Maki & Ramen — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I’m on holiday in Edinburgh and decided to try this restaurant, if you can even call it that. It was, without exaggeration, one of the most disappointing and frustrating dining experiences of my life.

I came here with my young child and husband, hoping for a pleasant meal. We don’t eat meat, so I ordered a vegan ramen and made that clear. But, just two minutes later, a bowl arrived—with pork in it! It was obvious it wasn’t freshly made; it seemed likely to have been a returned dish from another customer. When my actual order finally came 20 minutes later, my suspicions were confirmed. That first bowl was simply pulled from somewhere in the back and served to me at random.

Still, I stayed calm. But then, while we waited for our food, the same server came over and asked to take my order again, having completely forgotten that I had already ordered. Mistakes happen, so I let it go.

Then came the issue with my son’s food. I specifically ordered veggie gyoza for him, yet they brought out chicken gyoza. I told the server, who took it back, only for another staff member to approach and insist it was actually “soy chicken.” I know the difference between chicken and soy, and this was most definitely not soy! They assured me they would bring a new batch, but it never came. After I asked again, they admitted they only had deep-fried gyoza, not the steamed ones we ordered. At that point, it was almost laughable. My son ended up having to share my ramen because he was left without his own food.

When the waiter came by again to ask how everything was, I calmly but honestly explained how disappointed I was. She apologized and said she’d take care of our bill—but in a tone that made it sound as if we were after a free meal, which was very insulting ! My husband and I insisted on paying, as we don’t want a free meal; we simply wanted decent service.

The ramen itself was actually good, which makes it even more disappointing that the experience was so terrible. The red flags started from the moment we walked in. The host was cold and unwelcoming, handing us the menus at the entrance as if they were flyers. This is not how customers should be treated, especially when they have a child in tow.

We travel often and eat at a variety of restaurants, from casual to high-end, and this is, by far, the worst experience we’ve ever had. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. Avoid it if you want a positive dining experience...

Finally given up on this restaurant. I checked our banking app and our family has previouslu spent just over £1300 at Maki & Ramen.

To be honest, the food experience has always been erratic in the Fountainbridge restaurant. (Far less so in St James) There have been times when the food has been excellent.

But there have been times when it has fallen way short. Previously my birthday meal, was disappointing. The second last time I visited there, I ordered the Black Garlic Tonkotsu ramen. When the ramen was placed on the table, it smelt slightly burnt. I tried to eat it but was really dissatisfied.

Eventually I decided to tell the server. Instead of accepting what I was saying, the server tried to tell me that it was just how the dish is meant to be. This is not true as I have had this ramen many times previously from this branch and the St James branch - it never tasted burnt. They kept on insisting that it wasn't and it felt like I was being gaslit as if I was somehow imagining this. While they did replace the ramen, they simply kept on insisting rather than letting me enjoy my meal with my family. It was not a good experience and was very unhappy and annoyed when I left.

A few weeks pass and there is another show nearby at the Usher Hall. I decided despite the bad experience on the last visit, I would give them another chance. We came into the restaurant and right from the get go, we started getting passive aggressive comments from the server who recognised us from before. She went out her way to make our visit uncomfortable. For example, when we finished our food, she asked 'Is there anything you wamt to complain about?'. She brought over the bill and the card reader like she was ejecting us. I never requested the bill and my wife was still drinking her drink.

All I did was tell them the food they were serving tasted like it was burnt. I decided to let it go, moved on and then got treated very badly.

I will never return to the Fountainbridge branch and feel so let down. This is twice where I left the restaurant right before a show, and felt really unhappy...

We booked a table for 12 at Maki & Ramen to celebrate a birthday, but when we arrived only seating for 10 had been prepared. The staff were polite and friendly, but it quickly became clear that the restaurant was either understaffed or working with newer staff who weren’t confident in managing a larger group.

It took around 20 minutes before anyone came to take our drink order, and those drinks only arrived after our meals had been served. Once we had finished eating, no one returned to our table to take additional drink orders, offer dessert, or even clear plates. We ended up sitting with empty plates, no water, and no drinks for about 45 minutes.

When we finally asked for the bill, our server began helping two other tables with their payments and even started wiping down empty tables around us, but never brought the bill to us. We had to ask again before it finally came. To add to the frustration, one member of our party requested a box for their leftovers, but instead their food was taken to the kitchen and thrown away.

What’s especially disappointing is that, as a birthday group, we would easily have ordered 2–3 drinks per person as well as dessert if staff had checked in on us. The restaurant lost out on a significant amount of business simply because no one came back to our table after the main meal was served.

Overall, the staff we interacted with were friendly, but the service felt disorganised, inattentive, and frustrating for what should have been a...