The Sheep Heid Inn in Edinburgh, City of

The oldest pub in Edinburgh, so beautiful and great for a meal after a hike to Arthur’s seat. Tasty food and great service, especially Skye who took our photo in the high chairs the Queen sat in!

Same as it was 40 years ago - brilliant!

Great little local pub but the staff could defo do a better job clearing the empty glasses from the bar, could easily have a few bar stools there for folk sitting but everytime i've ever been in half the bar space is taken up with dirty glasses.

Beautiful place but was quite cold. Food was OK. Amazing, friendly, helpful staff.

We had a great lunch and Harry made our stay perfect as our waiter! Thank you and we’ll be back

Delicious lunch with friends in a beautiful quaint pub. I had the cod and chips which were outstanding. Nice selection of beers. Our server Harry was a real treat. Great service, he had great recommendations and was very attentive. We will definitely be back.

Had a reservation this time. This place was very highly rated and if I need to have a reservation my standards are higher. Firstly, 2 of us had steaks that were both cooked perfectly. No faults there. Food overall not well seasoned though, my peppercorn sauce didn't taste of much. Very disappointed in the burger. Very mid. Fries not well cooked, shrimp was hard. Shrimp linguini not bad but also not well seasoned either. Mid overall.

Food was EPIC! I went the pie, croquettes and chocolate bomb for dessert and could hardly move. Ciara was serving us and she was classic! Fun and hilarious and made the whole thing feel homely. Check it out for sure

Food is great, if a little expensive, would recommend the lunch menu with a set price for 2 courses. The staff are always lovely and the skittle alley is great fun (just remember to book ahead!)

We were recommended this place by the volunteer at CraigMillar Castle. And she failed dimension that it was the oldest inn in Edinburgh Scotland! What a great little place that had spectacular food and drinks

Had a wonderful evening here with friends. Really lovely food. Lovely ambience and the staff were absolutely wonderful. Couldn’t do enough for us and so friendly. Will definitely be returning.

The food was excellent. However, we found the service to be lacking. We were left standing by the entrance waiting to be seated for 15 minutes (we had booked a table for 530pm and arrived 2 minutes early) Once we were finally sat at our table, and our drink orders were taken. A 2nd waitress (who was amazing to be fair) came to take our food orders. A 3rd waitress/manager brought our appetizers about 30 minutes later but we still had not recieved our drinks as they had been left sitting on the bar by the 1st waitress who took the order. In the end, the food was good, drinks were watered down, and with the exception of the second waitress service was extremely lacking.

Booked a festive meal with family to celebrate Christmas as we worked the day. Disappointed in the quality of the meal, the turkey was nice but the potatoes were clearly reheated and very dry. The goats cheese starter was nice but the brownie for dessert was served cold (normally in other restaurants this would be warm). Service was slow and it took around 35 mins for drinks to arrive. Sadly disappointed as we had heard such good things. For the price of the meal didn’t match the overall quality.

We enjoyed our experience and it was a sweet little location. Parts of our mains were not to our standards, but for the most part, everything was wonderful.

Had a great Christmas dinner here, Rhonda and Ciara’s service was great and the food was amazing. Would come back again!

Lovely place with a great history, lovely staff, very welcoming pub with a dog friendly environment. Food was excellent and our server Skye was brilliant

We had a big party for Christmas lunch with lots of kids so slightly chaotic but Hari and the team were really excellent.

Booked festive lunch. Food really excellent. Staff are very attentive but not intrusive. Thanks in particular to Rhona and Chiara who are just fab! Highly recommended.

Very yummy food our waiter,Ciara, was very nice and pretty and very kind to us I loved the vanilla ice cream and the Mac and cheese was the best that Ive ever had in a restaurant and I’ve had LOTS of Mac and cheese the interior of the restaurant was very fancy I had the haggis for time there and it was delicious most definitely the best pub in Scotland Ps f’n brilliant

Lovely roast and the service from Henry made it even better :)

Fabulous food as always. We had the Christmas menu with the upgrade. Irena who served us was marvellous. Warm, chatty and welcoming. Thank you Irena

Back again for the 2nd year, food didn't disappoint. Great value for money and super tasty. Service was good too. Dog friendly with top water bowl service too!

