After reading such divergent reviews of
the Map Room, I decided that the only thing to do was to give the restaurant a fair test. Things did not begin well.
Upon entering the nearly deserted restaurant, I noticed the garish maps that, presumably, give the place its name and I shuddered. Next I encountered a frantic, frizzly-haired little woman who, I would come to discover, owns the Map Room. She was dismissive, rude and abrasive. I ordered a draught beer. The little woman must have believed that I was not very thirsty because she filled the pimply, chunky mug only three quarters of the way. The Belhaven (what there was of it) was good but I did not order a second. I didn't think I wanted one and a half beers for the price of two.
The menu was short and there was nothing special sounding about the specials so I ordered the Black Strap Stout Barbecue Bacon Burger, medium well. Unfortunately, the restaurant must of judged me to be both thirstless and in a hurry because the meat came to the table rare. I eventually got the attention of my server (after a full fifteen minutes) and sent the health hazard back to the grill. It came back well done. To my mind, juiceless is preferable to bloody ground meat so I suffered through half of the burger.
In the end, I ate half a meal, drank three quarters of a beer and paid 120% of the bill, vowing never to return. If you're like me, you will read this review and try the restaurant in spite of it. For my adventurous brethren, I have three and a half words: "you'll be sorry."
