Steakhouse Sizzlers, Glasgow

Yum yum as usual. Once a month like clockwork. Burgers are fantastic.

Give this place a wide berth ,the food is poor and the service is worse.

The place could do with a good clean as the carpet is filthy, old and worn and the toilets are disgusting.

Visited the restaurant on a Thursday evening 19 August 2010.

Never been before and after a bit of debating in the streets of the Merchant City we decided to go to Sizzlers. Entrance is through the courtyard of the old Candleriggs market and not on Albion Street itself.

The four of us, my wife and two sons opted for an inside table, it was virtually empty and lacking of atmosphere, very chain like in it's decoration and in my opinion a bit tired. Maybe different if the place was full (which I doubt it ever is).

Staff although not overly welcoming were not rude either. We were handed our laminated menu's, at this point my spidy senses started tingling, experience has taught me that laminated menu's are usually from places like Pizza Hut etc, so don't expect top restaurant fare. Unfortunately I was proved right.

Starters were the Prawn cocktail for my wife which she said was delicious, a garlic pizza bread for my son's, they were almost a main course in themselves and they thought they were very nice. I choose a soup of the day which was described as 'cream of mushroom'. Erm, creamy it was not, the colour of a dark watery sludge, thankfully it didn't taste of sludge, unfortunately it tasted of nothing and had a layer of glistening fat on top. It was accompanied by three small slices of everday white bread (where's the effort or class in that) I was given the little foil wrapped butter portions to spread on the bread (no effort once again). I pointed out the poorness of the dish to the manageress and she took it away with no grumble and offered a replacement which I declined.

Mains. Spaghetti Meatballs for son number 1 and a Sirloin with chips for son number 2. My wife opted for a fillet steak with chips. Peppercorn sauce was ordered at a supplement for both steaks, what a rip-off when you consider the steaks were coming in around the £15 mark. I went for the seafood hotpot, with the promise of muscles, prawns and scallops in a white wine garlic sauce again coming in around the £15 mark.

Son number 1 didn't finish his meatballs but this was probably down to personal taste more than the quality of the dish (he didn't like the taste). Son number 2 loved his sirloin as did my wife with the fillet, however the size of the steaks for the money was shocking, as was the size of the chips portion which were set on a tiny bowl and must have numbered about 10 in each bowl. The peppercorn sauce was tasty.

Oh dear, I forgot to tell you about my main, the seafood hotpot. Served in a pot about 8 to 10 inches in depth the lid was removed and the contents were clearly piping hot. nestling on top of the huge pile of muscles were about 4 of the smallest scallops I have ever seen, they were approximately 1cm in diameter set in one half of their shell, must have been baby ones. They were so overcooked that they looked like the shell fish version of a prune, I tried one and sure enough it was definately in need of some fluid to rehydrate it, unfortunately the sauce was now at the bottom of the pot and was near impossible to get at due to the muscles and the depth of the pot.

I did try to get to the sauce, honestly, but it was too difficult. However, during my mining expedition to the bottom of the pot I did find about 4 medium sized prawns. Is this what I was paying £15 for? a pot of muslces garnished with baby scallops and four rubber prawns, I tried a prawn too, and yes it was rubbery not lovely. Tried a couple of muscles which tasted ok their shells had captured some sauce during it's descent to the bottom of the abyss and had thereby saved them from culinary hell. Bear in mind that a starter of muslces would cost about £5-£6 in most establishments and be easier to eat with an equal amount on offer too.

I gave up, and feeling emabarassed (why was I embarassed) got the manageress over again. Once again I pointed out the shockingly bad quality and she asked if I'd like more prawns or scallops, errr NO. She promptly took the pot away without a moan, she could clearly see that the produce was not up to scratch. I was offered to choose another main but did not want to take the risk.

My wife and son both visited the toilets and described them politely as leaving alot to desired, we'll leave that at that.

We declined desserts, and asked for the bill, which came to a hefty £91, that was minus my starter and main course which would have brought the bill up to about £110. Remember we only had 2 courses and a couple of beers and soft drinks between 4. You should also be aware that a 10% service charge will be added to yor bill, another warning sign, they don't want you to decide if they are worthy of a tip. Just as we were discussing the bill at the table the manageress came over and handed us a new bill which had the 10% service charge removed, bringing our overall bill down to about £83. So credit where credit is due she did what she could but it didn't really salvage the night......

In all my years of restaurant dining I have seldom sent any item back to the chef, let alone 2, the last being at a now closed place on the south side about 10 years ago.

I will leave it to you to decide wether to dine here or not, but we will not be going back unless Gordon Ramsay has visited it in a new series of Kitchen Nightmares.

Great service, great staff, great food.

Steaks cooked to perfection with a lovely pepper sauce. Chips were great. Really enjoyed my meal and i will be looking forward to a return visit.

