Outboard by Scotts — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Visited 29th July 2023 for breakfast with wife and daughter.

Great location, great decor, all very beach tiki themed and thoroughly pleasant place to sit and enjoy the views.

We ordered two maple and bacon pancake breakfasts and a bacon roll, coffees, milkshake and water. Came out at around £42 all in. Not cheap, so had reasonable expectations of some sort of quality.

How wrong we were! the entire breakfast was a masterclass in how not to serve breakfast.

The bacon and maple pancake breakfast plates were just awful! Here are the lowlights:-

Stone cold. I don't mean lukewarm, I mean stone cold. Tiny pancakes, not light and fluffy homemade ones, but more like the stodgy kind you'd get from a shop bought pack. Two and a bit thin bacon strips. They were really fatty and not at all crispy or caramelised. Yuk. No butter (A pancake breakfast with no butter?). The most miserable portion of maple syrup I have EVER seen. It's supplied in a small clear plastic tub, is at best 1/3rd filled and is nowhere near enough to cover the small pancakes. One serviette provided for three people. Could not see any self service to get any more and by the time I sat down and realised there was only one a queue had built up and the food was already cold.

The bacon roll was also stone cold and not enough to constitute a 'breakfast'. Zero value here. A Greggs bacon roll has twice the bacon for a fraction of the price.

The coffees, tasted ok, but again... were only lukewarm, absolutely tiny (asked for large lattes, but these were extra-small) and served in paper cups.

The milkshake (£7.50!) was small, 1/3rd of it was squirty cream and the remainder was a nasty strawberry syrup with some sort of cheap ice cream. No fresh strawberry in it at all - daughter did not want to finish it as it tasted "artificial'.

I'm sorry, we really did want to love this place, but the quality of the food, set against the prices, is completely unacceptable.

If management read this, know that you have a wonderful setting and ambience, but your barely mediocre food quality, miserable portions and stone cold serving temperature is letting you down badly.

If we do come back I'll bring you a couple of bottles of Maple syrup as you clearly need it...

Went in for a first visit last Sunday and wanted to try the lobster roll asked at the counter if they still done this as showing £7:95 on the menu online and was told yes ( showed the picture of price to the staff member serving) but after 12:00, I checked again the price as the menu on the table was showing £15:95 and was told someone will check, then advised it’s a mistake which is fine but it’s been on line for at least 4 weeks and that’s why I went. Other staff member (Manager said it’s a typo) great I said just need to sort it on line as that’s what people check normally before going to a restaurant! I then ordered two coffees and two scones with butter and jam. Went outside after paying and took the buzzer. Waited 25 min and nothing so headed in and asked if it would me much longer and was told it was next, went to return to table and the buzzer to say it was ready went off ( you take it to the table and wait) so I went back up to the counter asked for my items as buzzer went and told I was still three in front of me and to come back.. staff were trying to sort it as I said it’s a long wait for just 2 coffees and 2 scones which were already made. Manager said it’s a long delay as 20-30 min wait as a cruse ship was in t he area ( not busy when I ordered) not a problem I explained but you just need to tell customers it’s this long when they make an order so I can go elsewhere ir realise the time to wait. even when the coffee came out as I complained I was told it would come out to the table it did with no milk and no scones! Milk came separate and then the scones followed in a box with jam and butter in small tubs. ( no knifes to cut or spread so another wait )… all in all a shambles of service for just two coffees. This could have been fixed soon as I discussed the service to the higher up staff but nothing was fixed and left dissatisfied. Cracking view and a good location but remember to stick your car reg in on the I pad on the counter if not you will get a magic eye parking fine, might be good to advise customers of this when placing an order too...

I head down here every week or two for a spot of breakfast with my two kids. Lovely decor, and amazing views of The Forth Estuary. The staff are really friendly, and super-attentive. The food is reasonably priced, with a bacon/sausage roll for £2.95 (if you ask for a sausage roll the default is square sausage, which my daughter didn’t like. But if you ask, they’ll give you their chipolata sausages instead), and their Breakfast Box, which is basically a fry-up for a little under £9. Soft drinks are a bit on the steep side, with a can of Coke coming in at £3. There are heaters above each table, with timed switches on posts that control groups of three or four tables. Pricey drinks aside, it really is a lovely spot to for good food and a lovely view.

Update September 2024 We popped along with family recently, having not visited for a while. It was good to see that breakfasts are now being served on proper plates, though I didn’t really mind the paper bowls. The food was delicious, and everyone was chuffed with theirs. The coffees were, on the other hand, atrocious. The milk had clearly been boiled, and they were all too hot to drink and it took ten minutes for them to cool to a drinkable temperature. I’d ordered a flat white with an extra shot, and I was served something milky and weak. This is basic barista stuff. Five star food and vibes, zero...