from andy (100%) on March 17th, 2008 (4 months ago)

The Amber Restaurant, The Scotch Whisky Experience, EH1 2NE, Edinburgh

The Amber Restaurant is downstairs at the Scotch Whisky Experience tourist trap at the top of the Royal Mile between the Witchery and the castle.

We had booked a table last Friday using the 5pm.co.uk offer on this site. The deal was £22.95 for three courses and a glass of wine. We didn't really expect it to be anything special - I've booked special offer meals in the past (eg. The Times' "Eat out for £5") and have invariably felt like a second class customer - getting a less than normal service and a selection of just a couple of dishes from a grubby menu printed off on a sheet of A4 paper.

Not the case at Amber. We were treated impeccably and didn't have to remind the waitress that we were entitled to a free glass of house wine with our meal. After we'd finished the house wine (there were a couple of choices of each colour - I had the Tempranillo which was excellent) we ordered another bottle of the house red which saw us through the meal and long beyond. But we were never rushed at all - they just left us be with our empty dessert plates until we finished our wine, asked for the bill (a shade under £60, I think) paid up and waddled out.

The staff all really knew their stuff about the hundreds of whiskys they had, not that we were interested. Being where they are on the Royal Mile they clearly get a lot of American business and the service seems largely tailored to what they expect back home ("Hi! I'm Claire and I'll be your waitress for this evening" etc).

The food was excellent. I had pigeon pate to start, followed by a yummy pork dish. I had too much wine to remember anything more about the dessert than that it was good.

I'll be back, and when I do I'll certainly be taking advantage of the 5pm offer again.

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from craig777 (64%) on January 30th, 2008 (5 months ago)

The Amber Restaurant, The Scotch Whisky Experience, EH1 2NE, Edinburgh

I have just recently been here for lunch and was very impressed. It is part of a tour but you are able to go into the restaurant alone. The tour is worth a look if you have time for £9.50 you are able to have a dram of whisky (plus they give you your own whisky glass to take away) plus several tours from whisky through the ages finishing off with a barrel tour. One of the best attractions I have been round in a while.

The restaurant is purely scottish with a lunchtime menu featuring, smoked salmon, beef, salads, sandwiches with range from £4.50-£7.00 but all very good. I had smoked salmon which was a very generous helping for £5 so very good value.

The dinner menu also looked impressive and would definitely like to go again for dinner to try it out.

Within the restaurant there is a whisky bar with very knowledgeable staff who are more than happy to talk you through the different varieties of whisky.

Would recommend to any locals who may have out of town visitors as something different to offer them.

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