The Lobster Shack

Judging by the snappy service I received at the weekend, The Lobster Shack have pulled their socks up since Epicurean Girl's visit. Our food arrived piping hot and deliciously fresh within 20 minutes of ordering, with a nice side salad and yummy chips. The lobster itself was beautiful although it did feel a little strange guzzling a foodstuff that usually comes at a premium price with my fingers and paying under a tenner for the privilege. I reckon this would be the ideal first date or second date or twenty third date location. Go.

We were already half in love with the Lobster Shack before we placed our order - or rather, before we tried to place our order. The location is charming, nestled against the harbour walls with sailboats and dinghies bobbing in the water below. The food smells divine, and judging by the people eating around us, looks wonderful too. The problem is that they clearly can't manage the logistical side of things.

When we turned up at 5:45pm on a glorious sunny Saturday evening, they announced that they weren't taking any food orders for 30 minutes to give them a chance to catch up and clean the grill. We ordered some very watered-down lemonade, settled into a bench on the harbour wall, and waited. 30 minutes came and went. They were still claiming it would be 30 minutes. 20 more minutes passed. Every five minutes or so they would shout out a number, and someone shuffled up to collect their food. The chef was clearly in a foul mood, although the other two young men tried to compensate by being charming, cheerfully telling anyone who asked that they would be taking food orders in half an hour. After an hour of "half an hours", it transpired that they were still catching up on past orders, with three left to cook, then they'd clean the grill, and they'd be taking orders in... half an hour.

The food did look wonderful, and if you're prepared to wait for an hour and a half in North Berwick harbour (and there are worse places to be) it might well be worth it. Had they told us it would be an hour and half before we would be served, they would indeed have lost our custom for the night. Now, as we're rather furious at being kept dangling when they must have been aware of their backlog, they've lost our custom forever.