Blue Bicycle, York Reviews

jennyhighgables's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Good Points: The service. The bread.

Bad Points: Everything else. Overpriced, overcooked, overrated.

General comments: A crashing disappointment. I honestly hate writing bad reviews about places... I'm a devout foodie and can normally find something to love. But the Blue Bicycle was almost completely unloveable. They don't exactly treasure their guests... you're barely acknowledged (although our waitress was lovely).
A bad evening began with my friend and I being told we'd need to vacate the table in two hours (we'd got a bit lost and were 20 mins late for our reservation). This left us feeling a bit rattled and unwelcome - surely they could have turned the table without making it so obvious?
Still, we sat down fully prepared to enjoy our food. The restaurant had come highly recommended. The free bread and roasted garlic appetiser was the high point... delicious. If only it had stopped there.
My friend ordered two "specials" off the blackboard - French onion soup and a trio of fish. The first, she said, was ordinary and she could have made it better herself. The second she had to spit into her napkin. She complained to the staff the fish tasted of chemicals... they informed her it was the sage. Either way, it wasn't pleasant!
My starter was a Bloody Mary prawn cocktail. The prawn cocktail had been set in a chef's ring and the mayo had set in a cold, solidified rim - as if it had just been lifted out of the fridge. My main was horrible - the vegetarian option: an asparagus and red pepper "cake" with goat's cheese profiteroles. The "cake" was fried in breadcrumbs and had a cous-cous filling mixed with the chopped veg. The breadcrumbs were overdone and the cous-cous had not been cooked properly so grains of it crunched between your teeth like sandy sarnies on a beach picnic. I was left with a meal of goat's cheese and pastry! In fairness, when I complained they apologised and offered us free puds. By then we wanted out of there, though. They knocked my meal off the bill but the experience still cost us £60.
Other minus points - we were sat in a draught and each course took just four and a half mins (I timed it) to arrive in front of us. Even McDonalds looks like slow food compared to that! You felt everything had been sitting around in fridges or shoved in frying pans to singe, rather than carefully prepared for your delectation. Interesting to read how many others have the Blue Bicyle blues!

rubberband girl's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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The Blue Bicycle has a lovely atmosphere and the best steak my boyfriend has ever tasted. The service was prompt, helpful and informed.
It seems expensive for what it is, especially the starters. They do that annoying "a 10% service charge will be added to the bill" so you have to actually ask them to not charge it. We refused and left cash for our very good waitress.
A great choice for dining with friends or a romantic meal. Really relaxed and great food, if a bit overpriced (especially the ...

sarahburton's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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The food and the atmosphere at Blue Bicycle were fantastic, going on Valentine's evening we expected to be waiting a while for our food (it was very busy) however this was not the case. The food was excellent and the service very good. The garlic and bread very lovely, the Monk fish was beautiful and the Halibut mouth watering. I have also read the previous reviews and can not beleive they are for the same place. The meals are a little pricey but for the food you get I would say well worth it. I ...

Juggernaut120's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Lovely atmosphere with unique surroundings. Service good and prompt.
Garlic starters... brilliant and free!

Maybe after reading the last 5 reviews the Blue Bicycle has been totally overhauled as they didn't reflect our experience. The food was excellent and the staff were interested in delivering our meals to ensure the experience was nothing but pleasurable.

Kairen's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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At the Blue Bicycle we ordered 3 main fish courses - all the fish was very overcooked as if it had been 'waiting'; the risotto was disappointing - overcooked rice which had been seemingly cooked in very strong stock-cube liquor; the tomatoes and basil oil had apparently been missed from the risotto; I think the salt and pepper pots must have fallen into the risotto, it was so seasoned; we couldn't eat it. After trying to get the staff's attention we gave up and sent the dishes back to the kitche ...

patriciar's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Review of Blue Bicycle, York - Starters were good - I had the chick pea dhal (which was really a channa) but there was a long wait of about 15-20 mins while the waitress went off to find out if I could have this as a starter, (and this was at 18.35), as it was originally a main course dish - my husband had the salmon fishcakes which were good. I felt the quality of food and service descended rapidly after that. I had sea bass with confit potatoes and cherry tomatoes with millefuille. The sea ...

tomtom2's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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Of the starters ordered 1 was 10 mins late. Of the main courses ordered 1 was 15mins behind the others, needless to say this left 1 person eating alone! One starter of scallops was delivered semi-raw!! One fillet asked for as Medium/well was delivered rare. The service from start to finish was poor, needless to say no tip was left and I was a little taken aback that the management did not enquire as to why....This experience is far removed from our only other visit there, which was a couple of y ...

Guest's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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The food was reasonable, we steered clear of the foie gras which was the apparent reason for the protest outside.The veal was an interesting dish, and the baby rabbit had an interesting garnish that added flavor to a rather dry meat. The wine selection was not quite as broad as we had hoped and we settled for a French red that was adequate.There are so many other restaurants in York to try i think we'll try somewhere else next.

Guest's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
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My wife and I had high expectations of our recent visit to the Blue Bicycle, in York - but were disappointed by the whole experience.

We found that the service was rather sloppy and sullen and it appeared that they were not really paying attention.

When the food arrived we felt let down, I struggled through my meal and my wife gave up half way through, and we were left with the feeling that the whole experience was a big let down. Very overpriced.

Even the view through the window was ru ...