Italiano! (Est Est Est)

Member Name: SweetTooth93

Product:	Est Est Est
Date:	18/07/09 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: delicious food, not overly expensive for the quality, wide menu, healthy living range

Disadvantages: toilets smell, not a cheap meal, portion sizes can be too big

Please note however that Est Est Est is now known as Gusto's.

"Est Est Est" was a restaurant we just happened to stumble upon one afternoon in Edinburgh. The restaurant is situated on George Street which is an extremely popular street in the heart of the Edinburgh city centre. The restaurant is quite easy to spot from the outside and it lies very near the Roxburgh Hotel.


We arrived at the restaurant around 6pm, however we had booked a table in advance just to make sure we got a place in the restaurant. From the outside of the hotel it seems very pretty. There were a few tables outside however these were completely filled full. They seemed to be only two or three seated tables so if there were more of you, you may find it difficult to sit together if you wanted to dine outdoors. The restaurant had a nice marbled, green exterior which looked really fresh and posh.

Going through the doors we were greeted immediately by a charming Italian waiter! I love it when you go into special foreign restaurants and the people who will be serving you for that evening are of that exact nationality! It makes it seem a bit more authentic I think! He asked if we had a table booked, and we told him we had a 4 seat table booked under our name. He quickly scanned his records before looking up at us, smiling and signalling for us to follow him. He lead us back to a table quite near the back of the restaurant which suited me greatly as I like to be tucked away. There didn't seem to be many tables free however this is probably to do with the fact it was a very popular dinner time. The table we were sat up at was very nice. It was laid with a white table cloth, and the chairs were very comfortable too. The tables weren't overly huge however there was just enough room for all of us!

Not long had we sat down, before the waiter who had introduced himself at the beginning came back to take our drinks orders. I simply opted for a diet coke, as did my little brother however my grandma decided on one of their special red wines, and my grandad followed her choice by going for a red wine, but of a different kind. While the drinks were coming, I had time to inspect the restaurant a little bit. It certainly looked very fresh and clean. The tables were neatly spaced out so that nobody was bumping into each other. The majority of diners were adults however there did seem to be a few other boys around my age with their families. There were no children or toddlers though, which for me, who hates loud noises, was excellent. I wouldn't necessarily say that this was a no children restaurant however I do think you'd have to be positive your children were on their best behaviour before they dined. In the restaurant there was some very faint, Italian music playing however it just made the atmosphere a little more original and didn't really add anything to the experience. There was a nice little chitter, chatter sound however most of the diners were civilised and speaking at low levels.

After around three minutes the waiter arrived back at our tables with our drinks! The diet cokes were a lovely size, however I was a bit worried about the glasses of wine! They were absolutely massive. My grandad joked that he had ordered a glass of wine, not a litre of wine, however I know secretly he wasn't complaining. The cokes were really fizzy however there was a slice of lemon in it which I hadn't requested. I wasn't too keen on this but as I fished it out straight away it wasn't a problem! Apparently the wine was beautiful. My grandma commented that hers was lovely and "dry" however my grandad's was apparently "anything but dry". Once we'd received our drinks we were given a menu. I thought this a bit weird as usually you are given your menu as soon as you sit down however I suppose it gave us a little bit of time to get organised and settled in.

The menu was very large and when we were each holding up our menu's we couldn't see each others faces as they were so large. There was a lot to choose from on the menu, all of your original typical Italian dishes as well as some more unusual meals. After around 5 minutes of skimming the menu we decided on what we wanted. The waiter had obviously been watching us and the second we had placed our menu's down he was over at our table with his pen and paper taking our requests. He smiled and joked with us as he ordered but I had a little trouble understand him because his accent was so strong! My grandma seemed to find him hilarious though!

While we were waiting on the meal arriving, I went to the toilets. They were very clean and very fresh. In the toilets there was some louder, Italian music playing which made me giggle a little bit. There were around 4 cubicles downstairs but only one of them was filled when I was down so I didn't have to wait. There was plenty of loo roll, and in the 3 out of the 4 soap dishes there was soap. One thing that got to me a bit though was the smell. It didn't smell to pleasant at all and actually smelled pretty similar to McDonald's toilets.

