The Piper's Rest — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Just keep in mind that this is my first time dining alone in a pub, but what I feel is how I feel 😆 So I am an Asian solo-traveling in Scotland and I want to try some local cuisine. I did some googling and saw people recommending this place. Went there in early afternoon for a late lunch, no waitress on stand by in front, so I went to the bartender at the bar to let him know I need a table for 1. The weirdest thing is this bartender won’t even look at me/ answer me. He came closer to me to use his ipad and went on doing his business, typing the ipad away while I was just standing there for maybe a minute, but to me it was an uncomfortable seconds, until a waiter came by and i repeated i need a table for one, and only then the bartender said to the waiter the either empty tables is fine. I just don’t understand why the bartender won’t just tell me directly from the beginning, is it the dynamic in pubs in here? That bartenders don’t assist customers about stuffs outside bar area? Or is it to give the waiter more chances to exercise on handling customers skills? 🤷🏻‍♀️ And the second disappointing thing was when I was ready to order, I made an eye contact with another waiter and kinda waving my hand& calling him, but he just looked the other way, ignored me and went on his way🙃in this kind of situation, if a waiter see a customer looking at menu, table is empty with no drinks or foods, won’t they normally assume customers are ready to order? Maybe come & ask if they need anything/ have any questions about the menu? I don’t know, but the whole experience wasn’t good for me & left me feeling traumatized about dining alone in pubs in western countries 😅 But I am just sharing what I experienced, don’t let this deters you guys from trying this place out...

Had an amazing experience here. Picked this as a surprise meal for my boyfriends birthday.

Service was great. Our waiter was very friendly and welcoming. He was very talkative throughout our stay and it made the experience feel a lot more personal and homely.

We both picked the steak pies and they were so good. Rich with flavour and the meat was not chewy at all. I am 50/50 on my steak pies depending on how they are done and the ingredients. I’m not sure what the other ingredients were but it made the beef very rich and the way it was cooked made the beef very tender and flavourful. The gravy was also very tasty and I used them with the chips and poured it over the steak pie (I recommend). The chips were also nice. My boyfriend was a big fan of them.

The desserts were also very tasty and a good way to finish off the savoury pies.

The portions were good and I really struggled to finish it, but I took my time and managed to finish all except some of the veg that I didn’t like. I was stuffed after it all but it was worth it.

After our meal the waiter said we could sit and stay as long as we wanted. It’s not something you hear very often so it was really nice and made us feel welcome. We would have stayed longer but we had a train to catch.

Over all this was a really nice place to dine at and the food was delicious. It was quite expensive so we will have to save it for special occasions, but it felt worth it.

Thanks for having us. We will...

The Pipers Rest can be found at Tron Square to the left of The Tron Pub. Close to South Bridge and just off The Royal Mile in the centre of Edinburgh. A traditional pub and restaurant with a cosy welcoming feel to it The Pipers Rest is an ideal place for a drink or some delicious food. They specialise in good old pub grub. Hearty food, sometimes with a Scottish twist to them. And they also have live music from time to time.

We went for a celebration birthday dinner with family and were very pleased with our choice. We ordered haggis lollipops with a whisky sauce and Irn Bru Pakora for a starter. Both of which were absolutely delicious. In Bru Pakora may sound 'different', but I can assure you it's different in a good way.

For the main courses, our table had burgers, a salmon dish, and a chicken balmoral pie. With a side of Freedom Fries. Again, the food was great. Everyone enjoyed every last bit of it. Everything was cooked to perfection and really tasty. The Freedom Fries were a real standout for me. Chips with haggis, bacon, crispy onion, and a whisky sauce. Fantastic!!

Desserts were deep-fried Mars Bar, an Irn Bru Panacota, and a sticky toffee pudding.

Special mention to our server, who was very pleasant and friendly and couldn't do enough to make our visit as good as it could be. Nothing was any bother and everything was served with a smile.

Get along to this place and you won't regret it. We certainly can't wait for a...