The Ship on The Shore — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Used to be my favourite restaurant in Edinburgh but not anymore. I was SO excited to return and had two tables booked for a group of ten of us since April. As soon as we stepped foot in the door the atmosphere was terrible. We were greeted by an extremely RUDE and abrupt waitress with short red hair. We felt like an inconvenience coming in for food despite the fact we spent over £400?

The waitress knocked over a tray of glasses before she even reached our table and then blamed the table because a pram was in the way? Although the pram was in the most suitable place it could have been? The waitress then shouted at our table to move the pram although there was nowhere else for it to go? So she decided to aggressively push the pram into the same spot it already was. Her attitude was SHOCKING. I have genuinely never experienced such bad customer service. I will not be returning and I will NOT be recommending this restaurant to anyone I know.

The manager then came over to say we need to hurry up and order because we had two hours on the table although we’d been sat waiting for 20 minutes before anyone asked if we’d like to order a drink?! The manager was extremely sarcastic and said “accidents happen” when we mentioned how unhappy we were with the way we had just been spoken to by the other waitress. I agree that accidents do happen. However, this was not the problem the problem was the rudeness and attitude of the staff. Furthermore, we were told the two tables we had booked could not be beside each other and this should’ve been organised in advance (which it was) the rude waitress didn’t even check and after all the table beside us was empty for another 2.5hours? In the end another waiter took over (he was very pleasant) and we managed to sit beside each other in the end and THEN we were told we could stay for another 30 minutes after being chased to leave within the 2 hours.

Such a shame that The Ship On The Shore has been ruined by one extremely ignorant waitress. I honestly cannot get over how badly we were spoken to for no reason.

Manners go...

If you're looking for a midrange seafood dinner, especially as a tourist, this is a perfectly acceptable choice. It's got all the things most people look for in a seafood restaurant.

Mariner-themed motif, seafood platters, a good location close to the water, and busy.

We came here on our last night and had a fine experience. It wasn't particularly memorable, but it was pretty much exactly as expected. The server was a little odd, as she basically abandoned our table when she realized we weren't drinking. The rest of the meal was taken care of by (who I assume was) the manager. A bit strange, but it made no difference to us really.

Cullen Skink was better than other places we tried. A hearty, hot chowder with loads of fish, flavour, and cream.

I got the hot seafood platter mostly for the promise of langoustines, scallops, and clams.

What we ended up with was a giant plate of mussels with a few other bits and bobs on top. I don't recall seeing a single clam. 4 scallops. 2 small oysters. 3 langoustines. Some crab, yes. If there was a whole lobster--as the menu claims--half of it must have been invisible. I actually don't remember much lobster at all but my partner does so some must have been there, although the photo taken right after the platter arrived doesn't show much. To me, it seemed like just a heaping pile of mussels and potatoes.

It wasn't the freshest tasting seafood I've ever had, which I thought was a bit odd considering Leith is so close to the sea. But it was cooked and prepared well, with good flavour otherwise.

It was unfortunate that the price was so high (£135) for so little. Unless you really love mussels (which I really do not), it probably won't be particularly good value. There were two of us, and we both got tired of so many mussels and couldn't finish it. Seems like a waste of money and food, sadly.

So, a very acceptable seafood spot for a once off, but not one that I would make a...

Hahaha OMG ! Just walk by and head to another bar/restaurant. There is a great Brewery up the road even.

-Rude/bad/unreasonable/judging attitudes -Condescending, couldn't wait for us to leave -Made us feel extremely unwelcome -Wine was warm and the warm marble cooler didn't help

Having frequented The $hit on the shore many times in the past, and recently returning to Edinburgh. I am am actually not sure what has happened to the place. After taking the Waterway walk from Murrayfield on a Sunday afternoon, we found ourselves outside Ship OS basked in sunshine as we reached the shore. We decided to have a post picnic lunch bottle of wine and snack in the sun. Putting our kids in our view at a table in the shade, short redhair, promptly moved them back leaving them toasting and staring into the sun. We advised that we didn't have sunblock for them and were advised that there was a Sainsbury's up the road. (Admittedly they were taking up another larger table and we advised that they could move them when required) never got used the whole time we were there.

Wine arrived, staff proceeded to top it up repeatedly with such pace before the glasses were finished, asking if we were staying for another, when we said no they presented the bill before we had even finished, then within minutes another server asked if we would like the contactless to pay, advised that we again would like to finish our drinks. We then paid and the glasses were cleared before we even pulled a sweater on. Maybe we are small fry only spending nearly 60£ on wine and chips, I'm not sure.

I'm enjoying reading the other recent 1* reviews online though, lucky we only had chips ... Blughhh

Best you look after the locals, the tourists £'s are only for...