Truly a superb dining experience in this small restaurant on the grass market…read more The ambiance is just beautiful with small rooms in this ancient building. The walls are stone but they have been whitewashed beautifully and then hung with fin de cicle French advertising posters. The service was impeccable without being clingy. They have a short but very nice wine list. We went with the red table wine (house wine) and it was very good. If you are there for lunch or before 7 pm they an excellent play du jour special. We were there later so we started with the escargot. Very good version of this dish and came out piping hot served with a very good baguette (what else do you expect at a French restaurant?). I had the salmon in a fume blanc sauce with crayfish. The salmon was perfectly cooked and the sauce was excellent. Both dishes came with very very good potatoes. The wife had a sea bass which was served with veggies, olives and balsamic reduction l. Truly amazing. They have a very nice list of desert and after diner wines (sauterne anyone ?) as well as aperitifs. But we were just too full as the portions were very filling. This is a gem of a restaurant. Highly recommend

Let's start off with the good: the food is lovely. The chef knows what they are doing and produce a…read moresolid range of French fare. You'll enjoy the flavors. The service is atrocious. The staff is rude, dismissive, and only wants to move you out as fast as possible so they can turn the table. Food either takes forever; or comes out all at once when you aren't ready -- depending on how busy the staff is pushing other people out of the restaurant. There are a few solid places on Grassmarket and this is among the options at the bottom.

This is a fantastic little (and it IS little) restaurant. It's French, so of course the wine will…read morebe good. We had escargots (12 of them!) & the anti-pasta plate for starters. Followed by the beef bourguignon and trout, then a cheese plate for dessert. All very civilized and delicious. I highly recommend this place. Give it a try should you happen to be in the area, or make a special trip - I think it's worth it.

So your best friend of the boy variety who also happens to be an extremely charming French-speaker…read morebrings you to an awesome spot for Saturday brunch, filled with glorious accents, fresh pastries and shelves tumbling with fine wines and tasty cheeses. It reads like the opening few minutes of a romantic movie. And then the two of you start The iPhone Yelp Check-In War of the Century. It swiftly becomes a comedy. Yep, if anything were to sum up myself and my delightful companion that day, that would be it. I shall once again hang my head and apologise that I became Duchess of Le Marche Francais in a city I don't even live in. But hey, that's just how comforting Edinburgh is! It makes you feel as if you already *are* home. We weren't sure that we followed correct protocol - picking out our pastries then taking them up to the counter to eat in, but be certain that the people who run this place are both accommodating and honest. The guy at the counter told us (well, told Chris M in French) that we were welcome to take out our brunch or eat in, and he said that it's rather more expensive to eat in. Still, because the place was so pleasant and ambient we chose to eat in anyway. It's so relaxed that I could quite easily envisage myself bringing a book to a place like this and settling in for the morning... afternoon... heck, as long as they'll have me. I went for my favourite maple pecan plait as soon as I clocked it and it didn't disappoint. It's a hard thing to get wrong (even supermarkets do these well) but when you need a knife and fork towards the end of it because the things so fresh and gooey, you know you've landed on your feet. The Francophile himself went for a traditional breakfast of croissant, bread and hot chocolate which looked equally awesome. Not only is this a great morning place but it's actually a French restaurant too, bursting with salads, sandwiches and main meals, and it's a shop to boot... all of which I'll be exploring if I get a chance to go back. So that's great food, lovely service, awesome atmosphere... Can it do anything wrong? Non, Franc-ly.

The staff here were so nice and accommodating. That made the meal. I enjoyed some local Haggis…read morewhich was good especially how it was prepared. Then came a fish dish with a delicious sauce. Finally, I finished it off with a creamy cream brûlée. The staff help pair the meal with a delicious French white (Sauvignon blanc). The restaurant is in this old townhouse with a very cool decor and cozy setting. Very enjoyable.

Very cute restaurant with a reasonable meal course. I had a potato soup, mushroom risotto and…read moresticky pudding and they were all good! I am not sure what happened but it took like 30min between finishing a starter and getting an entree. The service was friendly but very slow. According to my coworker, she had never seen such a slow service here, so hopefully it was just that particular night.

This place supposedly has the best almond croissant in Edinburgh. I came to get one around 10AM,…read morebut it was just okay. The ends were quite hard and I was disappointed, although the middle bites were delicious; crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I wish the entire croissant was this way but it wasn't! For £3.1, the croissant was definitely pricey, especially for the quality of it.

We went to The Wee Boulangerie when staying in an Airbnb close by. A great find. Lovely almond…read morecroissants, pains au chocolat and other pastries, all freshly prepared in the bakery. The coffee isn't bad either.

I've only been here once while in Edinburgh. Not because it wasn't good, but because it's a wee bit…read moreover my price range. And I guess it wasn't so good that it ever occurred to me to go back there again. You can blame this on my state of mind during my first year of university, though. The occasion was a post-exam meal with a friend of mine who also studied Social Anthropology. We wanted to treat ourselves and they were doing 2 courses for 10 pounds. For what my memory does serve me, I had risotto and that was the moment I became a risotto lover. I think it was risotto with asparagus and chives. I could be wrong about the latter two ingredients. The atmosphere in the restaurant is really warm. Maybe because the inside's cozy, but not too cramped. As far as memory serves, I recommend it, though not passionately--that might very possibly just be an effect of time.

The staff at B'est provides excellent service! Everyone is very efficient and polite; they took…read morethe time to make sure we were satisfied with everything as our meal progressed. The food was delicious and beautifully presented; all the more remarkable because the prices are VERY reasonable :-) While the cuisine is French, the menu is varied enough to offer something to diners with most tastes.

I was so happy to try this innovative, unique restaurant that is new to Edinburgh. I was pleasantly…read moresurprised to see such beautiful presentation of the food of each course that came out (see my pictures!) and also by how delicious each dish was. I bought a Groupon for a two-course dinner here and last night my boyfriend and I came to try out Riverlife since I had been intrigued by the Caribbean-inspired French menu. The staff were extremely friendly and welcoming, and the menu hosted a great selection of dishes. We had figs wrapped in pancetta and mushrooms stuffed with blue cheese for starters. Each dish had an explosion of flavours and was fantastic (and beautiful!). My boyfriend had the delicious jerk chicken that had fantastic flavour but would have been a tad too spicy for me to have by myself, but I enjoyed a taste. I enjoyed the rack of lamb with potatoes provincale and ratatouille. The restaurant is BYOB which works well if you are suitably prepared. It was a fantastic meal and we also enjoyed delicious coffee to round it out. I enjoyed the fantastic menu and different items that you wouldn't find elsewhere in Edinburgh.

Went for a final diner with a friend before living the country, could not have picked better, and…read moresort of disappointed I never found them sooner! We shared the plantain stater, which was great, and then shared the Fish Colombo and the Jerk Chicken breast and they were HEAVENLY. Honestly, my friend shut me up so she could enjoy her first bite in silent bliss haha! We also had cocktails, the RiveRLife Runner : super fresh and sweet, real glorious stuff! The waiter was very sweet. He got extremely busy as the evening went on but stayed on top of everything and was super kind. Cannot recommend the place enough, especially during the day. We gave our compliment to the chef.

Great place to meet people in the city centre.read more