We stopped by the back garden area to sit outside and distance, slightly, from the throngs of…read morepeople. This was a pay at your table and have drinks brought to you. Cool vibe, nice crowd, good drinks including a non alcoholic cider.

Cant think of anything i didnt like, really. My boyfriend and I were in a six person mixed-sex…read moreroom. Most of the bathrooms are also unisex which is fine because the doors are full length. One shower had only a curtain but the rest also had doors. The water was hot and pressure was good. The food was filling and cheap. It was centered right in the middle of town, right by the castle and shops. There is laundry on site but only two washer dryers so gotta get there early. I guess it kinda sucked going up to the top floor because there was no elevator but exercise is always good. In the rooms there were lockers if you brought your own lock but i just left my stuff on the bed and it was fine. On the bottom floor there is a 1£/day luggage storage. We fit all of our bags in one. Though we wasted one pound fiddling with the lock at first haha. The card keys were a bit iffy sometimes is the only thing i found annoying i guess. But i had a somewhat negative idea of what hostels were so this was my first one and it was great!

Highly recommend. If…read moreyou are a Scotch/Whiskey enjoyer, you definitely should check this tour out. Recently me and my friends went and luckily because we rented an air bnb close by, we were able to walk to it. But just fyi when we went, the street that it is on was closed off for the public to walk. So just keep that in mind when thinking about parking. Highlights of the tour were some of the art and presentations they have on the history and making of Scotch. I also really enjoyed how they gave you a sheet that shows examples of some common tasting notes you can expect from each region. I learned that Islay Whiskey was my favorite region to sip from just because of how smoky their Whiskey can be. I had a great time. After the tour they give you an example of each region so you can compare and contrast. On top of everything, the people working there were very enthusiastic and friendly. If we ever came back to Edinburgh I might even want to go again just because of the fun experience.

Great experience learning about Scotch. We had a great guide and got to taste some good whiskey.read more

Out of all the places I've been to in Scotland, I think Queens Arms was one of my favorites…read more We had reservations for this place recently and when I took one step inside, I was already in love. I mean who doesn't love a good pub? You get great drinks and great food at an affordable price. As I write it makes me think of think of when Zidane reunites with Freya in FF9. Sometimes we don't wanna eat at fancy Michelin restaurant that has small plates but charges a premium. Sometimes we just wanna cut all the BS and just get a nice hearty meal. And thats what we got. When we sat down we found out that they were doing a Trivia night. Normally I would have told my girl to pick another spot to eat but for some reason I was cool with it. There was even a table nearby with kids(yuck). And you know what? It was fine. That's because we had been sipping on some amazing cocktails. If you also partake, Gin and Mezcal enjoyers will love the Bramble and Hibiscus Crush. What color are Luigi's overalls from Super Mario? That's such an easy question. Wait...what do you mean Luigi's overalls are blue? They are green. Look at this picture onli...Oh... One of the stars of our meal was the Haggis. This was the first time I had ever tried it and after trying it at multiple places Scotland, Queens Arms I feel has done it the best. I love the complexity of the flavors of the meat with the creamy and pepper flavors of the peppercorn sauce. If you've never had Haggis, you definitely have to try it here. The best part is that it comes with mashed potatoes too! Shoutouts to the Fish and Chips if you are also into that. One of my friends ordered that and I definitely had to go back in for multiple bites. Finally the roast. The Sunday Roast should just be an automatic order if you happen to come here on a Sunday. You get so much food and it's all so damn tasty. They'll cook a roast to whatever doneness your heart desires. We went with Medium Rare and it came out perfectly. If you didn't have enough flavors with all the extra sides it comes with, they also give you gravy to pour on anything you want. Thanksgiving basically came early this night. But as I looked around and admired all the bookshelf's and all the families have a nice dinner with their loved ones, I just thought about how happy I was. I was finally here! This was the start of my trip. Queens Arms has set a high ceiling on great experiences in Scotland. We even went back there a couple of days ago just because we knew we would be able to end the night on a good drink. But in the end I think if you are Edinburgh, you have to come to this place. It is one of my favorite experiences I've had in Scotland so far and I dream about when I can come back again.

