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Olive Branch

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Red Mezz
Red Mezz
First Reviewer
1 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
2
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Dubious Eating at the Olive Branch

  • December 22, 2008
  • Rated 1 of 5 by wolfbrother from Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Dubious Eating at the Olive Branch

The Olive Branch looks great from the outside. I used to pass it on my way home and be haunted by images of the wonderful looking food that people had sitting in front of them, so one day I finally decided to go in.

Unfortunately, it wasn't what I had hoped. The service was really poor. For a small place, there were too many staff on. They seemed to be falling over each other, but you would think that with that many staff on they would at least be able to handle everybody's orders in good time. This was not the case. They took a long time to get to us, then our sandwiches took almost an hour to arrive.

Having said that, the sandwiches themselves were very good. Not spectacular, but very tasty. They were also very expensive, unfortunately. I ordered a coffee when I eventually managed to flag down a waitress, but thankfully the coffee was something they did very well.

Overall, it looks better than it is. The coffee is great and the food is pretty good, but the prices are a little bit more than they ought to be and the service is bad. I wouldn't recommend it but it does have its upside too.

From journal Eating Out in Edinburgh

Editor Pick

The Olive Branch

  • February 3, 2007
  • Rated 1 of 5 by Red Mezz from Inverness, Scotland
The Olive Branch

The other day I was waiting for a friend to meet me at The Olive Branch on Broughton Street for a coffee and a chat, and as I stood outside waiting, I noticed quite a lot of people - more than a few of them tourists stopping to look at the menu. It's a very stylish-looking place, and the things on the menu sound very enticing.

I myself had never actually been in there before and so was as curious as these other visitors to Edinburgh about this cozy, candlelit cafe. And though I generally rate a place with a good atmosphere higher than I would have otherwise, this is one I will have to warn people about. The atmosphere is very nice, though generally quite busy. There's not a lot of seating, but it's not too crowded. However, there are a lot of places that fit that description in Edinburgh. And this place had some fundamental drawbacks.

Namely, the service. Though they were polite and friendly, the service was dreadful. There were no less than 5 waitresses working one small room, all bustling around with nothing seeming to get done. While I waited for the rest of my party I ordered a coffee that took about 15 minutes to arrive, and this when there were only about four other tables full. When my friends did arrive, and the waitress finally arrived to take their order, they waited half an hour for a latte and the soup of the day. This kind of service can easily be excused when there is one waitress running a full place, but as I said, the opposite was the case here.

The food wasn't bad  - though it seemed very expensive for cafe food. The soup of the day was £3.50. And the main dishes were close to £10. The equivalent of some very nice restaurants on Broughton Street. The menu was also rather limited. The coffee was fine, but certainly nothing special, and I can easily list five other places with in 5 minutes' walk that the coffee is better.

So, in my opinion, this is a place to miss. There are so many nice places to try in Edinburgh, it's a shame to waste your visit on a place with ordinary food and bad service.

From journal Scotland Cuisine: It's Not as Bad as You've Heard

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