The Hive: 15-17 Niddry Street, Edinburgh

If you are 18, or looking to pull an 18 year old, this is the place for you. The music of choice is standard pop/dance and the drink is lager, Jack and Coke or of course Jagermeister. Take note Edinburgh University Freshers!

The tunnel of love!

Clamshell: 148 High St, Edinburgh

The Clamshell is a Fish and Chip shop, and I know this is supposed to be a pub review, but my visit to the Clamshell made me so absolutely furious that I felt I should share it with my readers! I had just been in the Hive nightclub and I fancied some chips on my way home. I asked the member of staff at the Clamshell to wrap the chips in paper rather than the polystyrene, as I think the chips taste better this way and it keeps them warm. Although they clearly had paper on the counter the member of staff refused to wrap them in paper.  So much for the customer is always right!

Outrage!

Hamilton’s: 16-18 Hamilton Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh

Speaking of Fish and Chips, one of the best places to go in my opinion is Hamilton’s, particularly if you want to enjoy your fish with a beer. They bring your meal to you on a chopping board as they’ve obviously run out of clean plates – ha ha!

Located in the trendy area of Stockbridge, Hamilton’s boasts decent beer, good food, attractive barmaids and a relaxed atmosphere. Genuinely value for money!

Café Royal: 19 West Register Street, Edinburgh

The Café Royal is possibly one of the most ornate and beautiful bars in Edinburgh, particularly inside. It’s frequented by the office crowd, who you can see any weekday lunchtime or on Friday night after 5pm (when the bar gets very busy and there is standing room only). While this is a fantastic bar architecturally and in terms of atmosphere, the drink unfortunately is average, the bar offering a limited selection of beers. Service and food can also be hit or miss. You are often kept waiting at the bar when ordering, and on one occasion, when ordering food with my Dad, he received his food 20 minutes before I was brought mine, despite us having ordered at the same time. His food was dry and overcooked while mine was fresh. The last time I visited the Café Royal though service was very good with waiting staff even coming by tables and asking if you wanted more to drink.

Hit or miss?

Tiles: 1 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh

Tiles bar has two things in common with the Café Royal; architecturally it is beautiful and the service at the bar is terrible! Last time I visited, there was a cute waitress taking food orders, who seemed to be fairly attentive, but if you only wanted a drink from the bar you ended up standing there for ages before you were served. If you eventually get a drink, and as with the Café Royal, there’s a fairly uninspiring selection of beer, there’s the option of watching sport on their big screen TV or sitting outside on St Andrew Square. This is a nice enough bar, but it could be so much better if the service was improved and if one of the bartenders cheered up!

It's quiet for a reason!

The Playfair: Omni Centre, Greenside Row, Edinburgh

This bar is an unhappy marriage between Lloyds and Wetherspoons. It’s in the Omni centre, and can be quite nice when you can sit outside. Inside spot the radge contingent on a Friday night getting pissed up before their trip to Mood nightclub next door. 

I was expecting it to be cheap however it was actually quite expensive for a Wetherspoons. For a meal I had a burger deal for £5.99, but I wouldn’t recommend it.  It sounded good until I realised the beer part of this combination was more expensive than the burger. When the burger came it was tiny and tasted disgusting.  I’d steer clear of it!

This bar is named after William Henry Playfair. He created some of Edinburgh’s finest architecture, but the bar of his name is not so fine!

Is this bar really a fitting tribute to the man who gave us such architecture?

Pivo: 2-6 Calton Rd, Edinburgh

In bar terms this is the equivalent of a Sweet and Sour Chicken. It calls itself a European bar but is actually fairly generic. There are a few European beers there such as Erdinger, Staropramen and Budvar (which you can also get in Wetherspoons) but the majority of beers are the likes of Tenant’s, Guinness, Miller, etc. The major advantage of this bar is it stays open until 3am which is great. While there is a dance floor it is pretty small and the feel of the place is more like a bar. It also doesn’t cost anything to get in which is a bonus, but as you’d expect with most late licences they don’t give the drink away! If ordering drinks at the bar chose your place wisely as there is a big metal semi-circle, sculpture type thing on the top of the bar (possibly it has something to do with the beer pipes?) which makes getting the bar staffs attention quite difficult.

All in all a good option after 1am for folk that don’t like dancing.

The Sweet and Sour of bars