Taco Libre — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Absolutely gutted. I went into this place with such hope that I was going to get really good fresh food.. And I left as quickly as I could because I was so disappointed. I'll list the positives first. The atmosphere in the restaurant is cool, it's a tiny place but there's nice decor, which gives you enough to look at while waiting. Although it's a small shop, it doesn't feel overly crowded, it was fairly quiet when we went in but I think it would still be okay if it was packed. Good selection of drinks. The negatives...... 😬 The food was... Undesirable. I got beef tacos and chicken tacos. The beef had such an overwhelming taste of beef stock. Generic beef stock. I couldn't take the fresh onion, tomato or herbs they had put in the taco. The chicken taco was much the same although the pineapple in the taco did help. But the taste of the beef ones was the reason why I couldn't finish them. It just tasted so salty and generically beefy. I can't wrap my head around it as the fresh ingredients should have shown some flavour. It felt like food I could make at home, but worse.. And far more expensive. When I do make it at home the fresh tomatoes, onion and coriander just shine through, rather than getting lost in the beef stock/oil here. And the price of the tacos Vs the 'quality ingredients' is massive. £9 for 2 tacos is fine as they had a lot of food in them. But it's evidently quantity over quality. Overall we ordered 4 food items and the bill came to £55. And this is because of my next point. The service. It was an extra £4 service charge, give or take. I really don't expect much because I work in retail/hospitality and I understand some days you just need to get through the day. But the lack of any smiles, warmth or general nice service is lacking massively. Especially if I'm 'paying' for it.

I dunno. I'm absolutely gutted, and I spent the rest of the evening feeling like I wasted a good chunk of money, and I lost my appetite for the evening for anything else. It was definitely the worse visit/experience of the 5 day trip...

Two years ago (September 2022) me and my husband visited Scotland, and as a Mexican living in Paris since a couple of years I was so happy and proud to find a Mexican restaurant in Edinburgh.

Food was good; there was a Scottish guy and a nice girl from Colombia who was our waitress and also the restaurant cashier. We crossed a couple of words in spanish and then I paid and left.

After walking around 15 minutes in the Edinburgh’s streets I found out that I have left my umbrella at the restaurant (truth is it was an expensive umbrella, around 100 euros) and I know it was there because I put it in another chair from our table; I went back and I asked directly to the Colombian girl and her face suddenly became pale as if she saw a ghost.

When I asked her about my umbrella she went directly to look for it (she opened a door where there were different items) and then the Scottish guy stopped her and walked towards me and he became a little bit aggressive by telling me that they didn’t took my umbrella (this was a very rare and unusual attitude) so I realized that maybe he was lying.

My husband asked to customers that were there on another table when we left the restaurant and they mentioned that it was the guy who took my umbrella and went to hide it.

We were so angry because even with witnesses they didn’t gave us back anything.

I didn’t want to make a big deal because we didn’t know well the city neither the people and we didn’t want to have problems, but I think is a big shame that people steal in your face.

The thing I regret the most is sharing my story after 2 years, because I think about the owners who surely worked a lot to own a restaurant in Edinburgh and is not fair that all those efforts are wasted by third people.

I hope they don't work anymore there and that customers never have to worry that staff might steal...

We are regular visitors to Edinburgh and wanted to try something different so thought we would give Taco Libre a go. Visited with my wife and two young sons (5 and 7).

Positives ➕The place looks cool - very quirky and authentic and my boys enjoyed looking at all the decor etc. ➕ The food was decent enough - taste and presentation was fine and left me full. Relatively pricey for what is was, but understand prices since being in city centre.

Negatives ➖ The service was really bad. I honestly hate complaining and never really leave reviews but felt like I had to leave one here because I want to let the owners know that the service levels are killing your business. We most likely wont come back or recommend you purely down to the bad service or lack of service. I honestly don’t think it takes much: Act like you give a crap about the customers (we know you don’t but at least pretend, like most other places) Smile, be polite and don’t make us feel like we’re just an another annoyance during your shift. Have some personality - people make businesses. Pay attention - we asked for plain quesadillas for our kids but the waitress either didn’t listen or wrote it down wrong as they came covered in sauce and our boys didn’t eat them.

Not looking to put anyone in it but we visited around 1:30pm on Sunday 27th April. The young lady who was serving at the time - cheer up - you are literally making customers feel like a nuisance.

Like I said, I do genuinely feel bad leaving a poor review but I think that the place could be really cool if it the service and atmosphere wasn’t that of a funeral. I wish you...