Such a cute place. And the view of the castle from here was amazing…read more Super helpful staff! I am a member of a flight crew and as I was eating dinner I was asked to get catering for a flight literally the next morning. I asked the manager if he could make me some take away (to-go) steaks cooked rare to be cooked further on the plane. (I'm a private flight attendant and we cook and plate everything onboard). He went out of his way to make sure I recieved all the items cooked perfectly. Passengers left raving about the food!!! And these are passengers that definitely eat the best steaks. The manager even talked me through a playing game plan and I ran my thoughts of the dishes with him and wow, perfect outcome. I personally got the coley fish dish and started with some cheese. I am a big bleu cheese/stilton girl and it was all amazing. Everything was so good I used the bread from my cheese to mop up every ounce of juice left from coley plate. Great service, great views, and incredible food. All local and ever changing menu to fit what's in market. You'll see handwritten additions to each menu like the cheese and fish. The steaks were the 35 day dry hung flat iron steaks.

Three of us stumbled upon The Outsider while out looking for a place for dinner. It was so good we…read morewent back with 2 more friends a few nights later. Nice pleasant room with good size tables and very helpful, friendly courteous wait persons. Very good steaks, and fish, and affogato for dessert. Go to read the creative food descriptions on the menu!

Truly a memorable experience. We attended as a party or 4 (including one 11 year old proto-foodie)…read moreand each of us had a delightful time, and took away from the evening our own favorite dish of the night. Sean did a fantastic job highlighting the best of the fresh ingredients he served us, often in surprisingly formats. Highly recommend you make time in your Edinburgh schedule for The Table!

If you have an open minded approach to eating and you can actually book a seat for this place, then…read moreI highly recommend going! At £60 per person, it's not for the faint hearted. We ate a 7 course tasting menu and they DO NOT cater to dietary requirements. You CAN however book the entire place if you have 9 other like minded people who are happy to eat to your dietary restrictions. I think we ended up having 9 plates of food including a little amuse bouche at the start and petit fours at the end and also a mini pre dessert. The portions are well sized. I managed to finish every course and left full but not stuffed. Each plate is beautifully presented and they talk you through each plate before you eat it. As it's an open kitchen and there's only 10 seats, there is the chance to ask questions and speak to the chefs which I really liked. There were some interesting things like freeze dried powdered foie gras which my palate was a bit confused by, but as a whole dish, it did come together if at first I wasn't quite sure. This is not a place for the non food adventurous! I love that they're making fine dining casual, there was great banter between courses and throughout the evening. Other reviews have deemed it worthy of two Michelin stars, I've personally never eaten at a '2 star' establishment so I can't comment about that, but the food was definitely as good if not better than some of the '1 star' establishments that I've eaten at in town. It's also BYOB with no corkage fee, so you can spend as much or as little as you like on booze. They do have soft drinks/tea/coffee/sparkling water for sale as well but serve tap water as standard. This place definitely is not for everyone. But if you're a foodie and have the budget, try and get booked ASAP! (I've been debating between 4 and 5 stars as the food was excellent, and I totally understand with only two people cooking, it's very difficult to cater to dietary requirements & especially for coeliacs they can't guarantee no contamination but it seems unfair that so many people can't enjoy their food!)

We had a group of 9 and were able to reserve a private room which was great for conversations we…read morecould all hear. We had what seemed like two full time servers always on the spot to take our drink and food orders. The food itself was excellent, where everyone was happy with their orders. The duck and venison dishes seemed especially good. We highly recommend Blonde!

The perfect neighbourhood bistro. We walked in without a reservation on a Sunday night but I know…read moresome nights it can get quite full. We ordered the venison bourguignonne and confit duck. They were both delicious and very filling. The ambiance of Blonde is really what makes it stand out. It's everything you want in a neighbourhood bistro: small and extremely considerate staff, warm cozy interior, casual environment.

This place supposedly has the best almond croissant in Edinburgh. I came to get one around 10AM,…read morebut it was just okay. The ends were quite hard and I was disappointed, although the middle bites were delicious; crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I wish the entire croissant was this way but it wasn't! For £3.1, the croissant was definitely pricey, especially for the quality of it.

