Ghillie Dhu in Edinburgh, City of

Very kind service, all the waiters were really nice to us. The curry of the day was amazing!

Chaotic place, we went for dinner and found ourselves in the middle of a show (quiz and music). Experience with the service was not very pleasant... we laughed at it and had fun. Too touristy, too industrial. Sin

This place used to be one of most entertaining place for Scottish music and dance. But lately i saw that the place has transformed to more American style dining. It’s frustrating

Came in with a group of tourists.Food was great as was the service and atmosphere 👌

Food was very nice and reasonably priced, couldn't not take a picture of the loo

A good place to have a few drinks. Live music. Good atmosphere

Beautiful venue. Nice staff. Good food. Live music. Nuff said0

All gr8 except Sitting arrangement which was messy for the team

Probably my favourite pub in Edinburgh, although I am biased since I'm being married there next year. But we were there on the weekend and it was brilliant, they had an amazing live band

An atypical place, pub with live and events in an old church. Very good dishes, large selection of whisky, gin, beers and cocktails. Attentive and efficient service. Beautiful decor, very friendly live atmosphere and very good musicians for our evening.

We were there for a private party and music dancing and they did a good job

Good Ambiance, food and service

Nom nom nom! Ate here for our first night in Scotland. Definitely did not disappoint from an eat-all-things American. Local beer and gin cocktails were excellent. Live music excellent and oh the food! We had kids fish n chips, the lamb roast, steak frites, plus sticky pudding and mars bar for dessert. I would order all again.

Nice bar in Edinburgh with good live music. Delicious food. Sanitary facilities that require getting used to.

We had some pints. Lovely place and staff

Visited this bar for a nightcap after an event at the Usher Hall. Folk band playing Irish songs was great and we had lovely cocktails but our evening was ruined after a doorman at the opposite side of the empty bar came over to my partner to tell him not to tap his hand on the table in time to the music. Seriously? We were sober, quiet and not young and how can anyone not sing and tap along to The Irish Rover??!! Get a grip management no wonder the bar was empty.

Didn't try the food but looked OK. Usual range of drinks. Expensive for some , particularly with service charge added. Friendly staff

Surprisingly quiet for a Sunday during the festival. Good service and very helpful staff. My friends enjoyed their food, but I have to say that Cullen Skink was the worst I have ever had - watery and tasteless. Such a pity as it is one of my favourite dishes.

The food was delicious! Highly recommend the sunday roast. Staff were friendly and attentive. Great size venue.

Located in an old church. very nice

Amazing food, very helpful staff and owner.

The interior, music, and atmosphere were amazing and authentic. The staff were nice and pleasant, too. Food was good, could have been better, but still good nonetheless. Do know that there is a 10% service charge added to the bill. I felt a little bad and awkward asking the staff to remove this (sorry I’m on a budget). But this was optional, as stated. I had no qualms with the service though, the people were nice, friendly and accommodating.

The food and the drinks were very nice same with the live music. The manager from Turkey 🇹🇷 is the best guy!

The upstairs auditorium is an excellent music venue. Great Fringe gig from Dean Owens

Atmosphere was awful even though it was middle of festival...went next door to rat pack instead!

Deconsecrated church used as a restaurant, pub. The atmosphere is very nice. There were musicians playing typical music live. Average food, wide choice of beers, cocktails and more.

A great place to have a nice time, whether eating or having a few drinks in good company, with Scottish music performed very well live.

Wedding for our nephew excellent service and staff always smiling and the food it was excellent also

Delicious food in lovely surroundings. Friendly staff and a fun pub quiz thrown in the night we were there.

Brilliant group dinner. Awesome live music.

Nice staff always polite upstairs is fabulous always have a good time when at an event

5/5. Had an excellent dining experience here! The food was fantastic, especially the fish and chips, and the pie was delicious. We also enjoyed the olives as a starter. The service was good, making the overall experience very enjoyable. Highly recommend!

Not a lot of choice for vegetarians, but then we're only 15% of the population. Any wonder we don't eat out much.

