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Tang's

Tang's
44 Candlemaker Row
Edinburgh, EH1 2QE
Phone: 0131 220 5000
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  • Food served: Mon–Fri noon–2.30pm, 6–9.30pm; Sat/Sun noon–10.30pm.
  • Number of wines sold by the glass: 4
  • Private dining: Up to 30 covers
  • Also offers: Gluten-free options, Children's portions, Children's high chairs, Wheelchair access
  • Music on stereo: Classical piano
  • Capacity: 48
  • Largest group: 48
  • Open since: 2007
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  • Average price:
     £9 (set lunch)
     £17 (evening meal)
  • House wine: £13.95 per bottle

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Eating & Drinking Guide

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.

Tucked into an atmospheric Old Town tenement with cosy corners all connected by a rickety staircase that threatens to hurl both staff and food to an untimely end – Tang’s makes a great first impression. The menu is compact and no worse for that, although it does manage to fit in some creative vegetarian choices and the odd diversion to Korea or Thailand. Black miso cod is simply stunning – pearly flakes of cod with a sweet sauce, simply served with a bowl of rice, although the small portion won’t satisfy everyone. The freshness of the sashimi platter can’t be faulted, and though it’s inexplicably served with slices of lemon and cucumber – and without pickled ginger – the subtle variations of flavour and texture of the different types of fish show just how exciting Japanese cuisine can really be. With a sake tasting menu planned in the summer, Tang’s is aiming to be a cut above the everyday sushi joints. A little more generosity of spirit and this shouldn't be out of their reach.

  • High point: Really great fish…
  • Low point: …with some meanie touches

Reviews of Tang's (44 Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh)

12. sato, tokyo – 8 March 2011, 10:22pm4 starsTang'sReport

when I miss Japanese food during my holiday in Scotland, Tang's saved my stomach. Gyudon, Karaage, miso soup..Yum. for backpacker, it was bit expensive, but it was good taste.

by the way, we never use spoon for miso soup in Japan. asking spoon for miso soup is like we are asking chopsticks to eat fish and chips in pubs.

anyway, it was good food.

11. cole, Edinburgh – 15 February 2011, 6:07pm1 starTang'sReport

Tangs was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had... From top to bottom eating at this restaurant was a grim disappointment.

I went to Tangs for a Valentines meal with my boyfriend, as people who have worked in the service industry we understand the occasional pain of serving the public and are very polite and understanding, yet Tang's ill informed, unresponsive and occasionally rude staff managed to take us from understanding to outraged in record speed.

To work in any restaurant waitstaff need a basic understanding of the cuisine, yet at Tangs when I asked for a spicy tuna maki the waitress told me it was not possible. They had spicy tuny hand roll, but could not make a spicy tuna maki? this makes absolutely no sense what so ever. Laughing this bizarre incident off we decided to go easy on the obviously stressed waitress and ordered the set 2 person menu at £29.00 per head.
Than we waited. . . and waited. . and waited some more... after 45 minutes and no sign of acknowledgment from the waitstaff we politely inquired where our food was. Looking at us blankly the waitress barked "5 minutes" and went off to bring us the COLD starters. It was obvious that such a wait was just an unnecessary oversight, following the cold starters we were brought chewy squid with insufficient pots of sauce and started to realize that this meal was just not going to get better.

The sushi platter was next and the disappointment continued, the tuna was grey and I was almost afraid to eat it, the sashimi was frozen in the middle and accompanied by the saddest ball of wasabi possible. Sushi should not be frozen, especially in a coastal city like Edinburgh. BEYOND unacceptable.
When the mains came out the beef teriyaki was presented upon a soggy derelict pile of bean sprouts, the sauce was bland and watery and the texture of the meat was chewy and inedible leading me to believe it had been pre-cooked and reheated via a microwave. The chicken katzu main was chewy, fatty and greasy....To top the entire debacle off we were served almost as an after thought... miso soup without spoons..

All in all it was a horrible experience, if your looking for decent Japanese food I'd say look outside Edinburgh, and absolutely not to Tangs.

10. katheros, Edinburgh – 14 February 2011, 10:57pm1 starTang'sReport

Went here for dinner as our first choice for Japanese was full and Japanese was what I was set on. Wish we'd made the effort to walk a little further to *anywhere* which wasn't this restaurant.

My partner and I both come from NZ where the Japanese food is fresh, amazing and cheap, so perhaps we are a little spoilt. However, even those who have no knowledge of Japanese cuisine should steer clear of this place.

I will give them the edamame, they were quite tasty. The pork gyoza were gristly and too slimy. My teriyaki chicken was incredibly oily with the most watery sauce and none of the delicious, sweet teriyaki flavour. Rice was dry and heavy. Hands down the worst Japanese food I have ever tried. AVOID!

9. THE-TRUTH, EDINBURGH – 17 June 2010, 6:12pmTang'sReport

AWFUL. Had a really disappointing meal. As a Japanese food lover I was very intrigued by reading the above comments which were highly misleading. This is not the place in Edinburgh for good Japanese food, the cuisine was poor and overpriced. A small 200ml bottle of coke cost £1.90. THIS IS EXTORTION!!!!!... Izzi on Lothian Road is far better on price, quality and service.

8. Louis Jadot, Edinburgh – 22 May 2010, 11:29am5 starsTang'sReport

I have eaten at Tangs 3 times now, and it has always been excellent. The Sushi and Sashimi are the best I have had outside Japan, whilst the great winelist gives lots of suggestions with matching different wines to the dishes, and the wines themselves are very good quality and at a fair price.

The tempura is another favourite of ours, really light and crispy. The Miso Black Cod is another dish that I really liked.

