Veeno Edinburgh — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

OVERPRICED, OVER-RATED AND CARD ONLY

Veeno appears to be a popular and well-established Italian wine bar and restaurant on Rose Street, so it will be popular with tourists.

I visited mid-week with friends, tempted by their "20% offer off food", which on paper looked like good value.

Alex came to take our drinks orders, and I asked if there were any draught beers? No, but they have 330 ml bottles of beer (about half a pint). At £7 for Peroni, £7.50 for Birra and £6 for 0% Peroni, I declined and stuck to tap water.

For starters, I went with the nduja e stracchino (£6.50). What arrived was two small bruschette with a few dots of sausage and melted cheese, served on a wooden board. It was nice enough, but hardly a showstopper.

For my main course, I had the lasagne (£13.50). Again, it was nice enough, but I'll be honest and say I've had better from Aldi and the Coop's finest range. Others remarked that the 20% discount appeared to be reflected in the portion sizes.

Nobody was impressed with what they had. The general consensus was that it was nice enough - just average pub food dressed up as something more sophisticated.

We asked for the bill - and this is where things really went downhill. They put the 20% discount at the bottom of the food and drinks bill plus a 12.5% service charge, and suggested it would be £32 each if we were splitting the bill 8 ways.

Totally confusing for many of us, who couldn't decipher how the 20% discount was applied, meaning we lost about 15 mins trying to work out what we owed.

The final bill including drinks and service charge came to £256.95. Eye-watering for what was essentially average pub food and a few drinks - a complete rip-off.

And to top it off, they don't take cash - it's card only. There were no signs or warnings, just a blunt “we don't take cash - card only.” If I’d known in advance, I wouldn’t have bothered going.

I won't be back, and I suggest you don't waste your...

I booked an Italian wine tasting and pairing experience in Edinburgh for my boyfriend’s birthday, and while it had potential, the experience left a lot to be desired.

The evening started out okay—it took quite a while to be served despite being the only ones in the small restaurant, but things eventually got moving. The wines and pairings themselves were lovely, so no complaints there. Unfortunately, the atmosphere was another story.

When we first arrived, the restaurant was completely empty, but as more people trickled in, they kept seating everyone right next to us in this cramped corner, despite there being plenty of space elsewhere. To make matters worse, the table next to us spent the entire time loudly complaining about the service. Their pasta had been served cold, and despite repeatedly asking for it to be heated, the waiter never got around to it—despite the restaurant still being mostly empty. This went on for over an hour, which completely killed the vibe.

After the wine tasting, we decided to order another glass each. However, just as we were finishing and ready to order another, the waiter came over and asked us to leave because they supposedly had another table booked in 10 minutes. Again, the restaurant was still practically empty, so this felt unnecessary and rushed. To top it all off, they added a 12.5% service charge, which didn’t feel justified since we barely saw the staff throughout the visit.

All in all, while the wine and pairings were enjoyable, the odd atmosphere, inattentive service, and strange seating decisions made it hard to fully enjoy...

Was expecting so much from this restaurant after reading some great reviews but I was disappointed.

The table had been booked for 4pm on Saturday and we turned up sharp, 3.55, shown to our table. The restaurant was busy but there were 3 members of staff and manager covering floor, with only 1 chef in kitchen.

About 4.25 we finally had someone attend our table to issue menus and ask if we wanted a drink. A 30 mins wait is poor. We would have left but know how busy restaurants are in Edinburgh during August and the Fringe.

We placed our order, opting for bruschetta for starter and tagliatelle with mushroom sauce for mains. Another delay in this getting to us, getting close to 5pm now.

The bruschetta was fine, can't really go wrong with that it we were both underwhelmed with Tagliatelle and mushroom sauce. The pasta was cooked but sauce very bland, such so that wife had one mouthful and couldn't eat it. Whilst I acknowledge the restaurant was busy the chef should make an attempt to ensure all meals leaving the pass are at a standard that shows off the restaurant, in this case it didn't and appeared rushed with no attention to detail.

When we ordered bill she told staff that it wasn't nice, no one followed this up and was surprised that there was a 10% service charge added to the bill for what was a very average dining experience with poor service.

My wife and I've Italian food but this was disappointing. Suffice to say we won't back...