Pomegranate Restaurant

Not as good as it’s sister restaurant. The menu is quite different as they serve in smaller dishes, more meze style. The service is also not as good as Hanam’s. Would not return to Pomegranate as Hanam’s is not too far away and definitely MORE WORTH IT.

Treated my sister and her daughter who were visiting. We’ve been here many times and like the food, location, and late hours. Has been hit and miss in the past in teems of quality of service and food but this time service was superb and they were very good with a 4 year old child — offering her crayons and paper and were attentive. even offering a free scoop of ice cream! Got our regular mezzes — hummus shawarma, surocrau batata gosht (spicy potato dish), dolma and chichen wings. I enjoyed the mezzes more than my main (mixed shawarma platter) because I found it very meat heavy despite having a side of bamya with it plus sharing 4 mezzes among 3 adults and one child left me with little appetite! I prefer the experience of sharing a bunch of mezzes to get the variety without filling up too much. My eyes are to big for my stomach sometimes but a always I had room for dessert and shared a single portion (two scoops) of saffron & cardamon ice cream. My niece got the pomegranate ice cream which I expected to be overly sweet with the syrup but turned out to be better than I expected. We weren’t rushed and service was excellent — they checked on us often and were very pleasant. They are a good option if you like middle eastern food and great location wise for a pre-​theatre meal or shisha in good weather (they have an outdoor area downstairs). I’ve been previously and had been impressed by the personal service we got at 10pm one night! However, I’ve also noticed it can be variable during the daytime and their tend to prefer the sister restaurant Hanam’s, which has a better menu and quick service. Happy customer tonight though!

After a day out at the zoo, we came here to celebrate my friend’s birthday with some lovely middle eastern cuisine! Pomegranate doesn’t specialise in the cuisine of a particular country, and instead boasts delicacies from Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran to name but a few. It is also a shisha bar.
We arrived at prime meal time on a Saturday night and we hadn’t reserved a table, like dafties. However, we were offered one of the outdoor alcoves used for shishas, which we gladly accepted. So we were led down the stairs outside of the restaurant to a series of brightly painted and plush alcoves. Each one has a heater, and is so comfy that you barely notice that you are outdoors.
I ordered the lamb shawarma platter, where my friends went for the kebab options — a merishke kebab (chicken) and a gosht kebab (minced lamb). Each one was amazing! The lamb was cooked to perfection, and the chicken was really tender. Sharing is caring! ^.~ For dessert, we each had lokum, which is a platter of three differently flavoured turkish delights served with rose ice cream. It was delicate and fragrant.
My one niggle was that the service was very slow where we were sitting, as the people staffing that part are more focussed on the preparation of shisha. I imagine things would go along faster if we were upstairs, so next time I try it out I will make sure I book in advance.

‘Yay! I’m a fan’ pretty much sums up my feelings about Pomegranate. Having had it delivered via Deliveroo i wasn’t overly impressed and wasn’t sure what all the hype was about. But last night after a stressful day and having lost the ability to want to cook anything, i decided that going out to dinner was an acceptable choice. we decided on Pomegranate as it was nearby and middle eastern food sounded like a great option at 8pm!
i haven’t been in this place since it was ferri’s apparently what is many years ago now. but the inside is completely different, loads of colour and what appeared to be a back room i have no memory of. lots of tables so we didn’t have any problem just walking in without a booking and service was quite and friendly. we opted for two mezze dishes and two mains to share between us.
the mezze didn’t take long and the minced lamb pastry triangles (which have an actual name that i’m not even going to attempt to spell), the tabbeulouh, and flat bread were with us shortly. each bite i’m pretty sure was tastier than the last. the tabbeulouh is not what you usually get– a salad full of bulgur wheat and not much veg. not this was packed full of fresh parsley and chopped up tomato with loads of lemon juice mixed it. it was super fresh tasting and absolutely moreish. the mince lamb triangles were equally moreish although a bit spicy which i didn’t expect. however that did not stop me eating my half of the portion and i’d definitely order them again.
our mains arrived in prompt time and i think my falafel shrawma wrap was the favourite. it was a fairly large wrap (made with they delicious flat bread) stuffed full of falafel of chilli yogurt sauce and some veg. it was so incredibly good that i probably had one bite too many after proclaiming that i was full. it’s served with a salad on the side which is good as anything else would have been too much. we also had the mixed sharwma platter with lamb and chicken, rice, and an okra stew thing. the okra was really good which surprised me as i’ve not been a fan before. and the chicken sharwma was mouth watering! i’m pretty sure next time i’ll have that in my wrap over the falafel. both of us were stuffed after sharing the two mains and couldn’t manage to finish them. next i think we’ll go with just one main! the portions are pretty massive.
this is a totally great restaurant and i wish that my original deliveroo delivery had been to a better standard. i’ll definitely be back here as the food is too delicious to pass up! not to mention speedy service which means when you’re tired and can’t be bothered cooking this is a good place to go for a reasonably priced quick meal.

