With the festival in full swing, we decided to head to St Andrew Square to soak up some of the atmosphere! The famous Spiegeltent has being doing the rounds of the past couple of years and this year it has found a new home in St Andrew Square. It has brought with it a circus of bars and food vans, so we decided to head over and enjoy a pint and some food over our lunch break.
We sat ourselves at the Terrace bar which has a huge outdoor sitting area. There is a covered area to protect against the elements, however the sun was shining so we picked a table that we could enjoy the warmth of the rays. We arrived very close to 12:00 and by 12:15 most of the tables were occupied, so would recommend you get there early!
Caledonian Brewery is one of the major sponsors of the festival, so it was no surprise that most the beers on offer were from their brewery. This, however, is not a bad thing as it is good to have local fresh beers, the choices included Deuchers, Three Hops and Caledonian 80". A pint of three hops was £4.35 which considering the surroundings was not that bad, as the festival has a reputation of highly inflated prices. There are actually pubs nearby that would charge more for that even when the tourist season is not at its peak. Unfortunately, the staff were quite inattentive and inefficient, it also seemed like none of them had ever poured a beer in their life, however, one has pretty low expectations for service when the festival is on!
The food on offer was a series of food vans lining the footpath around the square. As the two bars did not serve their own food, it was a bonus that you could eat food from anywhere on the outside tables. The options included Valvona and Crolla, serving up posh panninis; Hendersons who specialised in vegetarian food; a very greasy looking pizza and chips van, one serving up ice cream and waffles and even one offering champagne mussels! There was also a interesting looking Thai noodle van, however it was not open due to the staff sleeping in! The options were a little bit limiting, one person in our party actually went across the road and bought his lunch at Sainsbury's! In the end I decided on the Hendersons, who served up a spinach and feta pastry and two salads for £6.50, not too bad in price and it tasted fresh and was reasonably filling.
It was very pleasant sitting outside seeing the festival in full action passing by. I was even deceived into thinking I was a tourist in my own city and could have even been on holiday. Definitely made it a bit more difficult having to face the reality of heading back to the office..
Quality Food 4.57
Quality Drinks 6.00
Value 4.00
Service 4.00
Ambience 8.14
Overall 5.14
Full Leaderboard
Bill - Pint Three Hops, Spinach + Feta pastry + 2 salads: £11.00
Comments:
- Nice place to sit and have a pint. Three Hops is good stuf, but £4.23 q pint. Good snack food and expense. The Waffle was good.
- Good place to hang out in the summer, would have found it better if the noodle guy hadn't slept in.
- Its the festy...rip off prices but good vibes
- Food (pizza slice and waffle) adequate but very pleasant sitting in the square and sampling the festival atmosphere. Shame about the closed noodles bar though!
- Ambience is good in the Square. Couldn't comment on the food or drink as I bought mine from Sainsbury's, due to the Thai noodle bar being closed :-(
- Enjoyed sitting sipping a beer watching the crowds, but I thought the range of food on offer was very limited - so much that one of us went to Sainsburys and another opted for canteen food!
- Nice sitting outside soaking in the atmosphere of the festival.
We sat ourselves at the Terrace bar which has a huge outdoor sitting area. There is a covered area to protect against the elements, however the sun was shining so we picked a table that we could enjoy the warmth of the rays. We arrived very close to 12:00 and by 12:15 most of the tables were occupied, so would recommend you get there early!
Caledonian Brewery is one of the major sponsors of the festival, so it was no surprise that most the beers on offer were from their brewery. This, however, is not a bad thing as it is good to have local fresh beers, the choices included Deuchers, Three Hops and Caledonian 80". A pint of three hops was £4.35 which considering the surroundings was not that bad, as the festival has a reputation of highly inflated prices. There are actually pubs nearby that would charge more for that even when the tourist season is not at its peak. Unfortunately, the staff were quite inattentive and inefficient, it also seemed like none of them had ever poured a beer in their life, however, one has pretty low expectations for service when the festival is on!
The food on offer was a series of food vans lining the footpath around the square. As the two bars did not serve their own food, it was a bonus that you could eat food from anywhere on the outside tables. The options included Valvona and Crolla, serving up posh panninis; Hendersons who specialised in vegetarian food; a very greasy looking pizza and chips van, one serving up ice cream and waffles and even one offering champagne mussels! There was also a interesting looking Thai noodle van, however it was not open due to the staff sleeping in! The options were a little bit limiting, one person in our party actually went across the road and bought his lunch at Sainsbury's! In the end I decided on the Hendersons, who served up a spinach and feta pastry and two salads for £6.50, not too bad in price and it tasted fresh and was reasonably filling.
It was very pleasant sitting outside seeing the festival in full action passing by. I was even deceived into thinking I was a tourist in my own city and could have even been on holiday. Definitely made it a bit more difficult having to face the reality of heading back to the office..
Quality Food 4.57
Quality Drinks 6.00
Value 4.00
Service 4.00
Ambience 8.14
Overall 5.14
Full Leaderboard
Bill - Pint Three Hops, Spinach + Feta pastry + 2 salads: £11.00
Comments:
- Nice place to sit and have a pint. Three Hops is good stuf, but £4.23 q pint. Good snack food and expense. The Waffle was good.
- Good place to hang out in the summer, would have found it better if the noodle guy hadn't slept in.
- Its the festy...rip off prices but good vibes
- Food (pizza slice and waffle) adequate but very pleasant sitting in the square and sampling the festival atmosphere. Shame about the closed noodles bar though!
- Ambience is good in the Square. Couldn't comment on the food or drink as I bought mine from Sainsbury's, due to the Thai noodle bar being closed :-(
- Enjoyed sitting sipping a beer watching the crowds, but I thought the range of food on offer was very limited - so much that one of us went to Sainsburys and another opted for canteen food!
- Nice sitting outside soaking in the atmosphere of the festival.
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