Tesco Metro

Generally okay, but quite busy, and not well equipped to deal with the crowds it regularly gets. Install more self checkouts please!
Selection of goods is extensive, but prices are inevitably more expensive than a larger out-​of-​town Tesco. However, it’s better than most other nearby options, so I’ll of course be back in the future.

Another Tesco Metro. I was almost not going to review it, but then I figured I should tell this story.
We were in Tesco and it had been a long day of Fringe and it was raining and I was looking exhausted and I just needed a bottle of water and a very nice employee came over to me and asked if I was OK and I told him I just needed water. He went, got it for me and brought it right to the register.
So sometimes, even Tesco’s will surprise you. Thanks for that little bit of kindness.

This is one of the larger grocery stores near the University of Edinburgh and I’ve stopped in a few times to pick up food and use the cash machine.
It is quite busy during the evenings and so I try to stop in earlier or in the morning. The store is clean, the staff members are nice (they are usually stocking items), and Tesco has a good selections of items.
I would say that when I stop in, the queues can get a bit long with only a few employees to get everyone through quickly, but overall I think this is a fine store. Nicer than Lidl down the street and with better items I would say.

As a newcomer from Canada, I admit I expect supermarkets to sell everything under the sun. The Newington Tesco is the closest I can get to one-​stop grocery shopping in the neighbourhood.
The aisles are wide (compared to other shops) to accomodate the omnipresent crowds of students, mothers with giant strollers, and the hopelessly bewildered.
The produce aisle stocks all the basics, and features «loose» items as well as prebagged. Just don’t expect anything more exotic than avocadoes or kale.
The big draw for me is the juice section! If I don’t get my morning smoothie, lives may be lost. I love the Tesco brand fresh juices, 3 bottles for £4.
The bakery section has a decent but basic range of fresh breads, but by midafternoon, the shelves are pretty empty. There are some premade gluten free breads available, near the checkouts. I’ve tried their organic baguette and pain de campagne, and found them both to be dry, bland, and oddly bitter tasting… personally I prefer Sainsbury’s bread.
The baking section is just confusing: my theory is the person who orders the baking stock is allergic to chocolate. The result is a profusion of luxury items, like four types of fondant and silver dragées, but no cocoa powder at all, and only tiny packets of so-​so quality chocolate chips.
As Yasmin E. pointed out earlier, their range of vegetarian-​friendly products is very limited, and there is no tofu.
Final verdict: adequate in a pinch. Personally, I’d rather plan ahead and bus to the big Sainsbury’s in Cameron Toll.

This is a pretty good tesco.
I quite enjoy browsing this place and enjoying the masses of empty shelves that are looking back at you.
Some positive bits of it are that there are some great deals to be had. They have an excellent range of baked stuff and usually a lot of fruit. They also have a good selection of polish stuff which I quite like eating.
Their herring is a touch over priced.

Quick and easy stop…
Sometimes helpful, sometime not…
Runs-​out of produce…

This Tesco is my regular supermarket and I have always been able to buy nearly everything I need here for a very reasonable price.
There is a fair amount of fruit and vegetables and the bakery section is simply excellent! As a vegetarian, I do find that there isn’t a very large range of vegetarian ready meals or Quorn products, but maybe this is for the best as it encourages me to cook my own meals more!
It is also open until 1am which is extremely useful, especially on late night trips to or from the university library!
The staff have always been very friendly and helpful on all my visits, particularly with the sometimes unpredictable self-​check-​out machines!
It can get very busy, particularly between about 5 and 7pm but they are generally very fast on both the self-​service and normal checkouts so you rarely have to wait that long. All the same, if you can another time instead I would definitely recommend it, particularly if you;re only there to pick up a few bits and pieces.