Came to for an impromptu lunch! The host was very accommodating and got us seated right away! The food and service was very good! Thanks Harry and Ruk! You guys were amazing!

When we arrived took chap behind bar a while to find our reservation. Offered table in back with distinct lack of space. Asked for another table but told nothing else available except table next to skittle alley door. This was constantly opening and closing against our table / seat when people going back and forth to bar. Ordered drinks, waited 15mins. Starters arrived at same time as pre dinner drinks. We were also having wine! One main was lukewarm, steak pie chewy and fatty. Roast potatoes with other main of chicken were dark soft and dried out (looked like they had been sitting all day and just heated up again) also no other veg included. We have eaten here a few times, albeit a number of years ago, and the food was always excellent. Also when reading information on the pub’s festive offerings it mentions lovely Christmas experience!! There was no Festive atmosphere or decorations other than a particularly old looking tree stuck in the window. Very disappointing visit and experience from what was always thought to be a very atmospheric old establishment.

I had heard good things. Utterly disappointing in every way. Not sure what was going on but it all went wrong, from a 35min wait for the first drink to the kitchen telling us a well done 1cm thick steak WAS medium rare to the 'theres no pork belly' then serving the pork belly no one ordered because they were told there was none. Or the mash under the steak pie that would not have been out of place in a service station. I'll not go on. Such a shame, it was so bad the manager charged us 50% of the bill for 6. He knew.

Booked festive lunch. Food excellent with good choice on menu. Cooked just as I requested. Excellent value. Staff very attentive but not intrusive. Sometimes at this busy period standards slip but not at this establishment. Thanks in particular to Harry and other bar staff. Highly recommend

Fantastic food and outstanding service from Harry. Would definitely recommend.

Excellent service by Rhona, she was awesome and the service was great. Food was amazing 🤤

Great location, lovely food and atmosphere, extremely helpful and kind staff.

Came in for Sunday roast and all fantastic. Irena was excellent and so lovely.

we didn't have a reservation and were afraid we wouldn't get a table. But they squeezed us in after a short wait time at the bar. We had traditional sunday roast, it was fantastic. Our waiter Harry was very friendly and forthcoming.

Excellent service, delicious food and a stellar environment!

We had a lovely Christmas meal today, thanks for the amazing service Ciara :)

Good service, lovely food. Friendly staff. Thanks to Ciara for taking good care of our team.

Ciara was very friendly and professional. Great with our three year old and competent with the menu and service. Fab dinner

Wonderful tavern in a small town on the outskirts of Edinburgh. It boasts of being (perhaps) the first pub in the whole of Scotland... for over 600 years! Certainly fascinating, it's worth a visit, even just for the hot chocolate and apple pie after a nice descent from Arthur Seat

Harry is the best one, he recommended us the best IPA I’ve ever tried, and food was nice too. We came after after climbing Arthur’s seat - highly recommend it.

Food was yummy. Lamb was well-cooked and the tarte tatin was interesting but the wait time for dishes was long.

Great food and service from Oliver, Rhona.

The Sheep Heid Inn offered a warm, inviting atmosphere, and the service was exceptional. Harri, our waiter, was particularly attentive, making us feel right at home. The pizza and buttermilk burger were both flavourful and satisfying. It's a perfect place to enjoy great food in a cozy, welcoming setting!

Loved the food and service was excellent. Thank you to Anna and Ciara, they were very friendly and efficient! Would recommend

We had a lovely time here, particularly because of our waiter Les. Even with a lot going on he still made our experience and meal so special, he was so attentive and friendly. Les provided the best service I’ve probably ever experienced!

