Tennents (Byres Road)

What: Pub
For: Lunch
With: Friend
Site: Doesn't have one.

This is the pub, not the poor attempt at larger, just in case you were concerned.

I dropped by a few weeks ago with a friend, as a break from study (anyone pointing out that I seemed to have spent more time taking breaks from study than actually studying, will be kindly asked to leave). It's a reasonably obvious choice for a pub lunch if you're chilling out near the uni.

It is, admittedly, an old man's pub. It has a lot of whisky, and a lot of real ale. Unfortunately, a lot of my friends seem to be old men, except that they're not old yet. They'll do their best to fool you anyway. On the other hand, it also has double Havana Club and mix for £3, so I won't whine (too much).

For an old man's pub, though, it's not bad. It's friendly enough, the staff are polite, you don't tend to wait long to get served. It's also nice and light, dark pubs are all very atmospheric, and it makes little difference at night, but if you're after lunch in the middle of summer, you want it light. Studying is depressing enough as it is.

I ordered fish and chips, the old-man-in-the-making got scampi, and we picked up a side of onion rings. The portions are generous, and apparently the scampi is wonderful, but the meals are very basic, even for pub fare. The chips are detectably oven-chips, the fish tasted good, but lacked anything special.

Also, I must urge you not to get the burgers. I've seen so many people ordering and enjoying them, but I just don't understand. I've tried one, and it was completely uninspiring. Now, I know it's just pub food, and that's fine, but it doesn't make it good. Being aware that Ketchup is only two minutes away, I don't know why you'd settle for second best.

In fairness to them though, the steak pie is pretty good, if probably completely identical to every other steak pie available in pubs throughout the West End. The onion rings weren't bad either, and though I've not had one, the deserts do look rather special.

This all sounds very critical, but I actually kind of like this place. It's decidedly inexpensive (I don't think there's a single item on the menu that would make a student balk). It's convenient, friendly, and a pleasant place to simply sit and chat. It's just that the food isn't very interesting.

Maybe they just need to revamp the menus or something. I don't eat pub food in the West End all that often, so I guess I'll try a few more places for comparison, and then judge afresh.

Tennents is a nice pub. I'd go there. I do, often. But I think next time I'm there and someone suggests we get food, I'll try to drag them somewhere else for it. Byres Road has too many exciting places to eat to waste time on mediocre burgers.