Look *shifty eyes* I'll be the first one to admit that this is not a healthy place to be in ..... but it makes my stomach so happy! Their quarterpounder with cheese has saved my -academic- life several times, and I'm never disappointed by the quality of the meat either. It's perfect for that weekend grease run I always find myself doing. How do I know the food is good in this particular greasy spoon? Well, I've got a very, very sensitive stomach, and if anything was awry, believe me, I would've known by now. The only thing I've got to grumble about (I'm always grumbling about something aren't I?) is the mayonnaise, it's too vinegary. I don't really like it that much. But hey, I'm Dutch and we like our mayo, (no doubt about that). If you like your chips like you like your spoons (that is greasssy) this here'll do for you! P.s. No whining about health now, I left my arteries at home, they don't have to know about this. read more

A classy chippy... Fish of the day is a must... Upstairs for best views. read more

My wife and I visited Edinburgh a few months ago and had a bad experience at City Restaurant. The place wasn't crowded so we sat at a booth that seats about 6. A few minutes after we sat down, a waitress asked us to move so that a larger group could use our table. We obliged and moved. Then we watched as the waitress sat a party of 3 at our table. There were plenty of other tables that could have accommodated 3 people. The manager saw this and came over to apologize, and offered to move us back to our previous table, but we didn't want to move again and cause a scene. The food tasted ok, but my wife got food poisoning from the fish & chips. She ended up spending our last 2 days in Edinburgh hugging the toilet. read more

Friendly staff! The fish and chips were so good! The chips were perfectly crisp and the fish was delicate and had a great flavor! Make sure to ask for salt and brown sauce. read more

Really nice place, Good prices, delicious food and affortable. I tried fish and chips and I can only recommend. Staff is really nice. Go and try read more

City Restaurant - Really good place, typical foods, Good prices. Fish and chips are really delicious and affortable. I was suprised :) - British Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

The exterior of the City Restaurant doesn't leave much of an impression. If anything, the bright red diner aesthetic made me hesitant to break my fast there. But, I had a lovely breakfast, pleasantly surprised by the quick service and really quite good food. The staff was extremely nice as well! Should you go for the Hot Chocolate, the spoon's there for a reason. I had chunks of chocolate (powder?) stuck to the bottom of my glass at the end. read more

Open late! We ordered the fish & chips to share (2ppl) and it was enough for both of us. Perfectly crispy fish and yummy chips. Everything cooked to perfection. Love it with the malt vinegar & salt. Super casual environment. Would go back. read more

Steak pie was awesome and my first official Haggis, Neeps & Tatties was a hit. Great little spot!

The city restaurant sends me back to childhood days spent walking along the marine parade in Lyme Regis, eating chips, trying to avoid heat stroke. Sure, there is no sea right outside the restaurant, but the chips are chunky and flavoursome (for potatoes). Portions come in small or large, the former costing £1.60, the latter £2.20. I go or the small portion which is rather generous. There are off times, and it seems as though the chips are at their best around 12 and 5. Extras include curry, mushy peas and cheese. On ordering, you can ask for brown sauce, salt, vinegar and mustard. The chips are cooked in vegetable oil, which is a plus for me, being veggie and also quite health conscious. I cannot really say anything about the other food, as I have only ever come here for chips, but the fish and chips are a steal at £4.50. The premises is clean, modern and in a very central location, close to festival theatre, he national museum of Scotland, the University of Edinburgh and Surgeons' hall. read more

Great service, drinks and food. Our family of 7 had a wonderful meal here after a long day of touring the sites in Edinburgh. Every dish we ordered was amazing. Our server was SO great...lots of suggestions on what to order and lots of attention to our needs. read more

Been here many times before, suits all ages . Good menu and lovely staff . Definitely one to visit !!

