This place used to be all about drinking and was a proper pub. These days it is all about the carvery. Indeed, I believe the pub has changed its name from ‘the Harp’ to ‘Toby Carvery Edinburgh West’.
If you go for the carvery, you’re likely to be happy with it, as it’s a fine meal for under £8.00. Going to the Harp just for pints though is a different story. It’s a bit like going to Pizza Express only for beer, and then feeling disappointed by the lack of pub atmosphere. Think of the Harp in the same way. They do drinks (in fact the Harp is still actually a pub) but their main focus is food.
I came to this conclusion one Saturday night recently, when some mates and I made just such a mistake and went to the Harp for pints. Sure, the Harp serves a reasonable pint of Best, but I could enjoy a ‘reasonable’ can of Best in my living room. If you think about the other reasons why you go to a pub; atmosphere, entertainment, people watching, the Harp delivers none of these things. They don’t even sell bar snacks. Clearly they think that by not selling a peckish drinker a bag of crisps, said drinker will then rush through to the carvery to buy an entire meal! They seem to have forgotten though that salty snacks make people drink more beer which = profit.
There were only three other punters in the bar area, all men in their sixties. They looked as disappointed to be there as we were. Leaving the carvery part of the pub though were a group of satisfied looking customers who had clearly enjoyed their meal. So, not to ‘Harp’ on about it, but this place is all about the carvery!
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| Carvery - the clue's in the name people! |
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