The Outsider, Edinburgh

The location is stunning (we had views of the castle). I took my grandmother out for lunch there and they treated her with the utmost courtesy. She is 90 and one of the waiters helped her to her table. The meal was great value.

Speedy friendly service, very accommodating. In fact, the service was lightning fast!!!!!! The quality of food was very good, steak was excellent as was the salmon. Nice venue as well.

We visited this overpriced, "fancy" restaurant expecting to get our bellies full and feeling satisfied. However, I urgently suggest never to eat here as you will be disappointed by the food and overall staff. This restaurant seems, on first eye, a nice choise of evening. It looks clean and the menu appealing. Although I did get a feeling of not having made the right choise when the waitress started explaining the menu. Restaurants with certain "ways of working", when it comes to difficult menu set-ups, mostly do not have great food. They attract a certain crowd that eats there once and never coming back again.

We just came from Glasgow, having had lunch in a great restaurant called "the grill on the corner". There I had an amazing Kobe Beef Burger for just over 18 pounds. Here, I ordered the mussels and my girlfriend ordered the rib-eye steak. The rib-eye was priced 17 pounds 20, which was, comparing to the Kobe-burger I had earlier, quite expensive. Well, it was, especially when you take in mind that the rib-eye ressembled a rubber sole and was hardly suitable to swallow, yet greasy like John Travolta's hairdo in the movie called....you guessed it. The mussels were ok, but the quantity of it was rather stingy. (12 mussels.. on a plate). But, I was still full from the Kobe-burger, so that was fine.

When we were finished eating, after having to wait for 15 minutes before anyone came up, the waitress cleared our table without even making eye-contact, let alone asking if everything was in order. Which was obvious it wasn't, as my girlfriend ate 2 mouthsfull of the rubber sole, before leaving it on the plate, afraid of choking on the thing.

People, Edinburgh is FULL of great places to eat. Where you get proper good food worth every penny you pay for, and with staff happy to serve you. Do NOT go here, it is not worth the money, the time and your stomach.

PS: We come from Amsterdam, so we are used to crappy food. But this was lousy, even for us Dutch.

My friends and I often go to The Outsider for lunch and have never been disappointed. There is always something on the menu for everyone and the service is fantastic. The decor is modern yet not uncomfortably so and the views to the castle are stunning. We have never felt rushed and often spend the entire afternoon there. Always opt for pudding! Highly recommended!

We have eaten at the outsider a few times, however todays experience was not great. We booked a table for 6 people, however on arrival no table and where told to sit on a table for 4 as there was plenty of room, al be it you might be sitting at a corner. Very strange. We were offered rustic bread, it never came. Very unfriendly for children even our 7 year old. Menus were practically thrown at us.

The food was generally ok but the mussels were poor as nearly half were closed. I complained but was told they were out of season... no discount no apology.Why serve them then??

Service all round was poor. The other meals were good, just the mussels.

I have eaten here before and been impressed but today was not a pleasant experience

Booked a table at The Outsider in Edinburgh's beautiful old town. Arrived 5 minutes early and we were ushered to our table. It was down hill from here, waited 10 minutes for the waitress to return and placed our order. I had a hot shrimp salad and my partner ordered the halibut and salmon terrine. On 1st impressions all looked good, But my food was poor in flavour and seemed stale, hard for a fresh SALAD! The halibut was raw and had to be returned, We then waited another 10 minutes for another dish to arrive. The main course steaks were great, but the service is shocking, I will never eat here again and the staff need a course in manners.

Do not go to The Outsider resturant. Service is awful and staff are very rude.

Over priced food. Went for meal and cost £125 for four and the worse service I have ever had.

Dont waste your money!

Brilliant food at The Outsider but service very poor. after seated took a long time for waiter to take order. Also after the meal we were given dessert menu without having to ask - which was good - but then were completely ignored for at least 10 minutes so ended up just asking for the bill. To make matters worse the waiter tried to sneakily add a service charge of 12% to the bill when there was only 5 in the group and the menu specifically says charge will only apply to 6 or more. Very disappointing and poor way to end the night.

Very good food but just be careful what is put on the bill.

I booked a table here for myself and six friends for a saturday night. When we arrived the gentleman told us we weren't allowed in but he wouldn't tell us why. As very respectable people we were rather shocked at being refused entry - I could understand if we were drunk or badly dressed but neither were the case. We were left with no place to go having travelled approximately 60 miles for an evening out.

Excellent food. Good choice at various levels (can share). Friendly and helpful staff. Great decor and ambience.

I've had mussel dishes, pheasant, swordfish and all delicious. You can have a light lunch or a full dinner.