Rick's

Rick's is a stylish bar, tucked away downstairs just off Frederick Street in the city centre. Owned by the Montpelier group who own Indigo Yard and Montpeliers, Ricks is also connected to a small boutique hotel.

We were tempted by their good value lunch menu - two mains for two people for £10. The choice on the menu included the crowd pleasing fish and chips / sausage and mash and vegetarians and more health conscious options also well catered for. The quality of the ingredients was good (although it was felt that the portion sizes were a little small), however, we had no reason to complain for the price and no-one left hungry.

The beer selection offered a good range of local beer and international favourites, to cater for a wide range of tastes. The prices of the beers was a little more expensive than other venues, mostly coming in the £4-5 mark, however we felt that the price of the meals more than made up for this.

The service at Rick's was definitely better than your average, maybe no surprise it being connected a hotel as well. They were friendly, helpful and efficient. Also a bonus was having an odd number of people, Rick's was able to be flexible with the pricing of the lunch deal for us.

On leaving to head back to work, Rick's had a nice buzz of a busy lunch time crowd. In conclusion Rick's is an easy place to have a lunch with, that successfully tries to offer something for everyone.


Quality of food:      7.00
Quality of drinks:    7.43
Value:                     8.14
Service:                   7.86
Ambience:               7.57
Overall:                   7.29
Full Leaderboard

Bill - Fish and chips (2 mains for £10), pint of Schiehallion and tip - £10

Comments:
- All round pretty good.
- Can't complain about the food for a fiver.
- Hard to fault at £5 for a main course, quality was good but portion small. Nice place.
- Great value lunch - two mains for a tenner, from a special deal menu. I went for sausage, mash and crispy onion. Sausages were delicious - but I sware crispy onion was in the description, and it didn't arrive on the plate.

Khushis

Khushis has been serving Indian food since 1947 and is an Edinburgh institution. It has moved several times over the decades, most famously from the Victoria Street site which burnt down. It is currently located on Antigua Street so we thought we would see how it fares for lunch!

On arrival we were presented with two different lunch menus. One was a multi course affair for £12.95 and the other was a more simple: pick a curry and either rice or naan for £6-£7. We decided to take the more straight forward second option.

I decided to order the quite simple sounding lamb special of the day. The size was good for lunch, smaller than a dinner helping, however still filling. The quality was definitely good, much better than your usual curry house, with the ingredients tasting fresh and fragrant.

Khushis only option for beer is BYO, which often divides peoples opinions. You either think this is great because you can pick anything you want and it keeps the prices down. Others feel that it is more convenient to serve alcohol on premises and gives the option for draught beer as well. They do however offer a good selection of fruits juices and nice refreshing lassis as well.

I really liked Khushis approach to lunch especially on the second menu option. I think too many restaurants just give you the same menu and prices they serve at dinner and then look quite empty as result. Lunch deals can be good as well, especially for occasions, however some times you don't have the time to eat through them or you feel quite bloated once leaving. Khushis offers a quite simple efficient tasty plate of food at a good value price, which I would definitely recommend!

Quality Food                      8.00

Quality Drinks                   7.00

Value                                 8.67

Service                              8.00

Ambience                          6.67

Overall                               8.00

Full Leaderboard

Bill: (Lamb curry with rice, sweet lassis + tip)    £10

Comments:

- Great lunch deal, the quality of the food for the money was excellent. A bit disapponting there are no alcoholic drinks, not such an issue for us for lunch but if you were going for dinner it might be a bit disappointing to have to take your own drinks.

- Good tasty plate of food for £6.

(* Updated after recent visit. Had 3 course menu for £12.95. Only significant change was the service was very slow this time. Updated scores:

Quality Food 8.29
Quality Drinks 8.14
Value 8.57
Service 7.29
Ambience 7.14
Overall 8.14


Full Leaderboard Further Comments:

- Food was good and tasty, but the service was a pretty slow. Other tables arrived and diverted the attention of the waiting staff.

- Great moctail, good food, well cooked chicken, service a bit slow.

- Excellent food and a nice resuarant to eat in. Had my first Lhassi amazing hence the high mark for Drinks !!!!

*)

Viva Mexico!

All this muggy weather we have had in Edinburgh recently made me feel like some hot and spicy food, so we decided to make a visit to Viva Mexico!

They have a good sounding lunch deal - starter and main for £8.50. The choices included your usual selection of Mexican meals including tacos, burritos and enchildas with added starters of soup or tacos. I went with the interesting sounding starter of soranos which consisted of refried beans, with melted cheese and guacamole with flour tortillas. I normally have a weak spot for chicken enchiladas and so opted for for that as my main. The food tasted good however could have done with some more spice. The portions were also well sized for a lunch meal. This was all washed down with a Pacifico Michelada from there good selection of Mexican beers.

Viva Mexico has a small and intimate feel with old black and white photos adjoining the walls. The place has a nice relaxed vibe to it. The service was a little bit un-attentive, whereby we had to remind them a few times to get order and bills completed. We however still managed to get back in our lunch break in good time. In all Viva Mexico was good however not great, if you are in the area you might want to consider going to this cheap and cheerful Mexican restaurant!

Quality Food: 6.80
Quality Drinks: 7.40
Value: 7.60
Service: 6.60
Ambience: 7.00
Overal 7.20

Full Leaderboard

Bill. (Chicken Enchiladas + Soranas + Pacifico Enchilads + Tip)      £14

Comments:
- started with a Sopa de Totilla (tomato soup with tortilla chips floating around), and followed it with a tasty pork chimichunga.
- Pretty good mexican food and a good overall lunch deal. Good but not great.
- ¡Mi Enchiladas y Pacifico eran sabrosos!
- Good value with the lunch offer, the Sonoras and Tacos de Pollo were tasty. Beer is a bit expensive but not unusual for bottled beer.
- Okay, but not the best Mexican in town