Sheep Heid Inn Edinburgh — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

My wife, baby daughter and 2 friends went here for lunch last week. The venue is an attractive authentic pub. It may be old but it is clean, comfortable and had a pleasant vibe. They have a good menu, offering a variety of pub classics and also some unique dishes. The staff were young, polite and well-mannered. Although, I was a bit nervous when the lifted hot food over my daughters head. I feel like they should’ve went to the side of her. I also noticed that they didn’t tell us what the daily specials were. Nevertheless, for starters we ordered halloumi fries, beef ragu croquettes and the sticky chicken bites. All these dishes were excellent and arrived at an adequate time after ordering. I particularly enjoyed the halloumi fries. They perhaps lacked crisp but the certainly made up for it in flavour. The sweet chilli dip was marvellous. The croquettes and chicken bites were also very tasty and cooked well. For mains I was stuck between the surf and turf and the lamb rump. I asked the waiter for a recommendation and he didn’t really sell it but he suggested I went with the lamb. I commend this as the S&T was more expensive. For a side I got some mac and cheese. I think everyone else ordered a burger of some sort. Now this is when the review takes a dive. So our table was booked for 12:30 and we were hoping to get away for 2:30 so my daughter could have a nap (unnecessary details) but here we are and it’s 3pm and we are still waiting on our mains. The restaurant was pretty full and so I appreciate that they were very busy. The staff were nice enough to tell us that there would be a 20 min delay for our mains and then over 30 mins had passed (no offering of top up drinks) and they came back and again further apologised and said that it’ll be another 7 mins (wow, very precise) but we waited way more than this. Again, we m understood that it was busy and cut them some slack but nobody had food at their table around us. It was almost like the chef had finished early. By the time our food came I was hungry again and was expecting a beautiful feast of a meal. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. I got a few pieces of lamb and some potatoes - Really?? I ate it in about 3 mins. It tasted fine but my expectation was way higher, especially at £24!! The mac and cheese was way overcooked, lacking any creaminess. Crisp on top and crisp on bottom. Very disappointing. Others felt their burgers were satisfactory, but as good as they hoped? Certainly not. They looked and tasted very basic and so did the fries. My friend upgraded to billionaire fries which was comical. They looked the exact same as the normal fries and we were about to tell the staff that there was an error with the order but he realised there was a little bit of parmesan on top. I didn’t realise that this is what makes them billionaire - wow! By the time we finished our mains were had grab the bill and quickly shoot off! This was a real shame because I was looking forward to having a dessert as they had a good selection. We didn’t fancy waiting another hour for these. If it wasn’t for the lovely starters I would give this place a 2 star. This further backs our theory that the chef left mid shift because the mains were significantly worse. Maybe the waiters had to make the food themselves? Thankfully the good company made up for the disappointing, and expensive, meal. 3 stars is...

What a disappointing meal.

We were so excited to try your Sunday Roast which we had booked for over 1 month, as we have heard so many great reviews via word of mouth from friend's, and online/social media. Sadly, we couldn't have been more disappointed.

We arrived and were taken straight to our table. Lovely waitress, took our order prompt and got our drinks quickly. Even a treat for our dog. As our order was taken (2 roast dinners and a side of mac and cheese), a group of around 10 woman came in and sat beside us. We had noticed this table set out on arrival, there were Christmas crackers etc out so clearly in for the festive meal meal. We weren't advised/warned that a large party were due to arrive. What we walked into was a lovely, quiet corner of the room which was really relaxed, quickly turned into a rather loud room over all when this party arrived, we had to shout over to one another to have a discussion. We were disappinted that we weren't warned that this party would be in at the same time as us, as it quickly got so loud that it was pointless us even having a discussion as we couldnt hear one another. We waited 40minutes before asking the waitress where our food was, as the larger parter had their food delivered to them. We were told it was just coming out. I asked again another 15minutes later where our food was as we still hadn't received it. Our food arrived shortly after, cold. It was clear that both plates had been sitting out for a while and not freshly plated. The roast potatoes were cold and dry. The meat was dry and cold. The bread sauce had a layer of skin over it and cold. We sent these plates back for them to only return 2 minutes later. The same plates reappeared. The plates themselves were warm, but the food, cold/look warm. At this point we asked for the bill and to leave.

So disappointing as we had high hopes and expectations. We were looking forward to this meal for weeks; we were sad that we weren't pre-warned that we would be seated next to a large party, that food may take longer than expected, and that our food had clearly been forgotten about but had not been told this and were advised that the kitchen was just busy. When the plates were sent back to us, they had just been microwaved. I'd have presumed fresh, hot food on a new plate would have been indicated?! Furthermore, we were charged for the drinks and the side of mac n cheese!!! We hadn't touch the main meals, had eaten a quarter of the mac and cheese due to being so hungry.

Although we were apologised too, it would have been appreciated to have not had to pay for the hour and 45mins that we were sat, with no food, then to be served stale, dry food and to leave with sore heads worsening from the noise surrounding us.

Will...

We are still waiting for a response to our online complaint that should have been answered within 3 working days. Still no contact despite ringing the pub. Now on day 6!||Our family had travelled from Nottingham, Manchester and Stockholm. Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule and everyone wanted to leave as soon as possible due to the experience and time limitations.||The below is taken from our online complaint.||Good evening,||Personally having never eaten at the Sheeps Heid, we were looking forward to our Christmas family gathering of eight. Some of the family had visited your pub before and reported good food and service. Our booking was for 12:30hrs and we were all suitably hungry on arrival. After sitting down we ordered drinks which were very slow to arrive at the table, around 20 minutes. When the drinks finally arrived we had still not been shown any menus. When they did arrive we had not been given the festive menus and had to request them. |The starters were tasty and enjoyed by all. However, the main course was a debacle. The vegetables arrived 10 minutes before the main meal and we were left having to find a member of staff in the upstairs dining room to request the remainder of our food. Subsequently the vegetables were cold. The carrots were acceptable, the sprouts were undercooked and bland, the parsnips dry. The desserts were unremarkable.||From arriving to finishing the three courses took approximately 3 hours. Due to the delay we had to cancel our scheduled timeslot in ‘skittle alley’.||We had paid for the meal midway through as a treat for the family and asked if there would be a reduction due to the initial wait for the drinks and starters. We were informed that the service charge had been removed. This charge, however, is always at the discretion of the diners and should not have any bearing on discount or compensation.|||In summary; the service we received was extremely protracted, the quality of the majority of the food was well under average and our family plans were altered due to the slow service. The whole experience was not enjoyable and fell well below our expectations and what would be considered a reasonable standard. ||On a better note, at the end of the meal we were offered complimentary hot drinks which were appreciated. Also, on the way out a member of staff apologised for the long delay in service. Throughout the meal a member of staff (tall man with a beard) was always pleasant when approaching the table.||We sincerely hope that no one else experiences this poor level of customer service that we experienced yesterday during what should have been a stress free and celebratory event.||We look forward to receiving your feedback in regards to the...