Edinburgh, Italian Restaurant Guide

“Making other fine dining establishments in town look somewhat staid, out of touch and overpriced” – this April 2018 newcomer is “superb”, and some would say “the best restaurant to have opened in Edinburgh in recent times”. “A charismatic space” with “splendid service” – “the reference on its website to ‘progressive Italian dining’ is accurate” and the modern cuisine is “outstanding” – “go downstairs to see the kitchen in action”. To match the fine cooking there’s “an exceptional, mostly Italian, wine list”.

This “stylish and relaxed” Italian wine bar and restaurant occupies a basement in the Old Town, and provides a “guaranteed night out” with “high-class food” and in particular an “excellent wine list” – “under the masterly direction of maître d’ Silvio Praino”. Part of the Vittoria group owned by a branch of the Italo-Scottish Crolla clan, it celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

The all-day caffè-bar attached to Edinburgh’s legendary Italian deli (est. 1934) is most tipped for a quality coffee-stop or light bite. Open later on Friday and Saturday evenings, the big draw is a wine list, which “must be the best Italian-based (and priced) in the UK” – effectively it includes every bottle stocked in the deli’s drinks department, for the shop price plus a £5 corkage charge. The accompanying food is “OK… enjoyable” but unlikely to evoke Tuscan hillsides, the Amalfi coast…

In Leith Walk, this “family-orientated” staple can be relied upon for “superb” wood-fired pizzas, pastas and so forth in a “buzzing atmosphere”.