Full Breakfast
Cafe Cockburn

Cafe Cockburn

34 Cockburn Street, City Of Edinburgh EH1 1BU, United Kingdom, EH1 1PB

Cafés • Coffee • Cheese • Breakfast


"Probably the most miserable cafe I have ever frequented. We entered what appeared to be a nice cosy establishment, sat down and waited... and waited. We eventually got the menu we had to request, a crumpled, well used, dirty A4 sheet. The menu looked fairly promising so we forgave their reuse of dirty paper. Ordering, we eventually discovered was by walking up to the counter full of tempting looking cakes and attempting to attract the attention of customer avoidant staff, zero eye contact and the personification of misery, however, I forged ahead and asked if I could order. The waitress silently turned behind the counter and walked to the far end and stood at the cash register, apparently I was supposed to follow. Order placed and paid for I sat down. First the coffee arrived, nicely presented and fairly good, a pity about the ugly chipped metal spoon on the side. Then the main event, 1 fry up and 1 eggs benedict. The fry up: half the plate was filled with a chorizo style greasy sausage, a couple of shreds of fried mushroom and the remaining mediocre fry, and the other half of the plate was inexplicably taken up by a horridly bitter mismatching drizzle of balsamic vingear? Why? The eggs benedict, again half a plate taken up by a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, the other half a small slice of white loaf with two over cooked dry yolked eggs and a watery yellow teaspoon of sauce. Sadly after that nothing could tempt me to stay and try one of the cakes that drew me in the door. Verdict: The most miserable, avoidant staff I have ever seen, not just one staff member but every single one including the chef. And a greasy fry, overcooked dry eggs, a lack of sauce and inexplicably half of every plate reserved for a zig-zag drizzle of bitter balsamic vingear. My advice: Avoid! Overpriced, over cooked, and customers over looked."

Masons Restaurant Bar

Masons Restaurant Bar

36 Bridge Street, Manchester, United Kingdom

Full • Wine • Steak • Drinks


"We booked Masons for a Sat evening as they were recommended in a article by The Mancs, 50% off throughout Jan. Only to find out on the evening we were there, it’s offer of 50% off is only valid from Sunday to Friday, but not all Sundays in Jan. So basically Mon to Friday for up to a party of 6. Very disappointed when the waitress who seated us told us there isn’t a 50% off tonight. As that was why we booked. Food was nice, but not outstanding. Expensive and certainly not justified on portion size. My main course was £24 and titled Snapper and monkfish (with mussels, squid, prawns and samphire). When it arrived I was very disappointed, it was a bowl of stew. One small piece of snapper(bite size), one small piece of monkfish(bite size), 5 mussels, 4 prawns and 2 pieces of chewy squid ring in a tomato and samphire sauce. It was nice, but maybe it could have been advertised as a stew, and it could have been served with some bread, and spoon and a bowl for the mussels shells? It was a small main, and I was left bemused and hungry. If I hadn’t order a side of truffle fries, I don’t think I would have felt I’ve had a meal. We weren’t impressed on this occasion, or the last time we dined here during the pandemic “Eat out to help out scheme”. Its a terrible shame as we have dined at Masons several times before the pandemic, but it seems to have lost its quality, atmosphere and high standard of service we experienced previously. Judging from our last two visits, I don’t think we will be back to Masons in the future. I don’t know if it’s changed chef or manager, but it’s definitely lost the customer service, quality of food, value and atmosphere."