We got 3 reservations to split up our group of 8 adults and 2 kids, so we were all able to make…read moresure to get a table and have the Sunday roast. We shared the ultimate sharing roast and everything was delicious and so filling. It was also nice to be able to sit and watch a match while enjoying the food. The coffee was pretty good too. This is definitely a good option if you're looking for a Sunday roast in the area

Dirty Dick's is a great bar along the ever-popular Rose Street. Currently their social media…read moreprofile says: "Whisky and gin galore! Classy Scottish grub, craft beer, clutter, antiquary, and great tunes." And, yes, that's what you're going to find here. Also, they're dog-friendly, family-friendly, vegan-friendly if you need a bite; they're just all-around friendly. As you can imagine, all of this - as well as being in a touristy area - makes it almost always busy. Not sure what to order? They've got beer on draught, 250+ single malts, whisky flights for both the novice and experienced, and if you don't know - just ask. I did. I wanted something from the Highlands that had notes of toffee. The bartender passed me over to the owner who made a suggestion and encouraged me to try it before committing. But it was exactly what I was looking for (and I have no idea what it was)! Cheers, Dirty Dick's!

So glad we found Dirty Dicks for our first meal in Scotland. Service was excellent and the drinks…read morewere perfect. Good drink options from beer and liquor. We were able to try Haggis for the first time in the easiest way, on cheese fries! Not my favorite but it wasn't too bad of a taste and it was easy to hide it within the other toppings and cheese if you wanted to. Chill spot to hang out with some food and drinks. Walkable to pretty much everything.

Just an awesome, rockin' final meal in Edinburgh - fantastic food, good service and energized local…read morevibe! Absolute must to get reservations! We tried on our first week in Edinburgh and failed, but were able to make reservations 3 weeks out for our last night in Scotland, and we are glad we did. Pork cracklins were a bit hard and crunchy, but everything else was perfect. We had fresh bread and langostinis for starters, along with a smokey whiskey cocktail, the Smoked Indiscretion! For mains we enjoyed the poached Cod, and the Pork with Barley. Service was very good, and wine selection was extensive. Atmosphere was loud with music and locals' chatter in the bar below, but dark tables and heavy wood panels made it a perfect place for a couple celebrating 3 weeks of travel. Highly recommend a visit to the Devil's Advocate, if you can book a table in advance.

The Devil's Advocate is undoubtedly a treasure to find in Old Town Edinburgh, especially if you…read moreaccidentally take the News Steps to get there, only to realize you should have simply taken the steps up Advocate's Close from Cockburn Street. But they call these lessons, "character building," apparently. No matter, the Devil's Advocate is worth the search. Located in an old Victorian pump house halfway up (or down) Advocate's Close, the Devil's Advocate is known for a killer whisky shelf of more than 300 different bottles from various distilleries across the Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside, Campbelltown, the Islands, and Islay. I finally sipped on a 15-year Tamdu that has convinced me to keep a bottle at home. Then there's the Clydeside 2024 Limited Edition Cask Strength that was wicked impressive. The bartenders are class at making and serving seasonal and regular cocktails that have their spin and character. My wife enjoyed gin-based cocktails such as the Clean Slate (with St-Germain, citrus, and sugar), Rose Garden (with Yellow Chartreuse, Cocchi Rosa, apple, lemon, and mint), and Bee's Knees (honey and lemon). I went full speed ahead with the scotch cocktails, which are essentially classics with a scotch-substituted twist. The Double Shot is an Espresso Martini with Dalmore 12 in addition to Kahlua, espresso, and demerara -- quite smooth without being too sweet. The Scotzia is a Negroni with Fettercairn 12, while the Boxcar is a Sidecar only with Aberfeldy 12. We enjoyed the bar for a few hours, watching the bartenders make magic while sipping on cocktails, while listening to 80s pop tunes. A great evening indeed.

