Casino food is a dice roll!

Located on the banks of Glasgow’s River Clyde, the casino is nothing special from the outside, in fact it’s rather drab and nondescript.

On wandering into the main ground floor playing area I was truly gobsmacked! WOW, it was like stepping back in time to a 1940s New York. The dark wood, gilt mirrors, polished brasswork, chandeliers, Tiffany lamps all exude class and serve to provide an ambience of a casino from a bygone era.

So the food. There are so many choices available that even the pickiest will be able to find something to suit.

My choice of starter was the tempura chipotle prawns with a sweet chilli sauce. Now, I should add a caveat, that on perusing the menu I strongly suspected there wasn’t a lot of use of local suppliers – my worst fears were soon realised. The plate of six prawns were overcooked, and, the light tempura batter simply wasn’t. It’s a problem when using frozen prepacked products.

The CO however, made a much better choice with the soup of the day option. Out came a steaming-hot bowl of hearty home-made lentil soup served with crusty bread and butter.

The mains were next up. I decided to opt for the steak, chicken and ribs combo. We had a minor glitch in that the chicken was missing but this was soon rectified. I ordered my steak rare, and it was on the verge of being a med-rare. In fairness though, it was a nice piece of fillet, tender, soft and succulent. It hit the mark just fine. The chicken, however was the pièce de résistance, chargrilled, with a slightly blackened, crispy skin and with meat which was soft and juicy – what’s not to like with that. The ribs, however, were simply not up to the mark – tough, chewy, the meat had to be hacked off the bone – they needed another four hours in the slow cooker before they would have been edible. Still, that said, the overall dish was acceptable for what it was, and came with onion rings, skin-on chips, mushroom, tomato and red onion slaw.

My other, better looking half, chose the smoked boneless beef rib, described as slow cooked beef in a bourbon glaze, served with the same accompaniments as my main. The meat on this one literally fell apart with a fork. The bourbon glaze was a nice smoky, tangy addition which married the whole dish together. All in all it appears she’d trumped me yet again.

The food is a bit of a mixed bag but bearing in mind you can eat two courses for £11, there’s not a lot to complain about. But I’ve been served worse, much worse. So if you’re in Glasgow looking for a good night out with a few drinks, a bite to eat, some live musical entertainment you’ll not go far wrong taking a stroll down to the Broomielaw and the Grosvenor Riverboat Casino.

Grosvenor Riverboat Casino, 61 Broomielaw, Glasgow, 0141 226 6000

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