Frontier

After my recent visit to Reekie’s Smokehouse, I was pondering whether there were other places doing a similar sort of thing. Clerk’s Bar is doing something vaguely similar, and then I thought of Frontier, in Tollcross, and wondered whether its American classics style menu was along these lines, too. I crossed the threshold to find out.

With a soundtrack of generic 80s American rock and an interior heavy on wood, it certainly looked and sounded the part. The friendly and attentive waiter was promptly over with menu in hand and details of their specials boards for me to consider.

The emphasis is on meaty dishes, as you might expect, with a menu of very familiar dishes and a range of burgers at its heart. I spotted a mention of a chowder of the day, which was sweetcorn, so ordered that along with the basil and blue cheese burger.

I accompanied the food with a Founder’s All Day IPA, which I reckon was the highlight of the meal.

The corn chowder was decent and nicely creamy, but had two or three massive chunks of potato buried in its depths, which was a slightly curious and a “beyond rustic” surprise. The accompanying corn chips were nicely crisp.

The burger was rather poorer, with a bone-dry slab of crumbling, flavourless beef topped with a mountain of iceberg lettuce. The basil and blue cheese topping was quite good and the bun was nicely toasted, but the centrepiece was very disappointing.

So overall, Frontier felt a little half-hearted, tame and ordinary. There was a sense of a place struggling to establish its identity and in need of a bit of a rethink. If you do choose to go, give their burgers a wide berth as they’re unlikely to please.

Scores
Blythe scores Frontier
2.5/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for service
3.5/5 for setting
giving an overall 12.5/20

I ate: corn chowder; basil and blue cheese burger, fries, slaw

I drank: ale, water

I wore: blue suit

Total bill: £18.40