Pickles — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I should start by listing the good things about this place. It’s cozy, with warm tones, good lightning, and wood paneling that make it feel homey. The place is well-run, with attentive servers who were helpful and polite. The food is simple and straight-forward, and you know what you’re getting into when you go there. Assuming you’ve looked at the menu before you go there (hint: look at the menu). Now, the reason for the low rating: the food. For a wine-and-cheese bar, the place didn’t have all that great a selection of cheese. Maybe I’m not being fair here, we only ordered the Scottish cheese board and the wild boar pate. Their soft cheeses were meh, though their cheddars were fairly good. But I’m from Oregon, and my expectation of quality craft cheese might be higher than your average tourist. It wasn’t anything to write home about. The house wine that they paired it with was decent, it was a fair deal on a cheap bottle of red (for a restaurant). The wild boar pate was the real let down, as it tasted like cat food (according to my partner), or the pre-made meat in a meal-ready-to-eat military bag than it did like anything I would spend 8.5 pounds on. Bleh. The baguettes they served the food with were quire good, but a good bread does not a good wine-and-cheese bar make. There are better options...

The positive thing is that you get a decent amount for your money. Now, maybe my cheese expectations are too high (thank you Smith and Gertrude), but I was expecting one of the staff to explain what cheeses were on the mixed board. We ordered a couple of different boards but they arrived bundled together on the same board, with no explanation from staff so we were left wondering what everything was and whether to expect anything else to be brought over. The cheese at best was your average supermarket cheddar/brie etc, and straight from a fridge. The pate is by the company 'Edinburgh preserves' and in cute jars but they do say made in France. Let's just say it doesn't taste very fresh. They were also out of bread that night. From the moment we arrived the staff seemed really distant with a bit of passive aggressiveness (tossing the menus down at us etc). Overall it wasn't a great experience and there are many other places in the city offering knowledgeable and friendly service with more local and...

This is a great little hideaway, serving great quality at a fair price. The menu is limited if you want a massive choice, but this place clearly sticks to what they know well and do it to a fantastic standard. They are very popular, and if not there for opening its likely you may have a short wait. The main items on the menu are a cheese board or a Mediterranean meat board (£15 each) or a mixed one at £20. They also do pate. The staff were happy to bring varied chutneys and pickles with the meal, and offer more bread and oatcakes to have with it too. A great wine and beer list is available. Staff super friendly and attentive without being pushy. They even offered advice on where else to eat and drink. You can go here to eat, or just drink if desired, and the pate and chutneys can be purchased to...