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Come to La Garrigue and sample the flavours of the Languedoc, in the South of France. Beat the credit crunch with our special offers. From 6.30pm on Monday to Friday enjoy 3 courses for the price of 2 (£24.50), or only pay £18.50 for 2 courses. Sample the deep South's food, its terroir wines and the warmth of its welcome.

The Outsider

The Outsider
15/16 George IV Bridge
Edinburgh, EH1 1EE
Phone: 0131 226 3131
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  • Food served: Mon–Sun noon–11pm
  • Number of wines sold by the glass: 13
  • Also offers: Gluten-free options, Children's portions, Children's high chairs, Wheelchair access
  • Music on stereo: Experimental instrumental
  • Capacity: 90
  • Largest group: 8
  • Open since: 2002
View larger map of EH1 1EE
  • Average price 2 courses:
     £9.00 (lunch)
     £16.00 (evening meal)
  • House wine: £13.60 per bottle
Nominate this restaurant for
The List Reader Award 2010
Eating & Drinking Guide 2009

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2009 – in the shops now or buy online.

With a dark brooding exterior and much the same atmosphere inside, The Outsider has something of a reputation for being a little bit too cool for school. That said, the ambience is cosy and if you’re lucky enough to be seated at the back, the view of the Castle is magical. There is no obvious split of starters and main courses, but rather a section of ‘chunky healthy lines’, or plates of skewers for sharing. Two sizeable skewers of Thai-inspired chicken, king prawns, peppers and red onion are served with soy, lemongrass and coriander dressing. For mains, warm salad of wood pigeon with apple and crispy bacon is a pleasing combination, even if each component is a little difficult to identify in the low lighting. Grilled monkfish with roast potatoes, garlic and red wine is gutsy, though some of the monkfish is rare to the point of undercooked. A board of three cheeses is well considered and served with crumbly oatcakes, chutney and fresh pear, while baked rice pudding with cherry compote is promising to begin with, but on further inspection is piping hot on top and fridge cold in the middle. These few grizzles aside, The Outsider continues to be the place to be and be seen.

  • High point: Chic eats and castle views
  • Low point: Staff’s borderline obsessive insistence on taking customers’ coats on arrival

Comments for The Outsider (15/16 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh)

1. Louise, Glasgow – 16 May 2008, 5:31pmReport

Have been to outsider before and really enjoyed the food. However, when trying to book a table for 10 on a Saturday night, I was snootily told after a long pause that they don't take bookings for tables of 10 only 8. I was also then told that they don't allow hen nights - stuff them, we will go and spend £400 in another restaurant!

2. Karen, Edinburgh – 1 June 2008, 2:14pmReport

Having been to The Apartment before and loved the food, I was looking forward to going to The Outsider. I had a met friend who I hadn't seen for a while and we had loads to catch up. We chatted, ordered food, ordered wine, ordered more wine........you know what it's like. We were chilling! Ordered a 3rd bottle of wine., well we don't get out much and we had not drank much out of it, when we were presented with our bill and asked to leave. We told the waitress that we still had our wine to finish, but she told us that our table was needed. The restaurant was quite empty at this point, although I did realise that it was coming up to evening covers. She went and got the manager, Matthew Kelly and he told us that they could pour our wine, that was in our glasses into the bottle and we could leave with that!! We were shocked to say the least, having just been presented with the bill of £75, it was a bit like, we've had all we are going to get from you, so you can now get out. We were not rowdy or unruly, we were having a girly chat with some food and wine thrown in. Eventually after a bit of persauding, the manager gave us another table to finish our wine, however we were not that long there and we were told that this time we must leave. We settled the bill and sad to say did not leave a tip, purely down to the appalling way we were treated. It was such a shame as the food and surroundings were great. I felt that when we ordered the 3rd bottle of wine, we should have been told then that out table was going to be needed. It's no way for customers to be treated. Funnily enough when I phoned up to get details of who to write to about a complaint, the girl who answered thought I was someone else, as according to her there had been another incident in the evening.

3. Iain W, Edinburgh – 12 June 2008, 12:56pmReport

Tried to get a table for 2 one Friday in Edinburgh in May 2008 - tried Montpelliers, Outsider, all George Street etc and nothing doing. Edinburgh restaurants know they can sell the same table over and over again and if one punter does not like it - stuff them - they will get another!
I've been told by a Toy Soldier (doorman) that there is no way I am getting into Oloroso, Edinburgh , been told there is 40 minute wait at (the very average) Pizza Express Stockbridge etc - it is just that the best places are booked weeks in advance - this over demands leads the suppliers to often become arrogant, lazy and greedy - they forget who is feeding their mouths and paying their staff - but that is just the way it is I am afraid.
During the Festival these places will want to sell the same table 3 times over from 6pm and turn the dining experience into a conveyor belt.
Not all restaurants are this way but many do end up with this mindset - best vote with your feet or temper your expectations.
Hen and stag nights should stick to Pizza Hut as they do tend to ruin the intimate dining experience (plus push out the regular customers) -witnessed this many times.

