The Orchard

This is a great pub, with good food. It’s the local to my work so that’s maybe why I don’t rate it as highly as I should. If you don’t like crowds, The Orchard is probably best avoided on a Friday night when all the local offices decant to drink. But for a great pub lunch and decent range of beers, you can’t go wrong with stopping off here.

To be honest, this is either 3.5 or 4 stars, not sure but it serviced the need so I’ll go with 4 stars as the service was nice and most of what we had was good. Stopped here on the way to the botanical gardens, a perfect location for catching tourists! The selection of ales is a bit on the low side, but they do have a variety of lagers and bigger name brand things. So if that is what you are looking for, this place will work.
I had the bacon burger which was actually very good. The DC had the smoked mackerel and the soup of the day. The soup was a winner, but no point in describing it since it will be different by the time you go there. The smoked mackerel was tasty but the issue was with the bread and the greens that came with it. The fish spread was good and smoky but the bread that came with it was a bit over done. The ratio of spread to bread is a bit off and you’ll end up eating the spread straight when the bread runs out.
Service was good, as I said. Just a little off to make a solid 4 stars, but worth a try and see what you think. Might be there on a day where they don’t burn the toast.

on a very rainy, windy, and cold sunday evening The Orchard was an excellent haven from the less than pleasant weather. a few of us ducked in for a quick drink before heading onto a dinner party across the road.
i’ve been to this pub a few times previously, once for a bridal shower many years ago and more recently for a few drinks prior to dinner. it’s a cosy pub with a good amount of seating and good drink options. a glass of prosecco is £4.95 which is good value and generally makes this my drink of choice. i can’t vouch for the food as it was good when i was at the bridal shower but this was so long ago it could have changed… however the food menu does look nice if a bit expensive for pub food though.
the only thing that brings this pub down is the service. if a pub is going to provide table service it needs to be attentive and helpful. the waitress we had seemed a bit clueless as to what bourbons they had available forcing one of my friends to go to the bar and actually look himself. also we asked for the bill as soon as our drinks arrived and had money out on the table shortly afterward. however the waitress never came back to get the payment until we called her over when we had to leave. so not overly impressed by this and would probably eliminate the middle man and just order at the bar next time.
overall though The Orchard is a good pub for a few drinks and as it’s nearby my flat i’d happily continue to visit.

Located on Interleith Row, a short walk away from the Edinburgh Royal Botanical Garden. After touring the gardens all morning, The Orchard was a welcome stop for a pint and a bite to eat.
The servers were busy with the lunch crowd, but managed to be friendly and helpful. Our pints and food arrived without delay.
The pint of Deuchars IPA was creamy & refreshing. We tried two ciabatta sandwiches. Our first selection was Brie, bacon, cranberry & mixed greens. Very tasty and satisfying. Our second selection was the pulled pork with an apple relish, which was good, but I preferred the Brie ciabatta.
Nice atmosphere, clean and tidy, tasty food and helpful servers.
What else could one ask for from a pub?
Give it a try after touring the gardens, you won’t be disappointed.

Ate at the Orchard on a busy Saturday when blue bear was closed. The atmosphere is nice and the staff did their best to accommodate us as quickly as possible with the busy crowd, but it was difficult to get ketchup and subsequently pay the bill.
The food was presented well, but fell a bit flat in taste. Overall just ok,

I have been with my class mates several times in this bar close to the botanics, and I agree with previous posters which gave 4 – 5 stars. The have very good ales, a warm friendly ambience, a good selection of food (tried and was very satisfied with the burgers and a steak& stew Pie) and very cosy and large. You can easily spend an entire evening with friends or partner having a dinner and the fuel up with alcohol. Sometimes it is too crowded early so that is the only small negative i can think of, but it is a trend of all good pubs.

There will always be a place in my heart for The Orchard. As the first place we went to for a drink when we moved into the area five years ago, I’ve always made The Orchard one of our regular watering holes. The staff are friendly, the prices are reasonable, and although I’ve not sampled the food menu extensively, what I have had has been very tasty.
What I really like about The Orchard is the atmosphere. There’s a mix of regulars who tend to take up residence at the bar and will always offer a tale or two to those who wander in, looking for a place to satisfy their thirst. There’s also a great mix of ages, which I find really refreshing as some bars seem to have an unspoken age policy, but that’s not the case in The Orchard.
I can’t talk about the food in too much detail, but I have had the steak pie, which was delicious, and often my friends and I order chips whilst we work our way through our drinks. The chips are great, not thin and oily, but fat and fluffy.
I will always champion The Orchard, especially on a hot day, when you can sit outside and watch the world go by.

Truth be told, I popped in out of sheer desperation — I terribly needed the loo, and boy gallantly offered to get a pint while I did so (defeats the purpose a bit, I think, but who am I to judge) — but I’m quite glad we did because this pub is a great find.
Large, open room, loads of space, couches and big tables for groups so you could bring all your mates. A good selection of beer and wine, and decent prices. The staff is efficient, yet friendly and there’s free wi-​fi!
We came back for eats after a wander ’round the Botanical Gardens, having worked up a good appetite. Started off with haggis fritters (the boy’s first introduction to haggis, drumroll please), smoked salmon and for mains split the catch of the day, which was sea bass.
The haggis fritters, for me, were the star of the show. Three plump fritters, deep-​fried in a light batter, served over stewed, lightly curried apples. The flavors were spot-​on. The salmon was quite delicious, but the portion was rather tiny for £6 — but it did come with a scoop of wasabi ice cream! I didn’t eat them together as I found the flavors didn’t quite mesh, but the novelty of it (wasabi ice cream!) was great fun. The sea bass was quite good as well, perfectly grilled atop a tower of crushed new potatoes and wilted spinach, surrounded by a moat of tiny shrimp. Simple, but hearty.
The meal wasn’t cheap, and the portions weren’t for the hearty eaters, but for innovation and great flavors the Orchard gets a solid four stars.