Massive place, great selection of drinks, happy to go back

Went for a Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer, performed by The Quartet Scotland. The concert was beautiful and the hall was also. I didn’t order any food or drinks but the staff were helpful and friendly and the other customers seemed to enjoy their orders!

Very atmospheric, this is a very serendipitous. Bring your friends and enjoy.

Lovely lunch good drinks very helpful friendly staff. Will definitely be back

We went to one of the Candlelight music evenings, to hear the music of Hans Zimmer, at the Ghillie Dhu. The venue was perfect for the occasion and the musicians played well. They engaged with the audience, informing us about the pieces being played, making the evening very enjoyable. A handy bar offers a good range of dinks.

Very warm atmosphere, typical of the area

Awesome event space. Great sound system. Dancers and singers/bagpipe and violin players were excellent

These guys really know how to party. In skirt with lots of whisky. Though I do throw dought on the authenticity of the danish muffins that they allude too in the owners manual. Wild accusation of false truths of past dietary discrestions have surfaced through different social media terms. I have fought off many memories that lead me through the different later lives I have eaten. For sure family friendly. Lots of room for toddlers.

While roaming around Edinburgh we came across this beautiful restaurant. It was lovely. You can outside but we chose go sit inside because of cloudy weather. We had Sunday Roast Beef, Haggis, Summer special watermelon cocktail and a few drinks. Taste was really great and ambience is also very nice. Worth all your penny. Highly recommended!

Apart from being in when there was an English wedding party and the England game was on, (and they won!) it was great. Will be back!

The dancers and Piper were very good. The local band was worth the trip. Great atmosphere and service start to finish.

Extraordinary atmosphere, with live music and the possibility of learning traditional dances. The building is wonderful.

Went here Tuesday 9th July with my family at 18:30. The food was very good but the unfortunately the service and staff were quite the opposite. The lady who took us to our table was very pleasant and any interaction we had with her was excellent. Unfortunately we didn’t have much interaction with her. Cutlery for our starters was dumped on the table in a pile for us to sort out, as was the bottle of wine we ordered (unopened with no offer to taste) and we were never asked was everything ok at any point during the meal. When the bill arrived it had a 10% device charge already added to the bill. We were celebrating our son’s graduation and didn’t want to make a scene by raising it in the restaurant to get it removed. A few training sessions with staff would make this a good place to go

A remarkable place, a must-do. Review the dance steps carefully before coming to be on point when it starts. The food is great, very refined.

Nice place but very poor service. Was told you can attend the Ceilidh by staff there and just show up which we thought was suprising. Around 10 of us planned to go but only to then be told they are full and you had to book in advance, but the real shocking attidude is they called us liars! Its not what happend but how it was handled that was uncalled for as we would have rebooked. Poor service letting a good place down.

Very good location and beautiful place

Not busy is an understatement. If you want a drink in an empty bar with zero people, this is the place for you. Might be to do with the incredibly expensive whisky prices, for context the dome is £3 cheaper 😂

Awesome place in the middle of Edinburgh. Perfect venue for a wedding I’d say!

Came here with a group of 10 and they had a great semi-private room for us, the food and service was very good. I ordered the Scottish Sea Trout and I would recommend - it was a bit over salted but still really good - maybe just tell them to go easy on the salt! My favorite part of the dinner was watching the bartender meticulously prepare my Negroni cocktail - highly recommend that for the experience and the taste!

Went there for dinner, got the lamb, haggis and some whiskey and sticky toffee pudding, experience was great! Bagpiper playing a tune every so often, tourist friendly 100%. Food was great and delicious, and the service was great!

A beautiful pub with a great atmosphere! Sat outside with our drinks which was lovely! Drinks were a bit pricey compared to other pubs in the area. Keen to return to try the food

A beautiful atmospheric pub in the city centre. I love Ceilidh nights upstairs which is a great fun. Last night I booked a table to treatmy guests with some local food. It was live music but we were sitting too close to the singer and it was tooooo loud. We ordered fish dinner and mushrooms pie .The food was average- fish just tasteless with a thick layer of butter,could be more vegetables on the side. Mushrooms pie was too salty.

A good venue for a gathering. Thank you!

