No.35 at The Bonham — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

All style, no substance.

SETTING Lovely dining room, nicely lit and tasteful decor. Lack of any sort of ambient music is a downer.

SERVICE Pleasant on the surface from everyone, but lacking in the basics. We ordered specific glasses of both red and white, and they were announced as….. the red and the white, (we’re not in a pub!). No check back after the stater, main or afters. This would have been useful from the staffs point of view, hence the below may not have been missed.

FOOD Average pretending to be top notch. Velouté was tasteless. I don’t know how this was achieved, but it was watery and I don’t think there was any seasoning in it whatsoever. Parfait was ok. Bread was alright. Couldn’t really identify any of the other ingredients listed in the menu, (apart from some sort of berry… or current… or something! Whatever it was, it had a not very nice, bitter sort of a taste, and had no place on the delicate dish!). King oyster mushroom main was lost within itself. No tastebuds we’re thrilled and it was a poor attempt at the only vegetarian option. Sirloin steak main was lacklustre. Hand cut chips were good. Garnished with pointless rocket. (Again, we’re not in a pub!). Peppercorn sauce was watery and basically bang average. Not enhancing in the slightest. Cheese was nice, (I assume not made on site), but the grapes were literally frozen….. seriously….. they belong in a cocktail.

SUMMARY Not worth the money. Looks good…. But that’s it. Please make changes to justify the setting, or just change the concept...

Our last night in Scotland, we were excited to walk over, close by our own hotel. After being seated, staff warned us of an event being held on site, so order fast, to avoid disappointment. We did, and the food was well spaced. The cocktails came quickly, and were well made. The bread board was next, and comprised of a few dry cut slices of bread, some butter and a small dish of balsamic / olive oil. We wish the bread was fresher or even small buns would have been more appetizing. The portions are very small. We were informed after ordering that the King Scallops were not available. Shortly thereafter, we were pleasantly surprised to hear, our dish would be coming. The single king scallop was good, but a solo scallop. The lobster dumplings were delicious. Main course venison was a few sliced pieces of meat. not much else - disappointing. The server recommended the Zucchini flowers for my main course, as the best dish in house. It was presented well and delicious. Our wine, a Pinot Noir was well priced and after we had taken a photo of the bottle, the server came by to take the bottle away as she wanted to take photos of it some place else...of course we declined, and instead told her she could take a photo of it on our table. it was very odd. After dinner, we moved over to the bar for Port and cheese, and it was a very busy time for the staff. We do highly recommend the setting, and the...

My husband and I are stay in at the Botham for the first leg of our Scotland trip and after a very long day of sightseeing, we decided to just stay in and eat at the hotel restaurant. The dining room is rather small, but extraordinarily beautiful and the food was flawless. We had the Caesar salads, the lemony sole, and the roasted chicken and the cheese selection and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. There were only 2 small slips in service, 1) I wasn’t given a plate for the bones in the sole, and 2) the selections on the cheese tray were not explained to us and it was missing the nuts listed on the menu which would have nicely rounded out this dessert choice. Our total bill with gratuity came to $131 (in pounds). It was a wonderful end to our first night in this...