pryordurkin™

In the heart of York, there is yet another eatery vying for the tourist pound.  Lucky Days Salad, Coffee, Desert Cafe opened in the last few weeks so as we passed the other weekend we thought we would give it try. We wanted something light and healthy for lunch and the display of freshly prepared salads along with a range of protein based snacks caught our eye.

We ventured inside but for a relatively long time, were very confused by the way Lucky Days works.  There are two prices against every item.  One price being £1 and the other price ranging from £3-£8 pounds.

The look on our faces must have said it all as a young man behind the counter then explained how things work.  At the first counter on your left as you enter the shop  you choose your protein based snack along with a choice of 2-3 salad portions, all of which is then packaged in a disposable (albeit recycled but not very environmentally friendly) box, which you can either take out, or take upstairs to sit and eat.  The second counter and payment point is where you order tea, coffees and soft drinks.

The pricing system is a bit of worry in Lucky Days.  You have to throw a dice and if you land a six, every item you have ordered is charged out at a pound. If you don’t hit the six, you pay the full higher listed price.  As it wasn’t our Lucky Day we had to pay full price, which for a light lunch in a disposable box that you carry upstairs yourself, came in at around £25!

The food itself was nice, but after it was packed in the box and transported upstairs to eat, it had moved around and looked a bit of a mess when we opened back up.  The plastic disposable knives and forks along with the paper napkins were by this point starting to darken my mood.

The more I thought about the £25 pound that had just left my pocket the more I started to feel a bit ripped off.  For that price I expect table service, a plate and proper cutlery.  We ate our food and had left the shop in less than ten minutes which only added to the feeling of poor value.

However the overriding problem with Lucky Days salad, coffee, dessert cafe is that it is a complete and confusing mish mash.  The name itself conjures up images more akin to a chinese takeaway rather than the healthy foods it sells and then the random lottery pricing seems completely out of kilter with a cafe which I still two weeks later, can’t understand.  What were they smoking when they came up with this business plan and who was the bank manager that supported it.   In my book you can offer quality and good value in the safe knowledge people will return, or you can run a lottery and hope people become addicted.  Mixing the two is very weird indeed and I would lay odds that this business model won’t survive.

We will not be returning anytime soon as there are much better places just around the corner from Lucky Days serving the same type of foods.

 pryordurkin rating: 1 star.

We stopped by the newly opened Square One on Colliergate in York yesterday for lunch. Owned by the people who run the Aldwark Arms, we had high expectations and were both curious to see how they would turn this once little run down King’s Café into something different that would stand out from the now overcrowded York eatery scene.

The space is limited in this old building but it does have a certain historic charm.  We took a table near the back so we could watch what was going on around us as we ate.

The manager of this place is the previous maitre’d of the Aldwark Arms, who is always friendly and attentive.  He seemed however to be the only person who knew what he was doing throughout our visit and single handedly kept service moving despite the poor quality assistance from his staff and the frequent electric power cuts that seemed to be plaguing them during our visit.

We both ordered up the half chicken from the mains menu, noting that lighter sandwich options were available as well as an all day breakfast which seemed to be popular with other diners.

The food was presented really well and as was our experience from the Aldwark Arms, cooked extremely well.  The chicken was perfectly moist and the accompanying piri piri chilli was excellent. We had to remind the staff though that they had forgot the rocket salad but this was quickly corrected by the manager.

We enjoyed our lunch here and would certainly return but next time I hope the manager has found more experienced and mature assistants to help him. It was a constant wonder how he kept his cool during our visit.

The bill came to just over £30 for a very good, well cooked and presented lunch which made this very good value indeed.  A real differentiator that should see them do well.

pryordurkin rating 3 stars.

We stopped by the Blue Fly Cafe bar over the weekend with our friends for a coffee and chat. We took a table inside this small venue and were quickly served by a girl who seemed otherwise distracted.

When we first moved to York in 2007, this used to be a favourite watering hole for me and I paid many visits over the course of the first year in the city enjoying its (then) warm atmosphere, good coffee and great music. The place was always popular with locals and tourists alike.

However over the years the place has gone remarkably down hill fast. You very rarely see locals using this place now and it seems to survive on the tourists who pass by . When we visited this weekend the place was filthy. The chairs stained with many weeks/months of spilt drinks, the floor hadn’t been washed and the base of the tables were disgusting. You wouldn’t normally look under the tables, but I did and the stuff that was stuck or hanging under those tables that people are expected to eat and drink from was fowl.

It takes nothing to clean a floor and a surface. The dirty state allowed by its owners speak volumes about the respect they have for their customers.

I was pleased to get out of the place and will never return.

pryordurkin rating: 0 Stars.

A couple of weeks ago we found ourselves in Bar Esperanza on Swinegate in York. Recently opened above Lucia’s and operated by the same people it is very stylish indeed with fantastic design and wonderful attention to detail.  The service and staff were very friendly and professional and as it was around 7.30pm when we arrived it had a nice warm welcoming feel to the place with other customers broadly in our age range equally enjoying themselves with decent conversation.

However as the time ticked by it became very apparent we needed to move on.  The average age (and overheard conversations) dropped remarkably quickly and by the time we left it was full of drunk early 20s somethings dressed with little by way of clothing or style.  As we headed downstairs a cat fight was about to break out near the toilets and we were pleased to leave.

A shame really because I hoped that they would enforce their advertised targeted market of over 25s looking for a quiet stylish night out. As it turned out and is so often the case, quick money speaks.

pryordurkin rating 2 stars