I hadn’t enjoyed what I had eaten of the burger, due to it tasting like liver, and to please let the chef know. They returned, and repeated that the chef was very sorry, but that the mince is supplied by a butcher, who sometimes adds liver to the mix. I thought that at this stage they might offer a dessert, coffee or drink on the house – but they didn’t. The fries were good and the seeded brioche bun was decent, the latter being neither over-soft or too sweet. The servers were courteous, but in my opinion could be better trained in the ingredients of the menu and in customer service. £18 for a beef and liver (and who knows what else) burger and fries is a lot. I didn’t enjoy the experience. The Red Cow should have done better, and it’ll be more than a couple of years before I return there to eat."
