Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in City Of Edinburgh
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best City Of Edinburgh restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 54 restaurants in City Of Edinburgh and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing City Of Edinburgh restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured City Of Edinburgh Restaurants
1. Number One, Balmoral Hotel
British, Modern restaurant in Edinburgh
1 Princes Street - EH2
The soft furnishings… the acoustics… all create a calm, quiet ambience” at the premier dining room of the Scottish capital’s landmark hotel, which is extremely stylish and opulent for somewhere that’s entirely underground. Fans say that – under chef Mathew Sherry, who arrived in 2021 – “it’s a must-visit when in Edinburgh, everything is perfection from the minute you enter the dining room”, although some advise you “skip the seven-course tasting menu and go for the three-course option, which is better value and with plenty enough to eat”. Other features include an excellent wine selection (over 350 bins) and the newly introduced private dining room (a 10-seater, to which The Scotsman’s Gaby Soutar awarded 17/20 in her September 2023 review).
2. Aizle
Scottish restaurant in Edinburgh
The Garden Room in The Kimpton Hotel, 38 Charlotte Square - EH2
Stuart Ralston is celebrating the tenth year of his Aizle project, although it’s only inhabited the glass-roofed ‘Garden Room’ of the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel since 2020. Under chef Ashley Salmon, it wins solid ratings as a “good all-rounder”. It’s a tasting menu only format: the five-course version is £75 per person, and there’s also a seven-course menu for £105 per person.
3. Dumpling Queen X Dai Jou Bu
Chinese, Dim sum restaurant in Edinburgh
52 Blackfriars Street - EH1
Experience the Best Chinese Restaurant in Edinburgh’s Old Town – Dumpling Queen X Dai Jou Bu Located at 52 Blackfriars Street, Dumpling Queen X Dai Jou Bu offers an authentic taste of Hong Kong right in the heart of Edinburgh’s hi...
4. Pizzeria 1926
Pizza restaurant in Edinburgh
85 Dalry Road - EH11
2021 Review: “From the owners of nearby Locanda De Gusti” – this three-year-old sibling is praised for its “authentic Neapolitan pizza” and at a good price too.
5. The Palmerston
Scottish restaurant in Edinburgh
1 Palmerston Place - EH12
“Consistently fresh, bold, interesting food – forthright but beautifully balanced and absolutely delicious, and a decent wine list too” inspire nothing but high enthusiasm for this emerging star of Edinburgh’s dining scene – a ‘Restaurant & Bakery’ from Lloyd Morse and James Snowdon with traditional looks but a forward-looking menu of “simple seasonal food” delivering “outstanding” flavours. Top Menu Tip – “crispy lamb belly and sausage on mustard lentils”.
6. Chop House
Steaks & grills restaurant in Edinburgh
Arch 15 E Market St - EH8
A “cosy neighbourhood steak restaurant” in a “great location” under the arches close to Waverley station. The beef is dry-aged in-house with Himalayan salt and then “well cooked” over coals, and they really “take the time to make sure it’s great”. (Its Bruntsfield and Leith siblings are no more, both having closed in the first half of 2024).
7. LeftField
Fish & seafood restaurant in Edinburgh
12 Barclay Terrace - EH10
This “pretty little fish restaurant tucked away overlooking the expanse of the Meadows in south Edinburgh” has won widespread praise for its “deft and delicious cooking”. Chef-patron Phil White and his FOH partner Rachel Chisholm followed up by opening all-day spot Margot a few doors away in March 2024 – hailed by critic Chitra Ramaswamy of The Times as ‘the hippest café in the city’. Top Menu Tip – “the stand-out octopus”.
8. Dumplings of China
Chinese, Dim sum restaurant in Edinburgh
60 Home Street - EH3
2022 Review: “Really good, cheap Chinese food” is the order of the day at this “fun” two-year-old, featuring whitewashed brick walls and a long, refreshingly unusual menu that incorporates the headline event alongside BBQ dishes, noodles etc.
9. Dean Banks at The Pompadour
British, Modern restaurant in Edinburgh
Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh - The Caledonian, Princes Street - EH1
It’s one of the Scottish capital’s more famous dining rooms within one of its landmark hotels and run by star chef Dean Banks, yet feedback is perennially thin regarding this 1920s chamber, which has been through a number of incarnations in living memory. Named for King Louis XV of France‘s favourite mistress, its hand-painted walls and opulent decor are Grade A listed, although this somewhat grates with its current format, with bare tables and vividly coloured bucket chairs. The menu is that of a luxurious brasserie rather than something more haute and the tasting menu likewise at a relatively affordable £75 per person. Feedback is ‘all good’, but doesn’t give enough detail for a solid rating.
