Giulianos — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Right opposite the Omni cinema so very handy for a meal before a film or after as they're open till late, 1pm I think, so best to book on a weekend night. Fabulous warm family feel, friendly humorous hardworking staff who seem to know you and just what you want and need, even if you dont! shortly after you arrive. Brightly lit, no candles that i could see, the decor is of a well used working somewhat dated kitchen, accent is on providing a decent meal and friendly banter with the public, which is all you really need on a night out. A large glass of house wine will cost you a fiver, a pizza another £10 or so, but it's nicely baked and a great value meal. Or, besides the usual pasta dishes, you can choose from a selection of fish, meat, salads for a little bit more and still eat really well on a decent budget. We were perhaps a little unfortunate picking a rugby night- Scotland victorious yay- as well as some sort of ageing hen night with 14 very loud and merry hens at the next table, playing The Price is Right, squealing at the delights of a secret Santa (in February), complete with glitzy crackers, and generally lifting chat levels into high decibels, putting high demand on the ears and voice box if you wanted to communicate with your eating buddies. One of the waiters joked that he'd taken 4 paracetemol when he started that night, i wouldn't be surprised if he had. I have to say i was impressed with some very on trend hairdo's in varying shades of blonde through ash blonde to a silvery modern grey ... i digress...moving swiftly to the next table of maybe 8, who communicated with the hen table, were some serious rugby fans, dressed in the appropriate blue with crazy hats- not as noisy as first feared. All in all, a very pleasant homey experience, the venison was very nice, done in a tomato ragu type sauce, though i had to press for vegetables which, other than mash potato and salads, weren't on the menu at all. No greens! That's why I've dropped my rating a half star, another half for the racketting noise the night we went, though that's really down to the clientelle and not the...

After a long day touring the highlands, my girlfriend and I were looking for a nice dinner at short notice and she fancied Italian. We’re staying in Leith and have walked past Giuliano’s several times during our stay in Edinburgh, so tired and looking for a choice that required little research we decided to give it a go.

We’ve had some excellent Italian food in some excellent places and some very poor Italian food in some very poor places. I would put Giuliano’s as “bang average” - a quote I used during the meal.

When we sat down I immediately said the menu is far too big for them to be excellent at any of it. From pasta to steak to salmon to burgers to pizza, it has everything. Too much, in my opinion. The house red wasn’t to my taste but my girlfriend enjoyed it. Starter was a simple bruschetta, but it was forgotten about and other people who came in after us received their starters first. To his credit the manager (I think) recognised we were waiting for it, even though he didn’t serve us and came over to check. It was pretty good when it arrived. Mains were mediocre, I had the ‘Scottish salmon’, which came with too much leek sauce and totally overpowered what should have been an excellent piece of fish, the roast potatoes tasted like aunt bessies and the veg tasted microwaved. My girlfriend had the meatball spaghetti - meatballs were dry and she didn’t finish them but the spaghetti was good (though if they had got that wrong I probably would have walked out, being an “Italian” place!)

We decided against dessert and more drinks. The service was friendly. The decor was ok. Flies were a constant around our food and heads (we had been out all day, mind you!). If you’re looking for a fast (if they remember your food) and ok Italian / probably more international than Italian restaurant, it’s a good option. Also seems very friendly for...

Visited on the 30th of December. Chose this restaurant as we were attending a show at the playhouse afterwards, as it’s situated directly across it makes it very convenient. Food was ok. Party of 3, 2 of which had finished starters, 1 still eating when mains were brought out. Felt very rushed, no clean cutlery was given for mains and had to go and find a waiter to ask for more. Mains finished and had to ask to see desert menu, took about 15 mins for this to be given, once we chose what to have we had to then ask to order as nobody had came back to the table. Waited 25 mins for deserts to be brought out. When leaving we asked for the bill to which we had to then wait again and actually ended up paying on the way out (everyone else seemed to have the same idea as they had waited so long for their bills) the gent dealing with customers at the front desk was very very abrupt and actually took my bank card from my hand to tap without asking (never seen this happen anywhere before) no please or thank you. Felt as if they were so busy that they just wanted you in and out restaurant as fast as they could. Staff very rude and don’t seem too bothered to giving a good service, convenience for playhouse is excellent but will chose somewhere...