Beirut — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

If I could give less than 1 stars I would. We went there on 23rd of July 2025 to have some shisha and drinks after dinner as it was my husbands birthday. They have inside restaurant and few tables outside. When we arrived there was a gentleman sitting outside smoking shisha, drinking a bottle of water and talking to I am assuming a restaurant manager. (They were taking in Arabic to each other)

We were completely ignored by the manager so we headed to go in where a young lady greeted us, we asked her if we could sit outside and have some shisha and drinks to what she responded that they didn't do shisha. When we said that there was a man outside in their restaurant at that very moment smoking shisha she went to her manager and asked if we could have some shisha and drinks. The manager didn’t even bother to speak to us even though he was standing right there and just told the girl that if we not eating we can’t sit and have shisha.

Ok, so they had plenty of space inside and only one table occupied outside, and still they didn’t let us sit, that is not very welcoming and not place for that kind of hospitality in the middle of...

Decent food but shocking service. So not long after taking our seats, which was a small booth in the corner for two .. one of the staff asked us if we would be happy to move for a big group that came in?? (This place takes no bookings mind) we politely said no and brushed it off. As soon as we finished a plate of food they were over whisking our plates away when we hadnt finished full meal... We finished our food and we were halfway through a bottle of wine we had paid for there and were approached by the staff asking if we could pay because there was a group of 10 outside? At this point we both felt very uncomfortable and asked for the bill, after paying (literally as we had just finished our food) they asked us AGAIN if we were finishing soon... so rude... we were there in total less than an hour and a half... When we left there was absolutely no one waiting outside haha 😭🥱 Pacing around our table, firmly at this point I said we would finish our drinks and leave. I never experienced such seedy service before, feels like they want your money and out the door ASAP! Won't be back and would never...

I echo a number of the other poor reviews. The food wasn't pleasant to eat, tasted microwaved and reheated rather than cooked fresh. The meat starter was dry and tough, it wasn't 'marrinated' as described, instead it was sausages covered in a tomato sauce. The prawn starter wasn't tough but it was tasteless, I've had better from retail shops and it's nothing compared to Cafe Andaluz. The lamb shank was overcooked and again I didn't taste any of the marinated species mentioned, it was bright white in the middle which in my experience is when it was cooked and reheated in a microwave, it was tough and had to be cut off the bone with some force! I gave up. Lastly, we were given a wrong dish and when we highlighted that we were told it was our fault and we'd pointed to the wrong item, I had ordered by their numbers and the waiter at the time had repeated it back correctly to me but was very glib at pointing the finger at us. I paid for everything but didn't eat the wrong meal sent out. I won't be back, expensive for what you get and a very poor culinary and hospitality experience.

Avoid....