Assembly

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The 2011/12 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

A popular student venue despite – or indeed perhaps because of – its closeness to the ubiquitous student unions. No doubt another plus is its good value food and two-for-one drinks deals. The battered leather sofas and twinkling fairy lights are certainly more inviting than the nearby library and the food must be a cut above that found on campus. There is an inviting array of starters or ‘small dishes’: Assembly dares to be different with Cajun chicken strips and duck spring rolls. The goat's cheese crostini comes with a lush pesto-dressed salad, a good accompaniment to the warm, salty cheese. Larger dishes – all classic pub grub, such as nachos with chilli beef, fish and chips and burgers – all hit the mark. Not at all greasy, not even a little measly, in fact all extremely tasty; and as Goldilocks would have it, just right. There is no rush at Assembly, which on the plus side means the staff don’t rush the customers, but on the down side means the customers don’t rush the staff. Still, the food is worth the wait and as waiting rooms go, it is a very pleasant one.

• High point: Cheerful and chilled place to be
• Low point: Service a little slow

1. CarlyD, Edinburgh – 18 May 2011, 2:15pmAssemblyReport

Having just returned from lunch with some work colleagues at the Assembly, I felt the need to write a review. Oh how the place has changed! We were the only table in there but the service was quite slow. We waited 15 minutes before the waitress came to take our drinks order. When you are on a 1 hour lunch break, this is rather slow. The food menu hasn't really changed in so much as there are the usual staples. Between the five of us, we ordered a chilli taco, three fish and chips, and a grilled chicken salad. The food arrived promptly enough, however, the battered fish was very heavily battered and there were literally about 5 chips on the plate. The fish itself tasted quite watery, and the batter was really heavy and there was more batter than fish. The salad with the chicken salad was also rather pathetic and limp, and too heavily dressed in vinaigrette, and the tacos were only half filled. It is such a shame as the Assembly used to be really great, but no more. We were also told that the bill could not be split for parties of less than 5 (we were 5), but it seemed pointless to argue about this. Looking at the bill itself, we were overcharged for the tacos, and when we mentioned this, we were told that it had been deducted at the bottom of the bill, which was not true. There was no mention on the bill for any deduction and the bar man could not show us where the so call deduction was. I was also shocked to see a service charge. The assembly is basically a bar with food, and I don't ever remember on past visits having to pay a compulsory service charge. We also asked the bar man about this, and he clearly looked uncomfortable about this and decided to turn around so as not to look us in the face. I would generally leave a tip anyway, but I begrudge not having a choice in the matter. I do believe that it is in not compulsory to charge a service charge, and this should be made clear. We paid the bill in any case as we were in a rush, but I will definitely not be back.