29 Waterloo PlaceEdinburgh
Scotland
EH1 3BQ

Phone: 0131 556 5766 (+44 131 556 5766)

Fax: 0131 556 5766 (+44 131 556 5766)

Howies, a successful chain of restaurants in Edinburgh, recently opened another restaurant in Waterloo Place. The building that they took over was built in 1812, and needed much repairs before they were able to open to the public. We are pleased to see that they have done a great job in renovating the interior to a warm open style, with simple bare wooden floors and white walls.

If you go to restaurants offen, as we do, you soon discover that bad service is the one thing that can most mare a restaurant visit. Everything was fine until the waitress brought the white wine, which she served in the red wineglass, without giving the option to taste it prior to pouring it. What was worst, was the fact that she told us she was correct in doing so, putting me in my place!

For starters we had Thai carpaccio of beef fillets and the Crispy fried duck breast, goats cheese and walnut and Mango Salad. Both were very good, if not a little conservative in taste. Next were the mains, but where were they? We had over 55 minutes to wait for them, which was a bit long to say the least. The mains consisted of Chargrilled organic pork loin, with jasmine rice, shitake mushrooms and special red wine sauce, and the other was Sesame crusted tuna with barley, wild mushrooms, marjaram and madiera emulsion. Again, we were very happy with the food, bar the pork loin having the grill lines burnt on with a hot poker which were a little too much burnt for my taste. (A chef's trick done to give the loin the dark stripped effect, according to Sarah, who is a qualified chef, herself.)

Where the restaurant failed me was in the extreme time between the starters and the mains. Sarah put this down to not enough people in the kitchen, which meant that with best intentions they failed to meet our expectations. I, also, take exception to the waitress telling me that she was right to pour the wine without us tasting it. Unusual to say the least!

I am unable to recommend the restaurant. As stated, the food was fine, but the service was terrible. I was so disappointed with the service, I would be hard pushed to try it again. Also, we are sorry for the lack of photos, but I have contacted their head office on several occasions with no reply, let alone a press pack on the restaurant.