from ddcook (64%) on August 19th, 2008 (1 week ago)

Monteith's, 61 High Street, EH1 1SR, Edinburgh

I am mixed on Monteiths. I have eaten here twice now and I love the look and feel of the place, the selection of drinks, the friendliness of the staff and the tucked away location.

The food has also been good, on the latest occasion an excellent value and great tasting steak sandwich for Sunday lunch. The previous time I enjoyed a variety of dishes shared amongst the table, particularly good were the sausages and the black pudding mash which was fantastic!

However both times I have been in there has been something to infuriate me and sadly drops this review from 4 stars to 3...

First time the service was pretty slow and on receiving the dishes my dining partner's poached egg still had a quarter of the egg shell on it, which is just tardy on the part of the kitchen. Second time round this past weekend the service was so slow it hurt, taking about half an hour to get the (admittedly good) food to our table, then taking an equally painfully long amount of time to collect the dishes and give us the bill, at which point we found out that despite it being 2 in the afternoon on a Sunday they still hadn't cleared all the transactions through the card machine so we would have to wait 5 minutes if we wanted to pay for a meal for 5 people on plastic, very far from ideal.

So much potential in here but sadly doesn't seem to have got it quite right yet.

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from Anne Greenyer (18%) on March 23rd, 2008 (5 months ago)

Monteith's, 61 High Street, EH1 1SR, Edinburgh

Four of us ate here last night. All three courses were wonderful. The filet of beef melted in your mouth. We shall return soon. Very good chef. One negative point was that we did not think that the music was appropriate for the restaurant. Softer music would be more apt and perhaps changing over to the "bar" music at 10/10.30pm. As the restaurant is very small and cosy one would need to book.

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from DrComida (12%) on July 6th, 2008 (1 month ago)

Monteith's, 61 High Street, EH1 1SR, Edinburgh

I have eaten at Monteith’s twice now, and on both occasions have been delighted by delicious food and excellent service. Most recently, I visited for a celebratory lunch with two good friends. I booked online through EdinburghMenus.com using toptable – an excellent function that takes the time and hassle out of booking a restaurant. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco to drink at the bar and received complimentary strawberries on ice – a classic example of how this restaurant goes that little bit further to make your experience more pleasurable. The lunchtime menu is unbelievably good value: 2 courses for £8.95 or 3 for £10.95. The Monteith’s Benedict is one of the tastiest dishes I have eaten in a long time. The evening menu is naturally more expensive, but complimentary mise en bouche makes you feel you are getting an even fairer priced meal. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone and plan on returning very soon.

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from emma (9%) on August 23rd, 2008 (6 days ago)

Monteith's, 61 High Street, EH1 1SR, Edinburgh

We ate in here last night and was pretty disappointed by the food and service. I had the clear soup broth to start and it was very bland, followed by the fish which although was quite tasty was overcooked with undercooked vegetables. My partner had the fois gras which he enjoyed but his duck was extremely overcooked. The service was friendly and attentive to start but we sat with our main plates in front of us for a good 15 minutes before being taken away, never to see the waitress again. Nobody asked if we wanted deserts or coffees. Certainly won't be returning!

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