Overview

Massive burger restaurant on North Bridge serving various kinds of burgers and tasty desserts. The exterior was still covered in scaffolding, when I visited, but inside of the restaurant was very much open for business. A small section of the seating area is inaccessible to wheelchair users because of a set of steps, however the largest section is generally accessible.

Transport & Parking

While not ideal for those driving to the restaurant, the area is well served by Lothian Buses crossing busy North Bridge, and there are two taxi ranks on either side of the building. The roads are cobbled in places, but the pavements are all smooth with dropped kerbs in the immediate area.

Access

Getting into the restaurant is probably my only concern at Byron. One entrance is up a set of steps, however the second main entrance is step-free. Well, I say step-free but it appears as though what was once a small step has been smoothed over with concrete to make a fairly steep lip to cross into the threshold. This might be a little tricky for some wheelchair users without assistance. Likewise, the door is quite heavy and it didn't look as though there would always be a member of staff handy to assist at this entrance (whereas there was a lady waiting by the door at the stepped entrance to seat guests). Once inside however access is fine. It is table service and many of the tables have moveable seats to allow for wheelchair access. The floors are smooth and there is plenty of space to move between tables. The restaurant is also very well lit.

Toilets

Lovely, large accessible loo in a corridor leading off of the main restaurant. It was very clean and modern, and there was a clear pathway leading up to it.

Staff

Staff generally were very helpful but a bit of a mixed bag. We had about four different servers all night but apparently only one of them was allowed to take any food or drink orders, and had to call our waitress over rather than simply take our request for a drink to the bar. This sometimes made staff look a little ignorant as they whizzed past our table ignoring our attention, but our server was indeed very lovely and perfectly happy to answer any questions I had about access.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Overall this is a really relaxed place to come for a bite to eat, and access is pretty good apart from that steep 'ramp' into the building. I do wonder if this is just a temporary fix that is part of the outward scaffolding and general incomplete appearance of the building; so it may be that this is smoothed out a bit in the future.

Photos