'BABS — Restaurant in Scotland

Severely disappointed. Being a huge lover and long time customer of the sister restaurant, Bread Meats Bread, I've been really looking forward to trying Bab's for a number of years. Sad to say that I'll not be back and after the treatment tonight, BMB has likely lost a customer also.

We were hoping to order the Meze platter for two on a recommendation from other customers, however with not being a fan of seafood, we had asked if we could substitute the included prawn skewers for one of the other (same priced and independently available) skewers instead. The waitress was extremely unhelpful and told us simply "no, because the chef would throw a fit" and that "there is only one, you don't need to eat it" (incredibly wasteful and expensive during a cost of living crisis and a time during which most people are attempting to avoid food waste).

Despite their unwillingness to be flexible, we appreciate we were asking for a small substitution and decided to still order it the platter. We spent a while choosing the two sides, only to be told when ordering that only a small number of them are actually included, despite the blatant false advertising on the menu that said they all were.

It was at this point we decided to leave the restaurant. Whilst I appreciate that the waiting staff are not responsible for writing the menu, there is no excuse for the rudeness we encountered during this visit.

Be warned, that Bab's even have the audacity to add a 10% service charge to reward staff for...

visited for the first time yesterday — had booked a table & the staff were really lovely to accommodate an extra person last minute. we did have the last member of our party arrive about 15 mins after our reso time due to a delayed train, but were ready to order within a few minutes of her arrival

unfortunately, this delay prompted our server (didn’t get his name but a man in his 30s with facial hair, wearing black button up shirt) to be quite rude to us, rushing us to order in a very direct and unkind way, even telling one of our friends that “she’s okay with water” and not allowing her speak long enough to order a drink? he also seemed frustrated that we didn’t order more food, despite each getting a drink and main off the menu. i totally get upselling as we all work or have worked in hospitality, but we were shocked by the way he spoke to us / treated us. his attitude was really off putting and put a damper on our night. we felt rushed and as though we were not welcome there. he was also seemingly quite rude to the table behind us. he did seem to try to be a bit friendlier later in the night but it just came off as disingenuous by that point

that said, food/drinks were great & came out quickly, no issues there!!

also, special shoutout to becky — she was SO lovely and took photos for our table + got the bill for us as we were totally put off interacting with our original server. genuinely our night was made by her lovely energy &...

I never really can be bothered writing reviews online, but I feel people need to be warned about this tourist trap. They must have either been good in the past or have a lot of fake reviews, because a 4.5 star rating makes no sense. I can't comment too much on the service and atmosphere, as I had a takeaway, but the woman who took my order was friendly and nice. Ordered the beef (Yaprak) doner, which they advertise as consisting of thinly sliced beef. As a result, i was quite surprised when I tried the doner and found it to be full of big chunks of chewy beef of a size I have never seen in a doner before. The meat was not flavoured in anyway at and the salat and greens were very limited, but it had a big gherkin (!?) in there though. Honestly never had a chewy kebab before, and I have had quite a few having lived in the UK for nearly 20 years, but this takes the prize as the by far worst doner I ever had. Called the shop to see if I had maybe gotten wrong order by mistake, but they answered it was indeed the Yaprak beef doner I had ordered. In fairness, they offered a refund if i could come by the shop again, but that was not...