Cows that say "OINK"

I have eaten at Sizzlers on various occasions over the last 3 years and have always found the food and the service to be excellent and as a result it has always been at the top of the list when I make a recommendation to freinds and colleagues who are looking for a top quality meal.

My wife, myself and another couple went there last week for the first time in about a year and we were sorely dissapointed to see that standards had slipped.

The staff were stale, the warmness we were used to encountering was nowhere to be seen then came the shock. Now I had ordered a fillet steak as usual and as usual it was perfect, probably the best fillet in Glasgow. My freinds wife ordered a sirloin and this is when the problems began. She was not happy with it and mentioned this to the waitress who was less than impressed with the complaint and really offered no solution but to like it or lump it. When we insited that she take it back, she grudgingly took the offending piece of meat into the kitchen and came back to tell us that the chef said there is nothing wrong with it so he would cook another but we would have to pay for both.

This is when the now poor service turned farcical. A second opinion was needed so I ofered my expert pallate and was surprised to find that I was eating pork. I pointed this out to the waitress who was very keen to inform me that pork was not on the menu, I retorted by telling her butcher that they dont want any more cows slaughterest that "Oink". This when I asked if the chef had tried the meat, according to the waitress he had, this was now turning into a scene as we asked for her to bring the chef into the discussion as he had either not tasted the meat or had no idea how beef should taste, it was only at this point that she offered to bring out a fresh sirloin at no extra cost, let's face it she knew there was no way we were paying for the first one!

The evening was topped off when they added a service charge to the bill!! This has spoiled my opinion of this restraunt and I will now have to find somewhere else to go for a good fillet.

I read several reviews before going to Sizzlers.

Friends had bought us a voucher for £50 to cover for two meals plus a couple of drinks.

The reviews I read were mostly not good with comments being aimed at "surly" or "impolite" staff, poor quality food (in term of both quality and temperature)

In all probability, had we not had the gift voucher, we would have given Sizzlers a miss.

I am delighted to say that the welcome we received was tremendous (thanks to Lianne) our waitress. The quality of the food was excellent. The tables and cuttlery were spotless Everywhere I looked was very clean, including the toilets. I had Fillet Steak and my wife had Chargrilled Chicken. Food presentation was also extremely good.

A great meal in very comfortable and friendly surroundings.

Far better that some much more expensive restaurants I have been in.

I am writing this review following reading the earlier review that has been submitted. We certainly did not have the experience of surly staff. And whilst I'm sorry that they had an unpleasant experience with that one member of staff, the review does a real dis-service to the quality of the food at Steakhouse Sizzlers in Glasgow, which was more or less completely obscured.

I went to Sizzlers with my boyfriend at the beginning of July 2006. We were in Glasgow for the Jazz Festival and stumbled across it after leaving the Old Fruit Market. Having looked at the menus for a few of the local restaurants we thought that this looked interesting.

It was as rainy evening outside, and fairly quiet in the Merchant city, as was Sizzlers. This wasn't a problem, as we managed to get a table immediately. I enjoyed my meal immensely, and my boyfriend said that the beef, that was served on a skewer above a griddled chicken breast was the best he'd had. The cheesecake was to die for.

All being well we will be back for a second sampling next month.

My husband and I, having travelled from Spain, chose to have a meal at Steakhouse Sizzlers to celebrate our daughters 21st birthday.

We originally booked a table for six people at 8.00pm but phoned later to alter the time to 9.00pm. When we arrived shortly before 9.00pm we were greeted by a female member of staff with the comment "You are the second lot of people to turn up late". When we informed her that we had previously phoned to change the booking her unpleasant attitude did not alter and her response was to moan about the lack of communication within the restaurant.

Beforehand, when my daughters and their partners approached the restaurant, ahead of myself and my husband, the entrance was open. When this girl saw that they intended to enter Sizzlers she walked over and closed the door in their face. I have no idea what that was all about?

The overall lack of professional behaviour from this member of staff continued for the duration of our visit. When she was serving the food the dishes were practically thrown down on the table in the manner of someone in a bad mood. What a shame for the chef and the rest of the kitchen staff who had worked to provide what was a delicious meal to have it served in this manner.

It is unpleasant to eat somewhere where the main person serving is constantly scowling and resentful. We were not rowdy; neither did we react to this treatment. I'm sure that other members of staff will confirm this. I decided not to complain at the time partly because the edge had already been taken off our enjoyment and I didn't want to make things worse with a confrontation. Also I wanted to see if I still felt that this treatment warranted a letter of complaint after a day or two to think about it. I still think it does.

On a positive note, in total contrast, the other members of staff couldn't have been more friendly and helpful.

The restaurant was let down by this one person, who on this evening was the main customer facing member of staff. Her manner would be more at home at MacDonald's or Burger King.

With the huge choice of eating establishments in Glasgow and the resulting competition you don't get a second chance to impress. Perhaps that is why during the time we were there were only a couple of other parties in. We certainly will not be returning to Sizzlers nor will we be recommending this restaurant to anyone else.