Mary Queen of Scots

115 Allen St., Lower East Side, NY

6.5

map & more

Neighborhood
Lower East Side

Cuisine
American
Scottish

Nearby
Bowery Ballroom

212-460-0915

Official Website

By Chris Stang
February 3, 2011

The Scottish gastro-pub craze continues. And by that I mean there are two of them now.

Mary Queen of Scots counts for the second, recently opened by the owners of number one, Highlands. Apparently the West Village original is doing so well that they decided to apply the model to the former Allen & Delancey space on the Lower East Side. A risky proposition say some, because the space is cursed.

We’re not so sure about that, but we will say this – Mary Queen of Scots’ food game has got to be stepped up if they’re going to survive down here. They did a great job creating a dark, cozy bar that’s pleasant to hang out in, and the burger is pretty damn good. But other than that and the pork carbonara dish mentioned below, we were unimpressed. We found the restaurant half full and sleepy on both of our visits, which only solidifies our theory that the food is going to have to get better if people are going to start jumping in a cab for dinner on Delancey Street. They certainly aren’t going to get much in the way of foot traffic other than people on their way to and from the world’s filthiest McDonald’s down the street. Who wants a $14 drink?!

Food Rundown:

Pork Carbonara
Pork, pasta, and a poached egg. Add it up and you get the best dish on the menu. There’s also some confit garlic in there, so it’s punchy…but excellent.

Beet Brulee
Not exactly sure why this was a “brulee”, but it was a decent beet salad. No complaints.

Grilled Scallops
We were sold big time on these scallops, like Poseidon himself carried them from the sea in his banana hammock and delivered them to the restaurant that morning. Our waitress was SERIOUS about these things. We couldn’t have been less impressed. There were some grill marks on them, but the scallops were listless and had no flavor.

MQS Burger
We actually liked this burger quite a bit. The cheese is an excellent soft cheddar, and it comes on a nice buttery bun. This burger and a drink is the way to roll at Mary Queen of Scots.

Roast Chicken
Another one that was pushed hard by our waitress, and another miss. The chicken was kind of soggy and really boring. Pass.

Chips and Curry
French fires with a curry aioli to dip them in. The curry stuff is good, but the fries were soggy both times we had them.