Kilderkin — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

The Kilderkin isn't what you make it or what you might expect; it's a pub. It is what it is. It's a safe pub and I visit often but the blessing and curse it carries is the location at the foot of the Royal Mile.

It's not a tourist trap, which is great. It's even really well priced for a pub in such a great location. On the other hand, if you're looking for something historic, thematic or holiday memorable then you might be disappointed.

The range of drinks is fine, better than a franchise but not remarkable. The food is okay and they wisely switch to pizzas and side dishes for dinner to keep things memorable. I've tried a few, never had a reason to complain, but never a reason to write home.

I'm giving the Kilderkin an average review and that feels a bit harsh, but there's such a wide variety of great, good, poor and avoid at all costs nearby so please consider average to be a mark of safety, predictability and reassurance.

Oh, the staff are friendly and the art weirdly charismatic!

January 23 - thought the pizzas today looked more generous

July 23 - New management with stricter opening hours, kitchen closed earlier than expected so may have to re-review. Noticed brownies, though!

January 24 - still not tried the new menu but the back room is so much warmer...

Oh my gosh!!! I am still sitting at the table finishing the most amazing food. It's so good I have to share it right now! Wait, I just need one more bite of the richest, cheesiest mac and cheese ever.

Ok, so this pub is just a block away from the Holyrood Palace has amazing food and is still, really reasonably priced. We started with Haggis bites and the soup of the day, spicy lentil and tomato. First, let's tackle haggis. If we taked about what was in a hot dog, we'd stop eating them too. So let's just stop talking about what's in haggis. It's delicious with rich, heavy flavors and lightly breaded an fried here. It comes with a horseradish mayo that lightens it up perfectly.

The soup was really well balanced, spicy but not to hot, filling with a fresh baked roll and Scottish butter. Mmmmm.

We tried the brie, tomato, avocado bloomer. It was kind of like an egg salad sandwich on fresh bread. Of course the brie and tomato, amazing, and much better than egg salad. The red pesto mayo puts this light dish over the top.

Bangers and mash we're served with an incredible smoked bacon gravy and great mash that stood solidly under the three savory sausages.

Oh yeah and the mac and cheese!!! Buttery, cheesy with blends of cheddar and maybe Roquefort??? Scottish dairy is great and it hits it's apex in this dish.

All sloshed down with some local brews. Perfect lunch in Scotland, heck it would have been...

A group of us came to see our pal play music with our kids, as this is one of few pubs in the city that has live music and allows children. Well we couldn't have been made to feel less welcome. I understand that kids can be loud, but they're ages 3-8 and were having fun. We did try and calm them down a bit but they weren't feral! If you don't want kids in your pub at dinner time, change your rules. Also, we had only just sat down with our first drink and a regular there commented negatively on our parenting! The staff allowed this! Overall Shocking service from the barman, allowing us to buy another round but telling us we had to leave after?! Just cut us off? Quite happy to keep taking our money and continue to make us feel unwelcome. The kids have been before and loved it. And to be honest for the price the food was very disappointing aswell. Obviously we will not be back and will not be...