Things have been a little hectic over the last month with a 10 day trip to San Francisco and Vegas, moving house and two lots of visitors from Ireland so I missed out on my regular Saturday brunch for a while. So for my return to my favourite meal of the week I thought long and hard about where to go. I was thinking that I might go to one of my favourites, just to ensure that I wasn't disappointed and then I remembered my ever extending list of places to visit! So it was decided, I had to try somewhere new. Black Dove Dining is somewhere that has been on my radar for a while and somehow I just never managed to get there, so today was the day.
As I was walking up Kilmarnock Road with the sun shining (I had to mention that the sun was shining because at that point I was seeing more rain than sun) I was thinking to myself that I don't ever remember seeing the restaurant on this road (and you will see from my other reviews that I'm on this road a lot) so I was keeping a keen look out for it. I eventually spotted it - it doesn't stand out and you would really have to be looking for it to see it. A thought occurred to me, whilst it may have been on my radar for a while (due to social media etc) maybe it was just never in the forefront because the restaurant doesn't stand out from all the businesses around it. But it seems to be doing very well so people are clearly finding it. Anyway, I digress, back to the review. So we went in and were seated at our table. We were given one menu and our coffee (& water) order was taken. As I had digested the menu on a number of occasions before going I didn't need to look at the menu as I knew exactly what I was having and Mr EE also knew what he was going for, but if we both needed to look at the menu I don't think I would have been happy to sit and wait for the other person to finish looking at the menu. I'm sure if we asked for another one we would have gotten it but I wonder if this is the norm or was it just an oversight.
There are plenty of options on the menu for brunch - everything from eggs benedict, a full fry, an omelette to beans on toast. There is something for everyone on this menu. They even have a section on the menu called healthy eats - allegedly these dishes are guilt free healthier choices so I decided to give one of them a go. I went for chargrill bacon, organic sausages, black pudding, spinach and asparagus served with homemade baked beans, sweet potato, poached eggs and hash browns. Mr EmmaEats went for his usual, the full breakfast. The food came out and looked great. Just after the waiter left my food in front of me, he arrived back with a bowl of spinach as it had been omitted from my plate (I must admit I hadn't noticed that it was missing). The food was lovely, and I particularly liked the sausages. I'm not the biggest fan of sausages (I love the taste but I can sometimes be funny about them, its a mental thing), however the sausages here were very tasty. Mr EE was very happy with his breakfast. Food Rating:- 4/5.
The service was quick and efficient. When we first went in there seemed to be only 1 person front of house looking after both levels (this did not have any impact on our service), however when we were leaving a few more staff members had arrived. Service Rating:- 4/5.
Atmosphere
There is a nice atmosphere in Black Dove Dining. We were seated upstairs and there were only two other tables in use. However, downstairs was very busy. I enjoyed sitting upstairs looking down at the workings of the restaurant (& getting to see the amazing light fixtures). The restaurant is tastefully decorated with lovely touches such as the Black Dove Dining symbol on each of the tables and also on the coffee cups. Atmosphere Rating:- 4/5.
Both my breakfast and Mr EE's breakfast were £7 each. The total for breakfast was £20.65, this included 1 cappuccino and 2 americano's. I think it is a very reasonable price for the quality and quantity of food. I have come to expect to pay more for breakfast so I think that it is really great value. Food Rating:- 5/5.
Last Words
Everything about Black Dove Dining was lovely, not exceptional but lovely. I will definitely be back, I really want to go back and try out dinner. One thing that we did notice while we were eating was that there was no salt and pepper on the table. We found this to be a little unusual but again I'm sure if we had asked we would have been given some. We didn't need them but is it not cumbersome on staff if every table was looking for salt & pepper? Aside from that it was a lovely breakfast. Overall rating:- 17 out of 20.
Date Visited: Saturday, 9 April 2016
Restaurant Details:-
Black Dove,
67 Kilmarnock Road,
Shawlands,
Glasgow,
G41 3YR.
Website:- Black Dove Dining Website
Telephone number:- 0141 231 1021
Emma Mai xx
No comments:
Post a Comment