Fast, friendly and convenient. Not the greatest selection of anything from the vegetable kingdom,…read morebut if you're looking for essentials, you've found the spot.

Decent quick tiny grocer in Edinburgh. 4stars only bc they were out of many items we wanted. 2…read moretimes we went .

Conveniently convenient. This Tesco larger on the inside with multiple aisles containing items…read moreranging from produce to biscuits.

Was a last chance for me to grab some favorite UK snacks - like Ribena and Twirl and marmite before…read moreheading home. Also love the self-check out so prevalent in most UK grocery shops.

If variety is the spice of life then this shop will really spice your life up. There is an…read moreunbelievable amount of high quality fruit and veg on offer here. One of the things I like about this shop is also that it doesn't feel as cramped as other shops so it's easier to look around which is great considering how much range there is to look at here. Indeed it will be a challenge just to decide what it is you want. There are a lot of fruit and veg shops in this area, but this one really does hold its own and is a place I would recommend.

This is one of the shops that catches me on my hungry way home from the library. I know it's time…read morefor me to leave the library when I'm so hungry I start looking up recipes, and minutely going through the contents of my fridge and how I could put them together to make something delicious. Alhaj, which, honestly, I've always called the big expensive shop on Argyle Place, tends to cater to my every needs. But, oh boy, does it make a dent in my pocket. Calling all veggies out there: they have an amazing selection of tofu. Marinated tofu, smoked tofu, olive tofu... For some reason, once upon a time, I used to get tofu cravings when I was hungover. So this is where I went to indulge. One thing I will warn you about is that their sale section is generally really past the sell-by date. Though, this is handy to know: where the sell fruit and vegetables outside, they normally have an unmarked box full of goods all the way on the far right end of the stalls: if it's unmarked, it probably means they'll sell you the whole contents of the box for a pound or two. I mean, it may be expensive, but to be able to save in Edinburgh, you have to know how to shop.

This is little more than just a corner shop, but that shouldn't go against it because it's one of…read morethe best corner shops I've seen. At most corner shops you expect to pay high prices and you come in and leave disappointed because you've been priced out of a purchase. The deals here, however, are outstanding and some of the offers can compete with some of the big chains. It might be little more than just a corner shop, but still a very good place to buy your groceries.

Great little newsagent which manages to make use of its space very well. lots of interesting items…read morethat arent found in every store such as Mrs Unis Nan/pakora, Indian pickles etc. Not the cheapest but the staff are friendly and the place is well laid out.

The is a handy and ubiquitous convenience store chain we saw throughout Scotland. The best thing…read moreto me is that their ATM's had the best rates for ATM cash. Their rate was the current 1.35 USD/GBP exchange rate plus only a 3.95 GBP charge. Other ATM's I tried at the airport and at a bank wanted about a 1.55 USD/GBP exchange rate which equates to a ridiculous 15% fee! Otherwise, we like convenience stores like this during our travels for items like bottled water and such.

Sainsbury's on West Port, not too far from Chalmers Centre, in Edinburgh was the first grocery…read morestore I went to in Scotland. On my second day, first morning, in Scotland (6 July 2019), I was looking to get a few food items for the day before picking up my rental car and was aware of this store as I passed it the evening before on foot when going to get dinner. The store was bigger on the inside than it looked like on the outside. Sections were well set up and easy to navigate and peruse. I was particularly impressed with a bakery/fresh-baked breads section at the back of the store. In the United States of America, the stores of an equivalent nature might have hot dogs or donuts available, but not fresh-made bread. I got a few items and went through self check out. It took me a couple tries to get the payment right, but everything worked. Worker(s) were friendly.

As far as city centre convenience supermarkets go (of which I'm starting to prove myself somewhat…read moreof a specialist...) this here is the Daddy. Big enough to stock practically everything you could need on short notice but small enough not to include all the junk that would clutter up the store otherwise; this Tesco is perfect for those living close by who need to pick up drink/pizza/cigarettes on short notice without wanting to pay the usual "convenience tax" for doing so, as it's one of the few places nearby that won't charge you for the privilege of shopping there.. This Tesco Express should be made first port of call for anyone living equidistant or less from this one and the one over in Tolcross - that is unless of course Farmfoods has whatever you need in stock...