I find it funny that the original categories for this Tesco are «supermarkets», «food» and «donughts». I wonder who added this? It’s clear what their priorities are!
Whilst I’ve never had the doughnuts from this Tesco, I’ve had a lot of other things. In fact, this supermarket is my local go-​to. It’s the largest in the Old Town /​Newington /​University area that’s close enough to walk to. So I hit this one up a lot.
There’s not much more you can say about a Tesco supermarket. There are some I’ve reviewed that are really baaaad where they have no stock, the staff are rude and a bit odd. But this one is great. The fruit and veg section isn’t that extensive, but I usually go to the local veg-​mongers in the Newington area for that. The meat section is also a bit poor, but again — head to a local butcher.
But for dried food, breads, jars, and all the usual supermarket shopping –especially bread. For some reason they have a huge bread section!
And yes the check-​out systems are really annoying. But this Tesco in particular always has a staff member on watching over all the machines like a hawk and doing a really good job of making sure the problems are resolved asap.
As far as supermarkets go, this one is the best in the area. It’s open late too (1am I think). Although if it shuts, the ²⁴⁄₇ Scotmid across the road will have milk I’m sure.
So yeah — if you’re in the area I’d recommend this as a local supermarket. Way cheaper on some things than the two convenience Sainsbury supermarkets both further up Nicholson Street and on Quartermile.

This Tesco is the biggest supermarket of any brand I know in the Old Town and near the university. Therefore, it is also correspondingly busy.
This Tesco is good on location and on selection (compared to the lack thereof in central Edinburgh). That said, the shopping experience isn’t the best with navigating overly crowded aisles and waiting in long queues for the tills. Convenience is key, though, and that (along with the selection compared to the nearby Tesco Express) is why I keep gong back.

Its Tescos, what do you think?
All in all fine. Served me well for my 2 years living in Newington. Open til 1 AM which is always nice for those late night ice-​cream cravings. They also do great ice-​cream deals for 2.69 for a pint. Ben and Jerry’s too. can’t beat that price.
Does get very busy around dinner time and before so avoid going then if you can.

The shop is always really, really busy and the queues can sometimes be a bit too much for me and I just head for the exit when I see a meandering queue that curves around aisles. They have built a new smaller Tesco express not too far down Nicolson Street, so maybe the next academic year will not be as bad for this problem.
The store itself does have a good range of groceries and all the basic necessities that you would need, they obviously do ensure they have a good range of stock in the stock room as there never seems to be any items going out of stock.
On another note, the shop never has enough plastic bags, it is one of the most used shops in Edinburgh all year round with festival goers and students using it pretty much everyday so why is it so hard for them to order them in. They forced me last time to buy a bag for life because they had completely run out.

Someone once told me this was the biggest grossing Tesco for its size in all of the UK. It certainly is damn busy. Although visit it now and imagine it being twice as busy because before they built the other Tesco down the road this was positively bursting with zombie drones out to pick up their daily ready meal.
So despite the fact there were several little local grocers and a Scotmid opposite it, it actually took another Tesco to deal with the crowds. Quite sad really. But I will admit I have shopped at this Tesco Metro. I give into its convenience. I’m a hypocrite. Because I know in my heart of hearts, each and every Tesco is that is constructed is another pillar in the dark Sigil that will one day awaken the demon lord of consumption (if you view the layout of Tesco buildings from a birds eye view, you’ll see they make an image of a burning upside down pentagram– true fact).
I have to support all these local protest groups that have emerged, attempting to stop Tesco coming to their small towns and villages, knowing it will be the beginning of the end for local grocers, and a unique high street. Yet even still I find myself drawn in by the convenience, pushing to the back of my mind all the things I know about Tesco environmental damage, aggressive pursuit of critics abroad, allegations of bribery. I guess that’s corporate propaganda for you! Every little helps!
As Tesco go this one is alright to below average, in terms of items stocked. My only real reason for coming here now is really for organic dairy and tasty tasty homous– all other basics can be obtained for better or cheaper across the road or in Farmfoods or Lidl. I always found the fruit and veg section to be particularly bad. They do offer a range of ready meals, frozen meals, lunch meals and meal deals, if convenient crap is your sort of thing.
Overall a mediocrecTescos. Who would have thought such homogeneous corporate giants could produce such variation! I suppose we’ve shopped in enough to notice these subtle differences.

WHAT THE F**K DOES «UNIDENTIFIED ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA» MEAN!!! THERE’S NOTHING IN THE F**KING BAGGING AREA!
Except the bag of course, but it’s stil no excuse.
Regular bouts of teeth grinding, fist clenching rage aside, this store isn’t too bad, but is significantly smaller than the Tesco Express which is at most a 3 minute walk away. Convenient, but pointless if you’rre equidistant, or closer to, it’s larger sibling.

