Swanston Brasserie — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

My work colleagues and I dined here for a evening meal a few weeks ago and we had a pleasant evening. The venue was very quiet. In fact for the majority of the evening we were the only guests there. It was clean, spacious and quite relaxed. The service was very good and the gentleman that was looking after us was polite and friendly. The menu accommodates most diets, although I would’ve like to have seen a steak on there. They had most of your staples and few other unique dishes. For starters I opted for the soup of the day which was chorizo and mixed bean and pea broth. I thought this was quite nice. There was lot of different textures and it tasted not bad. I am glad I tried it but it doesn’t beat a carrot and lentil soup. It came with plain boring bread. For mains I got the dirty burger. I was rather disappointed with this. By no means was it unpleasant but it certainly wasn’t tasty. I am not sure why but they served it with the top bun off. Not sure if they were trying to be fancy but it didn’t work. I didn’t get any strong flavours and I felt it all being quite dry. The bun itself was like cardboard and the chicken was tasteless. The bacon and haggis kept it from being a complete disaster as they were okay. The chips that accompanied the burger were fine, just requiring salt. The salad was a salad. For dessert I was drawn to the crème brûlée cheesecake. I was hoping for a glass like top, like a traditional crème brûlée, but this was a bit too optimistic. It looked and tasted okay but the biscuit base was just mush and lacked any crunch. Overall I wasn’t overly impressed by the food but we still had a nice evening, with good service at a...

First and foremost, the food was excellent. I had been waiting all day to visit this wonderful place, hike around, see the Highland Cows and after enjoy a bite to eat at the highly rated restaurant. I arrived at the restaurant at 5:30pm (restaurant closes at 6:30pm). I walked in to a waitress who was beyond disappointed I showed up close to the end of her shift. I asked to sit on the beautiful patio and was advised it was closed due to wind. She asked even prior to giving me a seat, what I would be wanting today as the place is closing soon. I was taken back as usually an hour prior to close people welcome you with a smile and a seat. As soon as I sat down she brought my drink but did not return for my order. I proceeded to the bartender who was more than happy to take my order. 2 min prior to my food being delivered I was asked to "square up" as the waitress needed to cash out. I really wanted dessert and even advised this to her on arrival, however the bill was delivered prior to the main dish and I was never even asked if I wanted anything else. Might I add, this was all even prior to 6pm. I felt so rushed and unwanted. I would definitely recommend this place but NEVER unless you arrive a few hours prior to closing as the cold shoulder was definitely extended my way by the waitress and made the meal very uncomfortable. This being said the bus boy and bartender were more than welcoming, but not the main face I was...

We came here the other year and really enjoyed it so while staying in the area again we came back for more!

Like last time we used the route map found on the brasserie website which is a lovely 2 mile walk in the hills to look for the highland cows. Bit muddy but then where isn't right now! Last time we saw loads of them, but unfortunately this time we only saw 1 very far in the distance (they must have all been higher up which was too much walking for us!)

However, while finishing the walk we could see 3 cows not far from the brasserie, but we decided to stop in for some treats first!

We all really enjoyed our scones, especially the cheese and bacon scone! Good size, lovely texture and really nice flavour.

All the staff were really friendly (much more friendly and helpful than staff at any other restaurant of café we have been to)

We overheard them telling another customer where to walk to see the cows and mentioned the ones we had seen at the end of our walk. These ones are in their own field so possibly are there all the time? Either way, we finished our lovely scones and walked a few minutes to see the cows which was great fun. So fluffy and cute.

We've only ever had scones and coffee here, but if their main food menu is as good as their scones then I'm sure it's a great place to go for a meal.

We will definitely visit again next time we're...