Luckenbooths — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Visit Edinburgh often as it is one of the best cities I like in the UK. Normally spend time visiting different restaurants which are busy and packed.

Tonight decided to go to Luckenbooths as needed a quieter place to catch up with some work and then sit and enjoy the meal.

And the story goes- I walk in to a smiling and warm welcome by Elisa. I asked for checking the menu and having liked what I saw, decided to come back with my work stuff to park myself on a table. So back as planned, Elisa was happy to see me come back, welcomed me again, showed me the table. Allowing a little time for me to settle down, came and took the order. In fact not only that, helped in deciding which one to try first.

The drink arrives and then the food- Small Plate of Smoked Salmon. I dig in and long and behold, the plate is full of flavours topped with the smoked salmon.

Feeling more hungry and tempted by the menu, I go for the small plate of Venison along with Artisan Bread. And the combo was heavenly.

Elisa kept on checking in to see how things were and serving with a beautiful smile.

Managed to do some work, in a quiet place with lovely service and delicious food.

Impressed with everything, asked if I could meet the chef and Elisa once again kindly obliged. Met with Jan who was another kind soul. Seeing a smile on his face for the good food done was a pleasure! He went on to give some tips on other places to visit for food and drinks along the Royal Mile.

All in all, it was all about a pleasurable experience, taste and more! God...

Not great experience. We were brought the full menu and when I asked what our voucher covered I was told quite rudely "it should show you what it covers", before our menus were taken away and swapped for the correct one. We didnt get to order any sides so I had a tiny pie with veg (which was tasty). Noone asked if we wanted any more drinks so we had the one included with the voucher. Then we weren't asked if we wanted any dessert or coffee so we just left. A tourist at next table was asking nicely if she could swap chicken and steak and was flatly told "no".

Have had a bad experience at Bon Vivant itself where we weren't told about a deal others around us were being offered and were charged double for wine, then we got a grudging apology but no discount. Our review (which I made private, to be kind) was ignored.

Later that night we were encouraged not to come into the Devil's Advocate by a grumpy security woman who stood in front of door, for no reason (we had only had our 1 free small glass of wine, and we were polite)

Maybe they make enough to not care about customer service, but the Bon Vivant Group need to seriously invest in staff training. We enjoy going to restaurants but theirs seem amongst the worst for service. We would happily have spent more, and...

It's a really nice place with a very classic and quite classy vibe. The layout is a bit odd with multiple levels and a multistair trek to try and find a loo, but the staff are friendly and will help with directions. The menu isn't massive, but it's pretty varied. The food is fairly pricey, but you get a good filling portion that's immaculately presented and it tastes great. Pancakes are thick, fluffy and sweet, but not overly so. I would have liked to have seen a third given how cheap these are to produce and how much you pay for a portion. The spicy nduja with egg and potatoes was lovely and the multitude of flavours all come together fantasticly. Putting the sour cream around the edge of the bowl was a nice touch in terms of presentation and practicality. The only issue I really had with service is the somewhat condescending "do you know what nduja is?" question posed to me when I ordered. However I do understand some will expect something that looks like a sausage, or they may not expect the spice. Coffee was very nice and bringing a bottle of water to the table was a very nice touch. If you want somewhere nice to eat and don't mind spending a little then I would definitely...