The Terrace Brasserie

The Terrace Brasserie provided an excellent venue for dinner. Five of us went and had a excellent meal, great value for money! Cocktails expensive, but a nice treat for the girls that came! Service was non intrusive and friendly, restaurant was quite busy, but it is a small boutique restaurant.

All in all great night and will definitely be returning!
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Sunday, July 19, 2009

To begin with I’d like to highlight two things: 1. I have never before felt compelled to apologise to my other half for my choice of restaurant ! 2. Looking at the other positive reviews I can only assume that they were about another restaurant !

My girlfriend and I arrived at the Terrace Brasserie at 9.25pm on Saturday evening, slightly late for our 9pm booking as our taxi driver had no knowledge of the restaurant (first alarm bell !) but given that this is a central Edinburgh restaurant on the busiest night of the week we didn’t think there would be an issue.

The hotel receptionist curtly directed us down the corridor to the restaurant and already there was an eerie quietness about the place; we then arrived at the doorway to the restaurant (which was conspicuous only by it’s worrying lack of noise and/or activity of any sort !) and were told by the maitre-de that he would have to check with the kitchen before allowing us in. HANG ON A MINUTE – are you seriously telling me that you’ll have to check with the kitchen when it’s 9.25pm on a Saturday evening at a central Edinburgh restaurant and the dining room is practically empty (next major alarm bell !).

Had the chap taken twenty seconds more I think we would have made our escape but alas he returned and we were invited in to survey our carefully selected restaurant; all I can say is that it looks distinctly like a second rate Homebase living-room mock up and has about as much atmosphere as a laboratory with a carpet and some ‘chill out moods’ playing in the background (the music emanating from a small stereo propped up behind a pot plant behind my girlfriends seat !).

By this stage we were actually in fits of laughter and decided to tough it out; we ordered a bottle of white wine from the brief and wholly unimaginative wine menu and a main course each and awaited our fate. Surprisingly however the food was reasonably good and whilst I wouldn’t say it was the restaurants saving grace, it did at least provide one positive element. The service was no better than you’d expect in Pizza Hut and that was when there was even a member of staff in the room; wine wasn’t poured, excess cutlery not removed, table not cleared after the meal, and the single bread role provided would have been made better use of as a cannon ball in one of the castles guns !

We ate quickly and asked for the bill which took an astonishing ten minutes to arrive given that we were by then two of only four guests and left vowing never to return !

We did visit the toilets on our way out and they would be put to shame by most bus-station conveniences, cramped, dirty and apparently falling to bits in the ladies – awful but by then not surprising !

Overall this is a stereotypically unimaginative hotel restaurant with drab décor, under-trained staff and only a mildly interesting menu – I dare say the chef is very competent but is stifled by the otherwise dated and lacklustre approach of the hotel/restaurant management which is a shame.

Edinburgh is awash with high quality and good value eateries and I would urge you to try one of those instead.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Monday, April 06, 2009