Rascals

I’d never been to Rascals before last night — it had always seemed a bit run-​of-​the mill and uninspiring. It was a Tuesday night and was very quiet. The staff were hanging out and didn’t have much to do, and the décor seemed bland and sterile. I had a chocolate milkshake which was also uninspiring — milk blended with chocolate syrup and poured over a glass of ice to waste space. It wasn’t a proper ice cream milkshake and it also separated out so there was a lot of syrup in the bottom. It wasn’t great and I didn’t have food but wasn’t really inspired to either. Ah well.

The feed me for a FIVER at lunch time is a great deal!
The sweet potato fries are incredible (no idea how they do it) & a burger topped with BBQ pulled pork is heaven. Great kids menu too.

I had a good experience here.
Stopped in for lunch around 12:30pm and there weren’t many people in Rascal’s. But, it looked like it was priced decently so I decided to give it a go. In short, I’m glad I did.
They have a «fiver» lunch menu that they brought out to me with their specials on it. I decided to go with the BBQ pulled pork sandwich and chips, plus a Pepsi. I noticed that the place was really clean and pretty quiet for a casual bar. It felt more like a family restaurant to me than a pub.
The food was great. I really enjoyed the BBQ pulled pork and overall I really enjoyed my lunch there. I would say that the price was good as well, all things considered. It was worth it in my view. When I paid, the server brought me a great coupon to use next time, which will definitely get me back in there at some point.

Glasgow. All I could think when I was here. The vibe, the scope, the larger-​than-​life nature of the place… I felt like I’d been transported to Glasgow.
That’s a good thing by the way. There’s a wanky, pompousness to the majority of Edinburgh bars and restaurants that you become all too aware of when you visit the laid back, sociable, seemingly-​genuine vibe that Glasgow’s wine-​and-​dine scene exudes. Glasgow knows it’s job is to wait on you, Glasgow knows everything happens at your convenience, Glasgow knows you’re the customer.
Edinburgh often does not.
Anyway, shitty Edinburgh rant aside. Back to the review. Where was I… larger-​than-​life, yes! So, the staff are wide-​eyed and chatty and it looks like Rascals have gone out their way to find people who are genuine chatterboxes. In other words it didn’t seem forced.
The food, is top top notch. Not only in scale but in options and in customisability. I opted for the Wingin’ It; a beef burger topped with boneless chicken strips — coated in their own Louisiana hot sauce — covered in melted cheddar and a lovely spread of blue cheese sauce across the base of the bun. I also added chorizo… it seemed like it belonged on there. Rascals layer that cheddar on there. They are not shy. and I love it. Worth noting too that, considering on paper the above sounds like a messy beast, the burgers are surprisingly neatly presented.
As for the rest… chips were lovely, desserts were lovely and they even do a selection of other mains should you not be feeling the burger on occasion. Burrito does sound good and — judging by the burgers — will probably be a monster. Premium burgers are possible a quid or two overpriced, but I’ll need to try one to decide upon that theory.
Only neg I have, and it’s the same neg for any restaurant whose focus is on their vast array of burgers, is that they seem to operate on the assumption that beef, chicken and veggie are the only burger base components worth giving a damn about. Where’s the lamb, where’s the venison, where’s the halloumi? Just once I’d love to see a burger joint come out and offer something really different… a duck burger with spring onion, bramley apple and/​or plum sauce. How good would that be?
Rascals, for me, is currently fighting it out with Bar Kohl for the Edinburgh Burger Crown. A couple dozen more visits to each and I’m sure I’ll come up with a winner.

I’m a big fan of burgers, not sure if that’s the American part of me or just that burgers are really awesome. probably both… so when i found out that an awesome new burger place had opened, i was totally there when Jen L suggested a group of us go to dinner!
i made sure to eat light during the day and even included a run so i could have the most amount of stomach space for an epic burger. and indeed that is what Rascals serves! their menu is lengthy and while there are a few other options the main focus is burgers. loads and loads of burgers. you have the option of a beef burger, chicken burger, or veggie burger in the form of spinach falafel. and then so many toppings! so many options to customise your burger or to go with some of the specialities. i think mine was called the Ranch Burger which came with melted cheddar, onion rings, and bbq sauce, i also added guacamole because avocado goes with everything.
considering that we had a decent sized party (7 of us) we didn’t have to wait too long for our burgers to start arriving. when the first two plates hit the table i was already having serious food envy! the burgers were HUGE and looked amazing! i was so excited to dive right into mine when it arrived and after adding the guacamole that is exactly what i did. it was burger heaven, so tasty and juicy and the BBQ sauce was so good. the guacamole was ok, i’m not sure it was fresh though… the chips were super crispy and chunky and the rascals sauce brought for dipping them into was also super good!
in addition to massive burgers, on sundays if you tweet a selfie of yourself with your burger you get a free slice of chocolate fudge cake. despite being full, i insisted that we get a free cake for the table and we shared three portions of it. it was good chocolate cake, not homemade but good. hard to complain about free cake!
the bill came to £15 each which is pretty cheap considering how much food we got. also you can get a free discount card that gives you 10 percent off every meal :) Rascals also has daily specials so you can always get a discount off something!
this place was definitely good and i really enjoyed my food. maybe a few more visits and i’ll be ready to add the fifth star!