Red Squirrel — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Great atmosphere, friendly service & good food.

Went to this eatery on Tuesday 5/9/2018. We were served by Nathan, very friendly and polite member of staff. We asked for drinks and menu, I wanted water. Nathan brought me a large carafe of water with some lime and mint in. This was so refreshing that I managed to empty the carafe in a few minutes. Our food was brought to us, it was very nicely presented and was very tasty. I had the chicken burger, real chicken breast meat, with side of french fires and a small bowl of gherkins. I also had a side salad brought which was reasonable is size and had a nice combination of salad items, dressing was very nice too. My husband had fish and chips, it looked very nice and he enjoyed it. It was very reassuring to see that the waiter cleaned the table even when a person had sat at a table, without having anything before changing her table. We were impressed. The washrooms were very nice and clean and a pleasure to use. Good sign for any premises. Fully recommend The Red Squirrel, a lovely place to meet friends and have lovely evening, while nice music being played in the background, loud enough to hold a comfortable conversation. Thank you...

Stopped in for dinner two days ago, quickly got a wonderful seat by the window, but that’s when the experience went downhill. Waitress took our order, we specifically ordered starters and she asked us if we would like these to come out first as appetizers to which we said yes. We waited 25 minutes until our actual meal arrived after which she informed us she made a mistake and the appetizers were coming after the main meal was on the table. I asked her to cancel them as we sat there hungry for 25 minutes, but she said they were prepared, i.e. a bowl of soup and a plate of bread.

The service is really poor, no one comes to check on you, had to flag down several people to bring us ketchup, salt, water, and utensils. Had to flag down somebody else to order a dessert that was ordered for three of us, and they brought one spoon. Good luck, finding somebody else to help with more spoons. Finally a good waitress arrived, got us our check come and we left.

Perhaps this is a good place for drinks only, would not recommend for food as a service really sour the...

Will not be back, and cannot recommend anyone goes until they treat the staff better.

I’ve been to the Red Squirrel many times over the years. I took some friends from out of town on Sunday for food and drinks as the menu had a lot of options and the drinks are always good.

I have life threatening allergies, so when it came to ordering food the server went to double check with the kitchen.

We were horrified when she came back in tears a few minutes later, as the chef had apparently berated her for asking stupid questions. I thought she’d gone above and beyond, and was doing a great job.

It wasn’t a stupid question, and goes to show how seriously the kitchen takes these things - apparently not very.

From speaking to other staff members this isn’t an isolated incident, and the management allows the kitchen to get away with bullying the bar/waiting staff.

We left in disgust without ordering food, and won’t be back as the culture seems to be toxic and I’d rather not support businesses that don’t take food allergies seriously and allow staff to...