We will be meeting a friend's son, and taking him to dinner. Can anyone recommend a very nice restaurant in the university area? Thanks.

I'd recommend the Grain Store on Victoria Street as a lovely place for a meal with family or friends.
I have eaten there many times and have not been disappointed with the atmosphere, food or service.

It's not far from the main University buildings.

The food is essentially Scottish/European in style, and they have reasonably priced set lunch and dinner menus. There is a website, with sample menus, access map and prices - www.grainstore-restaurant.co.uk

Unfortunately the university itself is not in a very nice area so not good for very nice restaurants. (I assume you mean Edinburgh University & not one of the others ?)

I haven't been to the Grain Store for about 8 years so can't comment on that, although it was nice when I last went.

La Garrigue is a nice French restaurant specialising in food & wines from the Languedoc where the lovely chef/patron is from. It's very nice but not too formal. If you get a table near the window there's a view of the monuments on Calton Hill. It's about a 10-15 minute walk from the main university buildings.

The Vermillion (sic) restaurant in the Scotsman hotel is about a 5-10 minute walk & is supposed to be good but I haven't been.

The Number One restaurant at the Balmoral hotel about a 10-15 mins walk; it is one of the city's two Michelin one-star restaurants but it is very formal - I wouldn't imagine you want that ?

Edinburgh's not that big & it's easy to get taxis around so I wouldn't feel constrained by area, especially at night. Some of the threads on which I've recently posted other suggestions seem to have disappeared but do a search on 'Wishart' to find a couple.

It now occurs to me that you may think the university is a campus university, which it isn't. So do you really want recommendations near the university ? Wouldn't recommendations near where your friend's son lives or near where you'll be staying be better ? Let me know if so & I'll see what else I can think of.

Thank you for the suggestions. We will be staying on Hanover Street. You are correct--I was actually envisioning a campus area. We are open for any suggestion ( and here I will add a complication--our daughter is a vegetarian. We are not.) Any place that would be a bit of a treat for a student would be great. Thanks again. While I have you, Caroline--- I have been checking the weather on the BBC website. It puts the temps in Edinburgh in the 50's this week. We will be there next week. Is that sort of the normal temp for this time of year? Thank
you, we are really looking forward to visiting your city!

Enjoy your visit with your daughter. We visited our daughter for a week while she was at the U of Edinburgh four years ago. Stayed in a B&B near the Campus. Caroline-Edinburgh is right there aren't many around the U of E. So during our travels in town we scoped out restaurants on High St. (Royal Mile) and Princes St. Most have menus outside and there are lots of restaurants with varied menus & atmosphere. The fun for us was giving our daughter some suggestions and letting her (and her friends) decide. We never had a bad meal and enjoyed the company.

Bob

You're staying in Hanover Street and you have a vegetarian in your group? Then the answer is - pardon the technical language - a no-brainer.

Henderson's, located on Hanover Street at the corner of Thistle, is an Edinburgh institution. Not only vegetatarian, but <i>very, very good</i> vegetarian, with numerous choices for everyone, including some excellent desserts, wines, all that. It would border on a cliche, were it not that Henderson's really put quality vegetarian dining on the map in Edin. 40 years ago.

Everybody in town knows about it, and most will be quite happy to go there. It's informal, not terribly expensive, and it couldn't be more convenient. If your friend's son lives somewhere around the George Sq./Edin. U. core, it's also extremely convenient for him to join you - plenty of bus access.

While I'm a big fan of Henderson's, and have been eating there for decades since my own student days, I'm not sure it's what I'd call a &quot;very nice&quot; restaurant. The cafe is self-service, but even the bistro w/table service is pretty unglamorous. If you're going vegetarian, for a special meal you might prefer one of the newer breed of vegetarian restaurants, with a less stodgy menu than Henderson's (again, I love Henderson's, but it's pretty old-school) and more atmosphere. David Bann's on St. Mary's Street in the Old Town comes to mind as a good choice, or Black Bo's on Blackfriars Street (originally, but no longer exclusively vegetarian).

You're not restricted to vegetarian places, though--these days (as opposed to the bad old days) any good restaurant in Edinburgh should have sufficient choices for vegetarians.

Yeah I didn't mean to suggest that Henderson's was &quot;fine dining&quot; in the atmosphere, decor or price sense - but I was struck that since you'll be in Hanover St. anyway... It's always been (to me) more of a long-lunch place rather than a candle-lit dining experience, &quot;Bistro&quot; notwithstanding.

Also don't overlook the many fine Indian restaurants in the city, where vegosaurs and meatosaurs both can be satisfied.

Please may I, as a veggie, sign up to KT's post.

I think Black Bo's really good fun. I haven't been to David Bann's (not to be confused with Bann's) but it looks a bit scary.

There are very few places that won't cater comfortably for vegetarians. Some of the seafood places are not so good (although Martin Wishart's has a special menu).

Tell us where she lives?

He lives near Arthur's Seat. However, I guess what I am asking for is just a nice restaurant that is anywhere--not vegetarian, but with some vegetarian selections (for our daughter). Don't think that our guest is vegetarian--his father said that he has been eating in mostly pub food.
We would like a recommendation for a nice restaurant that is a step above pub food. Thanks for all of the help.

Most places in the UK/Ireland will have vegetarian options on the menu. Even the posher places It to me still seems rare to find this in the States. I am a Veggie (besides the 1 steak I eat a year) and I have never had a problem. I am in Edingburgh to visit friends often and we always find food to suit all tastes.

DDA: Agree with some other posters, Henderson's is OK for quick pre-theatre fuelling but quite basic. Black Bo's does extremely good, inventive veggie food but is also quite scruffy - the sort of place a student might go normally. David Bann's looks quite posh but I haven't been yet, although coincidentally I am going tomorrow with visiting veggie friends ! (The original Bann's, which was more casual, is no longer.)

Search on 'Wishart' to find some of my other previous recommendations.

DDA: sorry, I didn't respond to your question about the weather. I think 50 degrees is 10 degrees C, isn't it ? It has got a lot milder in the last couple of days and I'd say it's currently about 12, but intermittently rainy and very windy. Last week there was still snow here, and last weekend was cold (probably c.2-5 degrees) but clear and beautifully sunny. So it could be doing anything next week (except hot !). Most likely c.8-12 degrees I'd say.

Sheila: David Bann's was very good and quite reasonable - &pound;4.50 for starters &amp; desserts, c.&pound;9-11 for mains. Funky modern decor too. I had a starter of goats cheese wrapped in roasted aubergine on fried polenta with a scoop of tapenade; a main course of a croquette of a Scottish smoked cheese (forget the name), spinach &amp; pine nuts on a bed of Savoy cabbage with caraway with orange sauce; &amp; my friends &amp; I shared an assiette of desserts. I will go again.