Lovely staff, super attentive and friendly.

We had our work Christmas night out here. The booking process was really smooth and Ruk, who handled our booking, was very accommodating and responsive (as we had a few last minute changes). The food was delicious, the service was very friendly and attentive (thank you, Harry!!) and we all had a really lovely time. We also booked the skittles alley which was a really fun experience. Really looking forward to my next visit. Thank you so much for making our evening out so fun and enjoyable!

Great place for lunch after a walk up Arthur’s Seat. Really interesting veggie options, and Harri was so lovely as our waiter. Would highly recommend.

Thanks to Dave and Harry. Great evening with you guys!

The scallops and steak were both very tasty and well cooked. Th service was very bad. We had booked the festive menu in October and booked it as it offered a free bottle of prosecco. Whe. We arrived we weren't brought menus or offered prosecco. Staff didn't seem to know about deal. We finally got prosecco but only 4 glasses, the manager then reluctantly brought 2 more. The service could have been vastly improved at this point of the manager had given us 4 more glasses of prosecco or even apologised. It seemed like we were an inconvenience. I ordered an Espresso martini and when I inquired where it was I was told the bar was very busy downstairs and no apology was made. Very rude! If staff had just explained that the bar was busy or that there was a delay on the kitchen we would have been more understanding and we would have waited for food and drink to arrive. However we were just left unattended and not checked in upon. They had ran out of turkey and sea bass.

Excellent experience here! Tasty and fair priced Sunday Roast, our waiter Harri was polite and helpful, and amazing history. Would recommend!

Great place, great food. Dave and Harry where great serving our party of 7. Friendly, efficient and super nice

Portion sizes are less than half the calorie count advertised on the menu - without exaggeration the portions are ridiculously TINY. So while the food is not tasting bad it really feels like a rip off.

A lovely meal, cosy atmosphere and great service. Ruk was particularly lovely and went above and beyond to make it a lovely evening.

The location was beautiful and the historic presence was lovely. The host got us seated without a reservation (which I would strongly recommend) and was very pleasant. However our server was less than polite, and ignored us for almost 30 minutes, until the host went a fetched her (and because we did not have reservation, we only had the tablefor 90 minutes) .... even after that she was less than attentive. The scallops we had taste and smelled of ammonia. The lamb was mostly fat and very little meat, however had a pleasant taste. The drinks were the best part of the evening; They were made perfectly.

Ciara was great. Roast of beef, epic as always. Smooth Guinness.

Excellent service from Rhona and Harry!

it's not written anywhere that a reservation is necessary, we went with a taxi and got stuck because we decided to wait and we ended up with indifference ... I don't recommend it

All food should be on if you let people choose the all dining menu. Otherwise you should say : come in and eat what s going to be on on the day… don t put the menu on the website. And pictures on the website are not trustable. The Place is badly mantained . We found all pizzas off, running out of dough , no pie, plus other at least 7 dishes not available., even the only dessert I would Have liked wasn t on. The food we had was really basic level, hamburger meat nothing special, hamburger sandwich was like the supermarket one, my chicken liver pate didn t really taste like I expected. It was suggested like a fancy Place to have great food in a nice atmosphere. I would not recomend this place to anyone. Menus dirty, lights low, place not well maintened, sad atmosphere, waiters not really caring, no welcome atmosphere when we poped in, all experience was really disappointing.

Great historic pub, however constantly close early with little or no notice. twice I have been for a couple of pints to be told "sorry we are going to close early" if you plan on arriving at 9, don't expect to get time for 2 pints.

Very welcoming feel when we arrived. We were well looked after by our server, Harry,. Food & drinks were great. Got a chance to peek into the skittle alley where a big family was having a blast on the lanes. Looked like a lot of fun!

