Leith, Italian Restaurant Guide

“Authentic Italian cooking at the back of a glorious deli” and wine merchant is the recipe behind the simple café attached to this “very long-established Edinburgh favourite” – est. 1934, and “perhaps a bit out of the way”, but the “ideal spot for a lunch and browse round the groaning shelves”. The “good value menu” includes some “excellent” items (the “fritto misto, crab linguini and ragu stood out”), and you can’t knock their cheese: as of 2024, they’ve been a royal supplier to His Majesty King Charles III, no less.

This “beautiful room” – a Georgian former banking hall modelled on a Florentine palazzo – makes a wonderful setting for an Italian restaurant that is “definitely a swagger establishment”, attracting celebs from Sean Connery to Margot Robbie over its 20-plus years. Victor Contini, who runs it with his wife Carina, received a knighthood from the President of Italy in 2024 in recognition of his achievements! The venue can become “very noisy”, though, and critics say it “promises much, but attention to detail is lacking”.

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).