Simple Bar & Grill at The Light

I have been here a few times now and always had a good experience. We have always been welcomed as soon as we have stepped through the door. I don’t know whether its just the time of day we go or what but all bar one there haven’t been many other diners in so we could sit pretty much where ever we wanted.
Twice i have been with a group of friend (6 or more) and there haven’t been any problems you sometimes experience in a party (slow service, drinks etc).
The drinks menu is fantastic! There is a large selection of cocktails, beers, mocktails, hot drinks, soft drinks and milkshakes. The only thing that is lacking is beer on tap (but this doesn’t bother me since I’m not a beer drinker). My favourite drink so far is the Espresso Martini, which is exactly as it says on the tin!
The food, while not elaborate is good. I’ma a veggie and so far I haven’t struggles to find something I have wanted. But my friends say the Tib Street Burger is to die for! The puddings are brilliant! The latest one i enjoyed was a Knickerbocker Glory (as part of the three courses for £10.95) that has crushed amaretti biscuits in it that just made it. In the
past I have opted for the trio of desserts because I am indecisive.
The only thing for me that let the food down is the bread, but I’m a professional!
The staff have always been friendly and polite. If you fill in the card they give you when you come to pay you will receive a simple card in the post which has special offers on it, one being eat for free on your birthday! We took advantage of this on Adam. W’s birthday and he had a complete three course meal — including a sirloin steak and side dishes for FREE!!! Well worth it.
The décor in Simple is lovely, dark but not dingy, yet modern. The chairs are comfortable too, I was contemplating stealing on but thought better of it when the Martini started to wear off.
The on thing which lets the side down is the open door into the hotel next door. You could hear (and see) people coming and going (and children screaming!), which was slightly annoying after a while.
Overall though I will continue visiting Simple at the Light.

I went for brunch at Simple, only because of an offer on Groupon for super cheap, the menu looked promising, and they also offered unlimited Bloody Marys, my favourite drink so I was perilously excited about the visit.
Simple put itself out there as a sort of American-​ised bar/​grill featuring things you might see on an american grill menu. Which is fine. I love america and american food. Simple is really beautiful inside, the chairs are really comfortable and it’s nicely lit and just feels homely. With the inclusion of free wi-​fi it is definitely the sort of place I could spend hours just watching people come and go, enjoying the ambience.
But the food! UGH What can I say? It was O. K, just, O.K.
The menu is writing cheques it’s chefs can’t cash I’m afraid to say. I really hate saying negative downy things *stabs myself in the leg with a fork* What was advertised as banana and chocolate chip American Pancakes were actually gloopy fried cake CIRCLES, which were delicious if a bit too stodgy. They came with some Ice cream which VASTLY improved their taste. Vastly.
The French toast, well it was just unspectacular triangular cut eggy bread with pools of gloopy egg white languishing in its pores.
The waffles, well yes they were waffles. Yellow waffled shaped things. But there was no flavour it was simply plain old batter poured into a waffle iron. It could have been syphoned off from a cheap carverys yorkshire pudding mix bowl in the dead of night for all I know.
The sausages and bacon were lovely. Truly lovely. Herby Sausages and salty, thick bacon.
But this is what actually pulls Simple up out of the two star territory it could have been in, on Sundays, it’s unlimited Bloody Marys. Ok, you have to make your own, which is one of my most ultimate first world pet peeves, but these suckers are FREE!!! Just a bar at the side with a huge bottle of smirnoff, tomato juice in a jug and ice!!! And the requisite celery sticks and condiments obviously but FREE!!! I must have had about six or seven of these bad boys, each vodka measure larger than the last before my dining partner got bored of watching me stumble around trying to remember where we were sat (directly opposite where they were made).
Simple has a lot of potential to be good. I guess I will have to go again to see if the food has improved.
This place has recently opened (or re opened I’m not sure) so I am going to immediately write off a lot of things that happened on my visit like slow service and the staff not knowing about my Groupon deal. Also being unwittingly privy to new staff being trained to wait on tables, and the crippling awkwardness I absorbed through inter restaurant-​al osmosis by watching this.