Looking for restaurant recommendations for Scotland

In Edinburgh, we've had many great meals at Maison Bleue at 36 Victoria St. It is just off George IV Bridge St. which is just off High St. (The Royal Mile) close to the castle. Go to googlemaps.com, type in the address, and you'll be able to locate it easily. You can use the street view to "walk" to it before leaving home. You can't miss the blue façade. We've never had a problem being seated at lunch, but dinner reservations are advised. Small place, same ownership for years, and excellent food.

If The Harbour in Broadford, Skye is open ( the owners may have retired) the food is excellent. The place is small and casual. Reserve the day before.

In Edinburgh, The Witchery, very close to the castle, is a beautiful restaurant with superb food. It is in the "special treat" category. Not formal, but you would feel out of place in sneakers and a t shirt.

Glencoe is all about the gorgeous scenery - there aren't a lot of restaurants. We stayed at the Kingshouse Hotel which had a very nice restaurant with good food.

Recommendations are recent - June, 2022.

I didn’t come across a great many recommendations in Portree, so I reserved my one nice dinner out ahead at The Old School to time out with the end of my sightseeing day at Dunvegan Castle. And yes, reservations were needed. (July 2022) Another night I ate at Cafe Sia in Broadford and did not need a reservation. In Portree, I squeezed in for lunch as a solo diner at The Antlers Bar & Grill on Sunday without a reservation as soon as it opened - but it filled up fast! And yes, you would need a reservation.

I did not ever make dinner reservations for Edinburgh, but if you have a special place in mind a reservation probably doesn’t hurt. Haven’t been to the other locations for a meal.

Thank you to TC, Cynthia, and TexasTravelMom for your recommendations! I will add them to my spreadsheet with your comments.

For Glen Coe, someone recommended The Clachaig Inn. And we are staying at The Glencoe Inn which has its own bar and restaurant. With Cynthia's recommendation of the Kingshouse Hotel, we should be all set for this area.

And we will make reservations where needed!

In Nairn we enjoyed dinner at The Bandstand on Crescent Rd. The food was fine and it was near the B&B we stayed at. In the Glencoe area we ate at The Highland Getaway Inn in Kinlochleven. The food and service were both good. A restaurant we enjoyed in Edinburgh was Bertie’s Proper Fish & Chips on Victoria St.

In Edinburgh, we loved the Tower Restaurant, located above the National Museum (separate entrance). If you time it right, you can get the sun setting over the cityscape. It's a high-end restaurant, but we saw some patrons wearing jeans, so apparently there's no strict dress code.

In Nairn, The Classroom was great. It was recommended by our B&B hosts and we weren't disappointed.

Hi,
Re Skye - I've enjoyed pizza at Caberfeidh in Portree recently. The place is right on the square and changed hands fairly recently. The Antler Bar at the Portree Hotel is also a decent choice. Scorrybreac is also a very good restaurant. You'd want reservations for all in season (April to September).
Jacqui (Skyegirl)

In Edinburgh, we really liked Makar’s Mash Bar. It’s on 9-12 Bank Street. We learned about it from one of the RS tour scrapbooks. Reservations may be required. It was first come first served when we were there last summer during the Fringe Festival. We queued up early as it is quite popular. We sat outside at a communal picnic table as it was a nice day and out of covid concerns as we were about to start our RS tour.

@epltd “In Edinburgh, we loved the Tower Restaurant, located above the National Museum (separate entrance). If you time it right, you can get the sun setting over the cityscape. It's a high-end restaurant, but we saw some patrons wearing jeans, so apparently there's no strict dress code.”

I could be wrong but I believe that restaurant closed during the pandemic. We would have ,over to have gone there.

Karen, thanks for posting this! I'm bookmarking it for my May trip (I will leave just a few days before you get there). Good tips!

Thank you to jaimeelsabio, epltd, Skyegirl, and Mary, for your recommendations. I will add them to my spreadsheet!

Mary, I checked online, and unfortunately the Tower Restaurant is permanently closed.

In. Edinburgh, Fhior is a wonderful splurge. Reservations required well in advance. Worth every penny. Much more reasonable but still delicious is Ka Pao. absolutely amazing food at very reasonable prices. I haven't found anything rave worthy in Glen Coe area, but do share if you do!

SherrieF, Thank you. Ka Pao looks very interesting. We like SE Asian food! I especially like delicious food at reasonable prices!

I'll be in Scotland in May as well, and I'm thrilled to take notes from this post. Thank you for posting, Karen!

Are advance reservations necessary/required for all of our destinations? I hate to make reservations in advance for every destination. Sometimes it's nice to find a place at the spur of the moment.

And is it necessary to have reservations for lunch? I am thinking of The Old Inn or Oyster Shed in Talisker when we are in that area.

For Edinburgh:

Mussel Inn (salmon lox with fried caper on sourdough and bucket-1/2 kilo of mussels cooked in their own juices). I loved the food here and the service is excellent (2 meals here; must reserve).

Howie’s (excellently prepared hake on a bed of tomatoes and other vegs) service very good; should reserve.

Royal Yacht Britannia in Leith, nicely set table and service was very good, (cream tea scrumptious as well as the light sandwich). I just showed up during my tour of the yacht.

https://www.mussel-inn.com/

https://www.howies.uk.com/

https://www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk/

No reservations at the Oyster Shed. It is literally a shed! You line up, get your food and eat on the picnic benches. For the Old Inn it would wise but not necessarily essential to have a reservation for lunch. It can get very busy.

Linda, thank you very much for your recommendations and links. I have checked them all out, and they look wonderful. And the prices seem reasonable.

Skyegirl, thank you for your information about The Shed and the Old Inn. I am also on another travel forum, and someone there is going to Scotland in May. The B&B's where she made reservations are telling her to book dinner reservations in advance. And that a lot of restaurants are still short-staffed and might have limited hours. So I'm getting a bit nervous about the dining situation.

Yes I would generally advise making dinner reservations on Skye whatever the time of year. Many places are indeed short staffed. However, if you are staying in Portree there's a small supermarket (COOP) right in the centre of the village where you could get picnic supplies to take back to your B&B and also a couple of fish and chip shops where you can get takeaway. There's also a good takeaway pizza place slightly out of the village near the Shinty Club. You have to order in advance but their pizzas are amazing. It's called Pizza in the Skye