Beautiful place, attended for my brothers wedding. Just fabulous 💃

Lives up to its reputation: great food, fantastic service, fun atmosphere and a great selection of beers, wines and spirits. The haggis was the best I've had.

We got good poison after eating the trout. It’s simple as that. Other friend had steak and she was fine.

Magnificent places, good atmosphere, the food is very good and the service is perfect.

We love the Ghillie Dhu with our whole hearts! Not only was it the place we got married, every time we return, the staff welcome us back and the food is phenomenal! Haggis bonbons and fried mars bar…what more do you want?! Also, if you ever get the chance to meet Tyla, she’s one of the gems there!

The place is atmospheric, and it’s even greater if you sit near the live music. Food is good and service attentive. At peak hour the service is too slow or not existent. However the reduced greatly our bill to compensate for the delays without asking for it.

A great restaurant where you can try the traditional "ceilidh" dance some evenings, with a live band!

Fun place with live music, great atmosphere and a lovely service. The food was super tasty and overall a really good experience.

Great ceidleigh experience. It was my second time and I will repeat

I didn't eat there at all, but I danced the ceilidh (traditional Scottish dance, pronounced Keyli) and it was really good! It clearly deserves 5 stars! As for the food, I don't know anything about it 🤷

Atmospheric, tasty and nice. I recommend

A bit of a hidden gem in the center of Edinburgh. Good food and beer selection. The live music was good too.

Tried to visit on a few occasions on a Sunday but hasn't been open - mentions opening at 4pm but isn't always the case.

Too loud and expensive. Drinks had strange flavour

Great Ghillie Dhu was a 2 hour 40 mins of fun and frolic with pipping in the Haggis ceremony, delish 3 course meal, friendly and attentive servers, and special Scottish music and dancing. They welcomed our tour group with bagpipe. Found the swift sword dancing by the wee Scottish lass to be very impressive. The banquet hall was also nice and provided wonderful ambience whilst dinning amidst our fellow tour mates. Red and white wine were provided. You can buy your own drinks such as whiskey. I tried a non-alcoholic Scottish soft drink IRN BRU. I enjoyed the Haggis Bonbon so much, I asked for a second piece. The steak was interesting with a beef stew texture, but was tender and flavourful. The Scottish cheesecake was decadent. Portions were very generous. Although I do not dance, I had great fun clapping and tapping my feet away. Highly recommended if this is an optional excursion for your tour, to enjoy a night of Scintillating Scottish experience. Helen Singapore

Great Ghillie Dhu was a 2 hour 40 mins of fun and frolic with pipping in the Haggis ceremony, delish 3 course meal, friendly and attentive servers, and special Scottish music and dancing. They welcomed our tour group with bagpipe. Found the swift sword dancing by the wee Scottish lass to be very impressive. The banquet hall was also nice and provided wonderful ambience whilst dinning amidst our fellow tour mates. Red and white wine were provided. You can buy your own drinks such as whiskey. I tried a non-alcoholic Scottish soft drink IRN BRU. I enjoyed the Haggis Bonbon so much, I asked for a second piece. The steak was interesting with a beef stew texture, but was tender and flavourful. The Scottish cheesecake was decadent. Portions were very generous. Although I do not dance, I had great fun clapping and tapping my feet away. Highly recommended if this is an optional excursion for your tour, to enjoy a night of Scintillating Scottish experience. Helen Singapore

I was expecting Scottish music, perhaps it wasn't the right day, in any case the volume was too high for the size of the restaurant room. The best thing: the entrance!

Really nice food, relaxed atmosphere and great service. We were lucky and had live music while having dinner!

Cracking bar never been before but tye live music was fantastic. Very clean with friendly staff

The best Mussels I've ever eaten - that sauce is exceptional! The haggis bon bons were a great not too scary haggis for our first try. Even the fish and chips and Macaroni cheese were significantly better than elsewhere. The staff were all friendly and helpful. The live music was lovely and not too loud which was a plus.

Such a nice place in a great location. It looks great from the outside and even better inside. They have live music in the main bar, especially Friday's. This is a frequent place to have weddings as well, but that is below the public bar. I heard they might let in other people as well, for a ceilidh. Service was fast and the bar didn't fill up to the brim, so you could find places to sit.

