Robin’s Nest Inn

This is a pub that serves food. This is an important point because many reviews have knocked the food. I’d look at this place as more of a pub with the ‘bonus’ of food to eat.
As a pub, it reminds me of those kind of pubs that are found more often in England; the beer garden, the car park, the size of the building (it’s a big place) and yes the food deals and kids menu etc.
I really think if you are getting a pint and a curry for £5 or whatever the deal is then I wouldn’t expect it to be anything other than heated up stuff from storage. I knew when I got a rump steak with chips for £6 that it wasn’t going to be the best but it was value for money.

Cheap and good. The beer is very cheap! Food isn’t bad. You get a lot and its cheap.

Sadly, we weren’t impressed when we ate here last week. While they have quite an extensive menu, I ordered fish and chips to be on the safe side (traditional pub fare, right?!). Both fish and chips were disappointingly on the mushy side. P ordered surf and turf. His steak tasted funky… almost like freezer burn. We ordered a tuna baguette for the baby, and it tasted stale, like it had been made the day before. The place was busy and it looked like there were several regulars. The environment was also really comfortable, so it’s a shame the food didn’t match. The table over ordered burgers, which looked really scrumptious, so maybe that would be the thing to order if we ever go back.

appears to be part of a chain, nice food, quite a big menu, clean and cheap

Hummm where to start here…
The Man and I have taken two weeks holiday to work on our house. One can go a bit stir crazy when stuck in the house for two weeks, so we decided to explore a bit more of our neighborhood in quest for food. We started with the Liberton Inn (review to follow) for a pint, and then continued down the road to the Robin’s Nest Inn.
We were aware that it was a chain, but wanted to fill our bellies and figured it couldn’t be that bad …
On arrival, we noticed that the place was quite busy considering it was a Wednesday night. We took that to be a good sign, chose a table and ordered up pints at the bar. Despite the fact that there was only one other person at the bar when The Man approached, the bartender actually managed to forget who was next and go on to serve a third person who approached later. Immediate points off.
We chose our dinners from the extensive –but also somewhat confusing — menu.
I chose the chicken fajita (a safe pub fare bet in the past) and The Man chose a mixed grill, including Cumberland sausages.
The meat was neither grilled (the chicken was actually boiled) nor were the sausages Cumberland. My chicken was also boiled and served with some kind of BBQ sauce which wasn’t on the menu, and I hadn’t ordered. My tortillas were clearly old and from frozen, the «mixed peppers and onions» were about 95% opion, the cheese was dried out and the sour cream was lumpy, kind of like the consistency of cottage cheese.
Add to that slow sullen service and dirty bathrooms and we were not impressed. Granted, we hadn’t expected to be impressed, we just wanted something to fill our bellies, but we both walked away feeling just a bit gross, and wishing that we’d decided to try the carvery down the road, instead of looking for a bit of an adventure.

Bit of a random one, this. Solely because the Robin’s Nest used to be my local back in the day when I was jumping around the rough and ready terrain of Gilmerton, Moredun, Liberton and the Inch in my yester-​years. Needless to say when I decided to grow up, I dropped The Nest like a bad habit, however still close enough to remain aware of the various changes it went through over the years… done well not to be taken over a couple dozen times and retain the original name I’d say!
Before my most recent visit, what I knew of The Nest was that it had split itself into two sections; the right side reinventing itself as a gastro restaurant/​bistro, and the left side remaining a (albeit refurbished) haven for the plethora of self-​employed and apprentice joiners, electricians, plumbers and labourers that grace the nearby area.
As I was invited here for dinner with some family members I correctly assumed we would not be gracing the saloon and would be opting for the more homely surroundings of the restaurant, and all I could say was… when the hell did THAT happen?!
The Robin’s Nest definitely tries to walk on the fancier side of gastro, with a large menu that houses all the pub classics (Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, Peanut Butter & Jelly… waitaminnit!) but also throws in some rarities such as Pork Belly, Gammon Hock and Mushroom Dopiaza. I later learnt that The Nest has now been adopted into the ‘Sizzling’ series of pubs (I know… who?), which lo and behold, would explain the multitude of literally sizzling hot-​plated meals that were spewing forth from the kitchen.
The Pork Belly itself was tremendous; juicy, sizeable and gravy-​tastic. My brother was not disappointed with the curry either but by the point his leftovers were up for grabs, I myself was also full! Gutted.
Sadly the food was left red-​faced by the lack of efficiency in the staff. Although friendly enough, the kitchen did forget a dish, which arrived almost 10 minutes later. Well done for a catch up but shouldn’t really have happened in the first place.
After the food I thought I’d take a peek into the bar side of the establishment, for old time’s sake…
You know that bit at the beginning of An American Werewolf In London? Where the American guys arrive in the pub? All heads turn on the strangers with death in their eyes… remember that?
It was nothing like that! Phew.
All in all a decent place to grab a bite if you find yourself on that side of Edinburgh, from a chain I’ve never heard of but will definitely look out for in the future!

Only word to describe this place — DIRE! I keep going back to give it another try but am disappointed every single time. The last straw was a couple of weeks before Christmas when a group of us went for the Christmas menu — something which had been booked weeks in advance. Firstly, the chef came out and told us that he didn’t have any of the starters we had pre-​ordered but would make us a selection of starters for us to share among the 6 of us — fair enough. Our main courses were okay — typical mass-​produced turkey etc, but not bad. However, when the sweets came they were served by a little waitress who was obviously way out of her depth, she flung the plates on the table and took off. That’s when we noticed that the Christmas pudding wasn’t cooked — this was noticed by the one person amongst us who didn’t ask for custard so it wasn’t drowned by about a pint of watery liquid which passed for custard, at least one order was wrong and the person who ordered profiteroles got about 3 which she could hardly find underneath a mount of artificial squirty cream! It was halfway through the meal, however, when we noticed that we were the only ones in the restaurant and, when we complained to the waitress about the sweets, she told us that the chef had closed the kitchen 2 HOURS before we turned up for our meal because he didn’t have enough food and had then gone home and left her to sort the sweets out. We complained to the Duty Manager who, while he understood why we were annoyed, couldn’t do much. We refused to pay the balance of the meal and our friend had to fight for about 3 weeks to get our deposits back. NEVER EVER AGAIN!

Went with a voucher from the site — 2 meals and 2 drinks from a selection for £9.99 which was great value!
I had a double BBQ burger stack which was really nice, only bad thing was the bacon was a bit too fatty for my liking.
Robin’s Nest is always good for quality food though, and is good value.