Amazing food! I’ve just ordered (and scoffed) takeaway from Pomegranate through Deliveroo. Was delicious! Ordered for 2 but we still have some leftovers. Was delicious and delivered in only 35 mins!
I ordered two starters a side and a main.
Soujuk, spicy Lebanese sausage
Lamb Samboussek, pastry triangles filled with mince and onions
Qozy Lamb (tapsi), slow cooked braised lamb on the bone served with rice and Tapsi, aubergines, peppers in a tomato sauce
Naan bread
Everything was delicious! The lamb falling off the bone and so many different flavours. Portion sizes are generous and looking through the rest of the menu there is a wealth of choice and great for selection for vegetarians too.
I’ll definitely be ordering takeaway again soon so i can try the other dishes (I literally could’ve ordered anything — it all sound delicious) and hopefully make it along to the restaurant too which I believe is byob too!

Just arrived in Edinburgh for our fifth trip and I’m really disappointed that I’ve been missing out on pomegranate. The portions are really large and quite good. As much as we travel to Scotland we will most likely be attending the pomegranate again.
Chicken Shawarma — was quite good but it isnt quite the same as many restaurants we’ve attended in Dubai.
Staff-​Very kind and polite.
Atmosphere– 5 out 5 stars
Food quality– 4.5 stars out of 5
We regret to say we didn’t get a chance to experience the shisha I do wish we would have gone for it.

Nice enough restaurant. I can’t really see why so many people totally rave about it though. Service was excellent and the food was fine. My chicken sharmwa platter was on the dry side and was really dissapointed by the cupcakes I got for take away, not worth the £4 each at all. However the chicken wings, halloumi and aubergines were great and it was a good meal overall. I do feel that for byob it was a tad expensive. Really nice décor and very helpful staff but i dont think I would hurry back.

The food was uninspired, not awful, just dull. And they have a snotty anti-​ecigarette policy. Would have been three stars if the staff hadn’t rudely interrupted to tell two of us to go outside even though it’s harmless and no-​one had complained.

Loved it. Food was plenty and excellent. We had 3 mezzes each and shared and it was loads. Very reasonable price and loved that we could BYOB. Service was excellent, especially loved Mama. (Spelling? Sorry!)

Great food, always manage to fit you in. BYOB no corkage a bonus. The babaganoush is delicious !!!
We actually drive from Glasgow to eat here some nights !!

Really nice place, good food, friendly service. The chicken wings are fabulous and I loved the fattoush.

Decent service, clean toilets and a very well-​priced and tantilising range of meals/​small portion combinations on offer. A nicely laid back and welcoming atmosphere is attained and I’m very glad to have now managed to have eaten here, having heard its praises sung for some time by a number of friends.

