Sheep Heid Inn Edinburgh

First, let me say we booked this place because we thought with the history of the building and the way it presents itself that it would be a Scottish experience. No no. ... Let's start at the beginning....We received an email just a few hours before our reservation that they didn't have staff and wouldn't be able to serve us but would offer a discount when we came in. We frantically tried to find a new place. Then one hour before our scheduled time, we got an email saying they DID have a chef and we could use our scheduled time. We arrived excited and eager but the restaurant was blasting early 2000s boy band music and the wait staff was distant at best. They claim to have gluten free options but everything we asked for, they said the chef said was too stale and they wouldn't serve it. The food we finally got was not good and the service was just as bad. If you're looking for good food or a cozy vibe, this isn't it.

The majority of the items that we wanted to order from the festive menu was already sold out by the time we ordered our food. Given that it was mid-service it was frustrating that our choices were so limited. The heating was blasting and the restaurant incredibly warm with no clear way to turn the radiator behind us down. A wine glass had lipstick on the rim, not our’s. Our server was polite but had to repeatedly ask the kitchen questions and didn’t have many answers himself. A different server repeatedly leant across directly in front of me. The server gave conflicting info about the gluten-free range, which was concerning. It seemed chaotic and not particularly well-run. Poor and disappointing.