Queen Charlotte Rooms — Local services in City of Edinburgh

Queen Charlotte Rooms as Event Venue: Disappointing Experience.

We recently had our wedding reception at the Queen Charlotte Rooms, and while the atmosphere was overall enjoyable thanks to our enthusiastic guests and a photobooth we provided ourselves, we were disappointed by several key aspects of the service, especially given that we had opted for their most expensive buffet package.

Buffet Quality: We paid for the Diamond buffet package for 74 guests (which included some children under 12 and fewer attendees on the day). Despite this, the buffet was never refilled, and we actually ran out of food , which was extremely embarrassing given that we had fewer people than anticipated.

We also noticed that the meat provided was not "hand-carved" as advertised but rather resembled standard sandwich meat from the supermarket.

Additionally, the salmon canapés, which were supposed to be part of the package, were completely missing. When mentioned, the organiser brushed our concerns off and said "we haven't made salmon canapés for a while". It would be helpful for clients to have an up to date menu on the website to reflect the actual dishes served to avoid disappointment and confusion.

Organisational issues: We were told that the organiser would meet with us prior to the reception to go over the event. However, when we arrived at 7 pm, he was nowhere to be found. Having to search for him for at the critical point when we were ready to cut the cake and do the first dance left us feeling stressed and frustrated. One of the kitchen staff finally called him, and he only appeared shortly after 8:40 pm.

DJ and Music Issues: We had been promised a separate DJ who would take requests from guests throughout the night. Instead, the organiser himself acted as the DJ, after arriving late, which caused us some confusion and had not been previously discussed. In the interim, a random Spotify playlist from a kitchen staff member was playing. This resulted in awkward pauses and abrupt transitions between songs. To make matters worse, despite providing a carefully curated list of songs (including our first dance song), only about 35% of the requested songs were played. One of the most disappointing moments was during our first dance, when instead of "Can’t Take My Eyes Off You" by Frankie Valli, a cover version was played, which took away from the special moment.

We also had a Pokémon theme for our wedding and specifically requested the Pokémon theme song to be included, but it wasn’t played at all. This was such a shame, as it was a fun part of our theme, and our guests were really looking forward to it.

Technical Issues: There were numerous technical difficulties with the sound system, which caused long and awkward silences during the first hour of our reception. These issues were incredibly disappointing to me as the bride, and I really wanted to give the feedback to the organiser about these problems and let him know how unhappy I was with the service. In the end, I spoke to the organiser but he ignored most of what was said and nothing came of it, which added to my frustration.

Communication issues: It was often quite difficult to get in touch with the venue/organiser as often phone calls would go unanswered (at one point a message couldn't even be left on the answering machine as it was full) and emails were also not answered. We ended up having to go directly to the venue in order to communicate with someone.

I would recommend anyone considering this venue to ensure everything is confirmed in writing and managed carefully—because while the space has potential, the organisational shortcomings had a big impact on what should have been a...

Such a lovely experience. I had an excellent time.

I stumbled upon the establishment around lunch time, the site was down and I couldn't phone in, so I walked in and asked if by any chance they happened to have room for me. They kindly allowed me to use the restroom, sit and wait while they checked for a table that had fortunately turned up being a no-show. They seated me right away. I couldn't believe my luck, especially when the kind gentleman who showed me my table, introduced me to the theme, a train ride from Venice to France. I'm from the venetian region, near Verona, one of the stops. It almost felt ment to be.

The rooms as train carriages with the window screens are a lovely idea, so much so I stayed a bit longer after finishing my meal but to relax while looking at the scenery on the screen and listening to the soothing train sound effects and music, and the atmosphere was very nice as well.

Most of all, it's actually affordable. I honestly expected to pay more than £25 for the experience, especially since most places who offer themed afternoon teas charge up to £70/80 per person.

Just like the Willow Tea rooms, it's a nice, quiet and affordable place for afternoon tea with its own perks and strong suits that make it worth coming back to.

Definitely recommend to friends and family, and surely will be coming back (with a reservation next time, I swear) on my hopefully-soon next visit to Edinburgh.

Thank you so much once again for the experience, you really made my day and salvaged my weekend and my final days...

I’ve been trying for months to book a table so was really excited to finally manage to get one, but sadly it was all very disappointing due to two members of staff. The food was nice, but the service was awful. It should have been a lovely experience, but it will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. The two staff members looked totally disinterested in what they were doing, didn’t explain anything about the concept, took the order wrong and then openly talked about and blamed us. I saw one of them sniffing a milk jug prior to bringing it out, thankfully to another table. We had to request more water, more drinks and these were grudgingly delivered. We were getting dirty looks from both of them too. At the end whilst paying, there were no pleasantries and no thanks (basic manners). I did speak to the manager who apologised and said he’d look into it. Let’s hope he does as we travelled a fair distance specifically for this at considerable expense and I wouldn’t want anyone else to...