Jacksons, Edinburgh

Having eaten here before I had no hesitation in booking it for my fortieth birthday

We arrived at 8pm, despite only two other tables being occupied we were seated at a very small table in front of the entrance in a draft. Thankfully we were moved.

The place was bitterly cold. When I complained the manager sarcastically told me it was cold outside and we were in a very old building!

The bread was stale and inedible.

Having looked at Jackson's website that day, I knew exactly what I was going to eat and drink. Sadly none of what I had been looking forward to was available. When I questioned this I was told the website was four years out of date!

My starter of duck confit was tough and tasteless.

My main of rack of lamb was minute,overcooked and a third of which was pure fat. My wife's salmon was so dry and tasteless she couldn't eat it.

My creme brulee was ice cold and certainly not fresh. The shortbread that came with it was so stale a starving mouse would have left it. I complained about the brulee and the manager told me it was impossible to serve fresh as it took 45 minutes to make and the one served to me was probably two days old!

We ordered tawny port from the desert menu only to be told "we don't stock tawny port". When I told the manager it was on the menu, he argued it wasn't! Once I showed him the menu he then growled "well we're out of stock then"!!!

I expressed my disappointment regarding the whole evening and the manager claimed "well what to you expect me to do about it?"!!!!

No apology was offered.

Jacksons ruined what should have been a wonderful celebration.

We left disappointed,hungry,angry and over one hundred pounds out of pocket for what can only be described as the worst meal I have ever been served!!!

If you're looking for a restaurant that serves simple, unpretentious, delicious Scottish cuisine, try Jacksons - a hidden gem on the Royal Mile. From the outside it's difficult to tell whether the place were a bar, a nightclub or restaurant, however the dining area below is intimate and full of character. We had the haggis and smoked haddock chowder as starters, and both were very tasty. The fillet of Scotch beef was excellent and perfectly cooked to our liking. For dessert, we shared the chocolate torte with strawberries and vanilla ice-cream. There's a nice selection of teas and coffees with fudge, as well as ports and dessert wines. The service was excellent - experienced, unobtrusive staff providing a welcome change to the all too common inexperienced young servers found elsewhere. We were surprised that it was fairly quiet for a Thursday evening considering the quality of the meal and service. Good value for money and highly recommended.

This place has a great location just off the crossing from highstreet and north bridge.
People kept recommending this place to me. In the end because I was not succesfull booking elsewhere..I came here to eat.This place is a restaurant specialises in scottish cuisine, using scottish ingredients.

I dunno what to say...place confuses me, to me it seems like a tourist trap, but so many recommended it to me. Could be that edinburgh just doesn't have really good restaurants?!?The waiters etc are nice and friendly enough. But it all has a semi classy feel to it, what i mean is..they try to be a high class restaurant...but they just can't seem to bring it off.

The amuse for example...yech. Why bother with something like that.A concoction of cold sourcream and beetroot soup.Also the bread...got ne slice of bread with 4 knobs of butter.Why so cheap and simple? Or is it special scottish bread.

The place is located in a cellar. Nice ambiance.

Favorite Dish: Hmm the waitress recommended haggis to me..but knowing what it was. Didnt want to pay 7 gbp for sometyhing I just won't finish. So ordered at first the foie gras dish. But not trusting the places...I changed it to a lasagna with rabbit.Guess I made the right decision.Well Id didnt know what to expect from this dish. But in the end I got just what they said it was. 3 pieces of rabbit ontop of lasagna. Alas the lasagna was a very simple lasagna. Nothing special to it.Frankly I think my lasagna is better and all i need is to fry or bake some rabbit to it and get the same dish. Not special at all and pretty bland.Everything has a microwave look to it too.

As a maincourse I chose the Ribeye of scotch beef with Sautéed Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes, Watercress salad. at 16,50 quite reasonable. Only for a sauce u need to pay extra 3gbp for a sauce.(I didnt take it...but seems there sauces are worth it)
You get a pan of roast potatoes and vegetables. So pretty reasonable for the price.

The beef was pretty good. Nicely cooked and very tender. But sadly I must say it's not as great as the american or japanese grain fed beef. IMHO this is not a great steak, but still very good.

Didnt go for a pudding...because I dont think it would have been worth it.

The interior of Jacksons is truely beautiful - tapestries decorate the walls which are lit by torchlight. Tables are laid with white linen & romantically lit by glowing candles. We were early for dinner & hadn't made a reservation, so were very lucky to secure a table. The service was polite & unobtrusive creating a relaxing & enjoyable experience. The restaurant started to become busy during our meal, most of the arriving diners had pre booked - so I would suggest you pre-book your table to avoid disappointment

Favorite Dish: The restaurant uses locally sourced produce to create mouthwatering dishes with a Scottish flavour. The menu is extensive but our choice clear - the medalions of lamb set in a fresh berry sauce served with fresh garden vegetables followed up by delicious fresh fruit trifle

Usually British food is...at best...no flavor. So it was with great surprise that when we traveled in Scotland, we found food here quite good! This restaurant is a fine example of what great Scot food should be like. Order pretty much anything on the menu and they are delicious. Service was excellent and the decor is vintage British.

Highly recommended. We had eaten lunch here in 1997 and were really looking forward to our return.
Although located in a windowless basement below buildings facing the Royal Mile, there is a nice cosy atmosphere with stone walls and torch-like lights on the walls. Tapestries help to add warmth and even though the tables are close to each other, there is still space for elbows and you don't feel crowded.

The menu is unusual because when you first open it, you do not find a list of starters as you would expect but a list of whiskies. There is even a list of recommendations for which whiskey to have with different meals.

Favorite Dish: GF went for a special menu which was 3 courses for GBP23. For starters, he had breast of pigeon on a bed of tagliatelle in a creamy sauce, mains was venison in a cranberry reduction and dessert was a caramel and walnut tarte.

I went for the a la carte menu because the items I wanted added up to approximately GBP23 so there was not much of a difference in the cost. I had a starter of haggis, neeps and tatties (my favourite Scottish foods!) which were towering on a plate with a nice, rich tangy sauce. Mains was a plate of ravioli stuffed with carrots and chestnuts with a very tasty creamy sauce. It was absolutely delicious and on a standard with Il Cupoli - one of my favourite restaurants of all time, where I had the most fantastic pasta. I never expected to taste pasta this delicious outside of Italy. For dessert I had a 'chocolate nemesis' which was really just a chocolate brownie but still nice and chewy and rich, with Drambuie-infused raspberries. Our mains were served with a variety of side vegetables and pototoes and we ordered a bottle of house red, which was quite delicious. Total cost was about GBP63 - not cheap but worth it for a special meal.