Before Origano found this bigger restaurant, they were in a smaller restaurant on Leith Walk about a few minutes walk towards the city centre. When they were in the old establishment, they had great food centered around pastas and also great italian food other than pizzas. However, after they have moved to this new establishment, their main menu nearly consists of everything pizza. I thought they will be special pizza's but unfortunately, just normal pizzas you can find in places like La Favorita. It was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. Honestly, pizzas only costs pennies to make, if they are going to make pizza, better make it special ones. It is now like any other pizza places. I hope they can change back to the old menu when they were in the smaller restaurant. read more

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Been meaning to try Origano for a while - it's made a bit of a name for itself and always seems to be pretty busy. It was fully booked but they keep a few tables reserved for walk-ins. It's a nice venue. Slightly hipster with large type-writer style menus printed on the walls and exposed walls. There's an open kitchen where you can watch the pizzas cooking in the burner. Overall it feels pretty relaxed. For starters there are some decent platters of anti-pasti, which come in large or small. Even the smaller of these was pretty generous and had a nice array of meats/olives/mozzarella. There's a fair number of pizza to choose from. If there was anything else on the menu other than pizza it was probably more of a token gesture; pizza seems to be the reason you come here. It felt like quite a lot to choose from and some and quite a lot of overlap on the ingredients; they could probably limit the options a bit. The pizza was good though; not the best I've had in Edinburgh but definitely a step above others. There's a nice little bar section when you come in if you want to wait and have a drink but the drinks selection isn't super extensive. I'd happily come back here when looking for places to eat in Leith. It's relaxed, decent pizza, and I probably prefer the ambiance to that in La Favourita. read more

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What an evening that was! My friend was meant to be cooking but she managed to (accidentally!) break the jar with the oregano (ironic?) and ruin the meat before cooking it with small bits of glass and cutting slightly her hand. Brave she is - only a small cut, change of plan: let's go to Origano that is close by and has great food! She makes the booking for 21:30, we arrive timely, order two glasses of wine, a starter to share and two salads (that is salads as main courses, with bruschetta, very filling). The place is packed! We get our wine and starter not that long later, starter finishes and we're getting ready for the mains. Around 22:00 a waiter brings over some olives as our salads have not made it yet, a nice courtesy gesture. Me and my friend are still busy chatting, but obviously quite hungry. At 22:20-22:25 still nothing!!! 40mins for two salads!!! Yes, one had grilled bacon bits, but still! I ask for the manager. She comes and she's aware of the delay and the olives as a free snack so far. I raise my concerns that still this does not right it and of course doesn't compensate or justify it: 40minutes for two salads?? The manager gracefully and politely explains that two other tables had ordered just before us, one with at least 8 people if I remember well, but still: you're not a brand new restaurant with inexperienced staff, this doesn't cut it! I couldn't believe what I heard next: "I understand if you would like to leave without waiting any longer for the salads." Really? Are you serious? It's almost 22:30 by now, Friday night Leith Walk, I doubt any restaurant in the area would accept any orders at this time of the evening/night?? And before I continue, the waitress appears with the salads!!! The manager is apologetic and listens carefully the concerned hungry customer :-) As a gesture of good will, she removed the two salads from the bill. That kind of resolved the issue, me and my friend are starving and relieved that the food is finally here! So, why a 3-stars rating, someone might ask? Well, the manager handled it quite efficiently, based on my personal experience at least, the salads were tasty and prepared with care, and so was the starter. I wonder if other Yelp members would expect an even better "apology gesture", if so, please let me know! I didn't want to leave a tip but my friend did for both of us. I will be sharing again my experience after my next visit, not that I'm looking forward to it... Till then, 3-stars it is! read more

Origano is Leith Walk's (and Edinburgh's) best kept secret. The cozy romantic atmosphere and friendly staff make you feel like a regular as soon as you walk in the door. When dining in we have the Bruschetta Pepperonata with roasted peppers, goat's cheese, rocket and balsamic vinegar - which I often wish was an entire meal! The Spinacio pizza with a fried egg in the middle is my meal of choice, while my OH goes for the Calabrazi (often on their specials menu). The 11" is plenty for me to be a full meal, while OH goes for the 14". They offer a lovely selection of wines and drinks - and offer BYOB Monday and Tuesdays for wine (£3 corkage). Origanio is very close to another pizza place that people rave about, which leaves me in shock as I think these pizza's are much better (yes, taste is subjective!). Offering take-away and delivery services, our above order comes out cheaper than if we were buying two pizzas from a local chain and the quality and flavours are so much better. read more

