Cote Avis 

Visited the Cote restaurant in Edinburgh for breakfast. It was appalling. Nothing that was served to us was correct as they had run out of bread and other ingredients. We also waited over 25 minutes and food only arrived when I asked the waiter what was happening. When it arrived it was poor quality and cold.

The Christmas special was served with the meat still frozen inside. It tasted like defrosted meat, which is unacceptable for a meal at this price point. A real letdown. Whole dish felt cold .
There was always a hint of a truly bad, sewage-like smell constantly wafting from the back area, making the property feel unhealthy and deeply unpleasant.

What has happened to this place. Was always reliable for a good, not overpriced lunch. Was there yesterday with family. The menu is different and prices. The food was pretty bad. The mussels were awful. Cracked shells and tiny. The staff were really great. I felt sorry for them having to serve this food.

My husband and I booked a table for a special wedding anniversary and noted this in the booking request. When we arrived there was no mention of this by the staff and the restaurant was not busy.
Our meal started out OK and we both liked our starters. But then it all started to go downhill.
My supposedly vegetarian main was served and tasted of meat; clearly the vegetables had been cooked either next to frying meat or in a less than clean pan. The server asked if I wanted a replacement but I didn't want to make a fuss because it was a special evening for us, so asked if I could just have some chips instead so I would be eating my main alongside my husband. My husband wasn't terribly impressed with his chicken which wasn't served nicely as it looked as if it had been thrown onto the plate.
While we were eating our main courses, we saw a party of 4 at the table next to us asking where their chips were but, when their chips finally arrived, everyone had finished their meal and their chips were cold. I hope that my chips weren't intended for their table!
Anyway after we'd finished our mains, we wanted to order our pudding but waited at least 20 minutes for someone to notice that we wanted to order. A different server finally came up and, as I didn't know what to choose, I asked for a recommendation from the server. I explained that I liked dark chocolate and asked for the most chocolatey pudding. She recommended I pick the chocolate praline tart. My husband chose the chocolate fondant. Sadly, my pudding was definitely not very chocolatey but I ate some of it.
However, my husband's pudding was served cold. Now, we have been to Côte many times over the past couple of years and, on the 4 occasions when we have ordered chocolate fondant, it has been served cold. So this is clearly an ongoing issue. On 2 occasions we asked for a replacement which arrived at the perfect temperature. So you would have thought that the restaurant would be aware that they're sending out cold chocolate fondants and work to avoid this.
After we'd finished the original server came to clear our table and asked if we'd like coffee or anything else and we said no thank you. We expected him to return to ask if we wanted the bill but after 30 minutes waiting for this to happen, I gave up and got up and asked to pay. This process also took a while.
Now I didn't jump straight here to write a review as I thought I'd go in and speak with the management and give them our feedback and explain we were disappointed and why. We like Côte and wanted to give them a chance to improve. The manager seemed very concerned, almost dramatically so, and acknowledged they had an issue with late serving of chips and also that they were already aware that chocolate fondants were being served cold (so why had they not taken corrective action on this???). He finished by saying that he would send me an email to follow up and thanked me for coming in rather than giving them a bad review.
However, he sent no email. I have waited 2 months in case it was on his to-do list and he was just busy but he clearly was all words and no action.
So I now don't believe that Côte actually care about improving food or service and, as a result, we haven't been back and have no intentions of going back. I guess the good that comes out of this is that the other restaurants in Winchester are going to benefit from our custom :)

Note their reply: We have received so many apologies from Côte over substandard food or service over the past 2 years but their apologies are clearly meaningless since they don't do anything to put right their mistakes (which have been the same ones, over and over again). You have lost our business now for good based on this apology which is clearly only lip service.

