Friendly bartender, good salmon dinner, & a good view of the castle from the outdoor seating area. read more

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A man pub for women? What? They play sports in here, sports fans. But it seems to be not very masculine. It's weird. The whole place felt a bit weird. I mean it's OK - they've got a couple of decent beers on and the food is passable. But it's just got a bit of an odd feel to it. Also, it felt a little touristy. I'm struggling to sum up my feelings for this place. It's OK, but I can see no reason to ever go there because there are so many other places that are better. Yeah, that's a fair assessment. Not cheap either. read more

We dropped in for a bar supper on Burns Night (coincidentally) and found the pub happily busy. It's a spacious, no-frills-attached sports bar with pool tables through the back and the seating area separated from the bar and pool tables by steps. If you and I are like-minded the left-over posters from Fringe shows are more entertaining to glance at mid-conversation than the Italian football game coming in via the projector screen, but it seems like a good place to set up camp for something like a Six Nations game. I've been in here 2 or 3 times during pub crawls and it gets the job done. However, our pub grub experience left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. The barman was a pleasant young guy and gave off the impression of being new. They have a '2 mains for £13' deal which is highlighted in the menu. Unfortunately he knew nothing about it until he wrung it up at full price and I queried it, but that's not really his fault. Safe in the knowledge I was having haggis, neeps and tatties the following night, I went for the steak mince burger + cheese and my dining partner the cajun chicken burger. All's well. Similar to several other pubs in the city centre your cutlery and sauce turns up in a bucket shortly after you order. And then, the waiting began. 20 minutes passed, we finished our drinks and went onto the next round. Half an hour... and during all this time a barmaid was to-and-fro collecting glasses, 40 minutes - a table of two who were in long after us receive their food (you know that feeling of total injustice!) - I mean, c'mon! A little bit of proactive consideration here, you can see we've had a bucket sitting at our table for ages! My partner eventually waves her down and politely enquires about our elusive burgers. Affronted, she shuffles off; never to return to our table nor make eye contact again. Nearly an hour after ordering, two burgers turn up at the hand of the young gent, garnished with no apology or explanation until I say "eh...just a minute..." and bend his ear a bit. Furthermore, my cheese is on my partner's burger! Back to the kitchen goes my plate to be cheesed, while my partner just decides to stick with the cheese she didn't order. What feels like a good 97 hours pass before it returns cheesier than a Cliff Richard video...which is a good thing. As for the food itself my actual burger was very nice, it was cooked well, succulent and not too densely textured and the chips were fresh and tasty. However, the simple green salad came with no dressing and there was no coleslaw or relish. More importantly though, the only apology we received throughout was the one I wrung out of the lad. Nobody asked if we wanted anything, if the meal was alright, or how it was after we finished. When you leave somewhere and the first 4 or 5 minutes of your walk is to bitch about your experience that's got to be a 1 star performance. read more

Footlights isn't really my sort of bar, at least not at the moment (I want to escape the football), however it is a decidedly decent place. It has live music most nights, there is a pool table and the food is decent quality. There are a couple of real ale taps, a good draft cider in Aspalls (used to be Strongbow), a wheat beer (Franziskaner Weissbier) and your normal assortment of lagers. There is also a large bottled beer selection, so really something for everyone. I have found the staff to be professional and friendly, which is an achievement given how busy the pub can get on occasion. Footlights really doesn't deserve the overly negative response, it is a decent pub, but won't appeal to everyone due to it's sports bar and stag/hen party friendly setup. Really it is more akin to a pub on the Grassmarket or Rose Street and the prices reflect that, so no it isn't that cheap, but when you are dealing with groups only in for one drink or sports fans nursing a pint there is a logic to that. I didn't necessarily think I would be a fan, but all pubs have their time and place and I'll certainly be revisiting once Euro16 is over. read more

If paying £4 to be patronised and insulted is your cup of tea, head on down to Monday's standup comedy night at Footlights. I've been to a fair few amateur gigs, but rarely one with such antagonism between the acts and the audience. The tone is set by the compere (and I think organiser) Davey, whose warmup consists of pointlessly quizzing each audience member in turn about their background and reason for being there. He didn't manage to generate much in the way of comedy from the answers, but at least we all knew each other a little better by the end of it. Oh, and he also referred to one of he female acts as a prostitute within the first five minutes, for no readily apparent reason. He had himself doubled up with laughter quite a few times though, so at least someone was enjoying themselves. The unpleasantness continued to varying degrees for the next hour. Some of the acts were just nervous and new - which is fine - while others went out of their way to be as obnoxious as possible. One young guy asked if my girlfriend was a prostitute, poked me repeatedly in the face with his microphone when I refused to play along and then apologised to the (stoney silent) audience for not giving us the "Peter Kay observational sh*te" we were obviously looking for. The second half picked up a lot, with two (out of nine) genuinely funny acts. The headliner in particular had some great material and a really good way with the audience. It's just a shame she was immediately followed by five more minutes of Davey leering after the four women in the crowd, complaining about his divorce, and predicting that "those London c*nts" would soon be "begging for a slot" at his nasty little club. Bottom line: One of the most awkward, mean-spirited nights of comedy I've ever experienced. It was misogynistic, aggressive and bitter - none of which are insurmountable problems, except that it was also desperately, painfully unfunny. read more