The Orchard is quite simply my favourite restaurant in Edinburgh and I would urge everyone to try it. The food is exceptional from modern roast dinners, to soufflé, to venison in chocolate and cherry gravy. All with a modern take and all very, very good. The staff are really helpful and the ambience is great, very chilled. There’s a good range of types of spirits, beer etc. The place itself is bright and sunny, but for me the real winner is the food. In a city with so many excellent restaurants, the Orchard stands out as one of the best. I’m reluctant to let others know because it will get over-​run once it’s more widely discovered but it deserves to be. No one I have taken there has ever been disappointed. A real gem.

If you haven’t eaten here, you really should!
The Orchard is quite simply my favourite restaurant in Edinburgh and I would urge everyone to try it. The food is exceptional from modern roast dinners, to soufflé, to venison in chocolate and cherry gravy. All with a modern take and all very, very good. The staff are really helpful and the ambience is great, very chilled. There’s a good range of types of spirits, beer, cider etc. The place itself is bright and sunny, but for me the real winner is the food. In a city with so many excellent restaurants, the Orchard stands out as one of the best. I’m reluctant to let others know because it will get over-​run once it’s more widely discovered but it deserves to be. No one I have taken there has ever been disappointed. A real gem.

A great pub. Real ales, good food and comfy Chesterfield Queen Anne’s to read your paper in. Bliss.

My man and I are house hunting, and it’s making us kind of sad to think about moving away from the Broughton/​Canonmills area. This, coupled with work related despair has resulted in us popping into The Orchard much more frequently. I’m not saying we’re going in every night, but about once a week/​once a fortnight kind of frequent.
No mater what time of day it is always comfortably busy, which to me is a sign of a very good local.
It has been nice to see that the staff are obviously fed well, get on with eachother and have fun, while not appearing to take the piss. One of the managers is also one of if not the best food service manager I’ve ever had the pleasure of observing. He knows his customers, knows what they like to eat and drink, where they like to sit, and is a whiz at multitasking. And, despite the fact that we’re not exactly regulars, he recognized and said hello to us in the street the other day. I’m very impressed.

This is a great pub to take your young family into. They are children friendly and serve great pub food. If you are in the cannonmills area and you fancy a pint and some grub you should not look past the Orchard.

On a hideously wet Saturday night, The Orchard gave us sanctuary, warmth, beer, comfy leather armchairs in front of a faux fire place, and quite a lovely setting for the second Unilocal Meet-​up. Throw in a comedy drunk old guy offering Chris M. money, and all-​round it was quite nice!
After a tasty dinner of tapas in the Spanish restaurant next door, and with the rain pouring down, Emily V. suggested we hop, skip and jump over to the nearest pub — The Orchard. I have never been down this end of town before for dinner and drinks, and for some reason I was thinking «old man pub» and all that that phrase conjures up.
But instead I was quite pleasantly surprised by how large, warm and family-​feelish the place had. The other customers all looked like they were enjoying a quietish Saturday night drink out, the atmosphere was friendly and mellow, but not dead, and the bar staff really were super friendly. Even the drunk guy propping up the bar was drunk in a friendly, comedic way.
The only down side is we did all end up getting a bit sleepy in our leather armchairs in front of the fake fire, so I wouldn’t recommend it as a pre-​Saturday night out joint. But overall it was a lovely pub, especially for a cold, dark, wet winters night and should I be in the area again I will happily revisit.
Also, they seem to offer a carvery /​Sunday roast option. When we got there, there were two big roast beefs on display, which were then replaced by an amazing looking pie. Unilocal Sunday-​roast night out anyone?

The Orchard in Canonmills is handily placed for a nice drink or something to eat if you’ve been walking around the Botanic gardens. It is a relatively quiet and friendly neighbourhood pub with a regularly changing Scottish based menu featuring classic dishes like fish and chips, although here they call it ‘deep fried angel cut haddock with hand cut roosters’. Between 12−3pm they do a selection of ‘fresh gourmet’ sandwiches on ciabatta and these are rather good. The crayfish tails with coriander and lime mayo was an inspired filling idea and tasted lovely, it came served on a slate with some salad and a good sized pile of kettle chips — well worth £6.
It is worth mentioning that they do table service, so even if you’re only in for a couple of drinks you need not get up from your seat — make sure you keep a tally of the bill though, as it is very easy to let it spiral out of control when you’re not paying as you go.

I went here last weekend with my family after going to the botanics.
We all had coffees apart from my uncle who had Stella and I had hot chocolate. Their hot chocolate was so nice, it was frothy and didn’t burn my mouth! It was one of the nicest ones I’ve had (which is quite a lot as I’m not a coffee/​tea person!)
My aunt had their mushroom and tarragon soup, which tasted fantastic and was very thick and came with 3 slices of bread and was only £3 which we thought was good value.
A nice place to relax and I’m interested to try more of their food in the future!