4. emily m, edinburgh – 9 February 2009, 4:22pmReport

I urge everyone to boycott this restaurant due to the behaviour of it's shrill, rude owner. Never have I have been to a restuarant and been spoken to as I had by this twitchy little man. The Outsider is a jumped up gastro pub with ideas above its station - for a while there it was a nice place to go for cheap eats on the way to somewhere else, but it seems the owner has taken its comparative success to his head. Our crime on the night? Singing 'Happy Birthday' to a friend at the table. We were told the restaurant doesn't 'accept singing' and were hastily given our bill middway through our main courses. Never mind that 10 of us paid £40 a head each for wine and food, we were asked to leave and then abuse was hurled at us by the owner when we dared to suggest that perhaps his staff should follow the mantra that 'the customer is always right'. To this I was told to f*ck off and never to come back - then he launched in to calling us 'b*thes' and 'd*cks' - he had to be held back and taken inside by one ofhis friends. Please bear in mind our group were all over the age of 40 and we had pregnant women amongst us - hardly hellraisers. A vile little man with terrible waiting staff, please never go here.

5. Dave K, Edinburgh – 11 May 2009, 8:53pmReport

We went in May 2009 for a family meal on a Sunday evening. The service was slow and poor, yet delivered with arrogance. We waited over an hour for mains. We all had steaks apart from my girlfriend who had trout. The steaks were good however my girlfriend suffered food poisoning from the trout.

In sum I think the restaurant is over-rated but will probably continue to do well due to it's location in the main tourist part of Edinburgh.

6. DearEskimo, London – 4 August 2009, 12:22pmReport

I've visited The Outsider 6 times in the last 2 years, and every time I've had a brilliant experience.

I've always found the staff to be welcoming and friendly, during every stage of the process, from the initial welcome to wine recommendations, and meal service.

The food at The Outsider has never disappointed. The menu is set out simply, and while having a really good selection of meals, doesn't overload you with options. The portions are a good size, and with an added side (optional, not necessary) desserts often have to be shared.

The decor and atmosphere is cosy, stylish and warm, and if you do manage to get a seat near a window at the back, the castle view is spectacular.

Definitely worth a visit!

7. ouime, edinburgh – 9 September 2009, 12:11pmReport

I went the outsider on a Wednesday for a family birthday
The doorman (sorry) maître d! asked to take my coat on arrival, when I explained it was fine I’ll just hang it over the back of the chair he got rather annoyed and demanded the thing explaining it was restaurant policy!
Not a good start to an overpriced slowly served meal.
There ‘s too many other restaurants in the capital to bother there door again.

8. Timmy, Edinburgh – 11 October 2009, 10:58pmReport

Well I visited the outsider last week and thought it was lovely, the staff were very attentive, we were given an awesome table upstairs looking out at the castle at night, lovely! The food was fantastic and very quick!

Eveyone seems to have a problem with jackets being taken, can everyone not undrstand that it makes the restaurant look a bit messy with jackets hangin off chairs everywhere?!

Anyway this place is well worth a visit, I will definitely be back!!

9. HappyScotia, Edinburgh – 3 December 2009, 12:29pm(4s)Report

I simply cannot understand some of the poor comments for this restaurant. Our family dined last night (two adults and two older teenagers) and had a lovely time. The service, granted was a bit slow, but when the food arrived, it was well worth the wait. I would have given 5 stars for a rating, but my husband's meal (mussels in a jus) was a little disappointing - it seemed like an after thought compared to the other meal triumphs. The sauce was thin, the shallots were raw and many of the mussels hadn't been cooked long enough to open. That was a bit of a shame, because the other meals were just delicious.

The view from the Castle was just magical and the ambience in the restaurant was just right. No blaring music, plenty of happy diners chatting. The only atmospheric point to question? I like dimmed lighting in my restaurants, but when you have to read the menu by candle-light, it is a little irritating.

Still, we had a lovely evening and didn't have any of the 'owner/waiting staff' issues mentioned in previous reviews. I felt I needed to write a review to counter, what we felt were pretty unfair comments. It's still good to eat here......as for the comments about taking our coats - we were happy to do so. The seating arrangements are such that coats hanging off would just get in the way. We think if you have a laid-back attitude to a restaurant and you are polite, then staff will return the compliment.

10. Eleanor Logan, Edinburgh – 16 December 2009, 8:29pmReport

I ate here on Friday 11th December and was not impressed. The waitress kept trying to rush us to choose our items, and kept being over assiduous in checking up on us. As a result we kept having our cnversation interrupted.
I can concur with other posts here that the people have posted with similar complaints reflected our experience - including the maitre-d being frosty. I did not receive a warm welcome on arrival and the whole rushed experience began as soon as I walked in the door.

What was most annoying was that before we had finished our meal we had been presented with the bill and asked to leave since the table was booked for someone else.

We HAD NOT been informed of this when booking the table and were still drinking our wine. In fact, we would perhaps have spent more on coffees/desert had we not been moved.

In the end, despite spending £60 we were not valued and received no apology.

Given the prices are not cheap and that there are many comparable restaurants in Edinburgh I would not recommend anyone eating here. Go somewhere where you are valued as a customer......

11. Mahmoud Khalik, Edinburgh – 16 February 2010, 11:25amReport

This has to be the worst restaurant in Edinburgh! I will be honest here, the food is good....so is the food in a lot of other restaurants in Edinburgh! the customer service is horrible, the waitress wanted us to do her job for her by giving out the plates, handing them around, also one of our meals arrived at the table with the paper that had the order on it in the meal! they made a fuss about taking it back?! and when we decided to talk to the manager and explain that the food is good but the service really needs improvement, he kicked me and my friends out!! and shouted "get out, just dont come back again" everyone around the restaurant looked, unprofessional!

Anyway there are plenty of places that are good in Edinburgh, do not waste your time at this place, the staff are rude and fake. I am not the type that likes to be pampered and I have alot of patience, but this place really was the worst I have ever been to ever! Hope this helps!

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