Tangs often seems to be full of Japanese diners, so I guess he now has quite a following. The recent refurbishment has also given the whole place a very pleasing ambience. We will be back!

7. Petko, Edinburh – 9 February 2010, 9:41pm1 starTang'sReport

We only went to Tang because there was a gentleman who advertised it in a negative review for another japanese restaurant on the List and it was our almost last stop on the way to exploring the local Japanese cuisine.

Athmosphere was quite nice and stylish and, being so central, it could have easily become the flagship of the Japanese cuisine in Edinburgh.
If it wasn't for the food...

As I have this thing for ramen, I've ordered the Miso (my favourite) cashew (?) ramen and was quite disappointed as it was the worst I have ever tried in my life, and I have eaten a lot of it. Apart from the complete lack of taste I was quite surpised to find nori on top of the dish and it does not mix with miso, believe me, although the taste of miso was quite quite distant. The noodles themselves were sticking in ugly shapes as they were clearly overboiled. The pork slices were actually prepared chinese style - quite sweety and 'meaty' but that's not a surpise judging by the name of the restaurant. And with real ramen, one bowl is enough to last you for a day and I have often struggled to see bottom with my belly ready to burst from just one bowl, whereas I felt quite hungry finishing the Tang one and moving to katsu don.

Katsu don, another one of our favourites, was quite disgusting with fatty 'meat' drawned in oil and rice which felt like cous cous. There was not a molecule of the sous that actually makes the real taste of katsu don.

Service was ok but far from cordial.

If you haven't tried anything Japanese in your life, probably you will be satisfied. If you want the real thing, look elsewhere. So far, I have only found one place in Edinburgh that fits the bill.

6. Flora Manson, Linlithgow – 13 January 2010, 1:50pm5 starsTang'sReport

I'm not usually one for writing reviews, but I was so impressed with Tang's that I felt I needed to, especially after reading the terrible review left by 'yum yum'. Anyone reading these reviews deserves to know that there is a chinese restaurant in Edinburgh called 'yum yum', so chances are that the person who left the review simply felt threatened by the competition and felt the need to stoop so low as to write an unfair and untrue review simply to put off potential customers.

The truth is, Tang's is one of the best restaurants I've ever been to. It was very easy to find and looks fantastic- very light, warm, and welcoming. The staff straight away were very friendly and gave us a choice of whether we wanted to sit upstairs or downstairs. The menu is quite long and complex- typical of traditional Japanese cuisine- but the waiter was more than happy to explain it to us and gave us a couple of recommendations. My partner and I took quite a long time reading it over because there was just so much choice, and the staff were absolutely fine with taking us much time as we needed.

We ended up ordering five or six different dishes including squid sushi, which was so fresh and succulent, pork and vegetable dumplings, which were one of the nicest things I've ever eaten and melted in your mouth, a rainbow sushi platter which, again, was absolutely delicious, and a couple of different seaweed and pickle salads.

Sushi is my favourite kind of food but I know some people have their reservations about it, my partner for example previously didn't think sushi was filling enough and left you still feeling hungry. After our meal, however, even he was full and blown away by the quality of the food. I really can't say enough about this place, it was even reasonably priced- which is a rare occurrence indeed. If you get the chance to visit Tang's, do it!

5. mieko, london – 21 August 2009, 1:18pmTang'sReport

I had a wonderful meal at Tang's with my husband. We had Sushi Bento Box and Gyudon, Sake and Green tea Cream Bluree. The food was very authentic, delicious and friendly Japanese girls looked after us well.
Sushi was very fresh and had good choice of sake. This place for people love Japanese food. If you want to eat fried rice with beer you better to go for Chiese take away.
Pick Japanese dish from menu! I wanna try black cod next time...

4. yumyum, Edinburgh – 9 August 2009, 7:13pmTang'sReport

My wife and I went to Tang's after a festival show and it was the worst meal we've had in a very long time. The excellent beers were 20 mins delayed after the order placed and warm when they came. Special Fried rice was overcooked and greasy and I'm sure there were vegetables in it although I couldn't see them they were diced so small. Topped off with two tiny slithers of chicken and two rubbery leftover prawns I left 3/4 of it. It was a Sunday afternoon so service without bags of enthusiasm can be forgiven but it was dreadful and they couldn't have cared less. £25 for two terrible meals and two warm beers. Two loyal sushi fans won't be going back. We had to get chips on the way home we were so hungry.

3. Chris Radley, Edinburgh – 20 June 2009, 10:55pm4 starsTang'sReport

For Edinburgh this is actually a pretty good attempt at Japanese food. The sushi was pretty tasty, the soup we had really good, service friendly and priced reasonably. My wife is a Taiwanese chef who has eaten in Japan and even she liked it. Definitely recommended.

2. ptnufc, Edinburgh – 25 February 2009, 9:37pm5 starsTang'sReport

Cracking food at an understated venue. I was really impressed and definitely go back. Tradition means you get the dishes at the same time and it worked great mixing the vegetable dumplings, beautiful squid karaage (light and crispy fried) and hot pot with rice, veg, beef and egg. Would get a 4th dish to share between two next time but only getting 3 meant I could go for a good dessert (baked chocolate chees cake with vanilla ice cream). all polished off with some Asahi beers. Must visit.

1. Pixie, Edinburgh – 20 October 2008, 7:25amTang'sReport

We have been going to Tang's for some time now and the food is excelent, as a chef myself I can recomend this place to anyone who loves delicate flavours and good presentation. The resturant has a calm feeling to it and the service is very good. If you happen to pass by take the time to stop and eat, You won't be disappointed.

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