For its size this Tesco Metro is pretty good. It has just about everything which you could possibly need in the way of day-​today groceries and much, much more. Their fruit and vegetables are always top quality and fairly well priced as well as most of their other stock.
Some of their meat, in particular their chicken, can be a bit on the tough and sinewey side, but most of it is decent quality. There are plenty of sauces, spices, herbs and garnishes for those into their cooking.
One of the best features of all Tesco stores is their self-​service facility which reduces the size of the queues massively. If you’re in the area and need to do some food shopping then Tesco Metro will certainly do the job.

I love Tesco, but this Tesco is too small, too busy and too often I’ve left the shop with nothing in my hands!
No matter what day you go, or what time you go, it’s always busy and you’ll be queuing for ages. There are never any trollies or baskets so you’ll end up carrying everything in your hands.
Now that they’ve opened up a self-​service check out area it does smooth out the creases somewhat, but it’s still horribly busy.

Wow. The mighty Tesco hath taken over the South Bridge area!
It’s fairly huge, like an adolescent Tesco superstore. It’s too big to be termed a Tesco Metro. But it has mountains of choice so as a consumer, you are spoiled!
I found it a bit difficult to navigate but I was mega tired and my drained state was a cause of my confusion. The queues end up spilling out into the aisles which isn’t the best scenario after a hard day at work, but they seem to disperse quickly enough! There is an abundance of staff situated around the store who all seem eager to help.
A pretty handy Tesco packed with all sorts of necessities. I can imagine it being popular with the local student population.

This Tesco Metro is super busy and always bustling, full of students getting some beans and bread for dinner, stressed out 9−5ers grabbing something quick on the way home. It doesn’t really matter what time of day you pop in here — it’s prime location ensures that it’s always busy and there’s always a queue — it does move fast though.
They have a huge selection of magazines which greet you as soon as you walk in the door and I recently saw a guy walk in, automatically reach his hand to the highest shelf and in one fell swoop grab a copy of FHM and then literally ran to the desk with it with a terrified expression on his face as if his mum was lurking round the corner. Now that, was a man on a mission.

This Tesco recently had a makeover and although slightly confusing for us old-​timers at first, it’s bigger and better. Being so close to the central campus this place literally is the food source for the many students populating the area.
Because of this clientele you will find a huge area of easy meals and good food deals. It has all the basics covered, although their lack of buttermilk still confuses me. There is no specialised cheese counter or meat counter and don’t expect super duper polite service either– they just get the job done.
Do not attempt to come here at around 5 pm during term time. This Tescos has two faces: the quiet one (early in the morning — late at night –out of term days) or the zoo one where all hell seems to break loose.
As Fiona H. said if you aren’t a student or have a short fuse this place will probably drive your mental. For the rest of us, Tesco Metro has become a part of our lives.

As far as city centre supermarkets go, this one’s not too bad at all. Until recently, it was the most over-​cluttered, badly laid out shop you’d ever have seen in your life, but they just gave it a full overhaul.
Now it’s bigger, and definitely better. True, it doesn’t have anywhere near as much choice as the huge Tesco Extras, or the meat counter /​cheese counter /​fish counter etc but it does the job.
If you’re not a student though, you’ll probably hate this place. Straight after lectures, when every 18 – 20 year old within a ten mile radius is stocking up on beer, cheap vodka, pizza and whatever else was on the ‘reduced to clear’ shelf, the queues are ridiculous. You have been warned.

I’ve been told that this is the busiest Tesco ever, and I am inclined to believe this rumour. I remember times when I have rocked up for milk and bread and wound up in a queue that stretches right around the back of the store. Five minute beer-​runs can stretch to half an hour sometimes.
It’s so busy that they’ve just opened a new one five minutes up the road!

Der größte Discounter Britanniens hat hier eine sehr große Filialie. Zu kaufen gibt es quasi alles und immer wieder findet man hier sehr gute Schnäppchen, z.B. Familientiefkühlpizza für 2 Pfund o. ä. Sehr gut ist auch das hauseigene Weingummi! Noch günstiger ist allerdings der Lidl um die Ecke.