Really enjoyed this special pub! Located on the Royal Mile, you might easily walk past this small…read moreentrance- but it's worth a visit! Definitely book reservations as they are a small pub and highly visited. This pub is literally on the Flodden Wall - very special. Our servers were super friendly and fun as well. They were out of all burgers and quite a bit of other food, so come with an adventurous spirit and ask before sitting down if you have your heart set on something on the menu. Having said that, everything we ordered was delicious- whisky with gingerale, beer, sodas, as well as the main courses of wild boar's sausages with cabbage and mash, macaroni and cheese (homemade, came with a beautiful salad), and steak and ale pie (basically pot roast meat in a flaky bun, with cabbage and mashed potatoes) - all completely delicious. Definitely come here for a pint and some great food!

I love love love this place. It's really quite tiny but amazingly inviting! I went here 3 times…read moreafter work (3 days of work). The Belhaven Black is the best stout I've ever had. You can practically rest a spoon on the foam! Not too chocolatey, not bitter at all! Amazing! I can live here and can't wait to return!

This was the first place we ate at on our trip to Edinburgh and it took immense self control to…read morecontinue to try new restaurants and not just return here. I had a delicious Caesar salad that hit the spot and had the most amazing, toasty hamburger bun croutons. I also had a delicious apple cocktail that was so fantastic and so unique. My husband has the Caesar salad sandwich which was also delicious. The vibes were also just amazing here. It was so cute and cozy here and they had quite an extensive drink and food menu along with some weekday drinks!

Really delicious spot. Visited from the US and of course got the Scottish breakfast-sausage was…read moredelicious, beans as well. The red Bennie hollandaise sauce was so good. The pie was really hearty and had a great flavor. Service was great and the ambiance was filled with great music. Came around noon and it wasn't that busy. Recommend to any tourists and locals!

Our first day in Edinburgh and as usual our first order of business is to ride the hop-on-hop-off…read morebus. Today when the Red route took us to old town and I saw The White Hart Inn I said to Jan let's do an early dinner there and she agreed. We continued the route and stayed on back to the stop in old town. We love Alfresco dining but it was too cold and windy today. We went inside and the restrauant was packed. It's open seating. No hostess, no sign in. We were lucky and just happened to be standing next to a table that opened. We had been there about 5 minutes. The restaurant/ pub is rich in history, established in 1516. It's small with limited bar seating and prehaps 8 to 10 tables. It is noisy from conversation, tosting and music, but we didn't have a hard time communicating. It has a great vibe. It's a fun venue and popular with the locals. The menu is not large and has several Scottish offerings. To start, Jan was cold and wanted an Irish coffee. I ordered an Innis and Gunn larger. Innis & Gunn is an acclaimed Scottish brewery founded in 2003 in Edinburgh. It had a slightly citrus flavor. Jan ordered muscles and I ordered the steak and ale pie, served with a charred Hispi cabbage wedge, buttered mash and Merlot beef dripping gravy. It was very tasty, very robust flavor. I loved the cabbage; great flavor. I had to look up hispi cabbage and it is a variety of green cabbage. The muscles were good and the broth very nice. We had a lovely time and a good meal. Our good luck at freelancing dining venues while we explore Ireland and Scotland continues.

We chose this place for being one of the oldest establishments in Scotland dating back to the 18th…read more Century and a place where poets like Wordsworth, Burns etc gathered for a sip. The setting still looked ancient and the overall ambiance was befitting. Small place though. The food and drinks however disappointed. They could have put more efforts to turn the place into something much more than it is. Service was efficient without being really excellent.

Super old place. Very popular Scottish pub but TINY! Go here for some great Scottish fun! Love the…read moreatmosphere. Building originally 400 years old!

Come for drinks. Be prepared to be ignored if you don't go up to the bar. Food? Not many options…read more This is mainly a bar to go to after dinner or in the afternoon. Better options close by though