Origano is one of those restaurants that fits many profiles: neighbourhood pizza place, casual dining, romantic date, office get-together, evening with friends... you get the picture. Great pizzas and salads, excellent house wine, dietary sensitivity, the best gender neutral toilet offering in Edinburgh (so far) and a relaxed, friendly, unobtrusive serving style. One of my favourite places to eat in the Leith Walk side of town. read more

Best pizza in Edinburgh, taking the baton from La Favorita. That is the result of using top of the range ingredients, having talented pizza chef(s) and a very good customer service records as both waiting staff and owners are friendly, cool & polite. Being there countless times with my Italian mates is always a feast for the senses (and the guts). Their pizzas always leave you super-satisfied with that flavour after-taste of a great meal!!! Only once I got my Pizza Capricciosa over cooked (carbonised) and I asked my waitress to take it back which she politely did (apologies included), after that I got the real (and tasty) article, no questions asked. Even the manager apologised and pointed out that a pizza in that conditions should never leave the counter. So full mark for customer service approach. As the place is very busy during evenings, booking is recommended. The only minor point (as observed by my friend LM) is that some tables can get a bit small when you need to accommodate 5 big pizzas on them... Will certainly go back! read more

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A wee gem, way down on Leith Walk. Perfect for a cosy evening's dinner (ideal, when those evenings start to draw in and you're looking for somewhere snug) with that special someone - or with a bunch of your workmates (an office party was in when I went - but even though they took up most of the space, the atmosphere remained cosy). It's small and simple, with the menu written up on a blackboard. Loads of options (great for vegetarians) - the antipasto plate is huge and really tasty. Great pizza, too. A highlight for me was the B.Y.O. option - go and buy your own beer/wine, and enjoy it with your meal. The corkage was absolutely minimal, as far as I remember - 50p for beer, £2 for wine - but don't quote me on that as it was a few months ago. We got the window seat, which I always like - a really great spot, especially if you're solo dining. Really warm, friendly, cosy, independent - I love this place. Go check it out, because it really deserves your business. read more

This unassuming little place opened up right around the corner from our flat, yet with so many good Italian restaurants in Edinburgh, it was hard to convince myself to risk my cash somewhere new. But I'd heard such good things that I wanted to give it a go. Support local businesses and all that, innit. As seems to be the fashion for Edinburgh eateries these days, it's a small room with a short, simple menu. Just a handful of pizzas, pastas and salads, which is a refreshing way to focus the mind and indeed the stomach. The evening started well in a nice cosy room with friendly staff and we settled in with a few friends for some tasty Italian food. Unfortunately the food, while nice enough, was a bit of a disappointment. The antipasto plate was pleasant if unspectacular, and was brought down by the crappy soft white bread rather than the good Italian-style bread you'd expect. And the mains followed the same path. The sauce for my penne all'arrabbiata was quite nice (if untraditional) but the pasta was over cooked, which is a cardinal sin in Italian cooking. Anyone who's been within a couple of time zones of Italy knows about their obsession with al dente pasta. Likewise, the pizzas. The toppings looked tasty enough but they were made with thick crusts rather than proper thin Italian-style bases. That's fine if you're making your own pizza at home but why go to an Italian pizzeria to eat non-Italian pizza? With Al Dente on Easter Road cooking traditional Italian pasta and La Favorita on Leith Walk serving the best pizza this side of Naples, and a plethora of old-school British-style places serving soft pasta and doughy pizza, I don't know what market Origano is chasing. PS. Note that they are now only BYOB on Mondays and Tuesdays. But the wine list is reasonably priced so you don't need to empty your wallet. read more

I'm finding it hard to be fair here. The food is actually really nice - fresh, tasty, great quality. But it's just not very Italian. And given that I had taken some friends there who are about to move to italy, and love all things Italian, it was disappointing. Fluffy white bread, however delicious, isn't very Italian. And puffy pizzas ... it was like a fancy Dominos. So - nice place, lovely people, and actually very nice food. Just not very Italian nice food. So - fair enough, so long as you know what you're going for! read more

Delicious!!!! Beats La Favorita at the moment! Been to sit in a couple of times for lunch and the service was great and the food fabulous! I have had the seafood pizza and the tuna salad to sit in and my companion couldn't see past the chicken salad! I have tried to get a table without booking on sn evening but was never lucky enough to score one so would recommend booking ahead. The takeaway is equally as great, many a pizza and antipasto has been ordered. Always hot. Alway crispy ( take note La Favorita ) and always cooked through and always tasty. Would recommend read more

