Last weekend Hack got greedy. A decent meal wasn't enough to satisfy this time around. What was needed as much as good grub was a good night out.

This in mind, our party of two pinned its hopes on a movie at Southside followed by a later supper at The Swizzle Inn.

The Swizzle has become a bit of a Bermuda legend. For many it represents the final stop on the way to the Airport ? a last chance to soak up some Island hospitality before flying home from that glorious vacation, one last memory to store away before getting back to the routine of everyday life.

It's a reputation that the staff ? and customers ? seem willing to play along with. The place was bursting with bon vivants and bonhomie when we walked in last Saturday night.

Swizzle's menu offers an extensive list of 'pub grub'-type items, from bangers and mash to English-style fish and chips. But that's not all. There's lobster, steaks, stir-fries, pasta, curries, quesadillas and plenty more besides.

Eventually we plumped for The Swizzle's barbecue fare (also available Friday nights). The blackboard fanfare billed it as "Bermuda's best barbeque". From a choice of chicken, ribs, fish and steak we opted for one order of ribs and another of fish. At $21.95 per platter including a choice of rice, French fries or baked potato as well as a green salad and corn on the cob, we knew we'd get our fill.

We went all out by kicking off with an order of Mexican Mice and a steaming platter of mussels. The mice (jalapeno and cream cheese breaded snacks) were fine but nothing to write home about.

Not so the mussels. Served up in a flavourful tomato broth with a side of garlic bread, they elicited an immediate "terrific" verdict. Not only terrific, but plentiful as well. This mollusc mountain was in fact a meal in itself. Best value on the Island.

The ribs in an orange barbeque sauce didn't quite fall from the bone as the menu had promised ? actually they were quite dry in parts ? and the "home made" sauce had a definite "shop bought" tang running through it. Too long sitting on the barbie perhaps? Nevertheless a palettable and plentiful plateful.

Sadly, the fish didn't come near passing muster. It was hard to become reconciled with a plate of dry-looking fish that had been appetisingly described on the menu as being grilled with a wasabi oil and soy sauce glaze. Take a bite. Breathe. Nothing. Nothing except disappointment.

We grabbed the attention of our very pleasant waitress and asked if we could get some of that very-tantalising-sounding sauce served up on the side. Five minutes later a tub of the "shop-bought" barbecue gloop made a second appearance. It was not a match made in heaven. About 15 minutes after a second request, a cold, creamy sesame sauce was brought to the table. No wasabi oil was detected, whatsoever. By the end of the evening, in fact, we became convinced that wasabi oil wasn't even something the kitchen had heard of. Needless to say cold sauce and now cold fish were pushed to one side of the plate.

Perhaps a liquid diet would have been a safer bet. This was after all, the Swizzle Inn, and the swizzle, as always, was going down well. That might have been partly due to the live entertainment. Swizzle's occasionally shot-shooting, and always guitar-strumming Ray Pasnen ("the funniest, most entertaining musician in Bermuda") took requests from the crowd and generally kept all in very high spirits. Okay, it was loud, and not exactly conducive to having a heart-to-heart, but by the end of the night, like everybody else, we were foot-tapping and mouthing the lyrics to songs we didn't even know we knew.

Our high to-begin-with hopes on the food front were at least in part dashed, but live music and a good crowd meant we still left with smiles on our faces. A good night out.