Urban Angel
- Food served: Mon–Fri 8am–10pm latest; Sat 9am–10pm latest; Sun 10am–5pm.
- Number of wines sold by the glass: 10
- Private dining: Up to 20 covers
- Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least ¼ main courses), Gluten-free options, Children's portions, Children's high chairs, Outdoor tables
- Music on stereo: Chilled out indie music
- Capacity: 40
- Largest group: 20
- Open since: 2004
- Average price:
£15 (lunch)
£15 (evening meal) - House wine: £14.50 per bottle
Send us more details about this place.
The 2011/12 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).
This review is taken from the current (2011) edition.
Despite being a growing empire itself with a recently opened juice bar on Broughton Street, Urban Angel eschews multinational brands in favour of local, organic and fairly traded produce. The Hanover Street branch is a warren of basement rooms with vintage mirrors adding character to stark white walls, and the Forth Street décor is similarly cool and contemporary. At both, brunch classics including French toast and eggs Benedict are served until 5pm, while the all-day menus feature a versatile list of modestly priced ‘little plates’ such as hummus with flatbread, beetroot gravadlax and crispy polenta bites which work as tapas-style snacks, starters or side dishes. More substantial ‘favourites’ include rather workaday options of vegetarian chilli or haggis and mash, but are supplemented by interesting daily specials along the lines of braised ox cheeks or merguez sausages with home-made gnocchi. Unfortunately, not all the main courses live up to their worthy ingredients and relatively high prices. At Hanover Street, a falafel salad comes with dry patties alongside an oil-drenched pile of vegetables and mixed leaves, while the burger is under-seasoned and tastes mainly of the char-grill. The pastry chef, however, is definitely earning his halo. The nutty chocolate brownie and New York-style baked cheesecakes are particularly heavenly.
- High point: Laid-back dining with sound ethical credentials.
- Low point: Service can be rather lackadaisical.
The LIST Card C35
This restaurant offers the standard 2-for-1 LIST Card promotion for:
Lunch: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu
Dinner: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu
Remember: book by phone (0131 225 6215) and ask for a LIST Card booking.
The LIST Card is a dining scheme that gives you promotional two-for-one offers at a range of restaurants in Glasgow, Edinburgh and beyond. Find out more.
Reviews of Urban Angel (121 Hanover Street, Edinburgh)
- 9. Reviewer – 19 January 2012, 1:40pm
Urban AngelReport -
Decent enough place to eat but it falls short on two categories:
Service: not good enough..on a slow afternoon we had to literally chase the waiting staff to get drinks..
Price: Overpriced for what it you get..
- 8. Bean, Edinburgh – 6 January 2012, 12:41pm
Urban AngelReport -
Oh Urban Angel, what's happened to you? We used an itison voucher for afternoon tea at the Hanover St branch at the start of January and after that experience I don't think we'll return. What sort of filling would you expect in your finger sarnies? Coleslaw and cucumber? Tomato and lettuce? I don't think so. Except that's what we were given...oh, and some chewy smoked salmon that was duly spat out. Now I know that they had just reopened after the new year break, but still, could they not have found a bit of ham? Or some roast beef, or egg and cress...? Lazy, lazy, lazy. Onto the sweet things, and two of the biscuits we were given were rock solid and would have required a hammer to break into them. Admittedly some of the cakes were pretty tasty, but unfortunately it just wasn't enough to compensate what was a really shoddy afternoon tea. No member of staff came over to ask if we were enjoying our food, and as we had already paid for it via itison, we just upped and left. Shame on you Urban Angel!
- 7. Mrs Foodie, Edinburgh – 7 August 2010, 7:15pmUrban AngelReport
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Visited Hanover branch for 3rd time today. As expected was mega busy, but knowing how good the food was we were happy to wait the 15 mins to be seated. The food was great as usual - super fresh and we were served quickly.
