Mesmerist — Restaurant in Great Britain

20th July 2025 £55 for two

The early months of Mich’s pregnancy have been beset by seemingly most of the possible negative side-effects - most prominently daily morning sickness well beyond the point where people helpfully keep reminding her it should have stopped by now - and, barring one urgent request for a strawberry Yazoo, very few of the fun cravings some women experience. So when one Sunday she woke with a happy lack of nausea and a desire for big fat burgers we decided to make the most of it and head into town.

This newfound feeling of normalcy basically extended to wanting to not be in the bathroom with her head down a toilet for as long as possible and also to eat as much as she could, so first we wandered along the seafront to peruse the crossword over a coffee and a ginormous slice of banana bread and possibly the jammiest doughnut (perhaps even too much jam?!) at Fika.

This is important context. As the decision to burger had been made early in the day, and as Mich was having such a nice time, and as that slice of banana bread was enough to satiate her for pretty much an entire afternoon, I had a lot of time to mentally conceive of - and build, and tweak over several dozen phases of interactive design: from raw red onion rings to cubed and caramelised white and back again - my perfect burger. After one too many “are you hungry yet?”s we agreed to independently research and then come back together to discuss potential venues.

Top of the list was a place called 7Bone, pretty much because the main picture on their website matched most closely my own design: two smashed patties, with melted cheese seeping into its gaps, in one of those milky-floury non-brioche buns. (Mich wanted a chicken burger, and they did those too). Also raising an eyebrow was the fact that “ooh, Red Dog are in the Mesmerist now”, so we stopped off for a look at their menu en route, and had reliable old Honest Burgers nearby as a Plan C too.

It wasn’t right at 7Bone at all and I think we knew it from the off. Not that that stopped us from asking for a table a few minutes after we’d dismissed the waiter once with a “we’re just having a look at the menu”, despite by that point in the day knowing it almost off by heart. But for some reason the in-jokey names felt more egregious in the flesh (“iaia(i)n with three eyes”, “peter green”, “all right all right all right”), and coupled with the option only to order via an app and the too-loud AI-sounding ‘music’ over the speakers, we decided to leave.

So to the Mesmerist. Turns out Red Dog can be just as creative with its burgers while managing to come up with names that don’t make you feel like a teenage girl at her first big-school sleepover with a bunch of friends who all knew each other from primary, but really I just wanted a really good cheeseburger, so I didn’t really pay them much attention. I asked for a double, and Mich got a messy spicy cheesy slawy juicy fried chicken thigh thing, with obligatory buffalo wings and chips to share on the side too.

Did they satisfy our cravings? Mich was just really happy to be able to eat something like that again for the first time in ages, and given she normally uses a knife and fork for her burgers like a weirdo anyway it didn’t really matter that her bun disintegrated under duress of all the liquid seeping into it. A little sickly by the end perhaps, but hit the spot. Mine did, but only just about. It’s really difficult, if burgers are your thing, to serve a terrible one, but this wasn’t exactly special: as you can see from the picture the buns were the cheap claggy type, which meant that them forgetting my second patty, throwing the ratios all off, had more of an impact than it might otherwise have done. The flavour on the wings was fine but they looked like they’d come from the chicks who got picked last in PE; the chips (and smoked chipotle mayo) were excellent. Overall fine, but nothing to write home about. Unless you’re me, and analysing average food in minute detail is for some...

We hired 'The Flipside' room upstairs for a group 30th birthday party. It's a gorgeous retro 60s/70s style room. We had a private bar tender, toilet and smoking area which was great as it can get so busy in the general areas. The room capacity is 80 standing or less if seated and we had around 60 guests so it was lovely and spacious for us to roam. Our bar tender was fabulous and did such a lovely job, there was a hook up for us to play our own playlist and we all had such a good time. It was very self sufficient and we were left to our own devices / didn't see much of the staff other than our bar tender so it truly felt like our own private party.

Food was available to order although we didn't, as the venue allowed us to bring in our own crisps, nuts and birthday cakes.

The only issue we had all evening was that a guest of ours left to go to the shop and they wouldn't let them back in the venue as they said the building was at capacity and she would have to go to the back of the queue. This was really disappointing as the capacity for our room should have been left available for us since we had paid for the space. They eventually let her back in without queueing only after someone else left the venue. It could have just been handled better.

Overall though we had a really lovely time and all of us would absolutely recommend 'The Flipside' at the Mesmerist as a fantastic private...

Was given a bar table with stools rather than a proper table. Due to having arthritis in my back I asked our waitress if we could have a normal table as it would be too painful for myself. There were plenty of empty tables inside. She seemed irritated and waved at an empty table to go over to. I asked if I could have a chair with a back as they were still only these tiny stools and she visibly rolled her eyes as she walked away. I thanked her for allowing us to move and for the chair, however she ignored me and walked off. The table was directly next to a speaker that was playing extremely loud music. Due to having autism it was extremely overwhelming and I didn't want to cause a fuss as our waitress already seemed very annoyed and had an attitude. We decided to leave, so I went up to thank her but that it was too loud so we were going to leave. As we were walking away, I heard someone scream at me as I walked out the door to put a mask on, which being autistic I am exempt from, especially as I was in the middle of a sensory overload episode. I went back in and asked the waitress if someone had shouted at me and she lied to my face saying they hadn't. By this time I was very overwhelmed and decided to leave and was reduced to tears afterwards. Overall a very unwelcoming atmosphere and rude staff and completely ruined my night with myself needing to...