Although a small Tesco (Express) they do stock good offers and meal deals, handy for the office…read moreguys close by. Two self service machines help with the queues. Staff have been good and fast in helping you around. Cash machine located just on the outside for the people that do not like paying with cards!

Thank you Scotmid. You've managed to make me feel at home... back in communist Poland, by…read moreconsistently providing the most atrocious customer service. Like in Polish grocers' in the olden times when shopping assistants were the kings and queens in their little fiefdoms. I keep using the shop out of convenience, living a mere 5-minute walk away. And the range of products is not bad either. But, with notable exceptions, the service is awful. I'll give you several examples, all from the same place. 1/ I live in a flat-share that uses electricity meters operated by coins. During the worst of the pandemic, the landlady would provide us with the change we needed. Now that it's eased up I use the post office and shops to get the necessary change. That is in all the shops - when I ask nicely - apart from the Scotmid. I'd say it's fifty-fifty there, depending on whom you ask. I managed to get some change last Friday, but today was refused. 2/ When, during the bad period of Coronavirus, shops were introducing more and more safety measures, some of them were one-directional 'traffic' of customers, another you couldn't enter the shop with your spouse, friends or family. Fair enough. On the first day of the one-way 'traffic' at this shop, I entered just to get a bottle of mineral water. It was right by the entrance, with the checkout just next to it as well. I grabbed the bottle - in an almost empty store! - and went straight to the checkout. I was stopped by the cashier, informed it was one-way traffic and made to walk around a shopping isle - let me repeat, in an almost empty shop - to return to the same place and pay for the goods. That felt - I know it shouldn't but it did - really humiliating. 3/ Another time I entered the shop to the sounds of commotion. It turned out the shop's security officer was noisily berating a young couple who both tried to enter the shop under the false pretence of being unfamiliar to each other. I had a bit of an Orwellian moment and left feeling a bitter taste in my mouth. 4/ Sometime before that, I entered the shop with my brother-in-law and his 17-year-old daughter. Let me stress here it was the middle of the day and we were perfectly behaved and sober. We wanted to get some beer and a bottle of wine. A shop assistant stopped us at the automatic checkout claiming he believed we were trying to supply alcohol to a minor. I said I'd been a regular at the shop for years, there was evidence they were father and daughter (they are German, had their passports on them), this was a batch of moonshine purely for our own delectation. To no avail. The shop manager said he was sorry but he couldn't undermine his employee. As above, this was loud, with lots of witnesses around, and so quite humiliating to experience. 5/ A shop assistant who had known me a bit better knew I was doing studies at Napier. She said this entitled me to a 10% discount on proof of my studies. I had my Napier student card, not the NUS one, so I actually double-checked with the store manager present at the time. She confirmed I was okay to get the discount. After using it for about o month a cashier stopped me at the checkout saying I was illegitimately claiming a student discount I was not entitled to. Again, in front of other people in a queue. I tried to explain, said I'd even had a hunch I should have procured the NUS card that I was entitled to (but too lazy to claim), but had double-checked and was said ... yada yada yada. Anyway, I was refused the discount, which was okay if I was not entitled to it, but - yes, again - it felt quite humiliating. I'll stop at this, you get the picture. If you believe the staff were acting appropriately and courteously, whatever rocks your boat, feed your inner masochist and do your messages at the shop. I shop there out of laziness and kind of accept the consequences but others beware. Shopping at this place is Russian roulette, you never know what you're gonna get. And, be forewarned, not in a Forrest-Gump, box-of-chocolates kind of way. #ScotmidLevenStreet

I've always thought places like Scotmid and Sainsburys don't really need to be reviewed. You know…read morewhat you're going to get. There's rarely any huge variations between one store and another. But this Scotmid is different. This Scotmid has Chuckles. Chuckles is a person. An employee. She has worked for Scotmid for 18 years or something. If she is working, she makes any visit to this Scotmid memorable, both negatively and positively. If you're in a hurry, she'll start to drone on about whatever ailment is plaguing her at that precise moment. If you've forgotten your ID, she'll make a scene then derail the situation into some 'round-the-dinner-table racism. She'll turn buying milk and bread into an absolute nightmare if you ask how her day was. Anyway, these are all negatives. I did mention that being served by her can be a positive experience. I lied. Chuckles can and will ruin your day. Her outlandish displays of horrendous customer service are legendary in these parts. Enough to knock two (2) full stars off this review of an otherwise quite decent Scotmid.