We enjoyed a bottle of red wine whilst listening to live music in this lovely friendly bar on our first evening in Edinburgh 🤩

Great bar, food and atmosphere Thanks to all the staff 👍

DON'T ORDER WHITE WINE. Ordered a large sauvignon blanc and it tasted off. I get the feeling it had not been refrigerated properly after being opened.

Lovely bar and eatery, friendly staff and a cosy place with fantastic decor. Large drink selection . We will eat here next time we visit.

We went for a candlelight concert, highly recommended.

Heerlijk gegeten met het gezin. Goede service en (eindelijk een keer) nette toiletten😁. Live muziek was super. Zeker de moeite waard!

I visited for a special candlelight concert and I really enjoyed the unique atmosphere

What an incredible night the Ghillie Dhu put on for me. I hosted a reeling ball for c.140 people and they were absolutely incredible. All my worries, they solved and they went above and beyond to make the night as special as possible for me. Everyone loved the food and the night itself was a roaring success. Can't wait to host another event there and thank you so much to all those who made it such a special night.

Very good historic venue, worth a visit, handy for town.

We watched a six nations rugby match here in one of their private booths, which comfortably seats 8 people, 12 at a push. The atmosphere was buzzing, the service good and the food OK (although the dirty fries were great).

When I went I found live music!!! I honestly didn't expect it, it was quite entertaining!!!

Enjoyed our time here. Had a cosy little booth around the back of the main bar. Food options were interesting, and weren’t bad at all, it also had a good range of drinks. No real complaints either.

Burns night, absolutely fantastic thank you . Great entertainment and stunning Hall. We will be back next year to celebrate again we hope

Great place for a Scottish experience!

Went to a candlelight concert for first time for The best of Joe Hisaishi. Wonderful venue upstairs and friendly staff. Musicians were excellent.

A really nice pub with an amazing bar located in a very old beautiful building with a genuine atmosphere.

A really decent venue space with a wonderful and magical vibe. Food was decent and service was ok. Drinks from the bar very expensive.

We booked a table for 4.30. We showed up for 4.15, we were the first people in for the evening. Our waiter came over, a middle aged woman, who was so so so awkward for working a customer service job- she didn't even look at us and mumbled. I asked for a lemonade and a whisky. When my lemonade came it had a fly in it. I complained, they said ok, never apologized, took it away, got me a new one and brought it back. Never once said sorry etc. BIZARRE So we felt slightly awkward and as if we were a burden. We ordered what they called "artisan bread" to share as a starter. We waited 45 mins (red flag in itself, considering we were THE ONLY PEOPLE HERE) , we are like what are they doing kneading the bread by hand....? Then out comes two portions of this cold toast. So cold you couldn't put butter in it. Not slightly cold, like frozen. We are like when did they toast this? 7am?... It was like a PILE also, I said to her " we only ordered one of these, and I'm not being funny but that's £5 for cold toast. We are not paying £10 for both of these....?" It was way to much bread for one person pre dinner. She then said ok (NO APOLOGY AGAIN!) AND took the food away without making eye contact. We are then pissing ourselves laughing like " is this a prank show?" That's how bad it was. We then seen the waiter PICK HER NOSE AND EAT IT behind the bar. We were like nope we are leaving. We walked up to the bar and said " cancel our two steak pies we are leaving ' To which she said "ok" didn't make eye contact. Then pointed at a card machine which said £15 (the whisky and one portion of cold toast) We paid it and got right off out of there. Like no apology from them etc.... I'd like to hear what your opinion on this is- Do you think that is typical service for the Ghillie Dhu?