Gosh, the food here was amazing. Could be my new favourite place. Tonnes of grub for a really good price, bring your own bottle, great location and buzzing atmosphere.
I ordered the qozy lamb — two pieces of lamb falling off the bone, heaps of rice, naan bread and an aubergine, tomato and potato side that was beyond yummy. A huge amount of food that I just about managed to polish off.
Dessert was baklawa — couldn’t fault it and it came with a scoop of ice cream. Delicious.
I’d have given this place five stars if it weren’t for our seating location right next to the waiters’ station. We had to endure an evening’s worth of cutlery clanging and banging right next to our ears and waitresses bumping into our seats as they whizzed between tables and the station. If it weren’t for that, I’d have given this place a five star.
Will definitely be back, just not sitting next to the waiters’ station!

I tell you what, I wasn’t half worried about coming here given the number of lacklustre reviews. Well, from visiting here myself as the coven of C., I have determined that service is all over the place — from efficient (start) to eldest sister having to go up to the bar to ask for our orders to be taken (then we had 2 descend on us). I also made sure we asked for an ice bucket, as per Susan M.‘s warning, so there was no issue there. But the important thing for me about Middle Eastern cuisine, is that it feels so much fresher than other places, and a perfect place to go on a humid, stormy night, and I wanted to try somewhere new, so threw myself into Pomegranate.
Foodwise, we enjoyed everything — the only slight bumnotes were the tabbouleh — crazy levels of parsley even by tabbouleh standards, but flavour was a little lacking, and the sundried tomato and ginger tapenade — not so gingery as vinegary. But! a seriously delightful baba ghanoush, easy on the sesame, made up for everything. Naan bread, just so very moreish.
For me, the halloumi was fabulous, slow roasted aubergine a hit with all 3 of us, the solitary meat dish (lamb samosas… as I can’t spell soubbassek-​thingy) a hit as well. Lovely falafel, although the hummus was forgettable. Sadly we were too full to try the pomegranate ice cream, hopefully another time.
Décor wise it is bright, and the restaurant was heaving, even for a Tuesday. There were all round thumbs up by the witches three, so I am glad the reviews didn’t cause me to turn away. In comparison to another favourite haunt, Empires Café, it’s a more mainstream version of it’s kooky self and a very welcome addition to the dining scene in Edinburgh.
PS fourth star is only missing due to service inconsistencies, otherwise it would advance on.

Been here twice and enjoyed the food both times. The falafel shwarma wrap is a must have! The most recent time we went though, we ordered a shisha pipe with apple flavored tobacco. It was not apple… It tasted like those jelly beans that nobody eats. The liquorice flavored ones. When I asked our server to try it, he just said no and promised me it was apple. I will definitely go back because the food was great but I will not be getting the apple (liquorice) shisha again.

Mmmm… A bit disappointed given my fabulous experience in its sister restaurant, Hanams.
The menu is a lot smaller than Hanams’ — basically made up of a number of hot and cold meat and vegetable meze and then a much smaller number of mains. This wasn’t an issue in itself as my family and I went for a late Saturday lunch and didn’t necessarily want anything too heavy but it might be an issue for dinner customers who don’t like sharing.
For 3 of us we opted for a set price 6 mezes for 2 people (you can pick what you want but only 2 meat) and 1 lamb main as it sounded lovely and we felt greedy. All in all the mezes were ok. Tasty, and to be fair we did eat everything, but not up to the same high standards as its sister restaurant. The waiter highly recommended the marinated chicken wings as an alternative to a lamb and rice parcel i picked but they didn’t have but these were pretty forgettable and a bit ‘plain’ really. The much anticipated marinated slices of lamb and rice (i asked for pomegranate rice) basically turned out to be ‘bits’ of dry lamb on plain rice with a spicy sauce to dip. No pomegranate rice to be seen and never once through our entire meal did anyone ask how we were enjoying our food even though they were not busy.
We’d taken 3 bottles of wine between the 3 of us (yes, my family are jakeys) so of course wanted to nurse the wine and finish every last drop before we left. This wasn’t a problem at all to the staff and we never once felt rushed which i liked. There was a table of very tipsy elderly women next to us that had the same idea!
After a digestive gap, we considered dessert. Now I’m not generally a dessert person but I do have a weakness for cupcakes, and with a selection of yummy varieties to choose from such as rose, walnut and pomegranate I felt it would be rude not to get one! My mum and brother opted for the baklava and the saffron ice cream which they shared. I opted for the rose cupcake which came with a small portion of rose ice cream (a weird combination but when in Rome!). The baklava was a crispy, honeyed hit and the saffron ice cream smooth and creamy, however my cupcake was stale and had the texture of bread! The waiter insisted they were freshly delivered but upon checking the batch, agreed the problem seemed to be with all the rose ones. I was given a pomegranate one instead which was ok but not great. I know good cupcake and this wasn’t it!
The location is ideal and the décor lovely. At night the candles and bright lanterns look amazing. The place is fine if you want a really casual sharing meal experience, with some byob wine or beers and you don’t have high expectations. Next time though, i’d probably just go back to Hanams!

