Mintleaf — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

DELICIOUS! We are two locals with a visiting friend who loves a curry; we chose here for his last night. Mildly concerned on walking in to a near empty restaurant and a crumpled wine list but we needn’t have been. The ambience was lovely, the staff were kind, informed and attentive. And the. food. was. UN.REAL! My partner had a tandoori grill chicken dish - crispy charcoal chicken skin and soft, succulent meat underneath. Friend had one of the best curries (hot madras) he’s ever eaten. I had a delicious slow cooked lamb cooked with spinach & garlic. Falling apart with tastiness. We all have different heat tolerances + tastes but all agree our 3 quite different meals were just delicious. The staff were incredibly attentive throughout and very accommodating. The food is all cooked fresh and we were encouraged to say our preferences so it could be cooked to our tastes. The wine was lovely. And a bottle of wine + couple of softs, many poppadoms, three delicious mains, 2 naans, 2 rice and a delicious Bombay aloo, and a wonderful evening had by all, the bill was still under £100. Reviewers complaining about pricing clearly not used to costs of eating out in Edinburgh. After stuffing ourselves silly we were even given complimentary green tea to aid digestion! Will definitely be back. Excited to try the Thai half of the menu. Stunned there isn’t a wait list for this place....

Wish I could split the review by service and food, but our experience was terrible; I would consider for takeaway but I personally have no desire to give this restaurant my business. We ordered Indian dishes that were tasty. However, the service was awful, we were treated rudely when they bothered noticing we were there, and the entire experience felt like a money grab.

When we asked for tap water, the waiter repeatedly asked if we wanted sparkling or still. When we asked for a pitcher, it happened again. One member of our party has a medical condition that requires water to eat any meal, so this was necessary.

We got ignored during the entire meal, which took forever to come out (no appetizers), and they seemed to intentionally take time giving us a bill when we asked for it ("You'll have to wait," the man said, and engaged in a pointless conversation with our waiter).

At the end of all this and the worst service we've had in the UK, they had the audacity to ask if we wanted to tip. We are obviously American and we suspect they were hoping we didn't know the tipping differences. That was a hard no.

Maybe they treated us differently because we were American, though I can't say the same anywhere else in the UK or, specifically, Scotland. We were excited for a good Indian meal but did not feel welcome,...

DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU ARE OUT OF TOWN!

They asked if we were from around here or from somewhere else and then later gave us a handwritten bill that was not itemized. We ordered two main courses for around £28 total with a ~£5 mango lassi, a small £5 appetizer (which was three underwhelming and undercooked samosas), and two water bottles as we were not given the choice of tap.

The two bottles of water were immediately poured for us when we asked for water and again we were not given any choice. So the three food dishes should have been £38 but somehow our total was £52?! The only math that makes sense would be if the waters were £5 each, which is ridiculous, and a tip was added without our consent or knowledge.

My girlfriend offered to pay for tonight so I did not know that it was that much or that it was not itemized until after she had paid. We also thought it was odd that we were asked if we were from around here and then there was no follow up question asking where we were from or how long we are staying for, which makes me feel as though they were just targeting us. I know I certainly will not be coming back here but I hope to warn any other unsuspecting American tourists staying...