Office xmas dinner hell

No, actually it was pretty good. the Grill On The Corner is just along Bothwell Street from bums-on-seats overlord Witherspoons and across the road from dismal booze palace Madness, so I'm sure we weren't the only bunch of office workers on a night out. The bill was a not-exactly-cheap £27 including service charge, not including the decent Chilean wine generously bought for us by the boss, but the food was worth it.

Not crazy about the Grill's atmosphere and ambience; the table felt a tad small, it was super busy, the chandeliers most likely didn't belong to Louis XIV, and the clattering drone of other diners and musak made most of what was said at the other end of our ten-strong table incomprehensible. Plus, I don't like having to fill out a form to get special offer emails before the waiter takes our order for food, and being asked why I'm not going to take part.

Anyway, down to the food. Starter's very nice, crab meat and a generous amount of prawns on noodles with a few leaves of herb salad. Did I mention that Chilean wine? Nice and full bodied it is, and I seem to have my own bottle at this end of the table. Hic. My steak is slightly more done than the rare I asked for but is perfectly nice and well trimmed with fried potatoes and crisp veg. Finallly, although my sample of chocolate tart is as nice as it sounds on the menu, I'm glad that I opt for the apple and summer fruit crumble instead. How long has it been since I had crumble? Why did I wait so long?

Overall a pretty good xmas meal, but it was the food which carried the night out; leaving me with a similar impression of drinking a great real ale at Witherspoons - if you can shut out the oppressive noise and marketing around you, your taste buds will find something to enjoy. As for your colleagues, well, you can catch up with them any time.