My friend and I were extremely disappointed with our recent visit to Côte Cheltenham. Despite arriving for our 6:00pm reservation to a very quiet restaurant, the service was disorganised from the outset. Staff seemed more focused on preparing for a large party due later in the evening than on serving the handful of guests already dining.
Due to the large party we consciously ordered our desserts at the start of the meal to make it easy for them. Yet after our mains were cleared, a waiter still came over to ask if we “wanted to order dessert.” No one appeared to know what had been ordered, and communication among the team was clearly lacking, with waiters wondering aimlessly round the restaurant. We chased numerous times for where our desserts were with the same waiter, to be given a variety of excuses.
It took 25 minutes and 2 desserts eventually arrived, we were given two pain perdu instead of one pain perdu and one chocolate mousse. Shockingly, the waiter implied that we must have been mistaken, even though we had clearly stated our order from the start and had a receipt for it on the table. After further delays, a manager finally informed us — for the first time — that the chocolate mousse was unavailable.
Having already paid, due to needing to leave for an event and assuming that our food was on the way, we then had to request a refund for the dessert we never received, only to be told it couldn’t be processed in the restaurant. We were instead advised to pursue it via head office, which was far from convenient given we were already late for another engagement.
What should have been a relaxed pre-Christmas catch-up was overshadowed by poor communication, slow service, and a lack of accountability. Sadly, this experience fell far below the standard we expected from Côte, we are yet to hear anything despite submitting a complaint on their website.

I have always enjoyed Cote over quite a few years but my experience yesterday was a bit disappointing. Booked for 2:30 and when we arrived we were told that it would be 15 mins to get into main restaurant or we could have table by the door which I accepted due to time constraints,
The ladies who attended to us were very good and courteous but we were also attended by a fellow in a puffer jacket who looked like he had just walked in off the street which was rather odd and another fellow walking round with headphones on!
Food was good but menu not as varied and no set lunch that we could find. Unlikely to return!

Our first visit to Côte Bath, and the promised voucher for 2 free glasses of fizz was a waste of time. Reservation for 1.15, so not late in the day and they had run out of fizz, we were offered 2 glasses of rose which was poor quality and a very small quantity. The waiting staff were good and friendly but the supervisor on our floor looked like she really didn’t want to be there, no service with a smile, very off putting won’t eat there again

Went for lunch today and chose the Christmas menu at £47 with 1 glass of fizz included. I'm really disappointed, the portions were disappointingly small. I didn't like the starter, chevre with beetroot, it looked a mess and was struck at the small portion and then had a steak which was average, I hadn't realised that there was an extra £8 charge for steak. My dessert was also disappointing - a chocolate sponge thing served with a tiny tiny portion of cream and berry compote. So my friend and I paid over £60 each (no drinks, just "tap" water) which is a lot for me, unless I'm just out of touch, so I won't be visiting again. It's such a shame, I had a lovely meal there a year or so ago and was happy with the price and quality.

Beware the app stating you get a 'stamp' for every £20 spent, it should read only one stamp per visit if you spend more than £20.! Extremely misleading, the menu is now awful and more expensive and not value for money

I’m so sad to write this as Cote used to be one of my favourite
We always meet here for our Christmas catch up and this time it was just horrendous.
On arriving we had to wait for ages to order a drink and it seemed like the staff were over run.
All 8 of us ordered the set Christmas menu and when the starters arrived 3 of us were expecting King Prawns but they were small shrimp, we asked the waitress and she just dismissed it.
The main course arrived and the turkey was cold and looked like it was an Iceland ready meal, carrots were raw and no vegetables at all the potatoes were boiled new potatoes which wasn’t what was on the menu.
I asked to see the manager and asked why it was different from the menu, she said very dismissive that they had run out and that was all they had
It was just awful and inedible 2 were sent mine back and instead as everyone else had nearly finished I asked for a cheese plate.
It arrived with cheese portions so small it was like a child’s plate and only 2 crackers!!!
The service was dismal and the food just so below the normal standard the manager was scruffy and didn’t seem to know how to deal with the issues.
I will never return as it was one of the worst experiences at a restaurant ever.

As a regular customer at cote bluewater for many many years eating there at least once a week for either brunch, lunch or dinner we are so disappointed at the change of menu. Today my daughter and I had minute steak and fries and it was awful. When we first started eating there on the menu was cod goujons, poulet grille, fish cakes, and many, many more beautiful dishes. As most of the reviews on here are saying the same thing please listen to the customer and bring back these dishes and revert back to the way it was. As for the fabulous staff that work there you really are now underselling the restaurant that used to be so great. Very unimpressed diner who is going to find somewhere else to eat!!!!

Booked Edinburgh Cote for Saturday lunch 29th November , along with four friends . Have been to the restaurant many times and was looking forward to their usual standard.