Had to come on and comment tho re the customer service for other tables: one next to us had to return dish as included ingredient they couldn't eat and they had to chase up the waitress to ask where it was as didn't reappear. The table diagonal from us had to chase up on their desserts which never appeared. And the best example was the table opposite us who were seated and reading their menus, but were then told to leave and wait back in the queue at the door as apparently they were not first in the queue and other people waiting complained they got taken first. It seemed a genuine mistake re what 'queue' the couple were at and they seemed quite embarrassed and shocked to be told to leave the table. Surely seating customers is a restaurant's responsibility? Couldn't the restaurant have offered the customers at the door a free coffee for the mistake made by the restaurant? Amateur customer service Urban Angel! Our customer service was friendly and efficient until we finished and had to chase up for the bill (this is the 3rd time we had to do this), however I felt overall the customer service for other tables was so bad I had to come on here and comment! Busy or not get your act together!
- 6. urbanangel, 1 Forth Street + 121 Hanover Street – 26 February 2010, 11:52am
Urban AngelReport -
All of us at urbanangel, especially our brilliant pastry chef Hubert Lamort, were very dismayed to read Leena’s comment about our homemade, organic New York style baked cheesecake.
At urbanangel we take enormous pride in the fact that we source the best natural, fair-trade, organic ingredients to make all of our cakes, pastries and desserts ourselves, fresh and in-house every day.
Hubert and his assistant arrive at 4.30am each morning to lovingly make all our natural, handmade baking, which we believe is outstanding and worth this commitment. Our pricing reflects the quality of our ingredients, is excellent value and a world apart from mass produced, factory products. This distinction is exactly what is valued by our customers.
We believe this continued dedication to making so much ourselves is what is exciting about urbanangel, and the trust our customers have in our integrity is at the heart of urbanangel.There are of course legal regulations in place to prevent businesses making claims for organic, homemade, and sourcing that are not true, and as a responsible business we take this very seriously. We are very careful about traceability and transparency of all of our products and use all of these terms faithfully and responsibly, without exception.
- 5. leena, edinburgh – 12 February 2010, 11:37amUrban AngelReport
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I was so happy when I found the organic urban angel, just of broughton street and on hanover street. However to my disappointment I was in costco about a week ago and found their "organic" american style baked cheesecake, also known as lawler's new york style cheesecake 1.7kg. So taking the lawler's new york cheesecake home I popped round to the urban angel and purchased a slice of their organic version, there was no difference. Keeping in mind a portion of the organic cheesecake with one ball of orgainc ice-cream costs £5.50, where as the 16 slice new york cheesecake comes in at only £10.49, working out at only 65p a slice.
I was gutted, especially as the food was very good, but after being ripped of for the cheesecake, I would rather spend my money elsewhere!
- 4. CatPat, Leith – 27 June 2009, 8:46pmUrban AngelReport
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The eggs benedict are amazing. Especially if you are extravagant and add on portobello mushroom, spinach and roasted vine tomatoes!
Two Americans dining beside us one Sunday lunchtime actually described them to us as "Clouds Benedict" when we were comparing notes! Divine
- 3. The List team, Edinburgh – 28 March 2009, 2:34pm
Scooby32 - Sorry to read your experience.
We will contact you and the restaurant on Monday. And hope you do find another List Card restaurant.
- 2. SCOOBY32 – 28 March 2009, 10:51amUrban AngelReport
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well, off to a bad start. Just tried to book for today (Sat) lunchtime and have been told they don't take List card bookings on Sat or Sun during the day. Even when I pointed out that they were advertised on the List card website as taking Sat List Card lunch, it made no difference. List Card, you might want to update your info! And for the record, this isn't the first time I have had issues booking establishments, or where opening hours/days valid are wrong. I am not sure if certain establishments overstate their validity intentionally, so as to potentially woo customers to them, or if List Card's data entry is wrong. Whatever, it undermines the List Card scheme, which is a shame, as it is great, when it works.
- 1. Jen8, Edinburgh – 19 June 2008, 9:46pmUrban AngelReport
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Excellent, tasty food - amazing sorbet!
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