from rachybaby (86%) on June 18th, 2008 (3 months ago)

Iris, 47a Thistle Street, EH2 1DY, Edinburgh

This restaurant is new - it used to be Monster Mash. As I used to live above Iris, I have been wanting to try this place out ever since it opened.

I went here for a business lunch today and was not disappointed. Decor is minimalist and funky. More importantly, the food was the best I have had in the city centre area for a long time. For a starter I had pea soup - possibly the best pea soup I have had. For a main I had chicken which was cooked perfectly and had an extremely delicious, creamy sauce. My dining partners had the butternut squash lasagne which had very positive comments also. The portions were all extremely generous and, as tempting as the deserts appeared to be, I was too full to eat anything else. Prices were also reasonable with two courses for just over a tenner each.

The only letdown was the service. The waitress was a bit slow and not very knowledgable. A couple of questions were asked regarding some of the main courses but she either just shrugged her shoulders or said "I guess so" - quite unprofessional.

However, I would recommed this restaurant as the food was fantastic and will definitely return at some point to try out their dinner menu.

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from jwjlewis (80%) on June 27th, 2008 (3 months ago)

Iris, 47a Thistle Street, EH2 1DY, Edinburgh

I went here on a Wednesday evening with a group - six of us in total - and had a pleasant time. The waiter and waitress were very friendly and the atmosphere was good. It is not a very large restaurant, but you do not notice the other customers. I suppose that says alot about their acoustics and interior design.

Now the food - the menus was nicely presented and the selection was varied and interesting. I ordered goats cheese on toast (although it wasn't written as toast on the menu!) for starter and duck for the main. The goats cheese was oven baked, but whilst the top was browned as you would expect, the inside hadn't quite received enough heat. Everyone ordered different starters and the common concensus that they were good, but one guy said, "good, but could have done with more". I do not believe this to be a reflection on the size of the protion though...

The main course duck was served in lovely sauce, alas I forget what type, and you had to order vegetables as a side dish. Whislt i was initially disapproving of this, I soon changed my mind after contemplating that restaurants can easily save a bit on their budgets by skimming on the greens. This avoids that nicely. I had boiled new potatoes and they were cooked to perfection, just the right side of crunchy, mmm...

Finally, after what seemed an age we were presented with pudding menus. Only tow of our group ordered and we both had chocolate torte. The rest of the party ordered coffees. Strangely the coffees arrived first, and indeed they were all finished before our tortes arrived. However, to compensate the cost of the coffees were taken off the bill. The torte was fairly nice, although it was let down by its accompaniment - cheap whipped cream. It would have so much better better with a mango or raspberry coulis.

Despite the slightly slow service towards the end I would say that the food was above average.

As for the bill, well, we rounded up 10% as a tip and then each put down £30 whilst tow of our number paid £28 on card. We waited ages for our change so that we could leave the tip that we felt was deserved, but it never came. Being British we naturally didn't say anything, and for £2 ea it wouldn't been worth the bother, but it left us feeling slightly cheated at the end. oh well...

Would I recommend this place? I guess I might, for any occassion or none. It wasn't exceptional but it was pretty good.

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