The Railbridge Bistro

It's tricky to know what to make of The Railbridge Bistro. On crossing the threshold into the Orkney ice-cream toting, tartan-carpetted gift shop, it seems a quaintly harmless tourist's haven; a few steps beyond that, and the floor opens up into a double-storeyed triumph of light-flooded bistro-restaurant, the lower level stuffed with window booths and cushy leather sofas while  upstairs favours a more traditional table-centric dining layout. On a sunny weekend afternoon, the place is peopled by a pleasingly diverse clientele of young families, old friends, and students, so service is a little slow; however, the brilliantly painted mural clouds - punctuated with fun facts about the Forth Rail Bridge - and stunning collection of art and photography devoted to one of Scotland's most iconic sights, makes for an enjoyable wait after The Skinny has perused the menu.

On offer is a special light-lunch collection (think fishcakes, a respectable selection of gourmet sandwiches, a pastiche of pasta favourites), alongside the á la carte (more adventurous seafood options, some delicious chicken dishes and the best burgers Aberdeen Angus can offer); there's a really decent menu here at affordable prices, but the charge tacked on for token extras (£1.00 for cheese on said burger, or £2.00 for cream with your pudding) lets Railbridge down.
But that's not the most disappointing thing; by the time dessert rolled around, The Skinny was most dismayed to notice we'd apparently done something to grossly offend three out of our four waiting staff, who were so uniformly surly that our level of anxious-to-please-politeness was beginning to show itself in excessive usage of "pleases" and "thank you so muchs". Furthermore, when our two scoops of Orkney toffee-fudge ice-cream, two pots of tea and large strawberry meringue arrives sans chocolate flake, milk, spoon and on very worn looking plates, our request for the MIA components of our pudding was greeted with an audible sigh and a fake smile that would make a politician blush.

Verdict? Great food, beautiful art, and the rail-bridge-shaped roof arches are particularly well-observed; but everything the Railbridge Bistro has to offer could be made so much better if it was offered with a (real) smile.