Self-described as Glasgow’s oldest bar, Sloans is known to pretty much everyone who lives in our fine city. Tucked away down a lane, just off Argyle street, Sloans has an almost hidden-away feel to it. My parents, grandparents, friends and other family members have all eaten here, yet it’s somewhere that has dropped off my radar time and time again for no real reason other than I simply forgot to pay it a visit. It’s one of those places that’s been on my ‘to-do’ list for the past couple of years actually; but, for one reason or another, I was never able to make it when I had planned to. Whilst walking along Argyle street recently and feeling rather hungry, we thought about where we could go to grab a quick bite. Since we happened to stop right outside Sloans and since the heavens were starting to open up in Glasgow, we decided to finally head in to try it out.
Inside, Sloans certainly looks like it could be a contender for Glasgow’s oldest bar, but not in a bad way by any means. I really liked the old, traditional look and feel of the bar. It possessed a lot of character and was actually well complimented by the modern little touches scattered throughout.
With only one burger to choose from on the menu, I ordered the ‘hand-made Scotch Beef burger with baby gem, tomato, gherkin & skinny fries’. There was an option to add cheese and/or bacon for an extra 50p each, so I went with the cheese.
The burger was well presented and housed in a glazed brioche bun and everything was well-arranged. The thick lettuce and tomato provided a bed for the patty to rest on, meaning that the bun stayed fully intact throughout and didn’t lose any of the contents. The bun itself was lightly toasted, soft and had a nice springy, freshness to it.
The patty was well seasoned and was a decent size. The burger felt a little dry, but this wasn’t so much because of the patty but because of the fact that there was no relish or sauce of any kind on the bun. We had mayo and ketchup at the table, which I ended up putting on the bun, but a relish of some kind would have definitely worked well on the burger.
Even the salad on the burger was nice. The lettuce was lovely and crisp, tasted fresh and there a good few thinly sliced gherkins hiding in there too, which I always like to see.
Despite the nice bun, the crisp salad and the good-sized patty, I felt that the burger was missing something. It wasn’t bad, but I left Sloans thinking ‘well, that was another burger’ and nothing really smacked me in the face and made want to rush back again.
The burger came with a very large portion of skinny fries. These were okay and I liked the fact that they weren’t pre-salted, but they were pretty cold when our food arrived
Overall, the patty was well seasoned, nicely cooked and the bun and salad were both fresh; however, a relish of some kind would have been a much-welcomed addition here. I would have preferred a few more additions to the toppings list, but Sloans are clearly going for a simple, classic approach with this burger but at almost £9 (£10 if you add bacon and cheese), I felt that it was a tad expensive for what it was.
A decent enough, if unspectacular burger affair.
Price: £8.95, bacon/cheese 50p extra
SUMMARY
+ Good bun
+ Well seasoned
+ Well presented and easy to eat without any mess.
– Quite dry. Relish of some kind on the bun would have helped this.
– A bit on the expensive side.
– Fries were cold.
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Sloans
62 Argyll Arcade
108 Argyle Street
Glasgow
G2 8BG
Phone: 0141 221 7828
Website: http://www.sloansglasgow.com/
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