Overview

Unexpected accessible restaurant with beautiful views of Edinburgh Castle and serving delicious food.

Transport & Parking

I parked on a street near Grassmarket and it was about a 15 minute walk away, although I would say beware of the cobble streets. As this restaurant is beside the castle there are especially a lot of cobbles on the road leading up to it, there is a smooth pavement you can walk along though if you can get past all the tourists.

Access

It is level access into this venue. You have to enter the venue through two narrow doors that need to be opened manually. Both doors would need to be opened for a wheelchair user to enter the venue and my carer had to stretch over so that I could get through the doors however, when we were leaving our server showed us that there were hooks on the exterior walls to hold open the doors. I would recommend having a doorbell or something at the entrance for customers to let staff know they are there and they need assistance to open the doors as there is a member who sits at the foyer desk just to the side of the entrance inside. The foyer area has a little bit of room as you enter the venue if you have to wait till your table is ready. When I first entered the venue I was a little uncertain if it was accessible as I was just greeted by a flight of stairs however, the staff member pulled back a curtain and revealed a lift. The lift went down to the private dining area and up to the bar then the restaurant. For the lift you had to hold down the button for the level you wanted to go to however, a one point the staff member went up to the level we were going to and called the lift up so we didn’t have to hold down the button. The restaurant was spacious, I didn’t have to go through any tables though I just had to go past the counter area to get to our table. Our table was beside the window that overlooked the castle with a beautiful view. The table was at a great level for my wheelchair and the leg of the table was in the center of the table underneath so it was perfect to get under it in my wheelchair. I also want to add that I was expecting the cutlery to be heavier than what it was so it was good for my muscle weakness.

Toilets

I didn’t use the disabled toilets whilst visiting this venue but my carer visited the ladies and saw that the disabled toilet was also the gents toilets. Now this is an older building so I was happy to see a disabled toilet in the first place but I’m not sure if it being labelled a gents toilet it might put some females off using it. I’m not sure how to overcome this however, maybe making it a unisex toilet would work. In terms of the disabled toilet, it is quite spacious. You are only able to transfer on to the left hand side of the toilet however, there is a toilet roll holder on that side that would need to be moved. It might be better to have a toilet roll holder on the wall. The mirror isn’t above the sink but is secured on the wall across from the sink, it is quite high though and I would suggest lowering it down on the wall so wheelchair user could look into it.

Staff

We got welcomed at the entrance of the venue by a lovely member of staff who showed us to the lift, showed us how to use it and met us at the lift door on the restaurant level and took us to our table. After we were at the restaurant for a while he then came over to check that everything was okay. Our server was also very friendly and helpful during our visit, making sure we had everything we needed. When we were leaving he helped us down the lift and showed us the lovely private dining area, he also spoke to us about accessible features they have and answered any questions we had.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

The food that we had was delicious and I would definitely recommend visiting.

Photos