We went to The Wee Boulangerie when staying in an Airbnb close by. A great find. Lovely almond…read morecroissants, pains au chocolat and other pastries, all freshly prepared in the bakery. The coffee isn't bad either.

What a lovely place! After a few futile attempts at an unannounced dinner, I finally got around to…read morebooking a table and I was not disappointed. Firstly, the ambiance. Rollo is a relaxed place with dim lighting, quite small with limited seating but the set up is great. So after sitting down with my wine of choice, I could have quite happily just sat and enjoyed the street view and the relaxing atmosphere, but alas I was also starving. My choice: roast pork with apple jus, with a side of roast potatoes and bok choy. For my partner: beef fillet with rocket and parmesan and house chips. For my friend: the sea bass. And oh my, there was nothing in each meal that any of us could fault. The menu is a bit confusing as I was under the impression that Rollo is a tapas and wine style establishment. There are tapas style starters (none of which I tried so no comment), followed by bowls, then mains and sides. You definitely will need a side to accompany your main unless you are only after a small piece of meat. And for dessert: salted caramel and chocolate tart which was to die for. Each item was quite small, however perfectly cooked and seasoned and you will not leave hungry. I think the pricing is very reasonable for the quality of food. Definitely make a booking in advance so you don't miss out, I'll be adding this to my list of locals and intend to make this a regular hangout!

And we have another new eatery in Stockbridge, this one in the form of a cozy wine bar. The…read moreinterior is dark and romantic, accented with giant head sculptures and comfortable custom pillows. We were made to feel welcome from the start, and the service was good throughout. The wine list is diverse and approachable, with short descriptions to help guide your choice. Around 15 wines are offered by the glass. Every wine we tried was good, and the prices seemed about average for this area. The food plates are mostly designed for sharing. We started with the smoked aubergine on toast and mull crab bon bons, followed by the portobello mushrooms and the monkfish Thai curry. Portions are small but priced accordingly, which works out well if you'd like to try several different things. The Thai curry was my favorite dish. The mushrooms were delicious if just a tad too oily. The starters were interesting, but not amazing. For dessert we split a ginger sticky toffee pudding, which was small and tasty (and came with a disproportionately large side of clotted cream). Overall a lovely evening out.

If you don't give this place five stars we did not eat at the same place. Incredible meal all…read morearound - I got the scallop appetizer, a glass of wine, the rolls with butter, the cod and panna cotta for dessert. Everything was absolutely perfect! But that wasn't the best part of the experience... it was the SERVICE! Paul was incredible from the moment I emailed asking for a reservation. I dined alone and he was so hospitable and friendly I felt like I was eating at a friends house, the ambiance was incredible and I just was so so happy when I left here. I will be back and absolutely recommend!

Adorable restaurant! I just think the interior is beautiful and have printed photos of their…read morewindows, because I'm in love! But because this is a restaurant, I will also comment on the food which is also stellar. My husband and I just came for a midday snack of foie grad with the best! Delicious and decadent! Cute and delicious! Highly recommend

THIS IS A SMALL PLATES MENU. I think it was summarised beautifully by my partner who joined me here…read morefor dinner. "I want to drag the chef home and lock him in the kitchen" Prepare to show up and have an amazing experience, your tastebuds will adore you. Textures, flavours and general yumminess. Who would think to combine asparagus and honey! A must try :)

