Old Town, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

The “superb choice and quality” of the fish and seafood at chef Roy Brett’s “lovely” 15-year-old venue in the Old Town make it “an Edinburgh favourite”. “The food (which these days includes some meat dishes) is always cooked to perfection”.

With its imposing facade, stained glass, corniced ceilings, polished wood and brass, we maintain a listing for this busy Victorian institution (est. 1863 and nowadays run by the Metropolitan Pub Company) as much as a cultural experience as it is a culinary one. Seafood dishes and platters are the best choices here.

The grand hall of the former Bank of Scotland HQ provides a dramatic setting for this northern outpost of the famous London-based steakhouse chain. As with last year, feedback on its menu of native-bred beef and Scottish seafood remains surprisingly limited, hence we’ve removed a rating for the time being.

In a converted city-centre warehouse, this “popular and well-run fish venue” is a “dependable” and “excellent value” spot that has been going strong for a decade (and earned a special shout-out this year for its “delicious lobster”). You’ll find the original Fishers near the Leith shore, right by their Shore Bar and Restaurant, offering classic British food with a Euro spin.

2021 Review: The oldest trad boozer on the Royal Mile (est 1742) has now been reincarnated as an oyster and seafood bar – the name switching connotation from the equine to the maritime. It has won immediate high ratings for its “outstanding” crustacea.

2023 Review: “Like a Gallic hug”, chef-patron Fred Berkmiller’s “properly sourced old-school French cuisine” comes packaged with “Gallic good humour, impeccable service and quirky decoration in this wonderfully authentic restaurant”, “now with new wine bar underneath”. Sadly, its nearby sibling L’Escargot Blanc closed down last year after 18 years.

This “marvellous” seafood bistro beside Edinburgh’s Meadows from chef Phil White and FoH Rachel Chisholm pleases guests with “carefully prepared food” – “and if you get a seat at the window you see a mile of green space with a volcano in the distance (inert), in the middle of a capital city”. Top Menu Tips – “lovely hake, and the octopus was cooked to perfection”.

This “lovely restaurant by the Water of Leith” is “just the perfect place for a business lunch”, with “lovely staff, simple fish dishes and rock-solid wines”. Set in a seventeenth-century watchtower, it has been running for more than 20 years and is the flagship of a small group with a branch in the city as well as The Shore next door.

“Great fish ’n’ chips” are one of the joys of this Victorian-style harbourside venture, a classy collab between Welch Fishmongers and top seafood restaurant Ondine, that also offers fancier and always “fresh” catch (oysters, grilled langoustines, smoked salmon). Just a “shame it’s not bigger – wish they’d move into one of the vacant units around and expand!”

2023 Review: “A seafood restaurant that never fails to please, with constantly changing menus that reflect what is available seasonally”. That’s the take on this small (24 covers) family-run fish restaurant and ‘seasonal hotel’ which sits on Hawkcraig point, with views of Edinburgh and the islands of the Forth. “The owners really do pull out all the stops to give a nice dining experience. Great for that special occasion!”

This “bustling and lively upstairs venue” in the New Town is the latest from chef Dean Banks (also of the nearby Pompadour and Haar in St Andrews), who “certainly knows how to cook fish – the octopus in the starter was tender and tasty, and the sole main course was well cooked”. The Scotsman’s Gaby Soutar was also impressed, in particular by the “sybaritic and rich” lobster crumpet.