Comments on: Wonderful setting but wobbly dining: Christmas lunch at The Rhubarb Restaurant

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:24:49 +0000

it’s a shame about Rhubarb: it’s the most beautiful bit of set design outside Drury Lane and camper than Black’s of Greenock, but as you found, the food is frequently very disappointing.

I took my wife there for her birthday a couple of years ago and was surprised to find, when we arrived at dinner, that the table next to ours had a bottle of the same wine as I had specifically asked to be opened several hours before dinner.

i eventually realised (when our main courses arrived) that they’d been given OUR wine by mistake. So the sommelier had to go and get another bottle for us, which came straight from the cellar. they promised to take the cost of the wine off the bill but in the event forgot to do so.

then we ate dinner - and i found that someone in the kitchen had poured so much salt onto the vegetables arranged under my venison that the dish was virtually inedible.

to cut a long story short, we had a very disappointing and very expensive night and i won’t be eating there on my money ever again.

By: hema

hema — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:45:27 +0000

I was taken to the rhubarb by my parents for my graduation dinner was sorely disappointed with the service. On arrival we were left standing at the reception for 5minutes without acknowledgment. We were then seated at our table whose candles were unlit and given no menu’s. We then asked for the wine list, the waiter forgot and we had to ask another time. He then did not bring us the menu as he reported that there were none avaiable, I found this hard to beleive in a 5 star establishment, eventually my mother had to go to the reception and demand we got menus. So far my celebrations weren’t going well. Our candles were finally lit, usually we would let this slide but the dark deco and lack of lighting even meant someone like me with 20/20 vision found it a struggle to read the menu.

For all the hype that surrounds this venue the menu was nothing to rave about, and honestly I would have preferred to go to a less stately establishment and receive good service and good food. I would never recommend the rhubard. My father wrote to a letter of complaint and to no surprise we did not get a reply. Over all a very poor Edinburgh eating venue.

By: Tia

Tia — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 15:24:49 +0000

Just wanted to say that I have had a very simialr experience at Rhubarb. The service was terrible and the food was not up to scratch. When we wrote a letter of complaint afterwards our response back was rude and ambivalent.

However, I will say the setting is truly amazing as we did go back but only to use the hotel and bar services and swiftly avoided Rhubard which is the best way to enjoy Prestonfield House.

By: Allison

Allison — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:48:10 +0000

Having just read the experience of the Saturday afternoon diner and the unfortunate crab shell, I think this experience can only be described as a one off.

Having recently hosted a table at Prestonfield my guest and myself had a fantastic experience.

We also chose the Goose which was delicious!!

The surrounding are also fantastic, however I think you will find Prestonfield House Hotel has nothing to do with Prestonfield Golf Club.

Very good picture though, you must be a professional!!!!

By: Alexander

Alexander — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:09:19 +0000

The place looks very beautiful and posh! I think it will be a perfect place to be for Christmas. Nice photos.