Situated in Stockbridge, Merienda is only a 10 minute walk away from the city centre…read more The restaurant is fairly small but is set up to allow more than enough space for social distancing. On top of this, the Merienda team have put a few extra precautions in place, all without impacting the dining experience! When we arrived at the restaurant we were encouraged to sanitize our hands, we had our temperature checked and we were asked to keep our face masks on whilst moving through the restaurant. Whether you're looking for a light meal or a full dining experience, the menu is served Mediterranean style with small plates based around 5 different sections; Merienda Staples, Fields and Gardens, Farms and Pastures, Rivers and Seas, and Sweetness. We decided to go for the full dining experience and ordered 6 plates each, plus a dessert to share. After grazing on so many delicious plates, it was difficult to choose a favourite, but if we had to pick 1, it would have to be the star of the show - the dessert - White chocolate & cranberry croissant butter pudding. Everything about the menu was incredibly fresh and it was interesting to know that all the ingredients are sourced locally throughout Scotland, served in their own style! The servers were extremely attentive and (personally for us) we enjoyed the pace in which all the dishes were served, as this allowed us to not rush our meal and appreciate the flavours the chef had put together for us. To read our full review, please visit sandlblog.com

You know that teenage girl who is slightly pimply and awkward but shows amazing promise and…read morebrilliance? This is Aurora. The menu is ambitious and fun. Some things work better than others but it's mostly on point. You can't fault the obvious stretch to do something different and delicious. We started with oysters which came with slightly gimmicky eye dropper bottles of lemon juice and red wine shallot vinaigrette. They were very fresh and exemplified everything you want from oysters. The highlight of the sharing menu was the burrata. It was rich and creamy and came pared with a berry sauce, sliced apples, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts and basil. There was a lot going on with this dish but it all came together deliciously. The 'too much going on' was a bit of a theme for everything else that came after. That's not to say that everything wasn't fresh and tasty but there was just one or two flavours too many which detracted from what was happening. The smoked salmon didn't really need the blobs of G&T. The duck confit didn't really need baba ganoush plus apricot purée plus yogurt. A slight scaling back would have exemplified the 'less is more' principle. That said, every dish pushed new boundaries and was experimental in the way that creative food should be. Our waitress was attentive and friendly. Our experience would have been improved with a prologue to what each dish was rather than it being dropped rather unceremoniously on the table. After all the work that went into each plate, it deserved a well scripted introduction. We had an impressive meal. Everything was fresh and obviously prepared with care. A few very minor tweaks would make everything exceptional. Aurora is a great addition to the restaurant scene and a gem of a find. It's also great value: £100 for three including wine and service.

Wonderful food that is locally sourced. Friendly service and a casual vibe with modern country…read morecoffee house decor. The best bacon I've ever had and the eggs were rich in color and flavor. I don't usually like hollandaise but the truffle hollandaise was delicious. The coffee and tea were good as well. Such a cute spot.

Run, don't walk to Lovage before it gets discovered…read more We didn't have a reservation anywhere and went at the suggestion of our concierge. It is block from North Bridge and 1/2 block off the Royal Mile. Quiet, modern decor. A very intimate space. Every dish we had was excellent. Service was spot on.

Understated service, friendly but not cloying. Adequate wine list. Small choice of gins, more…read morewhiskeys. Chic look and chic crowd. Nice departure from Scottish pubs and whiskey joints. Bread comes with pesto/lovage/mint butter. Delightful Gaspacho arrives as an empty bowl except for a spoonful of ricotta, a cherry tomato, and a sliver of fennel. The waiter adds a thin broth on it, then you have to stir the ricotta in. The duck breast, though the waitress didn't ask is a perfect medium rare, unsliced, but accompanied with an adequate steak knife. Spring roll, filled with cabbage and nuts is a fine addition as are the blackberries and carrot purée. Paired with the Mourvèdre/Syrah from S. Africa was a great idea. The sea bass is amazingly good - every bite. The tiny potato beignets are a nice touch. Scallops with chorizo arrived without chorizo. Waitress says they are wee bits. We couldn't finish the sea bass and sadly left no room for dessert.

My family and I celebrated Christmas Eve dining at the Bon Vivant. Pre-fixed special menu was…read moreamazing! Service top notch and nice ambiance (pub). You will have a nice time!

Ambiance - 10 stars. The vibe is dark, candle lit and cozy. Great spot for a date night and…read moreintimate chat over drinks. Some tables have curtains for extra privacy. Most of the food wasn't that great. But the truffle fries were to die for. The whipped sweet potato, grilled octopus, tortellini were not good. I would go back just for drinks and fries.