Sheep Hide Inn is a bustling place filled with historical and cultural charm; being there felt like becoming part of a rich story. Set in a beautiful location, the scenery added to the warm, inviting atmosphere. Although I was quite full to begin with—that’s on me—the food was still delicious and well-prepared. The waitstaff, while not locals, were friendly and attentive, which added to the experience rather than taking anything away. While I dined solo, watching others enjoy their meals together made me think about sharing a visit like this with someone special someday. Overall, it’s a memorable place I’d love to return to, ideally with a companion to fully appreciate all it has to offer.

Excellent Sunday roast for a big group. We were exceptionally well looked after by Harry - thank you.

Great Sunday roast in stunning little pub. Rhona was a lovely host, full of knowledge and patience. Only thing that could be improved was the raclette- the cheese was just melted cheese, a bit plasticky and not the type you expect with Raclette, and not enough bread but Rhona gave us some more from the kitchen.

Had a lovely meal tonight with a friend, service was prompt and attentive, I had the T-Bone steak from the chefs specials, was incredible and the price for the quantity of meat and sides was phenomenal, would 100% recommend, my servers name was Dave, top bloke.

Beautiful cozy atmosphere. Beautiful flavors in a pub steeped in history. It's worth the detour after a walk on Arthur's seat.

Stopped into the pup after descending from Arthur's Seat. Great cozy atmosphere, and even better service and food. Our waiter was very accommodating (Harry, I think) since we didn't have a reservation. Dinner seems pretty pricey, but we were there for lunch and they have amazing lunch specials! The fried squid and fish cakes were amazing! Sheep Heid is definitely worth a visit if you are in Edinburgh, especially because it is off the beaten track.

We went for lunch yesterday for my birthday and it was great! I want to mention Ruk and Harrys who served us wonderfully. I ordered vegan food and it was delicious. I really recommend this place

Awesome food, cool place dog friendly!!! Absolutely loved it .....was here today for a lunch Met this cool guy harry recommend me cask ale, would really recommend you to visit this place for a nice beer and great food 😁

My husband and I stumbled upon this quaint little pub after the grueling hike up to the top of Arthur’s Seat. It was such a find. While the restaurant was busy, Ruk found us a cozy spot to have a drink and grab some lunch. Our sever Skye was great. If you are in the area, pop in a grab a drink. You won’t regret it.

If you go to Edinburgh you absolutely must go to dinner at the Sheep Heid Inn, the oldest pub in the city, it is not in the center but it is a heavenly experience. The waiter Henry treated us like we were royalty! very chic mise en place and super refined environment. The dishes are truly spectacular. Let them show you the bowling alley, it's worth it. Super top!

This one of the oldest Pub in Edinburgh located at quite(but inconvenient) Duddingston Village. Served nice foods and drinks.

We visited the pub for food at 13:45 after a tiring climb to Arthur's seat. We asked for a table for 2 people and were told that they do not serve food at that time but only drinks. Where do you mention something like this so we know and don't go all the way? This is called disrespect and lack of hospitality to 2 people who came to see Edinburgh and leave their money in a local pub.

Bit of dried up chicken £18. Not so great. Outdoors nice for a drink.

Came here with my family for dinner as we were trying to find a pub-style place in the area, and we were not disappointed! I got a little nervous while waiting for the food since I was reading the latest reviews of the place and they all seemed to be pretty negative... We didn't have that experience at all! The staff was friendly, the food came out fairly quickly and it was all very delicious! I would highly recommend getting the cheese fondue to share as that was the best dish by far! Also, their mini dessert and hot drink offer was cool when you're not able to eat a full dessert :)

The oldest pub in Scotland. Very charming little jem hidden on the slopes of the Arthur's seat, in the characteristic burgh of Duddington. Nice food, beer garden and also a skittles alley 🎳 ! Highly recommended 👌

Ordered twice, both times the wait staff returned to say both were not available. Ordered again, food was cold. Vegetables had been cooked beyond any type of texture yet cold so obviously sat out for some time. Really underwhelmed. Wine not cold enough too. Staff super friendly though. Decor very tired. Such a shame that such an institution has deteriorated to such a degree. I think a smaller menu of really well made food is called for a d a little bit of paint to freshen up the tired, cold walls.

