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The Advocate

3.6 (47 reviews)
InexpensivePubs, Gastropubs
Closed 11:30 am - 11:00 pm

The Advocate Photos

THE ADVOCATE ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Casual
Moderate noise
Good for groups
Dogs allowed

Recommended Reviews - The Advocate

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Reviews With Photos

Chicken Katsu Burger
Mick B.

I was on holiday from California for the first time. This is the first place I went to as I was wondering aimlessly. I have no expectations. I dined here twice during my stay in Edinburgh. Both times were wonderful. The food was very good and prepared quickly. The service for beer was fast and very friendly. The ambiance was playful/90s music playing, people enjoying card games and great conversation. I was expecting it to be busy considering it's just off the mile but both visits I was sat quickly and had no trouble. 10/10, would recommend!

They have fliers.
Kaia V.

Pub trivia on Sunday nights at 9pm. Kitchen open til 9:30pm. Food looked great - we just had some nuts from behind the bar (under 3gbp per pint). They have a reasonable beer and scotch selection, as well as the usual hard liquor range. The staff were friendly and efficient, the trivia guy was funny, and the bathrooms (downstairs) were clean enough. Wish we'd arrived sooner to eat something - their specials appeared divine. The win for trivia was 50 pounds credit at the Advocate. There didn't appear to be any limits on team size. We were so bad at the song round that we fell too far behind to have any chance, but the trivia is free, so go try it out!

Advocate
Tanja R.

Cozy, entertaining and whiskey choices! Thought we needed a drink and passed by the Advocate on a busy Friday night. The Edinburgh streets were buzzing with people of all ages, creating a lively atmosphere and the pubs and bars were packed. It was really hard to get a table, well, even a chair....... Luckily, when entering the place, we got a high table with a few chairs. We soon realized that we could get variations of whiskey choices. Good for the whiskey fanatics amongst us. The restaurant and the pub are only separated by a wood barrier and hardly noticeable. You can sit in a booth and have your dinner, whilst people have drinks around the bar. Its a place where you can eat and drink and listen to live music entertainment. They guy who was singing last night had a very nice smokey voice (like Joe Cocker) and we all sang along: "No women, no cry". Whoop Whoop. It's only 4 stars as I have not tried the food yet, and will definitely be back.

Lauren G.

The Advocate is not my favourite of all the pubs in Edinburgh, but if I am desperate it will do the trick. Situated just around the corner from the Royal Mile, The Advocate is just a short walk from the city centre and so it is a convenient place to reach and always seems to be a popular choice with the tourists. I don't have anything particular against The Advocate, its just that I have been here on several occasions and each time I haven't had the best experience. The pub is generally filled with locals, and if you go in during the afternoon, most of them are drunk and looking at you in a really sleazy way - not nice. Most of the time the staff have been friendly, but occasionally there are some workers who completely fail to acknowledge your presence and you can be stood waiting at the bar for ages to be served. The Advocate serves above average pub food and the prices are really reasonable too. I would like to come back here for a meal again, but the drunk locals and the poor service has put off for the time being.

Mark W.

The Advocate is located in Hunter Square, right near the junction between the Royal Mile and South / North Bridge. It's a place I've only been to once for drinks, and I can't say that I was blown away by what it offered. We were in there on a fairly quiet weekday evening, and the atmosphere was pleasant enough. Drinks were of a reasonable price, and I would have totally got some food if I hadn't already eaten that evening. Two evening meals would have been a little excessive. Anyway, this place isn't really on my radar now as a place for going out for a drink to. I can't really comment on the alcohol beverages on offer, as I'm not a drinker, but everyone else I was with seemed to get on just fine. It's not a hotspot for a night out, but still well worth a look in.

Stella.
Thomas M.

Very good US-themed pub next to the Royal Mile. Certainly no tourist-trap, it was mostly frequented by locals during my frequent late evening visits there in July of 2015. The Advocate features a pleasant, traditional pub decor, including a few nods to the "American theme" (they did offer a July 4th Independence menu, e.g.) - although the regular menu features Scottish (haggis) and traditional pub food. At least twice during my nine-day stay there was live music too: A rather talented, rather big, brawny guy. He was singing old style rock songs on one evening, more folk-oriented stuff on the other. The selection of ales and lagers is certainly decent, the prices moderate for this expensive city. This being a Belhaven-owned pub though, the real ales they serve are from said brewery, which is certainly not the most distinguished in Scotland (that includes "The Advocate" beer, which most certainly is Belhaven-brewed, too). Had the 8 Oz rump steak there (see photo), which was quite all right but certainly not exceptional. Atmosphere was pleasant indeed, the bar staff friendly and efficient (!). This is certainly NOT "a downmarket Whetherspoons", as wrongly suggested by "Emily H."

Mexican beef Chilli and beef burger, coleslaw, chips
Ben C.

It was a very busy Sunday. Staff were not as attentive as we expected. Food was not bad. They had quite a choice of burgers, however my beef chilli beef burger patty was dry. They also forgot to bring the special sauce on the side, to which I didn't bother to ask for, as they were very busy. It's a nice pub atmosphere to come watch a game with friends, have a meal and a drink, but as a place to just get a burger maybe not for me. Burger review: Quality: 6/10 | Creativity: 5/10 | Value £: 8/10 Other wee things: Service: 6/10 | Ambience: 7/10

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11 years ago

As World's End was closed for refurbishment, this place serves a similar fantastic fish'n'chips.

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Review Highlights - The Advocate

A perfect little pub just off the Royal Mile.

Mentioned in 3 reviews

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The Devil's Advocate - Smoked fish plate

The Devil's Advocate

(629 reviews)

££

Old Town, Royal Mile

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.

The White Hart Inn

The White Hart Inn

(113 reviews)

££

Grassmarket, Old Town

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.

Queens Arms

Queens Arms

(114 reviews)

££

New Town

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

The Advocate - pubs - Updated May 2026

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