Stac Polly Bistro

The service really let this place down, as my food was of very good quality. The waiting staff (and the kitchen staff, too) just disappeared towards the end of lunchtime service, with this totally over-​shadowing what had been an enjoyable selection of lunchtime dishes.
Overall, we said: «I enjoyed Stac Polly. I thought the food was well-​presented and offered good flavour combinations, with the venison dish really hitting the spot. The curious conclusion to service was a rather strange to end things, but hey ho. I’m glad we went, and I was pleased with our visit, although I’m not sure it’s a place to which I’ll be rushing back. It was solidly good, but not much beyond that.»

I’ve been visiting Stac Polly on and off over the past ten-​fifteen years. I discovered wild pigeon, venison and cranachan there (fortunately not on the same plate). It was always the place I recommended to friends looking for good Scottish cuisine and I’ve got nothing but fond memories.
I’ve now recently visited both Dublin Street and St Mary’s St locations and I have to say, I’m left wanting more. I had a thoroughly pleasant evening last night, the restaurant is very pretty in a Georgian manner, I think the prices are reasonable and the meal is fine, but distinctly unmemorable. I found the menu repetitive — vegetarian options all featured brocolli (which I am allergic to) and the dish I chose also arrived with a slightly yellowed sprig to garnish my dish. Beetroot was also quite a feature (I like beetroot, we are all good on that front).
For starters, I had the sea trout cured in vodka and beetroot, served with beetroot and red amaranth. The sea trout carried barely any flavour but was a stunning deep red colour and overall the plate looked impressive, but the beetroot itself was the over riding flavour, drowning out the cured trout and the lemon mustard dressing was entirely forgettable. My dad tucked into some moist looking duck and was most happy with it.
For the mains, I had 10 (or 5?) spice salmon, with dill mash and beans (and a surprise guest — brocolli). Again, it looked pretty, and this time, although none of the flavours were particularly amazing on their own, combined with the citrus and chilli crème fraîche (not spicy), came together nicely. My mother enjoyed her lamb casserole and my dad was impressed with his pork dish.
Finally, we finished off with the autumn brioche (dad loved it, I found it a bit too heavy on the spice for me, something didn’t taste right) and marscapone panne cotta — the blackcurrant ice cream was delicious, the panne cotta bland and for me, there wasn’t enough of contrast in flavours to enhance either.
Overall, I think Stac Polly still does a lot right, but their menu doesn’t excite me, or move me in particular. There are lots of small things which makes me think that it falls short of being impressive and simply remains at ‘nice’, where once I would demand Stac Polly for any monumental occasion, I think now, it sits nicely in there as a pleasant, middle of the road restaurant that hasn’t reached the heights of fine dining, but is definitely of a better class than most, but it needs a bit of a push to make it a place I would aspire to go to.

Stac Polly is one of the classiest Scottish restaurants in Edinburgh, and a jolly good one at that.
It’s been on Edinburgh’s cuisine scene for over two decades, and does Scottish food with a contemporary edge. Its restaurants specialise in comfortable yet formal dining.
This one on St Mary’s is no exception. An intimate size, it’s a nice place to escape for a family dinner and have a natter for a few hours. With its light décor and clean cut table décor, it’s upmarket without being too flashy. It manages to cut the fine line between homely and modern.
Their menu is full of rich dishes with all the trimmings. Expect hearty steaks, pork loins and haggis. Generous portions of heartwarming but healthy Scottish food will be sure to put some colour on your cheeks.
It’s fairly expensive and upper crust dining. But the quality is kept to a hugely high standard. It’s relaxed enough for you to chill out and enjoy your meal, and although the food looks fancy it’s not too high brow to alienate fussier eaters or kids. Absolutely lovely, a great mixture of all that is great about Scottish restaurants. The best part is, it’s more authentic than most of the places on the Royal Mile!

A great modern Scottish restaurant in every respect, scrummy food at scummy prices.
It’s a crying shame, because when you breakdown the ingredients of each meal, you really can’t constitute the £20 price of a main. I don’t care how free range or local the meat was (it tasted the same as anything else).
Where this place really shines though is the creativity of the chef. Dishes come out looking like photos from a high class cook book and the portions are decent.
Great if you can afford it.

I have to be honest here and say the thing that drew me to Stac Polly was the name, because it is so unusual. I had never heard of the chain before, and wasn’t expecting too much as I based my visit purely on the name.
I wish I had at least ready the menu, because this place is expensive! I baggsey’d not paying before we went in though so it was cool, the other half was left to pick up the tab. Lobster and champers here I come.
For an expensive restaurant, the décor was very simple and informal. I liked that though, because even though it was a Friday night, we were just dressed casually so we really didn’t feel out of place. It was actually the owner who served us, so I felt like we got a bit of extra special service.
The meal was lovely. Stac Polly specialises in Scottish produce, with a bit of a modern twist, and there was so much to choose from! I eventually had the King scallops with black pudding (droooool) and the Tuna with marscapone and garlic mash, which was literally amazing. The starters were around the £8 mark and the mains not much short of £20, but for a meal this good we really didn’t mind.
We finished off with coffees and the bill came to quite a large sum, over the £50 mark for the two of us, but all considered, it was well worth it.
After all that, I forgot to ask the owner why the restaurant was called Stac Polly. Answers on a postcard if you know!

This is a lovely restaurant in a great location, just outside the city centre. The food is really lovely too — I had the chicken skewers too and they were marinated to perfection and had a lovely aromatic taste to them. Although I didn’t have desert, my brother told me that his ice cream sorbet was delicious and he asked for a second portion! I think he only did this because I was footing the bill, but it was his birthday afterall.
I’m with Rafael on this one, I’ll definitely be back!

This Stac Polly location is much smaller than the other two that they have but it is the most quaint and intimate of the three. We did go to the other locations as we really liked our experience at Stac Polly and each location offers different menu options.
Three of us ordered the seared Lythe fillet, two minute steak and chicken skewers. They were prepared in various different ways and each compliment their respective dishes quite well. The same can be said of their dessert offerings too. A trio of bavarois, parfait and treacle sponge were presented all nice like but quickly devoured as they looked and tasted very good. The treacle sponge served with butterscotch sauce was the hands down dessert for sure.
We were also lucky to be served by the owner of this establishment so we didn’t have far to go to relay the pleasure we had at his restaurant. This will be the one place I’ll definitely put back on my must go list when I return to Edinburgh.