I'd heard really good things from other bloggers about Scarlet's in Covent Garden, so on Tuesday I spent the entire day at work impatiently waiting for 5:30pm. I love cocktails, and I love food, and I love music, so Scarlet's seemed like the perfect place to me. I got there and my friend was already at the table waiting for me, I sat down and we decided to go big or go home. Basically, we ordered the Pornstar Martini sharing cocktail (£22), because, ya know...it's a Tuesday.
All of a sudden my friend went 'Omg there's fire' I freaked out and jumped thinking there was an actual real fire behind me, but it was OK, it was actually just the drink. Yes, people, this sharing cocktail wasn't any old sharing cocktail, it was one of those fancy theatrical ones with a huge sparkler. The waiter did some fancy thing with a passionfruit skin and sugar cubes and lit it alight, and we sipped on the cocktail with this passionfruit in the centre burning away.
S loved the cocktail, however I was a little confused. The huge glass was full of ice cubes? Now I love my cocktails, and I love my Martini's...and I have never before had a Martini with ice cubes in it? It tasted quite watery to me and it made me think they'd used all the ice cubes to try and keep costs down. But anyway, next up we ordered food.
I asked for a grilled chicken burger (because, ya know, chicken burgers totally don't count as burgers...) and S ordered a beef burger. We'd seen someone on another table eating a beef burger and it looked in-credible, huge and juicy and epic. Considering the price of £10 for the basic burger (it's an extra £1.00 per topping of cheese, bacon, and fried egg), it definitely should have been epic. However the food arrived and they brought over two chicken burgers. We told them the mistake and they took them back.
We ordered more drinks while we waited again, this time I had a Rhubarb and Raspberry Martini and S had the Rum Punch. Again I found my cocktail very weak and watery. Again S loved hers. I was beginning to think that either I'd made the wrong choices, or I have higher expectations than her ;) haha.
Eventually our burgers came back, this time they'd got it right; one grilled chicken burger and one 'British' beef burger. The beef burger looked nothing like the other one we'd seen. Instead of a huge fat burger patty it was thin and slightly burnt around the edges, with a large amount of salad on top and small amount of melted cheese. It looked underwhelming, and definitely not worth £11 when you can go to the likes of Patty & Bun or Meatliquor and have a huge incredible burger for just £8. Even the Byron burgers are bigger and cheaper.
My chicken burger tasted pretty good! The bun was delicious, the burger had a good amount of flavour, and I really enjoyed it. However once again I really don't think it was worth £11. Granted the burgers come with fries, but I still think it's ovepriced for what you get. The fries that the burger comes with are good - nice and chunky, and they come with romesco sauce which made a nice change and tasted amazing mixed with mayo!
To wash our food down I had a Cosmo and S had a Dark and Stormy. Again she loved hers and I was underwhelmed. I think I've just been utterly spoilt by the very strong and sweet cocktails at the likes of Barts and Bar Galante.
I probably won't be going back to Scarlet's, the cocktails were 'ok' and my food was good, but there are just too many other places in Covent Garden which do far better food and cocktails. The restaurant has great music and a really fun atmosphere, and it's probably ideal for a group of tourists or work colleagues to frequent for a night out (there's a club downstairs), but it's just not my type of place. If I'm in the Covent Garden area (which to be honest isn't that often), I think I'll stick to Dirty Martini. I guess it's one of those things where it's just all about personal opinions and tastes.
All of a sudden my friend went 'Omg there's fire' I freaked out and jumped thinking there was an actual real fire behind me, but it was OK, it was actually just the drink. Yes, people, this sharing cocktail wasn't any old sharing cocktail, it was one of those fancy theatrical ones with a huge sparkler. The waiter did some fancy thing with a passionfruit skin and sugar cubes and lit it alight, and we sipped on the cocktail with this passionfruit in the centre burning away.
S loved the cocktail, however I was a little confused. The huge glass was full of ice cubes? Now I love my cocktails, and I love my Martini's...and I have never before had a Martini with ice cubes in it? It tasted quite watery to me and it made me think they'd used all the ice cubes to try and keep costs down. But anyway, next up we ordered food.
I asked for a grilled chicken burger (because, ya know, chicken burgers totally don't count as burgers...) and S ordered a beef burger. We'd seen someone on another table eating a beef burger and it looked in-credible, huge and juicy and epic. Considering the price of £10 for the basic burger (it's an extra £1.00 per topping of cheese, bacon, and fried egg), it definitely should have been epic. However the food arrived and they brought over two chicken burgers. We told them the mistake and they took them back.
We ordered more drinks while we waited again, this time I had a Rhubarb and Raspberry Martini and S had the Rum Punch. Again I found my cocktail very weak and watery. Again S loved hers. I was beginning to think that either I'd made the wrong choices, or I have higher expectations than her ;) haha.
My chicken burger tasted pretty good! The bun was delicious, the burger had a good amount of flavour, and I really enjoyed it. However once again I really don't think it was worth £11. Granted the burgers come with fries, but I still think it's ovepriced for what you get. The fries that the burger comes with are good - nice and chunky, and they come with romesco sauce which made a nice change and tasted amazing mixed with mayo!
To wash our food down I had a Cosmo and S had a Dark and Stormy. Again she loved hers and I was underwhelmed. I think I've just been utterly spoilt by the very strong and sweet cocktails at the likes of Barts and Bar Galante.
I probably won't be going back to Scarlet's, the cocktails were 'ok' and my food was good, but there are just too many other places in Covent Garden which do far better food and cocktails. The restaurant has great music and a really fun atmosphere, and it's probably ideal for a group of tourists or work colleagues to frequent for a night out (there's a club downstairs), but it's just not my type of place. If I'm in the Covent Garden area (which to be honest isn't that often), I think I'll stick to Dirty Martini. I guess it's one of those things where it's just all about personal opinions and tastes.
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