The Railbridge Bar & Bistro — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Quite an outlier rating review, given the general high rating the restaurant has received. This is a personal experience, some might not mind it and some will, entirely subjective.

Our group visited this restaurant expecting a pleasant experience, but a few key issues left us a bit disappointed. Here's a breakdown of our experience:

Service Speed: Orders arrived promptly, which was appreciated. Food Quality: I ordered chips—average and unremarkable, earning a neutral 3/5 for the food itself. Had I ordered anything else, I would be able to give a more balanced rating for the food, e.g. whether I liked it or not. But chips are generally always average wherever you go. Views: The views were good, but similar to other restaurants on the same street, so this wasn't a unique advantage.

Concerns: Bill Payment: Being told we couldn't pay bills separately because the staff was busy caused significant inconvenience for our large group (7 of us, 6 having ordered smth). While this might be understandable in some cases, it isn’t standard in most restaurants and left us puzzled. Tipping Practices: The bill included an "optional" tip from the start, we received the bill with the tip already included. Indeed, in the bill, there was a section that said that the tip was entirely optional, but the action of adding it from the very beginning to the bill definitely creates social pressure for you to tip. When we asked to separate the bill/pay for what we ordered separately, one worker helped, but when one of us asked about the charge appearing on the card reader, we were told it included the tip, which was now mandatory to us because they went out of their way to accommodate us. This comment seemed to our group, quite a puzzling one, given it is common practice to provide the separating of the bill/paying separately in restaurants and a service that does not take long, I would say it took maximum around 10 minutes to complete. This undermines the optional nature of the tip and felt like forced gratitude. I believe many would understand that social pressure to tip in these circumstances. Finally, i understand that paying separately is not guaranteed in all restaurants, absolutely valid, but the comment does leave one feeling like we were being somewhat unreasonable requesting to pay separately at a busy period.

While the staff's workload is acknowledged, these practices—especially the implied obligation to tip—left a sour impression. Dining should not involve coercion or attitudes suggesting standard expectations are a special favor. Improvements in policy and transparency are necessary to make the experience more enjoyable.

With regards to the reply, I would like to confirm that we did indeed not arrive with a reservation. If a reservation would have been needed or accommodating us meant a lot more effort, I believe we could have been informed of it and perhaps made another decision under those circumstance.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, a review is personal, subjetive, some after reading this will mind what happened, but still decide to visit, but remind mindful of what happened to us and avoid certain things, and still have a great experience. This is a recount of what happened to us and how we felt, it does not mean that you will feel the same way.

Recounts of things are always through the perspective of that person, this is my perspective and what I recall happening, the other Party might remember it differently, who you decide to take as truth is a matter of your own critical thought.

This review has...

Edit based on bistros reply-

“I understood the sandwich comes cold but could be warmish to soften the inch wide cheese. I stated that the fries were almost cold not the sandwich!!

The quick service as you say “under 5 minutes” is just a tad too quick, your not a takeaway! That explains the cold fries.

Also, to correct your response Re standard tipping done across the board at other eateries being added to bill, adding gratuity/ tips is NOT standard nowadays, I have called 5 restaurants for this Saturday 19/10 special occasion reservation and asked all of them If they added tips as standard and replies from all were absolutely Not! So you are stating something false to justify your charging. And at no point we’re we pre advised of tipping being added as a matter of course.

Original review Went here last month for lunch with a friend we were looking for a central point to meet and thought this might be good spot.

Now, the foreign server was ok a bit stern/ distant I’m not sure what it was, she came to take our order within minutes of seating, we weren’t ready so she came back a few minutes later. Ordered and kid you not the food was there within 5 minutes, I was surprised at this. We both had vegetarian club sandwich with fries. The fries were tepid, the club sandwich was soso. The cheese was cut so thick it was a bit of a job eating the sandwich, bottom part was sliding away and the thick cheese was so thick it was sticking in my mouth whilst trying to eat, it should have been cut thinner and split between the middle and bottom layer of bread, this may have stopped the sandwich sliding and the mouth chewing being so difficult.. the food was okay that we had but I don’t like to receive food that has a cooler temperature! ( it wasn’t even busy so no excuse).

Lastly, when I went to pay the bill the waitress at bar indicated that a 10% ( i think it was 10) tip had been automatically added to bill……. Now I ALWAYS leave tips, it would have to be abominable service and food for me not to, however I said that’s fine. I was taken aback at this, we weren’t a huge party, we were 2!! We are not in the USA were tipping culture is crazy and expected, don’t start this BS here as it won’t work. I like to make the decision if I tip and how much. So for the mediocre food and service and the Tipp adding I may not return, if I do I will indicate not to add a Tipp automatically to my bill. Also you should be making customers aware of this prior to bill payment as it can catch people off guard, a bit sneaky...

So went down to Railbridge Bistro on a Sunday (22nd Jan) as we planned on having my mothers 80th birthday lunch at this venue. Looking at the menu online already I was disturbed by the “discretionary 10% tip added to all bills” why do places feel they have to intervene in matters that are not the venues concern. I came to realise why it’s added. The venue was busy and vibrant, pretty full at 3pm when it closed at 5pm. We got seated at 2:55. Nobody approached until after 3:10. it was not because the staff are busy, as 3 of the very young girls all stood next to the bar/counter chatting, playing with hair etc. when the girl approached I did say we have no drinks, she advised she would get them with food order. We ordered 2 mains and 2 drinks. The drinks came, quickly followed by the food. Easily within 10 mins. The server never asked if we needed anything else. From the moment we ordered to me asking for the bill. The only interaction from any staff was removing the plates and asking if we wanted desert. Zero interaction was given, no asking is everything ok with your meals, do you require more drinks, nothing. I would put this down to the staff being very young. Maybe not properly trained or lacking experience. So, as for the food. My mother had the small steak pie. The steak/stew tasted ok. But the gravy was so thin and watery you can see why the serve it in a bowl. Apart from the gravy it was a tasty and decent plate of food. I had the fish and chips. On the web site and in the venue they show everywhere that its Welch sea food. And I must say. It was probably the best bit of fish I’ve had outside of a great chip shop. Sadly, it was accompanied terrible chips, cheap frozen chips. How can you pair stunning fish with awful fries. It takes no time to make home made chips. When we got the bill, the girl did ask if we needed a card machine. I said no. we waited over 10 mins. No one came back to take payment. We noticed customers going to a part of the counter. So me and my 80 year old mother stood for 5 mins waiting to pay bill. If this was how it was meant to be done. Someone should have advised us. So very disappointed by the visit. A great venue let down by poor staff, some shady bits of food. They definitely charge enough for it. £16.95 for fish and chips with bad frozen chips. I will attached a...