10. Grazing by Mark Greenaway
British, Modern restaurant in Edinburgh
Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh (The Caledonian), Rutland Street - EH1
2022 Review: “In the Caledonian Hotel (Waldorf Astoria)” for the past couple of years, in a space previously occupied by the Galvin brothers, Mark Greenaway's hyped modern English and Scottish venture may be a little ill-named (it's less about sharing plates than heftier options) but receives feedback that’s notably sound, including for the “fab” puds and “well-presented” Sunday lunch.
11. Kanpai
Japanese restaurant in Edinburgh
8 - 10 Grindlay Street - EH3
2021 Review: “Tasty, freshly prepared sushi” and “friendly service” can be found at this “very popular” Japanese: a stylishly minimal operation near the Lyceum Theatre – from the team behind Sushiya.
12. Timberyard
Scottish restaurant in Edinburgh
10 Lady Lawson St - EH3
“Well deserving of its Michelin Star!” – the Radford family’s converted Victorian warehouse (originally built as a props and costume store) has built a strong culinary reputation since it opened 11 years ago and was finally recognised by the Tyre Men in their 2023 awards. A five-course menu for £115 per person is the entry-level option (although there is a more extensive tasting menu available for £145 per head).
13. Scran & Scallie
Scottish restaurant in Edinburgh
1 Comely Bank Rd - EH4
“What a joy!” – Tom & Michaela Kitchin’s selfconsciously Scottish gastroboozer (‘Oor menu; Yer starters’) is a “buzzy” and “enjoyable experience” serving “upmarket and well done pub grub” as well as “wine by the useful 500ml carafe”. Top Menu Tips – the S&S fish or steak pies.
14. Chaophraya
Thai restaurant in Edinburgh
33 Castle St - EH2
2021 Review: “Excellent views from the conservatory” – including possibly “the best view of the castle, if you get the right table” – are incentive enough to visit this branch of an eight-strong Thai chain. It also delivers “surprisingly good and inexpensive food”.
15. Rico's
Italian restaurant in Edinburgh
58a Castle Street - EH2
2023 Review: “Amazing Italian cooking using Scottish produce – impeccable – and with outstanding service” inspires excellent feedback on this stylish and moodily decorated New Town site. It was opened in mid 2021 by Stefano Pieraccini of the Rocca Group in premises vacated by Martin Wishart’s The Honour (RIP).
16. Contini George Street
Italian restaurant in Edinburgh
103 George Street - EH2
“Great Italian food” is served in “beautiful rooms” – a collonaded Georgian banking hall modelled on a Florentine palazzo – at this 20-year-old operation from a Scottish-Italian catering dynasty. It’s “quite noisy, but fun”, and is open for breakfast (when ‘Aberdeen butters’, flat Scottish croissants, are served).
17. Cafe Andaluz
Spanish restaurant in Edinburgh
77B, George St - EH2
“Just right for a nice tapas lunch with a glass of good vino”, this Spanish specialist with eye-catching décor (wall-hung ceramics, jazzy textiles, foliage) wins praise for a “wide choice” of “very good value” dishes which are “generally tasty if not always authentically Spanish”. As of November 2023, when they added a Stockbridge sibling, there are now three branches in town, with the wider family (the NE-based DRG group) stretching to Glasgow, Newcastle and Aberdeen.
18. Nok's Kitchen
Thai restaurant in Edinburgh
8 Gloucester Street - EH3
“If you’ve ever been in Thailand, you’ll know how authentic the food is” at this “very popular Stockbridge restaurant” (which also has an offshoot near the castle). It’s “small, intimate and always busy, but the efficient staff try their best to provide you with a good dining experience”. Top Tip – “the chili crab signature dish”.
19. The Witchery by the Castle
Scottish restaurant in Edinburgh
Castlehill, The Royal Mile - EH1
Dine amid the ghosts of Auld Reekie at Scotland’s most romantic hotel and restaurant, set in a collection of dramatic buildings dating back to 1595, and right at the gates of the castle. Lit by candlelight, the wood-panelled dining room is a swoonsome location to enjoy fittingly traditional dishes ranging from the Omelette Arnold Bennett to local haggis. Yes, it’s been some time now that the venue has been “resting on its (ancient) laurels”, with a growing army of critics that “just don’t get the hype” (especially since it’s “as expensive as ever!”), but for a special occasion for which expense be damned it takes some beating – as does the 600-bin-strong cellar, winner of many an accolade.
20. The Rabbit Hole
British, Modern restaurant in Edinburgh
11 Roseneath Street - EH9
2022 Review: “Good all round” – this popular and well-priced Marchmont venue keeps a local crowd happy with the French-accented dishes sent out by its owner-chefs, a Sicilian/Canadian couple who live nearby. A proper two-course lunch costs under £20, which adds to the appeal.
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