La Casa - Leith — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I have been a fan of La Casa(one at Fountain Park) for 2 years, and it is my first time noticing a La Casa at Leith. It should be a pleasure night since I have my favourite restaurant on a Saturday Night but it turns out that I am troubled and disappointed about tonight's experience.

The decorations of this La Casa is exactly the same as the one at Fountain Park and it is always quite cosy and comfortable when dining in. There is nothing to complain about the setup or decorations.

The food is terrible at this restaurant and it is probably the only time that we left almost the whole main course on the table and left. When the food is served, my first impression is that the food is generally smaller compared to the food at La Casa Dalry. The octopus that we ordered is burnt and tastes quite weird. Since I have been to the La Casa many times at Fountain Park, I know exactly the tastes. The Octopus is really burnt and there is no other taste than the burnt flavour in my mouth. The spaghetti with the king prawn is always my favourite main course and I order it every time I go to La Casa. So I chose it again this time when I was at the La Casa- Leith. The food is salty and my girlfriend was laughing and said "Has the chef forgotten to wash the pot?" I don't want to be rude but La Casa is really one of my favourite restaurants in Edinburgh so I spoke to the waitress tonight and it was my first time to directly stress the issue of food. I can't really remember how many times I mentioned the La Casa to my friends. The waitress indeed apologised and said she would speak to the chef. However, I didn't hear any word back from either the waitress or the chef. Since my main course of mine is too salty while my girlfriend's is full of weird herbal tastes, we asked for the bills soon after discussing the food issues with the other waitress.

From the very beginning to the very end, there were no people to explain what was wrong with the food and I only heard a small "sorry" from the poor waitress's mouth when we left. I hate Karen's behaviour but it really gives me a feeling that the restaurant is arrogant and doesn't really care about the two random customers.

My sincere apologies for mentioning La Casa Dalry many times and comparing the two La Casa. I am not really sure if people will read my reviews but there is a lovely story happening at La Casa Dalry that impressed me and made me a fan of La Casa since that time. I was having some tapas at that time and then the main course(the spaghetti with king prawn that I mentioned above) was served. Since I was still eating tapas, so I left the main course aside. The waiter noticed that and spoke to the chef. The chef came out from the kitchen and came to my table to place the main course at the very centre of the table. The chef even asked me if there was anything wrong with the main course that made me put it aside and only ate the tapas. I indeed felt that the whole restaurant respects every single customer and that is why I am a fan of La Casa. I valued a lot of the food at La Casa and the interaction with either the waitress or the chef.

My apologies for saying so much but I am really disappointed about tonight's experience at La Casa Leith. It would really be nice if any of my voice could be heard by any chance. I wish La Casa all the best.

Best...

We booked a table for two at 9pm and arrived 15 minutes early. Annoyingly when we ordered we have been told that the kitchen was closing and we had to order everything at once. The waiter insisted for us to take an extra dish using the excuse that we would not be able to re-order. All the food arrived at the same time, in a rush, around 5 minutes after our order. The waiter made several comments about how there was not enough room on our table. We obviously did not expect our 8 tapas to arrive at once. ( they recommend 3-4 tapas per person). It really isn't nice to go out for a romantic diner and to feel that the staff wants to go home asap. Again, it was only 9pm, we booked, arrived early and it says on google that they serve until 10pm. The food was not amazing either. The Caprese Salad as a good dressing but the mozzarella was really cold (probably taken out of the fridge at the last second). The Jamon serrano was definitely from a packet and not of the best quality. The croquettes were industrial. The potatoes of the patatas bravas were good but the sauce is litteraly kecthup mayo and chilly. We liked the pulpo, although we had better ones. Cherry on top, when we asked the waiter if we could takeaway what we did not finish (he made us order too much - some tasteless squids) he brought a plastic recipient to our table, took my partner's fork and pushed the food out of her plate in front of us. He obviously made a mess and quite a good quantity of potatoes and salad fell on the table. It is a real shame as the restaurant is beautiful and the atmosphere is great but the service is bad and the quality of the food is not saving anything. I will not...

I regret to say that my recent visit to this restaurant was extremely disappointing, a far cry from the standard I have come to expect as a former regular.

To begin with, the chicken we ordered had a strange odour and seemed undercooked at times, which was off-putting. When we were seated, we were given the Christmas menu, but when it came time to place our order, we were informed that both diners at the table had to order from the same menu – either both from the Christmas menu or both from the regular one. This policy was never communicated to us beforehand, and frankly, it felt unnecessary and poorly handled.

The hygiene practices were also questionable. We noticed kitchen staff eating while wearing their work gloves, which raised serious concerns about cleanliness and food safety standards.

To make matters worse, shortly after we had paid – and less than 1 hour and 30 minutes into our reservation – we were asked to leave because there were other customers waiting. This was done abruptly and without any courtesy, leaving us feeling rushed and unwelcome. Again, no one had informed us of a seating duration for the reservation, making the entire experience feel like a “cash-and-grab” situation.

The staff’s communication and etiquette left much to be desired. Their rude behaviour and lack of basic customer service skills added to an already disappointing experience.

Overall, I would rate this visit a 2/5. What was once one of my favourite restaurants has sadly fallen well below expectations. It’s disheartening to see such a decline, and I sincerely hope the management takes steps to address...