Pepe's — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Really pains me to write this since I have experienced great service from this branch of Pepe's before.

I once made an order for delivery through Just Eat from this branch. An hour had passed and even though I hadn't heard my doorbell ring or even my door opening, the order had shown up as delivered. I didn't even find it sitting on the doorstep of my house. I generously waited another hour - only giving this branch such leeway cos, again, they had served me well before - and as it still hadn't arrived I called up the store relaying the whole situation to the lady on the phone and providing my order number for further clarification.

It was then that the woman I spoke to said that they had made my order but had decided to stop sending out deliveries for today. I was absolutely gobsmacked. Whilst I couldn't fault her for being honest, what they just admitted to was theft. They knowingly took that money for a promised service they knew couldn't provide. Looking back, they're lucky I hadn't gotten the police involved. I just know that if the shoe was on the other foot and a customer had finished food at their restaurant, and left without paying, they would be calling the police themselves. I then asked her why they took my money, made the food and decided not to make the order but then the woman just started rambling on and on with excuses, mainly blaming and scapegoating the delivery drivers that day; as if to give me the impression that every delivery driver in Edinburgh had somehow woke up and decided to sabotage their restaurant out of the blue.

What was even worse was that she had the gall to ask me to come into the store and collect the food in person. Mind you, I had just come off a 9 hour shift, absolutely dog-tired, and was now being asked to get back out into the freezing cold and walk another 20 minutes up the road to get the food I spent my hard-earned money on to have conveniently delivered instead. Granted, I can't expect her to be a psychic and already know how many hours I work and how far I live but it goes without saying that, if a customer orders a delivery from you restaurant, it's usually cos it's too inconvenient to come collect it in person or eat it at your restaurant in person. Plus, further to this, such a suggestion is very inconsiderate overall because, for all she knew, I could have been a severely disabled customer with no means of getting to the restaurant independently, or someone who was living in an area with no shops or supermarkets around and therefore had no choice but to rely on food deliveries like this. Fortunately, Just Eat was able to refund me the money swiftly and I was able to get food from elsewhere but, whilst this incident hasn't put me off the Pepe's brand overall, I haven't ordered from this...

If I could give zero I absolutely would!! When we first went in, the worker was standing over two young boys BEGGING them to delete a negative review they had wrote, another worker came over and took the boys phone off him and was showing him how to delete it,

Come to my service, food was wrong, I ordered a chicken and CHEESE Quesadilla, just chicken and cheese it came just with chicken, so when I went up to ask for them to put cheese on it, the woman was trying to charge me for xtra cheese.. I didn’t even receive the first lot of cheese, another woman came from the kitchen, took the quesadilla of the other woman, I told her the issue, she gave me the biggest dirty look and crushed the food in her hand and walked back into the kitchen, then my partner went back up because they forgot our sauces, again the lady tried to charge us for them.. again.

I have worked in hospitality for over 14years, this is NOT how to run a store, the way this store is ran is absolutely ridiculous, staff all over the place, food takes absolutely ages to come, and when it finally does, it’s wrong, so your left to wait a further 15 mins for them to correct it with a stinking attitude!

Also wouldn’t recommend your staff walking around with a QR code BEGGING the younger audience to give a 5...

Disappointed by Customer Service Despite Great Food

I’ve always enjoyed the food from Pepe's Gilmerton—it’s consistently delicious and high quality. However, the front office staff's attitude is increasingly disappointing and detracts from the overall experience.

On multiple occasions, I’ve tried to place orders after 10 PM, well before their 11 PM closing time. Every time, I’m told they’re no longer accepting full orders and that only limited items—usually whatever is left—can be offered. Most recently, I attempted to order at 10:20 PM through the app, which indicated the store was closed. When I called to confirm, the staff said they were still open but would only serve wings, and nothing else could be made.

As a paying customer, I expect to be able to order from the full menu during posted operating hours—not be restricted to leftovers or whatever is convenient for staff. It's frustrating and feels like customer needs are being disregarded.

Pepe’s food is fantastic, but staff attitude and service like this will ultimately hurt the business. I strongly urge management to train their team to treat customers with respect and to uphold the standards of good service until...