I had the haddock fish and chips and it was about the best I have had while in the UK. Very lightly battered golden brown with moist flaky haddock inside. Served with peas and chips. The view was also nice from the second floor corner table. read more

Went to this old favourite before the Theatre at my nieces suggestion. What a choice on offer. Not the best Scampi & chips I've ever had but tasty & served in a polite manner by a very busy waitress. Handy if you're up that way. read more

Eating here reminds me of eating at The Lumberjack Restaurant in Niagara Falls, where they serve the famous Lumberjack Breakfast: eight of everything. That'll be eight eggs, eight sausages, eight rashers of bacon, eight pancakesyou get the idea. Like its Canadian counterpart, the City offers meals of remarkable size and quantity. It's possible to have what would normally be considered a week's worth of fatty food served to you on a large, oval plate, all for about seven quid. It's unpretentious, down to earth, and gives great value of money, if your body can take the beating. read more

A decent fast food place. I ordered fish and chips (battered) but they serve other types of food as well. It tasted fine, most things taste fine after they've been fried. Giving this a 4 star mainly because the waitress was so sweet. She made sure we were never low on water. She gave us all take out boxes and packed extra tartar sauce in small containers for each of us. Didn't expect such good service at a fast food place. read more

I'm not sure if this place is pushing it by calling itself a 'restaurant', as it is essentially a large chip shop with lots of tables and chairs. Saying this, I am not actually trying to be-little it - as City Restaurant is dear to many Edinburgh hearts. It is where you go to eat 'comfort food'. It is friendly, homely, cosy. and there chippy fare is really reather good. What's more they are trying to mix it up a little by offering a few newer and different menu options. Sometimes somewhere like this is just exactly what you need to feel warm and human. read more

City Restaurant is really just a glorified chippy, not that theres anything wrong with that. It's pretty cheap and they'll accommodate any requests if possible, I've asked for chips n gravy before just to prove this point to a friend, and of course they happily provided me with just that. Im also told by my flatmate that the signature 'city' burger is like eating a fist of beef! There is nothing really special about this place but it is just a cosy little place to go for some comfort food, mac n cheese, lasagne. ooooor you can have the 'chippy' dished up on a plate with a fork and knife instead of it being handed to you in a brown paper bag! read more

This is a decent sort of fish and chips cafe next to the theatre. The view of the Edinburgh street life is quite beautiful. Unfortunately this place suffers from being a bit overpriced for such standard fair. Still, not a bad place. read more

This is a decent chip shop with a pretty good sit-in menu. My complaint is that my server seemed to have very little interest in providing a high quality service experience. Her attitude was very grumpy and uninterested. Maybe she was having a bad day but I certainly didn't leave a tip. read more

Nice and cozy, great customer service, however food not worth the money at all.

Loved my haggis supper accompanied by a cheeky wee Lager and the rest of the ladies in my company enjoyed their food too. Service was very pleasant too. read more

Are you positively knackered after a day of rollicking frolicking? Do you happen to be in Edinburgh on or around the sumptuous premises of 33-35 Nicolson Street EH8 9BE? If yes and yes, and arguably if no and yes (but not if yes and no or if no and no), may I gently nudge you toward my favorite cubular foodstuffs joint, Le City Restaurant, whose unparalleled cube-iness is a geometry fetishizer's daydream. Pop in for cylindrical cakes, rhomboid sands., and triangular zas. It's food to get you in shape. EDIT: the sentence you just read is true only in the sense that some of the food in geometric, not in the sense that you'll look good in the mirror. read more

I went here every few weeks growing up with my dad, but hadn't been for years until I took my boyfriend there last month. It was soo busy, but well controlled. My big breakfast was cheap, and included a cup of tea or coffee! It was very very tasty, a bit greasy but it hit the spot! If I lived closer to here, it would be a regular Sunday breakfast spot for me! When paying and leaving, it was hassle-free and a kind goodbye. read more

Fish and chips were dry and lifeless. Only positive point is that it is easy to find because the building is bright red. Why is it bright red, you ask? Because it is the wrong option. WRONG. read more

Modern fish and chips shop. Fish is great but chips is not as good as McDonalds. Service is good.