Late night Meze. What more would you like to hear?
Oh that it’s tasty?
Yeah the food is good, maybe not *great* but it’s pretty cheap. They stay open pretty late (3am I think!) and the food is cheap and cheerful. They also give you some tap water straight away, none of this asking for it nonsense. This kinda service pleases me!
I haven’t tried a huge amount of their food but i’ve been back since going and I’m sure I’ll go again!

Lacks atmosphere despite good location & tasty food. Great choice if you’re in a hurry.

I’ve been looking forward to eating at Pomegranate since it opened, and finally got to pay it a visit this weekend. However, there’s something not sitting quite right with me about my dining experience… the restaurant checklist in my head goes something like this:
Perfect location? Check! (top of Leith Walk, across from the Playhouse &Cinema!)
Good opening hours? Check! (open until 3am!)
Pretty Middle Eastern décor? Check! (Colourful glass lanterns galore!)
Delicious food? Check! (my stuffed vine leaves were fabulous, and the falafel shawarma wrap was a tasty, good sized portion)
New discoveries? Check! (Pomegranate Ice Cream, creamy, smooth, delicate YUM!)
BYOB? Check! (and no corkage charge either!)
Excellent value? Check! (3 courses, including a tip worked out at £20 per person!)
Good service… hmmm!
Great atmosphere… erm!
My checklist grinds to a halt at this point!
Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice enough place to come and eat, and I think it’d be a perfect weeknight /​late night place to grab a bite to eat, but given we were on a birthday night out, it just didn’t feel we were looked after enough to make it special.
I’ve been in many other BYOB restaurants where you’re given ice buckets, and the waiting staff have still poured out your glasses of wine (and kept them topped up!), but here we were just left to fend for ourselves. I suppose we could have asked for ice buckets, and probably would have been given them… but that’s not the point!
After sitting down we seemed to wait an age before we were given menus and our order was taken, although the food actually came quite quickly once we had ordered. After another long wait, we had to ask to see the dessert menu as they didn’t seem too fussed about giving it to us. Further request for water to be topped up and the bill followed.
It certainly didn’t have the same, lovely atmosphere that Hanams manages to achieve, but it was good food at a very reasonable price, and I’ll certainly be back for more of that delicious Pomegranate ice cream. I just think I’ll maybe give it a miss if I’m looking for a venue for the next special night out.

The newly opened sister restaurant to Hanam’s, Pomegranate offers middle eastern cuisine in smart, fresh surroundings. It’s open until 3am at the weekend, so I could see it developing a cult following, as a late night dining spot.
Overall, we said: «Pomegranate is a new restaurant, with all thrills and spills inherent in a new venture. Even though the guys running the show are experienced restaurateurs, they are not immune from the vicissitudes of fate and fortune. It certainly fills a new niche in terms of a late place in this neighbourhood, offering a different option from the more established fare, so I’m confident the business will thrive. I’m also sure that it will find me a regular visitor when then mood takes me. But I sincerely hope that the bedding-​in process ups the quality and consistency of both the dishes and the service.»