I returned to my seat, and around ten minutes later, our starters arrived. I thought fifteen minutes was an alright amount of time to have to wait on our first course however any longer and I would have got a bit agitated. I had ordered my starter from the "healthy living" section of the menu. I had eventually chosen the warms figs, walnut and goats cheese, raisin bread with a honey and butter drizzle. The plateful I was given was a lovely size. It wasn't too big however it wasn't tiny either. I was given three three figs, two blocks of cheese, and two slices of raisin bread. I was also given a knife. I'm not overly keen on the taste of figs however these ones were lovely and sweet and didn't have the disgusting taste I often find they have. I only managed one fig though. The cheese was lovely. Although it was goats cheese it actually tasted very much like cheddar cheese. It was nice and hard too which is the way I like it. The raisin bread was gorgeous and the raisins were nice and chewy, big , fat and plump! Delicious. I was really glad I'd opted for a healthy living starter! My brother had ordered for his first course, a serving of cheese garlic bread. He was given three decent sized slices. He thoroughly enjoyed his garlic bread and said it tasted like a garlic pizza, minus the tomato! Surely this is a good thing. My grandparents were a bit more adventurous and one ordered tiger prawns and the other otped for pea and mint soup. The soup was a splendid bright green in colour and looked to be steaming hot. My grandma thoroughly enjoyed her soup and said she was glad that there was only a very, very mild minty taste. My brother had a spoonful of the soup but didn't like it. The tiger prawns were massive so luckily my grandad was only given two of them. They came with three mini pots, one filled with tomato salsa, the other with a cream and chive dip and the other was a green guacamole. Overall we were all thoroughly impressed with our starters.

Ten minutes after we had finished our first course, and our plates had been cleared away, we were brought our main courses. My brother and I were also brought another diet coke, and the jug of water my grandparents had requested had arrived on the table too. I had ordered a simple Margherita pizza where as my little brother had gone for a delicious bowl of spaghetti Bolognese. We had been a bit boring compared to 'granny and 'grandpa's choices. My grandma had chosen a salmon dish, and my grandad had eventually decided on a wild mushroom risotto!

I had been told my pizza came in two sizes, so I decided on the smaller one after all I had already had a starter! It was a lovely size, it was still a bit on the big side for me though and I did leave a slice of it. It was delicious though. The dough base was lovely and soft and doughy which is jus the way I like it. The crusts were nice and crisp and had a lovely crunch to them. The tomato base was unusual! It wasn't just plain tomato sauce but instead there were whole chunks of tomato on it! I would have personally preferred it to be just smooth as I had chunky textures however the lovely tangy taste made up for it. There seemed to be an awful lot of tomato on it though and it was actually spilling off from the sides. There was a nice serving of cheese on the top two which tasted just like typical mozzarella cheese. It was nice and chewy and at times was a bit TOO stringy! My brother enjoyed his spaghetti Bolognese for sure! He ended up with the majority of it sprayed all over his white tshirt and his cheeks. It was a massive bowl but he did manage to finish most of it. The spaghetti looked fresh and there was a lovely serving of the meaty Bolognese mixed through it too! He thoroughly enjoyed it!
My grandma was pleased with her salmon dish too. She was served up a large piece of salmon, mashed potato and a jug with some sort of sauce in it. She was also given a side plate of green beans and some other type of vegetables which she happily munched through. She says that the salmon "had a very fishy taste to it but it wasn't too strong" and the mash was lovely and soft and tasty but it could have "done with a little bit more salt". check out grandma the food critic! My grandad enjoyed his rissotto. He opted for the "large" which maybe was a bit too large for him as he struggled towards the end. I have to say, the smell of all our different meals combined was utterly gorgeous!

Dessert arrived around fifteen minutes following this. It was good as it gave us a little bit of time to digest our maincourse though personally I could have done with about ten minutes more than that! I decided on a sticky toffee pudding! I was asked whether I'd like a small or large portion and feeling a bit guilty I opted for the small portion. My grandma ordered the sticky toffee pudding too meanwhile my grandad ordered pear and almond tart and my brother a chocolate mousse. The small portion of sticky toffee pudding was just enough. It came with either vanilla ice cream, or cream but I chose the ice cream. The sponge was lovely and soft but had a great chew to it too. The sauce was deliciously sweet but incredibly sticky so I was careful not to get it on my hands. The ice cream was nice and creamy but wasn't anything too special. The slice of tart that my grandad had was absolutely huge. It also came with two large scoops of vanilla ice cream. The tart was very hot at first, however the smell radiating from it was utterly divine. It smelled very pastry like! Apparently it was delicious and the taste of almond, fruit and tart combined amazingly well together. My brother enjoyed his chocolate mousse but couldn't finish It as it was so sickly sweet.

Overall, we were really quite pleased with our meal. all of the food had been hot and to a brilliant quality and the portion sizes had been very generous, sometimes even too big! The service we received throughout was good however I found the waiter a bit too in your face for my liking and annoyed me a bit when he kept coming throughout our meal asking if we had enjoyed it!

We each had 3 courses, and my grandparents had a glass of wine each, as well as a diet coke each. My brother and I had two glasses of fizzy juice too. For all of this, we were charged £116. Personally I feel for the quality of this food, this isn't too bad! We left a tip of £7 as we felt that this was appropriate.
I feel our experience at this restaurant was really good, and would go back once again!

It Is worth booking a table though before dining here, as it can be quite busy especially around lunchtimes and dinner times. This can be done easily over the phone or online and as far as I am aware doesn't require an extra booking fee, or it didn't when we booked anyway!

**

Menu.
If you are more interested in the menu and what it has to offer then I'm sure a full menu can be found on their website too!

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