Brauhaus — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I'm giving a 5 because I can't give a 4.5.

First off, the atmosphere is spot on. The lighting is down, and the place looks sort of cobbled together. This is good. It feels like an imperfect space, and this allows the customers to be imperfect people, which we all are.

I have been in 2 nights in a row. The 2 staff I have chatted to are possibly some of the best bar staff I've ever encountered, and I'm coming from the perspective of someone who worked in craft beer bars etc. in London for a while. For ref. I visited on 24th and 25th Feb.

Beer selection, excellent. Belgian geuzes a welcome addition to the menu. Didn't drink anything apart from beer.

One thing that I noticed that I found a little odd was that staff were delivering water to customers regularly despite customers not asking for it. This is something I've never seen before, and I found it a bit odd that something was being forced onto customers without the customers requesting it. Generally in a bar, when a customer wants to imbibe a beverage of any variety, they'll ask you. No big deal, just a few bemused looks from customers who were already happily sipping on drinks, only to have their table space used up by drinks that weren't asked for.

I visited alone both nights and leaned on the bar the whole time. This is something that I feel should be encouraged here. The atmosphere of the space, and your excellent staff, make it work. I will take visiting this place during a difficult time in my life, and the conversations I had with your staff, as an important moment in my journey to recovering from the difficulties that I have...

If you're into strong whiffs of arrogance and bitter flavours packed with disappointment and confusion, you've come to the right place. It does seem like perhaps it's just one barman that works here that let's this beautiful gem down completely, so perhaps if insolence is not your ideal bar staff-patron exchange, wait for the female bar staff to be on her shift so you can then enjoy the cosy coven of stressed walls, intriguing interior, cosy corners and a fine selection of whiskeys, beer and wine.

After being abruptly ordered to move to a smaller table, we then witnessed each customer coming into the bar being told the same, having to awkwardly shuffle to other tables with no apology or thanks in return. One elderly man had ordered a dram of whiskey and taken his seat on their largest table and to our surprise received the same treatment from this miserable barman just moments later. "I'm only having this dram, I'll be done in a few minutes." Nope, there was still no exception.

Absolutely baffling how someone could repeatedly make such a petty fuss and handle it so rudely that most likely many customers have finished their drinks in this bar and decided not to return. Not to mention, to add to all of this, our bottled beers were as flat as the barman's...

I’ve enjoyed coming here for the past 4 years I’ve lived in Edinburgh. I like to bring friends & family that are visiting the city as I always thought Brauhaus was a special place. On Monday I decided to take some friends in as we were nearby. We were the first customers in and instantly found ourselves in an incredibly awkward and unwelcome environment. The lady behind the bar practically grunted at us to take our drinks order. It felt like every interaction we had with her during the ordering of 3 drinks was met with pure disdain and disgust that we were in the bar. After we were served we clocked that she just sat behind the bar on her phone. This isn’t shocking in itself, everyone had phones, but it compounded the feeling that we were not wanted there. Another customer walked in, looked confused that she couldn’t get served and left. We were planning to meet my partner here, as she had to arrive late, but decided to move elsewhere. My partner excitedly asked our friends what they thought of Brauhaus, thinking they would rave about it. They said they’ve never felt so unwelcome anywhere and would never go back based on this experience. I...