We were looking for a cheap restaurant that offered American-style food, so City Restaurant seemed like the perfect place to go. I really liked the diner theme, and the restaurant had a very laid-back environment, which was good because we needed to unwind after a long day. A waitress seated my two friends and me upstairs in a large booth. The menu actually has a great range of options. One of my friends got mac & cheese, which I tasted and thought was great, if a little overpriced for what it was. My other friend and I couldn't decide on what entree we wanted, but we knew we were hungry -- so we decided to share a margherita pizza, curry fries, and lentil soup. The pizza wasn't anything particularly special but it satisfied both of us. The "curry" on the curry fries was more like gravy that had curry spices in it, but they still tasted pretty good. I was surprisingly impressed with the lentil soup; it was big enough to share and tasted fresh. So it was a large, cheap, decently satisfying meal. The friend and I who shared food paid only £8 each, which was less than we had spent on breakfast earlier in the day. The service was good overall. The only complaint I had was that they seemed to be rushing us out because we were seated in the first floor instead of the ground floor -- even though the restaurant wasn't supposed to close until 1:00am, the first floor seemed to close at 10:00pm. It wasn't too big of a deal since we were finishing up our meal anyway, but we would have asked to be seated on the ground floor if we knew it were open later. read more

very good haddock fish and chips! chips were nice - different sizes and crispy! service was very good too

This is a useful restaurant situated near the Festival Theatre and in walking distance of the university and fringe festival venues. I went there with a few friends and it's got decent chipshop type food at great prices. There are US-style booths to sit at. It also doubles up as a takeaway shop. So if you are wanting to eat in, you would be better sitting further away from the food. Where we sat there was always (often drunk) people coming in buying chips to take away. This didn't help us think we were in a restaurant and help with the atmosphere. Food was okay though, and it's position next to theatre/bars/uni means it can come in handy! read more

I haven't actually sat in this place yet but I can tell you that they do some very very good chips and I plan another visit there soon.

We all went in here for a dinner, after the steamie in the festival theatre in edinburgh, i can safely safe the food was very enjoyable, only one down side for me , if you are put up the stairs, then ask for them to reheat the food as not hot enough to eat imho by the time you get it too the table , or book in advance and ask for a table downstairs thanks for reading my review appreciated. here is other reviews on google about this place thanks for reading my review appreciated. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?hl=en&psj=1&b... (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?hl=en&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=899&um=1&ie) =UTF-8&q=city+restaurant+edinburgh&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=city+restaurant&hnear=04887b800a5982623:064f2147b7ce71727,Edinburgh,+Midlothian&cid=8663837595775637397&ei=RjSLT-TVNoKs8QP346DxCQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&ved=0CFYQ4gkwAA copy and paste this whole link thanks read more

Extremely friendly staff, great fish and chips or burgers. Good takeaways or sit-ins. They recently had a renovation and the place looks awesome now. read more

City Restaurant holds a fond place in my heart -- the best sit-in chippy I've found in Edinburgh with a great selection of... everything you could want from a greasy spoon, really! The breakfasts are HUGE and great value for money -- you can change the selection and swap your haggis for mushrooms if you can't handle it first thing in the morning, or whatever -- there's also a veggie option. Then there's the usual "+chips" options with everything from fish to haggis to deep fried pizza. However, you can also get more 'normal' stuff like a HUGE plate of pasta, a healthy baked potato with a big choice of fillings, a salad or a filled roll. The atmosphere is quite nice though very informal -- great for people watching as you really get all sorts in there. Best thing about it is the service though -- the place is INCREDIBLY busy but the lovely waitresses (who are mostly Polish but all with very good English and always a big smile) are always happy to help and very friendly -- service is amazingly quick too. Good prices, and they stay open late. Love it! read more

I've lived in the area for near 18 years now, even did my work experience there. It is owned by a lovely couple, their son also works there, a brother and sister team have worked there since we moved here (according to my mum) and although the waitresses change a lot the place stays pretty regular. It's great for being right next door to the festival theater but also feeds a lot of regulars in the cafe during the day and as a chippy at night. I started off to write that the place has recently been renovated, the upstairs used to be the staff area and downstairs was the toilet now, even though the downstairs has stayed pretty much the same except for a redecoration the upstairs is now additional seating and I believe they now have an alcohol license, although that could be sheer rumour. But where this place lacks is even with the renovation a lot of people come in and are turned away disappointed because there simply isn't enough seats. Everywhere I've looked the opening hours are unknown. I, myself sometimes go round and it's closed or take a chance and expect it to be closed and it's open. And just a little note, has the best haggis ever...! Yum! read more