Food is generally over priced and very processed. Not exactly good value for money and items…read moreusually close to sell by date. Disappointing. Service is nothing to rave about as staff seems to be paid under minimum wage so cannot complain there ...just points to bad management. Cleanliness of store is sometimes an issue again pointing to bad management. I am avoiding this chain as have seen rats around.

For me, Margiotta's only drawback is that it is too expensive. Apart from this it a great, widely…read morestocked corner shop with friendly staff and a pleasant atmosphere. During term time I live within a thirty second walk of this place and so use it at least four times a week for the essentials. Their main selling point has to be their freshly baked bread which, although not cheap, is certainly delicious. My favourite has to be their French loaf which makes for a great lunch-time baguette. They also sell a huge selection of curry sauces, frozen meals, fresh chicken, beef and cold meat and a range of quality fruit and vegetables. There's a cash machine in the corner as well, so there's not much more you could want (except lower prices).

This Marks and Spencer Simply Food location is in a good location, inside Edinburgh Waverley…read moreStation, so it can be a useful stop to grab a quick to-go food or drink item before getting on a train, or essentials while passing through the station or city centre, with the larger, main Marks and Spencer store on Princess Street nearby shutting rather early at 7 pm, the fact this store is open until 10 pm adds a couple of hours to get essentials in the evening. The store is reasonably small, and the stock isn't great, I wasn't able to find the particular type of milk I was looking for but was able to seek a reasonable alternative. The checkout area was straightforward and easy, with a staff member on hand to help at the many self-service checkouts, it is disappointing that this store does not support Marks and Spencer's mobile scanning and payment, which would be particularly useful, due to being a travel location, where shoppers would want to get in and out quickly to catch a train. 3* - The location and service are both good, while the stock is the bare minimum and could be better, but still one of the better places to get a small selection of groceries in the evening compared to alternatives nearby.

When you're cold and wet and you have a 4 hour long train ride ahead of you... The last thing you…read morecan think about is WHERE TO GET DINNER... Which is how I ended up at Marks & Spencer's... I was anticipating just getting a premade salad and then adding cans of fish to the leafy greens but I was PLEASANTLY surprised to find that they offered pre-grilled/poached/cooked meats and fun anti-pasti toppings! I grabbed a clean, and huge, bowl of mixed greens that also included radish, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and large leaves of romaine lettuce... And then I also selected a package of plain poached salmon and a package of lemon her grilled salmon (2 fillets per package)... On top of that I also got some marinated artichoke hearts and more cherry tomatoes... Hey what else am I going to do on the train, right? Well, even though I wasn't all that hungry when our train finally left the station, I still chowed down, finishing every little bit. The amount of food I could certainly could have fed four people, but ha, not when my chompers are in the picture! I wound up finishing this meal in about 25 minutes and I have to say, it did help the train ride go by a bit faster! (Or maybe it was thanks to the rather entertaining drunk people?)... Any who... A lot of people don't realize that a GROCERY STORE can offer just as fast, if not faster, FAST FOODS than say... The Burger King next door... And might I add 80000x healthier?!? I highly recommend you get CREATIVE with your dining options! Oh and BY THE WAY... Fiancé got 2 portions of marinated and grilled chicken and he didn't put a stink at all, in fact, I do believe he quite liked what he got. Perhaps he's FINALLY REALIZING my BRILLIANCE when it comes to "fast food"?! Well, maybe not but I can only hope! LOL. PS: don't forget to ask for utensils if you plan on eating the food right away... PSS: I'm not a smoked fish fan, but there is a hint of smokiness on the salmon... Which can easily be hidden by adding a little salt (grab some salt packets from Burger King if you're a salt lover like myself!)