Customer Reviews
Reviews for all our venues are available on Tripadvisor, Google Reviews and Restaurant Diary. A few of the latest are below.
We are delighted to announce that our flagship venue, Howies Waterloo, recently won a Best of the Best award from TripAdvisor!
Latest from Tripadvisor
Jess070515. December, 2024. Lovely family meal Came here for a birthday celebration, the food was lovely. It was all very fresh and home cooked. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would return. Steve Newlin14. December, 2024. Fantastic We had the Christmas menu today, it was delicious, the atmosphere was great, the staff brilliant and it made for a super Christmas meal, thank you team Howies.... Cygnetsixsix14. December, 2024. Lunch with ex colleagues Retired works annual Christmas lunch attended by 18 held in a private room. The service was friendly & fairly prompt. Very enjoyable TheShirtSpeaks12. December, 2024. Great food, Great atmosphere Picked Howies on the basis of good reviews and being less than five minutes from where we were staying in Edinburgh. Booked online a few days ahead - all very straightforward, and as just a table for two despite being the Christmas office meal season there were plenty of time options when making the reservation. The other attraction was that the a la carte menu was not festive focused and had dishes that we liked the sound of. That said on arrival a festive menu was also availble, which perhaps oddly given our preference to avoid festive food, we did decide to choose from. We arrived on time, our booking was noted and in less than a minute we were shown to our table. The restuarant was busy, with a number of office parties. However a friendly and vibrant atmosphere, rather than the loudness that is sometimes assoicated with large Christmas groups. We were seated next to a feature fireplace, and the staff are happy to share the history of the building. A restuarant space with character, and one which immediately felt very comfortable. A couple of prosecco's got the evening underway and our curve ball of then being unexpectedly swayed by the additional festive menu offering. Started with pheasant terrine - sumptuous - and of all things a prawn cocktail - a bit of retro perfection. Washed down with a glass of refreshing and zingy New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Another plus point was that many of the wines on the wine list were also available by the glass with both 175ml and 250ml options. We both chose venison casserole as the main course - one of the a la carte enticements leading to our original decision to choose Howies was the venison haunch option. Rich and succulent accompanied by a glass of Rioja. The only possible critique would be that a spoon would have been handy to clear very last drop! Although had we asked I'm sure one would have been provided. Dessert may in hindsight have been a tactical error as we both chose the enticing, generous and very tasty cheeseboard. Accompanied by a Montbazillac desert wine rather than port (which was an option). We might have been better sharing one cheeseboard and one other more chocolately desserts. However we will know for next time. To be clear the cheeseboard could not be faulted. The service was friendly, efficient and in no sense rushed. Service is added automatically bringing our bill for two to almost exactly £150. So not the cheapest meal out, but from our viewpoint well worth the price. And we are likely to return when we are next due in Edinburgh in the late spring. Jeemsohols11. December, 2024. Wonderful Service We arrived at short notice on a busy Saturday night in December, after we had been let down badly by a nearby restaurant. The Howies staff were extremely helpful, and managed to rearrange things to get us a table, very quickly. The service, the food and the wine were all excellent. Thank you very much for a really nice dining experience. Rona Moss11. December, 2024. Not happy to get vegan food as a vegetarian, but customer service made up 8 ladies were here for Christmas lunch. I am the only vegetarian, and the organiser had already said I didn't want vegan feta, only real feta. Apparently they only do vegan feta. eh feta is cheese? , so how can you do tasteless vegan cheese? I have been a vegetarian for over 45 years and get very annoyed being offered tastless vegan food, which has no cheese,eggs butter etc. Main course was a vegan aubergine dish. Absolutely awful. The manager was great and totally understood my objection to vegan food and offered me any veggie dish on main menu. Customer service was fantastic, so many thanks. Exploration52203911. December, 2024. Lovely dining experience Had lunch here during a busy Saturday in December. The food was delicious, service very prompt and staff friendly. Will definitely return. Julie M10. December, 2024. Christmas Menu delights! Christmas Day out rounded off by a fabulous meal at Howie’s. Had booked many months in advance and were given the table we’d requested - set Christmas menu, pre-ordered meals and everything went to plan. Attentive staff, delicious food and a cosy atmosphere. Will definitely be back! Bill B8. December, 2024. Howies Dining My friends and I regularly dine at Howies Waterloo Place and we were there last Thursday night for our pre-Christmas dinner. The restaurant was very busy with several large parties, however this did not adversely impact the service that was at its usual high level with the ambience also being very good. As always, the food, drinks and service were all fabulous and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time. BYOB is available from Sunday to Thursday and this has the added benefit of allowing diners to bring their own favourite wine. For those diners not bringing their own wine, Howies has an excellent wine selection providing a really good choice of wines at very affordable prices. In summary, this is a great restaurant and we have already made our next dinner booking which we are all looking forward to.Tripadvisor rating score: 4.5 of 5, based on 4725 reviews