Overview

The recommendation to visit came from Euan's Guide's very own Access & Inclusion Director, Paul Ralph, thanks Paul! So I knew it was going to be brilliant and accessible. The restaurant offers delicious food, attentive service, comfortable and stylish surroundings and stunning views, over St Andrew's Square towards Edinburgh Castle and in the opposite direction towards the River Forth. When I visited I opted for their Summer Dining Menu of three courses and a glass of wine (I had a non alcoholic substitute of my choice) for £30.

Transport & Parking

Harvey Nics is on one side of St Andrew's Square and St Andrew's Square's tram stop is almost adjacent. There are plenty of buses that stop close by. Waverley train station is a few minutes walk away.

Access

The address for Harvey Nics is St Andrew's Square. It is on the corner with Multrees Walk, a pedestrianised shopping street. In the evening when the shop is closed you will need to use the Multrees Walk entrance to enter the restaurant. It's also a good choice to use during the daytime as you just go through the manual entrance door and the double lifts are immediately to your right, and this means you can avoid going through the shop. Access is step free via lifts. The lifts are a reasonable side but not huge and have raised buttons. Take the lift to the 4th floor. On arrival turn left for the toilets or right for the main restaurant. The restaurant is all on the same level. There is a reception desk with a lower section of the counter. The path into the restaurant is quite wide and it opens out into a large open plan space. At one side there are floor to ceiling window with those marvellous views. There are free standing tables and chairs which are quite spaced out. There are manual sliding doors which lead out to the balcony. I found the doors quite heavy. Along the balcony which runs the entire length of the restaurant there are free standing tables and chairs. Please note that the tables are only large enough to accommodate two people, see photograph.

Toilets

To be honest I found the accessible toilet disappointing. I used the accessible toilet which was located within the women's toilets. There is a push button automatic doo, which to me was not very wide or spacious inside. There was plenty of grab rails and it was clean. However, the emergency cord stopped above the top of the sink. The rest of the cord was lying on the top of the hand towel dispenser, making the emergency cord ineffectual. Obviously I don't know when this occurred but it gave the impression that the toilets were not checked regularly. I was focused on this, that it was only when I got home and looked at my photos I could see that there was something lying on the floor by the sink, which looks like a discarded toilet roll dispenser. This does not show the level of care I would accept at Harvey Nics. Both the broken emergency cord and discarded toilet roll dispenser are potential health and safety hazards for disabled people and I hope both these issues have been resolved.

Staff

The staff were very welcoming , friendly and attentive. Service was excellent and staff checked if you were happy with each of the courses. After using the accessible toilet on my way out, I returned to the restaurant to report to staff about the emergency cord. A member of staff accompanied me to the toilet to see what I was telling him. I was ensured that the emergency cord would be fixed.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Apart from the condition of the accessible toilet, everything else was beyond perfect. It was a real treat to eat there. The food was utterly delicious and nicely presented. I had a starter of Grilled focaccia, herb and lemon mascarpone, marinated tomatoes, which was sublime. The main was Miso-marinated portobello mushrooms, teriyaki and sesame noodles and dessert was Strawberry cheesecake, Pimms Chantilly, meringue, strawberry ice cream. I finished off with a Hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. Loved it, already recommending it to others and definitely would return.

Photos