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The Ox

3.3 (21 reviews)
ModeratePubs, British

The Ox Photos

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Halloumi salad
Simone T.

3 Stars is about right. The food was way too salty (perhaps expected? Not sure). So salty, in fact, that my friends and I had to do a makeshift solution and ask for a cup of hot water to rinse some of the food in to get rid of some salt lol. We originally wanted to try their Sunday pot roast, but they were out at 8:30pm, so we tried their roasted veggies, ribeye, onion soup, lamb roast and halloumi salad. To be honest, everything was really heavy, but the halloumi salad was unexpectedly so, since they salted and deep fried the halloumi, and we ended up eating most of the other veggies on the plate. Overall, the food was okay. Maybe the pot roast would have been better?

Richard D.

This is a quiet bar at the bottom of Broughton Street that has gone through a few different rebrands over the past few years. Its latest resurrection is as The Ox and whilst it has had a bit of a refit it has retained two levels with the bar on the lowest level and a small mezzanine level which could seat about 30 people if you were booking it as a private area. The range of drinks isn't extensive, it definitely couldn't be classed as a craft beer bar but it does have some ok beers from smaller brewers. It has about 16 malts on offer and a small range of wine as well as the usual spirits you would expect in any bar. There is some small snacks available to buy although I didn't try them this time. I'd say this was an ok bar, nothing special but also nothing that would cause me to tell you not to go.

Vegetable & Nut Sunday Roast
Kayla B.

We had a lovely Sunday roast here! The staff were really attentive and went above and beyond! We didn't make a reservation (which you should because they are so busy on sundays- will know for next time) & they squeezed us in! I had the vegetarian Sunday roast which was so amazing and so yummy! Nice to be able to have that option when most restaurants don't!

Very tasty, although maybe a little small ox cheek and tongue steak pie
Helena V.

Very welcoming place from the outside, we popped in to have a sneaky look but finished to have a dinner for 6 people and everyone loved their food. Nice, looking like freshly cooked dishes, which you probably wouldn't find the same somewhere else - that kind of restaurant I like :] where you can choose from something traditional, but with the restaurants twist on it. The only thing - the bathroom area could be bit better and go in the mood with the rest of the place. Great friendly and chilling atmosphere, not too noisy, great service and even if you have a pet, you can take them with you :)

Sunday roast beef

I got a Sunday roast beef, which was just okay. The portion was small (look at how small the Yorkshire pudding is in the picture!); the gravy was thin. For the price I had to pay for my Sunday roast, I could have gotten something better elsewhere. My friend got the pork chop, which he said was good. The service was also okay, possibly due to how busy they were. We had our menu on the table that was never taken away for us. When they served food, they just put it on the menu. Most importantly, none of the staff wore a mask. Some staff also stood really close to me when speaking. Although the Ox claimed to practice one-meter distancing, their tables seemed cramped. I will not recommend this place to anyone or return as I can get better food in a safer environment elsewhere.

Sunday roast
Clare M.

The Ox is a welcome addition to my neighbourhood. It's like a local that does really good gastro pub food without the huge tab. I have dined here twice now and both times been impressed with the quality of food and excellent service. Their menu is seasonal, fresh and uses local Scottish produce, they have daily specials and on Sundays a traditional roast rib of beef with all the trimmings.....nom nom nom....:) You can pre book the roast when you book a table and this is a good idea as it tends to sell out quickly. The bar is welcoming and hosts and excellent selection of everything you could possibly want and have really lovely staff who went out their way to buy grapefruit at the local shop for my new favourite gin Monkey 47. It's a yes from me.

Lovely day for a glass of Pinot Grigio

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5 years ago

Super restaurant, for a very friendly staff and excellent food deserves a higher rating and some it has been given

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10 years ago

50% unfriendly staff. Joke prices; £5+ a pint. Decent quality pour though to be fair.

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Review Highlights - The Ox

The restaurant was packed pretty quickly right after they opened for Sunday roast.

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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 Ox - pubs - Updated May 2026

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