The Esplanade Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I had a couple of friends and their dogs up visiting from Brighton and we walked down to Portobello yesterday. We fancied a sit down and a coffee so we stopped at the Esplanade. We ordered a cappuccino and two flat whites and a fruit scone each. The coffees were lovely and the scones were up there vying for the best I've ever had. They were big and they'd gone to the trouble of warming them up as well. There was loads of butter and jam (a great selection as well, maybe five different kinds). Staff were really nice and friendly and it was a five star experience all the way. I'd just had a couple of sips of my delicious coffee when one of the dogs knocked the table and spilt most of it. The waitress saw what had happened and immediately went in and got me another to replace it. I hadn't asked for another, she just immediately offered. We felt so welcome and well looked after, I'd honestly give them six stars for that if I could. Just an all round immaculate experience, from now on whenever I've got friends or family up and we stroll down to Porty we will be stopping for a coffee and a scone at the Esplanade. Coffee and scone was £5 which was excellent value as well. Faultless! Thank you to everyone at...

I used to love the Espy, it was always great food, plenty of veggie options and lovely staff. We went on a Sunday for lunch and we had a cheeseburger and poached salmon. My partners burger was apparently quite dry and my salmon was really disappointing. Firstly it was cold (which I'd expect to be stated on the menu), very dry and both the salmon and mayonnaise sauce thing (yuck) were incredibly tasteless. On the menu I'm sure it mentioned peashoots but they were not on the plate so I asked the waitress about this, she said she'd check for me but never returned and just seemed to go to every table but ours. Not the kind of service you'd expect! Furthermore, we had two waiting staff ask us for our drinks order and two ask us how our food was, obviously a complete lack of communication between the staff. Such a waste of our time and money, would have had a much better lunch if we had just cooked it ourselves. Must be a new chef or possibly new management as the place is absolutely not what it used to be. We certainly will not be back. Saw another comment about the bathrooms, the new decor is terrible and such a shame as I used to love the...

I rather like the Epsy and perhaps the only significant problem with this seaside pub is that plenty of other people like it too. This makes the Epsy unpredictable.

This is a Portobello pub. It's not posh. It's clean but it can it takes a low of light to illuminate the room and we're talking wooden floors and basic seats. There's no sawdust on the floor but there is sometimes sand.

Does that strike you as the type of pub you'd be wise to reserve a table at if you wanted to eat dinner? You should at the Epsy. Even in the Winter it can be busy. I turn up at 7pm in the January darkness, looking for a table for one, and do so fully prepared to be turned back. I come here for beer and burgers. This is what you'd want from a seaside pub. My vote goes to The Hombre burger; topped in chilli. Beef with beef.

What's certain is that if fine weather has lured you out to Portobello and now you're looking for somewhere to eat then find where Bath Street meets the Promenade and give...