Mason’s Bistro Bar

We had dinner at Mason's on a Saturday evening which was busy but not full. We arrived at 8.25 for an 8.30 booking. We were seated promptly and immediately told that there was a ten minute wait for the 'specials' board. This seemed to be a ten minute wait for any service. A drinks order was eventually taken 15 minutes after arrival (still no sign of the specials board). We eventually placed our order for food after twenty minutes of being there - Smoked Haddock and Leek tart and Blue Swimmer crab cakes for starters and Polpettes with Feta cheese and Spiced Moroccan Goat Tagine for mains. We also placed an order for a glass of Pinot Grigio. Five minutes later the waitress brought an already opened bottle and two glasses. Duh! We then waited another thirty minutes for the starters to appear, pretty much an hour after arriving. The crab cakes were well received by my partner, the Haddock and Leek tart less so. It was a 'slice' of a large tart that had been reheated. The top was chewy. The sauce was good although the egg was poached hard where it should have been soft centred. The main course faired little better. The polpettes were well flavoured if a little stodgy. The meat in the tagine was soft and well cooked, the spicing was sadly not at all tagine. The dominant flavour being tomato. It was more goulash than North African. The cous-cous plain. The vegetable dish contained some excellent grilled peppers and aubergines although the roasted herb potatoes were clearly roasted hours earlier and were like bullets. Two hours to get this far, dessert was too much of a risk as another hour would have been too long to wait, especially given the mass exodus of clientele at 10.30pm. Two starters, two mains, water and a glass of wine was £60. A full meal with a bottle of wine and coffee would easily be £100. For the quality of food on offer, and the slowness of the kitchen this is an outrageous price. There are plenty of restaurants in York offering more honest food for half the price.

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