The portion size to say the least was awful . Two of the party ordered the beef Bourguignon £24.50 it was supposed to be Beef cheek, mushrooms, bacon, carrots, creamed potatoes.’ It was one piece of beef and little else
The salmon also ordered by two of our party was minuscule at best
The remaining party ordered a chicken to share it was tiny served with chips , we were left to carve ourselves

The deserts were cheese and biscuits and crème brûlée. Cheese was a four pieces and a few crackers, crème brûlée was watery to say the least .

The bill for this was £450

Despite being promised contact from the restaurant to discuss this , no one has taken the time to address my complaint

What a disaster, one of my favourite places to eat is now a rip off price wise, especially for drinks. The staff in my local branch are great but are obviously dismayed at recent changes and over complicated marketing schemes. The menu is more limited and they add a charity donation to the bill which is not clearly highlighted. If they don’t make a rapid change they’ll go the way of Cafe Rouge. So sad.

My husband and I went to Côte last Saturday 29/11/25) to meet friends for lunch. They had booked the table in advance so we were shown directly to a pleasant enough spot at the top of
the building.

The waiters were friendly and attentive enough although service was a little slow.

I had the Bourguignon £24.50 described as ‘Beef cheek, mushrooms, bacon, carrots, creamed potatoes.’ It was an extremely small child sized portion, luke warm and bland. My husband essentially had chicken and chips which was shared between two, a small cooked chicken was laid in front of them which they had to carve themselves along with a small dish of chips, they orders more.

We followed with the cheeseboard, essentially because we were still hungry! It consisted of four very thin pieces of cheese of our choice and four charcoal crackers approx 2” square for £12, Oh, and a tiny cube of quince! The tiniest cheeseboard I have ever been presented with.

We drank a selection of wines.

The meet-up with friends was lovely, throughly enjoyed by all. The poor food and the consequently high bill at the end (approximately £450) left a very bad taste.

I would not recommend this restaurant at all. In my opinion the cost and upkeep of this beautiful building is transferred onto the customer at too high a cost resulting in a poor quality meal!

We bought a large Christmas sandwich at the train station on our way home because we were starving!

Abysmalcustomer service

Arrived at17:45 for 18:00 booking

Waiter coundnt speak proper English
and misrecorded order three times. First course didnt arrive till 19:00

Served three tables that arrived after us and still couldn't explain where our first course was
]Food was excellent but late and no proper apology from Manager - took three attempts till they agreed to withdraw service charge

We had booke d for Christmas week but will cancel and never eat there again

Abysmal

We went for my daughter’s 17th birthday meal. We chose chicken and steak and they were both supposed to come with bottomless chips, so we didn’t mind the small portions of chips between 4 people to start with. We have asked for some extra chips, and there was a massive delay, the second portion arrived after we paid the bill! The staff were trying to do their best, but it wasn’t good enough for the price they charged! Also there was no acknowledgement of my daughter’s birthday at all, even though I put it in the original booking. Overall, it’s an expensive and disappointing experience! Shame, we won’t be going back.

Oh dear what a shame. Cote really has been ruined. It used to be great, but the menu changes and other issues mean the cote experience is now awful. Tons of salt added to the food unnecessarily, rank chips, small portions and very very slow service. We have been to cote in different places many times over the years but we won’t bother again. It’s a waste of (a lot of) money for very basic food.

We've never used them anywhere before, and our first experience was in Oxford. I booked because it was convenient for the theatre and the food prices looked reasonable for what we wanted.
Service was fine for what we wanted.
I was impressed by the quality of the food, given that it's a chain, but if the menu is consistent, like a M&C then there is no excuse.
I was impressed by the quality of the steak. Their chef got it spot on! Thank you.
Minor grumbel, I probably would have liked a little more sauce, hey that is just me.
My partner enjoyed her meal and the wines were good for the price.

Cote used to be great and have been dozens of times but it’s now unrecognisable.
The menu has changed with lots of good dishes gone and replaced with baguettes! French fries have been replaced with fatter chips, serving steak sauce on the plate and not on the side, waited ages to be seated and to get a drink. Whole experience does not reflect the cost. We spent £160 on two people and it was worse than average. Much better alternatives out there.

We have been frequent customers of Cote for many years, but we were very disappointed last week with the new menu. Very little choice, very downmarket, and who would want 'bottomless' chips!
It's such a shame, I don't think we will be visiting again unless the menu improves.