Helpdesk: If a zoo can bring pandas from China, why not soya?

I hesitated at the reception desk when paying £30 for our visit and £4 for parking, and I am now glad that I didn’t renew.

The juice machines at the top of the hill beside the lions didn’t work. It’s thirsty work getting there. We visited one of the restaurants. I waited 15 minutes in a queue for a small bowl of pasta, which by the time I paid £6.95 for was only lukewarm.

My son told me it tasted horrid and he could only manage two mouthfuls. For me, there was no gluten-free food, so I was glad of the back-up banana in my handbag. I then waited in another queue for a coffee to perk me up, and being dairy intolerant, asked for soya milk. None. I tried the other coffee shop and was told it was strange they didn’t have any because they had some yesterday.

Is this the service that one of our capital’s main attractions is delivering? Am I the only coeliac in Edinburgh? I expressed my feelings at the front desk and was told that the restaurants are separate to the zoo.

I am very disappointed in the level of quality, variety of food, running of the restaurants, overall price and service.

Pandas are expensive, and the revenue needs to be generated from somewhere. However, give me good service, good food, choice and I will happily pay extra for my experience. Surely we could have shipped in soya beans from China when we shipped in the pandas?

Natalie Alexander, Edinburgh

AA SPOKESPERSON for Edinburgh Zoo answers:

“If Natalie had mentioned her strict dietary requirements to a member of our catering team at the time, we could have directed her to either place to eat and are sure she would have found something suitable from this range of options.

“We understand Natalie raised her concerns later when exiting the zoo to our front-of-house customer services team.

“We should have soya milk available at all times and normally do, so will look into this with our catering team to discover why it wasn’t available on this occasion.

“In relation to the juice machines, the zoo endeavours to keep the 40 plus on-site snack machines full at all times, but the combination of school holidays, busy weekends and sunny weather can sometimes mean they are very popular.

“Comparative research does show our pricing is in line with other similar visitor attractions.”