This was a review of a couple of weeks ago and we found exactly the same. Yorkshire puddings flat. Parsnips were rock hard and clearly they have hardly touched the oven. All the food was barely luke warm other than the pork. Chef needs cooking lessons. Such a shame a lovely pub.

Booking online confirmed for 6.30pm Friday 11th Oct. No food served until 8.30pm. Sad to see the result on well meaning, no doubt low paid, staff trying their best. Yet another historic local pub owned by an enormous conglomerate. Bigger and bigger seems to deliver less and less reliability to the public and employees and more and more only to distant tycoons and shareholders.

It been quite a few years since I was last in the Sheep Hied, I guess 25. A few things I remember pictures on the wall etc.. Great bar staff, dog friendly, nice atmosphere. Quite a few tourists in, all good supporting the pub trade, but perhaps that's why drinks a bit pricey. Food prices looked ok but we didn't eat so can't comment on value for money.

Had lunch here with some Canadian visitors doing the Rob Roy Way. They were staying in Edinburgh and wanted some place that wasn't full of tourists. My husband immediately thought of here. My friend had her first real British fish and chips and thought they were great. I had the messy burger, which was very good. My husband had the pie, which they both enjoyed.

We had a birthday celebration at the Sheep Heid skittles alley and had a fantastic time, the kids loved it! Big thanks to Ruk for being so helpful with the booking and providing great service.

Booked table for Sunday dinner. The roast was rather disappointing lukewarm with very little on the plate in terms of beef slices, also the Yorkshire pudding & roast potatoes were soggy, probably under a hot lamp for a long time. Very slow service….. think staff are trying hard not to rush , too long to serve though!.

This is 3 months old but I have to provide a review because our dinner experience was fantastic! We’ve been to Scotland about 6 times now (our son and his girlfriend for the first time) and the Sheep Heid Inn gave them a true flavor of Scottish cuisine and hospitality. The food was awesome! I’m back in December and will take my siblings there for dinner again!

Absolutely gutted the food was such a let down. The steak sandwich and salad was really poor. Although I will add we were told they were down to one chef on the day of our visit. But it was just so disappointing for such a lovely place. Would add as well it was pretty cold while we had our food which made it a little uncomfortable. The service was great and the staff were so nice just unfortunate about the standard of food. (This place is dog friendly)

Traveled from very far to eat here but Kitchen closed too early around 8.30pm

Had some food here. Lovely people, lovely food, lovely area

Turned up slightly early for our table booked way in advance. We immediately had mixups on our drinks, food, and timing of our food. The service was so slow we couldn't even finish our mains before they had begun closing up (we must've been there two hours with one drink ordered each). Drinks were underwhelming and tasted watered down, food was bland with others unavailable. What we can only assume was the manager (from her tone of voice) preemptively brought out my friends meal, before I had even ordered mine, and then thought it appropriate to reprimand a member of staff next to our table over what seemed to be a completely unrelated matter. I've no doubt they'll reply with the same insincere offer to contact them, as is the the case from other user reviews... I now know this isn't a one-off, but a serious drop in level of service that's been happening for a while now. It's sad, that a building with such a storied history is in incapable hands, but at least they'll still have their visit from the queen a decade ago to brag about. The staff came across as endearing but seemed to be under poor management. It's a shame I had to waste time and money there, £100 down the drain.

Wonderful atmosphere, but unfortunately the Sunday Roast was very disappointing. The plates were cold, as was the food, the beef was tough and the vegetables were undercooked. The gravy had a wonderful flavor, but it was cold as well, likely because of the plates. Overall, it is a beautiful pub, but the Sunday Roast was so disappointing, that I do not recommend traveling there for the food.

