Cafe Andaluz — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Visited Cafe Andaluz for the first time a few days ago, on entering atmosphere seemed good as it was really busy, but after sitting for a few minutes it became clear that the place was going to be painfully noisy, to the extent that it was impossible to conduct a conversation with anybody more than a couple of feet away from you without shouting. Bearing in mind this is a Tapas restaurant, they sat 6 of us at a table which was really only large enough to fit 4, meaning there was not enough room on the table for drinks and the numerous small dishes of food we ordered. We did raise this with the staff at the time of seating but, they didn’t seem that interested and didn’t think there was going to be an issue. Considering the booking was made many weeks in advance, I feel this was not very clever, as there was nowhere near enough space for us when the food came out. The staff were nice, and the food was ok but not fantastic, and they only managed to mix up one of the dishes we ordered, which was quickly rectified. The seats we had were not comfortable to sit on at all, and there was no also very restricted leg room for a couple of the party due to the setup of the table legs, leaving all of us rather sore and fatigued by the end of the meal. A 10% service charge was automatically added our bill, which is always a bit cheeky in my opinion, as it should always be left to the customer to offer the tip in relation to the level of service they had. Taking in to account the whole Cafe Andaluz experience, I am glad I tried it, but honestly think that at over £35 per person, next time I’d prefer a nice steak at one of our local...

I'd give Cafe Andaluz a 2.5 stars based on this first time visit. The restaurant is actually quite large - it expands far back, which you initially can't tell when you walk in. We arrived after the lunch rush, assuming it would be easy to get a table. We could be seated right away as long as we could finish our meal in 90 minutes. Evidently Cafe Andaluz is very popular even in the afternoon!

I took this as a good sign that the food must be good then. Unfortunately more disappointing than I thought. We ordered the patatas bravas, calamari, gambas pil pil (king prawns roasted in olive oil, chilli, paprika and garlic) and pollo y panceta (skewers of chicken, pancetta and red onion marinated in chimichurri, with rocket, pine nuts and chimichurri salsa).

I've had patatas bravas many times in Spain so was excited to see this on the menu. Cafe Andaluz's interpretation of patatas bravas is not as authentic. The potatoes were mushier rather than firm. The calamari was lukewarm and tasteless - like I was eating semi fried rubber. The real head scratcher was the pil pil. It looked appealing and promising but the whole dish was tasteless. The shrimp sat in red oil that was tasteless. There was zero garlic flavor. We were perplexed at how something colorful and vibrant would have no taste?! The only thing that truly redeemed this meal was the pollo y panceta. The garnishes and chimichurri helped enhance the dish.

So all in all, an overpriced and mostly flavorless tapas late lunch that did not meet...

Awful experience not going back and definitely not taking my friends. 1st employee that took our order, tone of voice and manners was appalling.

I asked for a Coca-Cola no ice, I had Pepsi Max with Ice. When I spoke about the ice I even felt afraid from saying it because of the aggressive attitude.

When my drink was brought back was another employee,they simple removed the ice because I left a mark on the glass,( experience in the past.)

I Never touched the drink.

The first employee behaviour made me so uncomfortable because she was then speaking with her other colleagues right beside me in Spanish ( I do Speak Spanish too) if it's wasn't for my friends I would have called the manager I just didn't want to make it more uncomfortable than it already was.

At the end I wasn't offered a discount for not drinking or a question asked why I never toutch the drink?

My friends also left their drink cider was flat and beer too.

I felt so embarrassed taking my friends there because of the awful experience.

This experience was so negative that I wouldn't advice anyone to go there. Because they aren't polite, don't make the effort to engage in terms of drinks or alternative or even famous Spanish cider or beer. They want big orders, food drinks one after another if you don't then they keep coming back and forward for you to...