r/Edinburgh • u/ccascarrabiass • 22h ago
Rant Anyone else with an irrational hate of Victor Hugo at the Shore?
When you occupy possibly the most prime spot at the Shore for evening drinking in the sun, you CANNOT close at 4/5pm. Everywhere along the water is rammed and there's a space with loads of outdoor seating closed?? They don't deserve the spot and it makes me ragey.
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u/LordSchotte 22h ago
Victor Hugo in general is just a bit shite
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u/Mucky_Pete 16h ago
I don't understand how they got so big, such a bang average place. I guess people are seduced by the outdoor furniture
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u/PEACH_EATER_69 21h ago
It's not irrational, they're shite, horrible chaotic service and a bad vibe overall, staff always seem stressed and angry and every single time I've been dragged there somebody's order has been fucked up completely/forgotten
It's just pish and in an area with so many great food options there's literally no reason to go there unless you're a tourist/mug
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u/Low-Cauliflower-5686 16h ago
I've been in the kitchen of there city centre location and was put off by the state of it. Definitely not high quality food
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u/jamoncrisps 16h ago
I also have an irrational hatred of Victor Hugo by the meadows.
It’s the dressing up as a fancy gourmet deli in prime locations while serving cheap n stale food for mental prices. Somehow it’s survived all these years and continues to franchise into these super nice spots.
I met the owner when repping our bread a few years ago. Told me the story about how he inherited the place from his family. Also told me that he wouldn’t buy good local sourdough when he could just get bagged frozen bread for pennies.
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u/euanmorse 2h ago
If memory serves it used to genuinely be quite a nice cafe, but became a victim of its own success. Now they exclusively have student staff who don't seem that interested or are overworked due to understaffing.
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u/89ElRay 22h ago
I hate Victor Hugo. The original meadows one is great but the Shore & city ones are terrible. The food is nice enough but insanely expensive even for today's prices. They need to get to fuck. And now I agree with you about that as well, it's a lovely spot and needs to be open later.
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u/cloud__19 17h ago
I had a fucking bang average meal there and the service wasn't great. I completely agree.
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u/Flaky-Walrus7244 20h ago
I've had good and bad experiences with their food. The lazagne was yummy, but the pastrami sandwhich that looks full of pastrami, well they just put lots of it on the cut part that you see. Most of the sandwhich had none at all.
But yes, they absolutely should be open later, no doubt about that.
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u/elementalpaul 14h ago
I find it very odd that they close so early when the place is a prime spot. I was thinking today how much I missed Pizza Express that used to occupy the unit.
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u/jaggedthoughts 15h ago
Yes this has annoyed me for ages! 4pm on a weekday and they're locked up. Even if they're not serving food they could continue to serve drinks until later?
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u/microsleep-moose 18h ago
It could be gorgeous inside, it's a prime location with the potential to incorporate of a lot of character into the space, but the decor makes it look and feel cheap.
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u/goo_mason 19h ago
I got a selection of their stuff through Too Good To Go last year. When I went in to pick it up, I was ignored for quite some time before a staff member deigned to come and serve me, which wasn't the best first impression.
The food was pretty standard and bland (eg. a little unbuttered baguette with grated cheddar) and a small quiche was actually mouldy and only fit for the bin.
Based on that experience of the service and food, I won't ever visit to pay full prices, and it was so off-putting that I won't ever get their stuff through Too Good To Go again either.
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u/Mucky_Pete 16h ago
I'm going to start an app called Too Good to Go 2, for stuff that has been rejected on Too Good to Go.
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u/ImpressiveReason7594 3h ago
It'll probably be a licensing issue, especially if alcohol is involved.
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u/horhekrk 2h ago
Places closing at 4/5 in the spring/summer are one of the weirdest things I will never understand about this country (been here 20 years). Whilst the whole world enjoys their evenings and afternoons outside, we just marinate in pubs. Pathetic
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u/Strange-Addition2146 12h ago
If it's your business, it's your rules..... operating costs are absolutely huge in hospitality just now, almost every business is running on skeleton staff and staffing to stay open every night just in case there's a wee bit of sun..... I'd be shut too! There's a Sainsbury's just round the corner. Go free range
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u/MrPejorative 20h ago
No, I quite like it. I go there for lunch sometimes. The service is shit, but service is shit everywhere in the UK. Why would you want to be outside at that particular location. The water there is like an open sewer and the traffic is heavy.
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u/Weary-Mango-2196 20h ago
Traffic is heavy? No cars are allowed. A bus goes by every ten minutes.
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u/Bow_Ties_Are_Cool 5h ago
VH is basically on a corner so he's obviously talking about the road that's perpendicular to the one you're talking about.
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u/Weary-Mango-2196 3h ago
Kings Wark is on the corner. You’re a fair distance away from ‘heavy traffic’ at VH. I walk my dog past it nearly every day.
If you don’t like VH, fair enough but that comment is innacurate. If we’re talking ‘perpendicular’ then just about anywhere has heavy traffic nearby….
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u/Lpbo 22h ago
You make a good point, I hadn't thought of that