Hectors — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

This place has to be the worst ever dining experience I have ever had in my life... Totally awful. I took my family for a family breakfast after a weekend away. We arrived at 10.45 looking forward to a good breakfast.. How wrong I was. We were sat squeezed away but heh that happens... We eventually had to go over first to remind them that we were waiting to order. We were sitting waiting when a random member of staff dumped a drink on our table and just walked off.. With no explanation So by now we are about 15 minutes in. Then at last they came to take my order for drinks a Half a hour in .. No food then a big party of 7 arrives gets served straight away.... We are starting to get angry.. Go to complain no food order taken.. So they came over apologising... Then at last they take our order Scottish breakfast eggs florentine and a smoked salmon with avacados .. Sound ace ... We wait no food for another 15 minutes....my family is hungry as I am.. They come over again apologies offer 20%of bill free drinks . Nice thought now getting excited about eating very hungry... In the meantime the big party is enjoying a breakfast . Still waiting.. More apologies blaming each other the chef and sickness blah blah blah... Still waiting one hour later they come over and say the breakfast is free. Nice thought appreciate that but wheres the food..?? Anyway eventually my breakfast arrive at 11.55. It looked like it was scraped of the floor beans totally dehydrated.. The egg was crucified really really bad I mean really bad.... The sausage looked. OK I was so hungry I took a bite and then nearly swallowed a bit of a skewer... Bloody el really they did not warn me and I gave a bit to my kid who nearly choked on the stick .. No warning us . Anyway I was so angry the breakfast they gave me was the worst I've ever seen you get better of a road cafe. Fuming by now still excuses ... My wife and daughter have no food still it's 12.00 so angry I told them I would not eat this disgusting (took photos) breakfast for free total joke. So I had to leave with nothing for my family absolutely the most terrible dining experience I have ever had in my lifes(and I've ate in some rough places) . They all blamed each other, but in essence everyone failed on every level in that process of making a simple breakfast Shame on you Hector's awful and you need to look at yourselfs from the manager to front of house to the chef. I was really upset that my family had to see me get angry and my ten year old daughter had to go next door to the Co op to get some food... You all failed miserably. Do not eat there aviod at all cost . You will be dissapointed. Total rubbish oh this was Sunday the 25th of November . (I had to give one star as there was no minus) I waited 1hr 15 minutes...

I mean, it's Hector's. Hector's, we all know Hector's. Decent ambience, plentiful choice of drinks, pleasant staff; it's a Stockbridge stalwart and what it might lack in other ways (why on earth is it always so chilly in there?) it makes up for by being consistent. Which is why it's been nearly a week and I'm still trying to get my head round what on earth happened last Sunday when I experienced a meal so baffling that it's moved me to break a long embargo on writing reviews for free. To be clear, the staff are still pleasant, the ambience decent and the drinks choice plentiful and yes, it was still unreasonably chilly. Plus ca change. We fancied a roast for lunch, so I broke with type and ordered a nut roast. I like nut roast. I've had many a nut roast over the years. What came out of the kitchen after a rather too lengthy wait was not a nut roast. After a diligent search, I did find (literally) one or two nuts in it. The rest of it was composed of two layers, one of which seemed to be largely grated carrot and courgette; disappointingly lacking in nuts and pulses, but so far, so palatable. The top half, however. Now, I can't positively assert that what the top half of my nut roast was made of was granola. I can say that it looked like granola. I can say that it tasted and smelled exactly like granola - yes, the sweet breakfast food complete with seeds and dried fruit - would had it been roasted. I can say that my friend was positive that it was granola. But I can't be sure, because - and this is where the confusion arises - what on earth would inspire someone who had ever encountered any of these foodstuffs before to add sweet granola to the top of grated vegetables and call it a nut roast and then pour a bit of gravy on it and pretend like that was not only OK, but totally normal? I was confused. I am confused. I will be confused until someone explains this to me. They were very busy (because it's Hectors), which is probably for the best as if anyone had actually asked whether everything is alright with our meal I probably would have struggled to marshal my thoughts even more than I am currently with the benefit of a few days' reflection. I mean, I'm not even mad, just wildly confused. In the interest of balance, the Yorkshire pudding was delicious and the potatoes were fine, but if you're looking for a vegan/veg option I'd avoid this particular offering unless you're in the mood for a baked breakfast with added gravy-type experience. Hector's is still fine. But...

Me and my friends received an appalling level of service today. Four of us came to hectors for a pint we were served with no ID got our beers sat down all drank about half of our beers when one member of staff came over with a mask on and said under his breath and with a tone ’I’d feel more comfortable with all your age’s without a hat’s on’ as two of us had hats. It came across rude after he hadn’t ID’d us pouring our beverages which isn’t my problem it may be an ethical and legal problem but not mine. He seemed generally angst about the situation as if we’d done something wrong implying we appeared under age which quite clearly wasn’t his first inkling or fact. Anyway we all had ID apart from me so he offers me a refund which I accepted and which was fine but my friends weren’t happy either so we all asked for a refund so he got the manager. When she came over rather than just give us our refund she decided to lecture us for ten minutes about my ID and the fact I didn’t have any which is a matter the other staff member had done already talked to us about briefly. She continued by pressing my pals about how young they looked after they had shown ID. There was a contradiction in everything she said as they’d already served us and we certainly weren’t getting as heated as they were about the situation or dragging it out which made it feel like an interrogation rather than an informal chat it was invasive. The manager even said we all looked of age in the same sentence she insisted I should have ID after my drink was already taken by the first member of staff and I had already had half. Anyway the whole situation was a mess and dealt with unprofessionally. It could’ve and should’ve been dealt with in a quick cordial...