Lets start with a general, overall review for this pub - a conclusion at the beginning if you will. I can help but get the overall feeling that this pub is geared soley to male customers - it really does have a masculine vibe about it. Football, rugby, pool tables, a large range of beers, meat in almost every meal and air conditioning thats cold enough to make even the hardest of men shiver silently. That all said though, I dont dislike The Footlights - it has a charm that I am yet to find any where else, something that I cant quite put my finger on, but I like. read more

Footlights Bar & Grill - The Footlights - Sports Bars Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

This is another bar I go to when I can't think of anywhere else around the area to go. Or otherwise when everywhere else around the area is too packed to breathe in. I mean, the bar's OK, but that's all it is. They haven't got much of a choice of ale, and though they do have pub food, I've never got there early enough to be served (because I've spent the whole time looking for somewhere with enough room for me to drink in with friends). I guess that's one of the advantages, though. It's huge so there's always room for a group of people. Also (and this is always an advantage): there're pool tables! Yes, I'm one of those people who sometimes decided a pint (or two) and game o' pool beat learning about Aesthetics. This doesn't mean I've had enough time to become good at it, but I still insist on making a fool of myself. Oh yes. So, if you're in many and all other places have failed you, this is a decent place to grab a drink. Do not go there expecting something spectacular, though. read more

If you're into sport and pub grub, this is the place to be. With an extensive pub menu featuring delights such as chicken fajitas with homemade salsa or generous portions of chips smothered in homemade chiliyour munchies needs will be met. Beer selection is pretty good for a sports bar, and the atmosphere is open and family-friendly. Service is a bit lackingempty plates and glasses will sit for a long while before being cleared, but prices are fair and clientele pleasant. read more

Stayed across the road from this place 6 times and trying this for the ver first time. Great atmosphere. Superb selection of beers and gins and other spirits. Beers on tap and in bottles and lots of them. I had the cask beer very good. Food menu was comprehensive, I went with haggis neeps and tatties which was great value at £10 as my hotel wanted £38.50 for a steak! I will definitely try this place again. read more

Footlights Bar & Grill - Haggis neeps and tatties - Sports Bars Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

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We came upon this place after finding other pubs close their kitchens much earlier. Great comfy booth. Live music. Open mic night. Very friendly staff. Great service. Open mic was fun. My boyfriend got up and did two songs with the band. Food was good. Two had aubergine sandwich. One had fish and chips. One had burger. One had salad and nachos. All enjoyed. read more

Footlights. Wow - a bar that I used to love, has really gone downhill. Ok, in fairness, I have lived in Edinburgh for a while, but was still surprised to go in on the third day of the festival to be met with no student discounts whatsoever - and the shock of a £4.70 pint of Amstell. I genuinely thought I might have been in London City Centre for a moment. However - they are not the only place to do this over the festival so fair enough - moving on. I had a booth with about 7-8 friends, and all night we were being constantly (and I mean like every 5 minutes) hassled by a loudmouth American waitress asking if we needed more drinks (despite sitting with full-half full drinks). This lady was really the worst, after a friend finished his drink, he went to pay, but my girlfriend had ordered just a Coke - and the bar wouldn't allow him to pay for just his drink, stating that he had to pay for all of the drinks that were unpaid for at the table. Why offer table service if you can't split the price of the drinks? This was another of the points we all genuinely couldn't understand. After two forced pints we made a group decision to move on. Although I understand this review is wholly negative, I'm giving three stars because I've had a lot of fun and good times in this place over the last several years, and maybe it was just a bad experience over the festival. But you do remember bad experiences much more than good ones. read more

This is a somewhat large place, with lots of space for sitting, standing, or moving around. It seemed like it's made for heavy crowds, although it was lightly occupied when I visited. The pool tables are a nice touch. The food was very good -- the curry, in particular, was excellent, although it came with somewhat heavy, gourmet-ish (filled with herbs) naan, which I'd never had before and wasn't partial to. The beers on tap were relatively uninteresting compared to other local pubs -- Scottish and foreign standards instead of anything unique and special. (Okay, "uninteresting" if you're looking most for things you can't find easily at home, which I usually am.) The staff was friendly, but the service was confused and inconsistent. If not for the quality of the food -- the curry really was outstanding -- and friendliness of the staff in general, this would probably get only two stars from me. read more

I can't say I was overly impressed with this place. I stopped in one lunchtime for a burger and a drink. The food was quite over-priced, and the quality was not good. The barman was rather surly, and communicated in little more than grunts. Definitely not a place I will frequenting. read more

Wonderful food. Traditional food in modern look. Beer was also good. Service - ok, but we had to order on bar. However 4*!!