Pretty average food. Burger was ok, steak was very small and not particularly good

Une soirée parfaite en famille ou en plus il y a de la Live musique certains soirs ce soir là nous allons réserver une table pour quatre. Ils ont des petites alcôve pas trop proche de l’orchestre. Ce qui fait qu’on peut quand même parler, les toilettes sont assez atypique les urinoirs sont des sous en inox. Sinon la nourriture est très correct. Les prix sont corrects aussi dans un quartier où il y a des très très bon resto très chic je recommande. les plats sont typiquement aussi. Par contre la réservation est obligatoire. A perfect evening with the family or in addition there is Live music some evenings that evening we will reserve a table for four. They have small alcoves not too close to the orchestra. So we can still talk, the toilets are quite atypical, the urinals are stainless steel money. Otherwise the food is very correct. The prices are also correct in a neighborhood where there are very very good very chic restaurants I recommend. the dishes are typically also. On the other hand, reservation is mandatory

Had a table booked for my family and we were ushered round the back as there was also a wedding on in the main bar restaurant area. It would have been nice to have been informed about this when booking. It felt as of we were an inconvenience to the main event. There was also live music in the main area but as we were round the back we couldn't enjoy this although the staff did advise we could come round when we finished our meal which I thought was a bit odd as we would then be in with all the wedding guests. When ordering food it was clear the staff had not really been trained on the menus as we asked how certain dishes came and they didn't really know. Not thier fault bu a failure in management in training staff accordingly. The Ghillie Dhu is a traditional Scottish restaurant however I didn't see one scottish member of staff which in my opinion is a bit of a shame and let down. The food was OK however the whole experience was poor and I had organised a family get together in Edinburgh were I felt let down.

Went for a couples meal in Edinburgh, we are locals. We were greeted by a female waitress, who we assumed to be new due to the fact she was socially inept. She did not look us in the eye once, mumbled, extremely extremely timid to the point that it was rude. We were the only people in the restaurant for opening at 4.20pm, we ordered two drinks, one whisky, one lemonade. When the lemonade arrived, there was a large fly in the drink. I then complained to the waitress who said " ok" then took it away, no apology. Very awkward. With a fresh drink, we then saw multiple fruit flies buzzing around, this speaks to the hygiene of the place, keep in mind it is not summer, it is December. We ordered two steak pies and one " artisan bread" to share. After waiting 45 MINUTES, we were then brought two portions of the bread, which is marked as £5.... This " Artisan Bread" was in fact half a loaf of cold toast on a wooden board, with a dump of salt? The toast was so cold that the butter wouldn't even spread, not look warm, not hot, STONE COLD 🥶. We took two bites and said no let's leave this. The waitress then returned, and when taking away the plates, I commented saying that this plate isn't as sold to us on the menu, " artisan bread" at £5 is not cold toast. At this point, we thought that we were in some sort of prank TV Show. Still the only people in the restaurant, the staff began eating whole sandwiches behind the bar.... Bare in mind we had been waiting 1h at this point for steak pie and we were the only customers in. The tipping point for us, was that we then saw one of the male waiters PICKING HIS NOSE as he walked around. Not to mention how unprofessional and unwashed they looked. The waiting staff were wearing lounge wear with no uniform or identification. At this point, we stood up to go leave. Contemplating leaving without pay. We went to the bar to complain. We said to the waitress "Cancel the steak pies, we are leaving, it's been 1h" To which she said " ok" didn't even look like us again, pointed at the card reader and charged us £17 for a whisky and some cold toast. Hilariously bad experience, so much so that without a proper response from management, I am posting about the Ghillie Dhu on as many online forums as possible. See photos below of the £5 cold toast, sorry " Artisan Bread". Overall: -The worst customer service I have ever experienced. -Zero remorse for awful food. -Poor food hygiene. -Premises unclean

Went here yesterday for Christmas dinner and what a mistake that was first time out eating on Christmas in 15 years not cooking for the family And it was terrible kids running riot about the place up and down where people where trying to enjoy there meal we waited 35 minutes for drinks to be brought over table was booked for 4:30 didn’t get starter until 5:20 waited a further 40 minutes for the main course to come out which was freezing everything on the plate was cold and just had warm gravy poured over it Was absolutely shocking and a dam right disgrace A lot of the food went to waste and for dessert waited 35 minutes which was a shambles aswell was starving the time I got home won’t be ba ck and definitely wouldn’t recommend the place to anyone £80/£90 a head 4 of us and the bottles of wine we bought me be r wasted money so much in my life very disappointed