The Braided Fig — Restaurant in Aberdeen City

I have dined at The Braided Fig several times over the years however hadn’t been for a few years. I chose to dine here on my birthday with friends as it has consistently been a nice place for a drink with good food and a nice atmosphere. However on this occasion I was left very disappointed with both the food and the service.

We were a table of 11 people with a booking for 6pm - all of us were seated and awaiting one individual who hadn’t yet arrived at 6:10. We were approached by staff who asked where the other person was and they were assured the individual was on their way and would arrive in the next couple of minutes. This staff member proceeded to state that I should tell them to “hurry up” as if they weren’t there within the next 5 minutes then we would risk losing our table and not being served due to “clashing with other tables” (…there were no other occupied tables in the restaurant at the time). I was aware of this 15 minute rule which was presented to me after I had booked the table within their “terms and conditions”, and I can appreciate the need to have these in place to ensure a business can run smoothly. However, the way in which it was approached and the tone we were spoken to in was not, in my opinion, acceptable - especially given it was only one person we were waiting for, and we were a large group willing to provide them our custom. I have dined in most restaurants in Aberdeen and a variety of restaurants throughout my life and I have never been presented with such a bizarre requirement.

The experience overall after that was pleasant enough, we were served by a selection of the waiting staff who were friendly and had good customer service. We did however wait a particularly long time for our food - which was quite ironic given we were told to hurry up at the beginning - and made even more damning by the fact that all our food was overcooked. I ordered the lamb and while the presentation and dish itself was nice, it was let down by the severely overcooked lamb which ruined the dish. The starter (bruschetta) was just ok. The best part of my meal was the wine. At the end of our meal, my friend actually had to approach the bar staff to ask for the bill which again was quite odd given we were essentially told to hurry up and order from the get go when we first sat down.

This experience definitely tarnished my views of The Braided Fig and I won’t be returning. It is unfortunate that one member of staff approached our table in the way she did. This is clearly detrimental to the custom this restaurant will receive in future given all 11 of our table would not return! Hugely disappointing for a once much-loved...

Two of us went for a quick Sunday roast early in the evening. We rang to book a table but they said there was no need as they weren't busy. On arrival, with only a couple of tables busy, the waitress made us sure to know that asking to sit in a window seat was a really big hassle. We waited about ten minutes for two glasses to be cleared from the window seat before she let us sit down. The girl took our drink order quickly but took ages to come back for our food order. This was annoying as we'd phoned ahead asking for the roasts.

The food was great, as most reviews say, however there needed to be at least one more potato on the plate, it was far too light on the carbs. I was given an option for sauce and asked for apple sauce - I couldn't believe it but they served me a spoonful of bottled apple sauce (why not home made?) with a pork roast! The pork was fairly good - mainly thanks to the great roast potatoes, but my partner said his meat (lamb or beef) was very grisly and he left a lot of fat and grisle on the plate that was inedible.

At the end of our attempted quick meal we were surprised they had added a service charge to the bill in a format that could trick a lot of people into not seeing it. This was on top of slightly over priced food and pricey drinks. VERY presumptuous and cheeky of them. I tip when the service or food is great and or I spend a lot of time in a restaurant. I wasn't certain of the legality in Scotland of adding a service charge (especially as it was a Sunday) so we just paid what they asked. I would feel ashamed pulling this stunt if I worked there. Upon researching, this service charge is optional as it is not stipulated as mandatory in the restaurant windows etc.

We found the cheek of the Braided Fig to add this charge really spoiled the regard we had for the food (we thought we'd go back regularly for the roast pork). It is promoting tipping as an alternative to paying their staff well and does not leave customers with feelings of goodwill toward the...

Waked in with a booking and was seated at a table in a tight corner when other tables were empty as there was only two couples in the place. It felt like we were put n the naughty corner. We booked a table after looking at the menu on the restaurant website.we were handed a menu and were told that a couple of things were not available from the menu as they are in the process of changing the menu. On looking at the menu we noticed that the things that were on the online menu that drew us into booking were missing ie fish, scampi, duck breast pretty staple dishes in any Aberdeen restaurant. At this point we decided that there was nothing on the menu that appealed to us. The waitress arrived at our table with the drinks order and we questioned her about the menu and were told that the online menu is just a sample menu. Well it is one of the most varied sample menus I have seen. We told her that there was nothing that appealed to us and that we would be leaving. As we got up to leave she stepped across my wife as if to block her and rather rudely said “well Madam you will have to pay for the drinks ordered” to which my wife told her the drinks were ordered on the pretence of having food and we were not going to sit there and drink with no food. My wife had to squeeze past her to leave. On the way out I noticed that they have a big board at the entrance displaying the very menu that we were looking at the night before. Surely this is getting customers to come in to the restaurant under false pretences. If you are going to change a menu then you need to withdraw the old one first. First time we have been there and it will be the last. Not a good experience 1 star awarded only because it won’t allow me to post...