We had a solid caprese salid, a very delicious margherita speciale, and also enjoyed a platter of olives, cured meats, and cheese with bread. This place is way better than La Favorita in our opinion. So fresh and great ambience. read more

of recent years when you think of really good pizza in edinburgh, another local leith restaurant will generally come to mind. but the other week during one of my early morning runs i suddenly noticed that the tiny Origano had moved locations to a much bigger premises just across the road from their original location. with that in mind i very much made the suggestion to the boyfriend that we ought to get round to trying this place before it moved further away from my flat! so on saturday night, after a rather stressful day of filling out forms we wandered along in the evening sunshine to see if they might have a table available for walk ins. sadly when we arrived there was already two girls waiting and the other two seats at the counter occupied by two other girls having a coffee. with hope though we were told to grab a drink somewhere nearby and check back in 30 minutes or so and he might have a table. we grabbed a drink across the road at boda bar and when we arrived back around 45 minutes later much to our delight he had a table available. the menu is simple and what you would expect from an italian. the starters were a mix of bruschettas followed by a meat sharing platter, a veggie option or a mix of the two. there were also a few different types of garlic breads to choose from. the rest of menu was a majority of pizza choices all coming in three sizes and a few salads and pasta dishes. after a brief review of things we went with a small mixed sharing platter and a large Estivia pizza with parma ham. our bottle of wine arrived quickly (although after drinking half a glass i realised that this was a more expensive bottle than the one we actually ordered.... we weren't charged for it so i'm not sure if they realised their error) and shortly after our mixed sharing platter. i'm not sure if i was super hungry or this was genuinely incredibly tasty but it was so good. there was a few pieces of foccacia bread with a wee pot of garlic butter that was just divine and sun dried tomato pesto. then a mixed salad of rocket with grana padana with some cured meats, think it was parma ham breasola and some salami. it was a really good size and just so tasty! the garlic butter was incredible and i almost wished i asked for extra to dip my pizza crusts in. the pizza arrived next and it was a lovely thin and crispy base. the parma ham, rocket, and mozarella pearls were all super fresh tasty and mixed with the pizza sauce and base made a really good bite. we managed to eat the whole large pizza between us and it was so good i'm not even ashamed to admit it. we finished dinner with an amaretto coffee each. the meal was £50 for the both of us, which at first seemed pricey but if you took the wine and coffee out of this the bill would have been just over £20 for the food which is actually quite reasonable. i'm not sure what the old location was like, but the new restaurant is really lovely. has a great romantic atmosphere but would also be good for dinner with friends or family. the service is friendly and fairly quick but they don't push to get tables back. i'll definitely be heading back here for more pizza in the future! read more

I am not as big a fan of Origano as some others who are ecstatic about it. Still this is a very good "addition" to Leith dining. Of course it's not completely new, as it's just a bigger sister restaurant to the original just up Leith Walk (which is still operating as a take away). Friendly staff, candlelit and cushioned vibe, great quality italian food - bruschetta, antipasti, pizza, lasagne (no pasta), tiramisu etc. Decent wine selection and very good espresso. read more

When my girlfriends proposed Origano (as opposed to Favorita) my heart did a wee flop. What if the pizza's not as good? Nae fear. It was fabulous. And a great evening, right from the start; you come in from the cold into a gorgeous warm 'hug' of an interior, and the welcome-style is full of promise. Reckoned the bill for the large mixed sharing platter, three pizzas and lashings of drinks would be a southside pearl-clutcher, but not so: excellent value. The only downer was the loos. Busy Friday night or no, two of the four cubicles were very wet underfoot and one sink had a cheeky pubic hair garnish, throwing this part of the Origano offering way out of whack with the food and service. Fourfive star food/onestar cludge. read more

Excellent food! Had the garlic bread, pizza without cheese (dairy intolerant) and a salad. Absolutely enjoyed the meal. Food was slow, but man was it good! Atmosphere was very nice and the place was packed. I can see why. Everything had excellent flavors and taste to it. Will be challenging to try other places for our stay in Edinburgh. read more

Fantastic pizzas. All fresh ingredients. Would highly recommend. Take away and sit in are both fantastic.

We were able to get a table without a reservation, and it was a quaint little restaurant. If you are on foot it's definitely worth the walk from Prince's Street. We shared the vegetarian platter for our starter, and it was delicious. The bread and bruschetta were a credit to the chef. For our mains, we had the mushroom tagliatelle and the Origano pizza - they were both amazing. This restaurant should be at the top of anyone's dinner list when visiting Edinburgh. read more

Best pizza in Edinburgh served in an intimate upscale restaurant in Leith Walk. Recommend the Milano.

We enjoyed our first night in Edinburgh dining at Origano. It was an all around lovely experience. For a starter my husband and I had the Bruschetta Crudo. For the main course we shared personal pizzas- my husband had the Vesuvio (spicy!) and I ordered the Caprino. Our waiter was very friendly and helpful as some of the menu ingredients were new to us. We don't have rocket in Canada. Stellar meal! The suggested wine pairing highly complemented the flavours. Highly recommended for a lovely evening out. read more