Visited with friends for lunch In entering the pub waited at least 5min to be attended to and that was because I asked the guy behind the bar for attention The service was exceptionally slow waited for ages to be served We wanted fish and chips but told no frier The food we ordered eventually came was just warm we wanted a dessert and coffee but because of the slowness of service just got the bill It will be a long time before I go back and I am a local resident Something has to be done immediately since this place had a wonderful reputation

Good food and service. Friendly staff. The only downside is that you have to get a cab to get there from downtown Edinburgh.

A real typical Scottish restaurant/pub, the environment is really great away from the city, the service is top notch, the waitress took the time to repeat several times because my English is not perfect. The food is really good and the price is right.

Enjoying a beautiful walk from the city and a nice beer in such a historic and charming place is just one of my greatest pleasures every time I visit Edinburgh.

I haven't eaten so well in a long time! The starter was recommended to me and was delicious. I had the lunch menu with starter. There was a kind of goat cream with a kind of beetroot dressing. For my main course I had the buttermilk burger. I can highly recommend this combination; if I had still been able to eat the portion, I would have ordered more! :D Apart from that, the service was impeccable, super nice and helpful. If I go on vacation to Scotland again at some point, I'll come back! (:

This place feels super rural considering you’re only 15 mins away from Edinburgh’s new town. Absolutely worth the visit.

A really beautiful country pub in a phenomenal location. However, the staff were frankly rude and unhelpful, especially the ladies behind the bar.

My daughter and I stopped in for lunch while in Duddingston. The ambience and service were excellent, the food was also quite good. I’d return happily, lovely spot.

At 13:15 on a Saturday. The lady at the bar was so rude 😳 told us we could not eat and would only serve drinks. There were people eating🤔 and there was empty tables. Avoid 😕

I’d be surprised if this lovely old pub survives another year under the current management. The story of our dinner last night (booked weeks in advance)…. Guinness? Off. Peroni? Off. Hophead? Sour and undrinkable. Chicken? Off. Squid? Off. Lamb? Off. Pork Belly? Off. Salmon? Off. Fish and chips? Off. Steaks? All off. The few remaining food options were … fine. As we left, they were still serving the Hophead hours after we took our rancid pints back to the bar (without refunds). The couple at the next table said “never again”. That goes for us too.

Frankly, it was awful. 6 of us had travelled a long way (Brighton, London, Lancashire) to celebrate a birthday, and had booked a table for the Drink &Dine promotion. The table wasn't ready when we arrived on time but that proved to be the least of the ssues we faced. Some of the starters were unavailable as were 3 of the 7 main courses, 2 of the available options were vegetarian which was of no interest to us. Of the 4 wines on offer, 1, the sparkling wine, wasn't available. The supervisor who was delivering this news was initially unconcerned how pissed off this made us. We eventually got over our great disappointment and we suggested we would order off the regular menu - but at the prices of the offer we had booked. Yet again we were informed that several of the choices from that menu were unavailable. The excuses offered were flimsy and hard to accept. The same disappointment extended to the drinks in the bar. No Guinness or Peroni and the cask ale we ordered 2 pints of were sent back as it was cloudy and tasted off. No replacement was offered by the bar tender.

Super cozy old pub - perfect for a bite or a wee drink!

I had a fantastic lunch here! Dave was wonderful and the staff was attentive and kind. The restaurant is very pretty and cozy. The food was amazing. I hope to return next time I'm back in Edinburgh!

I think that the restaurant deserves a solid five. The service deserves the highest rating. It's not often that I encounter such good service. The staff knows their stuff. We are delighted with the food. We ordered steaks and lamb. The meat was fantastic. We were very pleased. I recommend it. When I was planning my husband's birthday, I wanted something special. I chose The Sheep Heid Inn pub because it is the oldest pub in Edinburgh. But after reading the reviews, I was skeptical. Now I'm glad I chose The Sheep Heid Inn pub. Not disappointed at all. I recommend it to everyone.