Edinburgh, City of
The Lookout By Gardener's Cottage

The Lookout By Gardener's Cottage

Carlton Hill, EH7 5AA, Edinburgh, City of, United Kingdom

Kebab • Seafood • British • European


"My wife and I had the fixed lunch menu yesterday: The good part of the experience was the view over to Fife. The rest was disappointing. The parsnip veloute was very tasty, but there was not enough of it in the bottom of the plate to cover the spoon. The duck leg was served with a few small squares of kale, and two sauces, both fairly bland and there was very little meat on the duck leg after the skin, gristle, and bone had been set aside. The poached pear dessert was underwhelming, a good enough poached pear, served with a small amount of hazelnut cake on the side and an even smaller amount of chocolate cream, very disappointing. The food smacked of being plated on site, but not prepared on site. £50 per head, for £25's worth of food. The drinks were extortionately priced, £10 for each 125ml glass of cava, with my wife's third glass being only 2/3rds full when it was presented to us, (had they run out and were just hoping we wouldn't notice? . Very poor beer selection, one pale ale and one lager, I paid £8.50 for a can of unknown lager. Overall, a very disappointing and grossly over priced experience, the pricing not helped by the over £17 discretionary service charge that was on the final bill, (we declined to pay that part . When asked at payment if everything had been okay, I stated that it had been very disappointing. They did not ask us why, because they knew!!! My advice, eat elsewhere, there are plenty of places with better food and offering much better value for money!"

The White Horse

The White Horse

266 Canongate, City Of Edinburgh EH8 8DF, United Kingdom, Edinburgh, City of

Pub • Tapas • British • Scottish


"I am a regular at the White Horse, have been coming for years and left a good review last year. I booked an early table 5pm on New Years Eve with my family and shortly found out that things have changed for the worst. To start with, we were told that were no Seafood Platters which is the main part of the menu. This is the reason why we booked a table here as my kids love them. We then ordered from the small plates menu. The Sourdough Bread £2.50 per slice with smoked garlic was burned. The Straw Fries were soggy some were drooping over the bowl . When the Octopus arrived, one was a good size and the other was tiny. I then had to quickly cut them up and redistribute resize to my kids before they realised that one dish had been short changed. The tempura broccoli was a big tree like sprig with no tempura. There was no quality control in the kitchen and it seemed they were throwing anything on the plate. When the wine arrived, it was a different bottle to the one I ordered as they had run out. When it was dessert time, my youngest ordered Apple Pie they had run out. She then ordered the Lemon Curd Custard that had also run out. There was only 1 dessert left on the menu Chocolate Mousse . The menu I was given was dirty with food stuck on it and the hallway downstairs to the toilets was smelly with a door open to a grubby utility room. I 'd accept all of the above if I had gone to a pub with pub prices not a Chic Eatery with the prices to match £125 per head. I knew something had changed and after googling before writing this review found The White Horse was sold to someone new a few months ago. New Years Eve I appreciate is busy but to have most of the menu off at 5pm is poor and shows a lack of planning especially as the menu is small anyway. From other reviews it seems I got away lightly compared to others who had a nightmare at the main 8pm sitting. If you want to keep your regular customers, you really need to step up your game. Unfortunately I don 't think I 'll come back again. It was good whilst it lasted :"

Shebeen

Shebeen

8 Morrison Street, Edinburgh, City of, United Kingdom

Meat • Steak • Drinks • African


"This place is BEYOND amazing. I 'm a bit late in reviewing, but I figured better late than never! We came here for my birthday dinner, and we decided THAT NIGHT that we 'll be returning for the hubby 's in a couple of months! First off--I have no idea what other reviewers are talking about in regards to the waitstaff--they were beyond sweet to us! (Translated things, explained things, were more than friendly about us having just walked in without making reservations... and didn 't make fun of me when I asked if I could eat the funny-looking berry that came with our dessert. Waitstaff delightful. And the food.. oh the food. I actually remembered to finally write this review because I caught myself randomly craving what we ate there! To start off, we had the fanagalo, which is essentially a whole bucket of meats of all sorts. It looks like a pricey menu option, but 1 a South African friend had told me to get it, and 2 it was SO worth it. They really could charge so much more for that much meat, let alone the flavor! It was all delicious. We spent the next five minutes after eating it all debating over why different pieces were the best ones. Ugh. It 's a good thing I don 't live a closer walking distance to this place, or I 'm pretty sure this menu item would end up being our easy dinner at least once a month. (And we really don 't even eat out once a month to being with, so that 's saying a lot. For the main course, we had the Moerby poytjie and the Impangeni seabream. They were both AMAZING. We 'd never had flavors like these before, and I 'm legitimately sad that we 've been deprived of this experience for the first 25 years of our lives. If the rest of African food is anything like these dishes, I NEED MORE. And again, the quantities they gave us were ridiculous. We went home with leftovers, despite having stuffed ourselves nearly to the point of discomfort. So yeah, prices are a little higher than what we usually dine out on, but 1 it 's a steakhouse, and most of the stuff they serve is straight up MEAT, and 2 OMG IT 'S SO GOOD and 3 wow that 's a lot of food. Even though we were SO FULL, I had to have dessert. Because dessert. I got the melktert based on the waitress 's suggestion, and I 'm so delighted that I did! Despite the potentially underwhelming idea of a Milk tart (not to me, but maybe to some , it was such a rich, wonderful dessert. Joe, who was stuffed and is not that big of a dessert guy, ended up having more than half of it, he loved it so much. I know I want to try the peppermint crisp torte or the amarula malva pudding next time, but I 'm not sure we 'll be able to choose one of those over having another go at the Melktert! Yummmmmmm... So yeah. This restaurant? Awesome. The people here? Awesome. The food? Godly. Me? Drooling. And chewing on my shirt. (Classy, right? That 's how hungry I am, thinking about this place. Go here. It 's too pricy for just a casual drop-in if you 're a student like me, but seriously, the next time you have an excuse, go. It 's not really quite EXPENSIVE for the amount of food they give, and it 's totally worth. Already looking forward to the next birthday in January! Also: cool points for the awesome decor and music. It 's just a pleasure to be in this place. Refreshing, in its special-ness."