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    The Kenilworth

    3.9 (34 reviews)
    ModeratePubs
    Closed 11:00 am - 11:00 pm

    The Kenilworth Photos

    THE KENILWORTH ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for groups
    Outdoor seating

    Recommended Reviews - The Kenilworth

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    Cool architecture

    Sweet little pub on Rose Street. We frequented this pub while in Edinburgh. You do need to know that service is different in Scotland (UK). There is no wait staff like in North America. Go up to the bar and meet them. They are all very nice and knowledgeable. Order your drinks and food and enjoy the atmosphere of an old pub. Scotch, beer, gin, rum, wine, they have it all. Alyssa was at the bar for us a couple times and she was very nice. The food was very good and we might have closed the pub on a couple nights. Well worth seeking this one out.

    pretty decor surrounding the bar
    Chloe J.

    This pub is beautiful and has a warm, old school vibe to it. The service is alright, they were friendly but not very attentive and we had to keep asking for more water rather than them just bringing it over or leaving us one of the pitchers. The food was ok, nothing to write home about although the vegetarian lentil pie was better than I thought it would be. Wouldn't go back but it was an easy place to get lunch.

    Jessica J.

    After visiting the great Edinburgh Christmas Fair both toes and fingers were about to fall off from the cold. We spotted the centrally located Kenilworth Pub and entered. Best part of the Pub was the Christmas decorations and music. Together with the Christmas weather outside and the on point mood in the bar it was like Christmas Eve again.

    Ale pies. Fuhfukssake yes
    Louis R.

    Packed, little rooms to drinks at, awesome meat pies, affable barkeep. Loved this spot.

    Lauren G.

    The Kenilworth is probably, in my opinion, the best pub on Rose Street - and that is saying something! Situated in the centre of Rose Street, The Kenilworth is right in the centre of the city and it is just around the corner from the main shopping street in Edinburgh, Princes Street, and so it is a convenient place to reach. This pub is fairly standard for this area of Edinburgh, but the one thing which really makes it stand out for me is the beautiful inside of the building. As other reviewers have noted, the inside looks incredibly grand with a beautiful interior and gorgeously high ceilings. The Kenilworth serves a wide range of different beers, ales, wines and the usual selection of spirits, and all the drinks are very competitively priced with a large glass of the house red wine costing under £5. Food is also served here and they offer a good selection of dishes. I had a chicken Caesar salad which was really fresh and tasty - would definitely have it again. The pub is lovely and spacious inside, and there is a seating area outside too so it is a great place to sit on a sunny day and watch all the action in Rose Street. Even if you don't want to go here for a drink, it is worth visiting to just to marvel at the absolutely beautiful interior of the place.

    John H.

    Great pub in the middle of Rose Street. Outstanding selection of Ales behind the bar and a must visit every time I'm in Edinburgh. Friendly staff, good food & good ale. What more do you need?

    I really liked The Kenilworth pub as soon as I walked in on my Rose Street pub crawl; the building is very traditional and impressive, especially the ceilings and chandeliers! They really gave the place an important feel and we were really warmly welcomed by a member of bar staff who made sure we had enough seats. The pub does a wide range of beers so we decided to get tucked in, and sample some of the ales. Safe to say we left after about 3 pints each a little worse for wear. Mixing pints may not have been the cleverest thing I have ever done, but even our rowdy-ness didn't stop the staff from being very nice to us and wishing us well on our way, probably secretly relieved to get rid of us! Thoroughly recommended!

    The fact that the Kenilworth is a listed building bodes well for any initial impression of the place. True to its architectural value the interior is appealing with its oblong central bar, grand ceilings and hanging chandeliers. Putting its fancy interior aside, the Kenilworth is actually a damn good place to grab a pint. One snowy day a few months ago I settled in to the Kenilworth for the afternoon, determined to try at least 4-5 of their beers on tap. Sampling the Otter Ale, a Thornbridge Jaipur IPA and....the rest I can't remember, but it was all fine stuff. There's a wide selection of watering holes on Rose St, so for a sure bet for your pub crawl, head here to lay the foundation with some good beers.

    Getting ready to order a third.........

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    10 years ago

    Good selection of beers nice atmosphere excellent bar staff very knowledgeable about the beers typical pub fair but nice eats and offers

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    10 years ago

    Decoration is quirky, half a dozen standard taps and a couple interesting ones. Plenty of seating.

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    10 years ago

    Nice pub with an exquisitely tiled walls and an old, studding full circle bar. Good selection of beers and food, and okay service.

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    14 years ago

    Nice Scottish pub, good food and a decent base to watch the euros with a meal

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    The Kenilworth Reviews in Other Languages

    Review Highlights - The Kenilworth

    The Kenilworth is probably, in my opinion, the best pub on Rose Street - and that is saying something!

    Mentioned in 11 reviews

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    The Devil's Advocate - Smoked fish plate

    The Devil's Advocate

    4.3(630 reviews)
    0.4 miOld 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.

    Photos
    The Devil's Advocate - Whiskey flight tastings

    Whiskey flight tastings

    The Devil's Advocate - Fish Filet

    Fish Filet

    The Devil's Advocate - Double Shot with Dalmore 12, kahula, espresso shot, and Demerara.

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    Double Shot with Dalmore 12, kahula, espresso shot, and Demerara.

    The White Hart Inn

    The White Hart Inn

    3.9(113 reviews)
    0.4 miGrassmarket, 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.

    Photos
    The White Hart Inn
    The White Hart Inn
    The White Hart Inn - Cozy place

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    Cozy place

    Queens Arms

    Queens Arms

    4.4(114 reviews)
    0.1 miNew 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

    Photos
    Queens Arms
    Queens Arms
    Queens Arms - Wellington upfront and Mac and Cheese in the back

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    Wellington upfront and Mac and Cheese in the back

    The Kenilworth - pubs - Updated May 2026

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