Chez Jules

On my recent trip to Edinburgh, my cousin brought me round some of her favourite restaurants in Edinburgh. One of them was Chez Jules, a casual friendly bistro that offers classic French dishes.
Inside, there are pillars and blackboards on which menus and specials are scrawled in colourful chalk. The lighting is dimmed in the evenings, with a wine bottle drip candle holder on each table to add a bit of a romantic ambience.
Upon being seated, we were served their standard complimentary starters of bread and butter, olives and sliced salami, and a heavily dressed bowl of lettuce leaves.
Viv started with the grilled goats cheese which was served on toast with balsamic and sesame dressing. There was a subtle sweetness from the honey, and the walnuts added a bit of a crunchy texture. I went for the sauteed homemade duck confit leg with fresh thyme and garlic. A lovely piece of tender meat, served with a side of mustard to add a bit of spice to it.
The steak tartare was finely chopped and you could taste the luscious flavour of the meat, lightly spiced with Worchester sauce, chilli, shallots and garlic mayo.
Slow braised French rabbit leg with Dijon mustard, white wine, and smoked bacon with gratin dauphinois. Delicious flavours and succulent meat, and the crisp bread that it was served on nicely soaked up all that lovely sauce.
We were really full after all that food that we unfortunately did not have space for dessert.
Overall, we both enjoyed our meal there — the food was simple and satisfying, and it has a really chilled and relaxing atmosphere.
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In general OK food, but unbelievably bad service. One star was given only because zero star is not an option.
We called in days ahead to book a table for 5 people, but turned out we only got a table for four, and one of us had to sit on the hall way. So everyone walked by either asked me to move my chair or just pushed the chair. It was the most annoying 2-​hr of dining. It really pushed my limit until one of the waitress passed by and pushed my chair so heavily that I almost fell off the chair. Guess what, she was too busy to stop and say sorry! Till then the waitress completely ruined my dinner.
No return for sure and not gonna recommend anyone to go there.

Food was amazing. I’ve been here three times now.
The restaurant brings out a lettuce salad with a mustard dressing, and olives with bread to start. I’ve ordered the steak tartare as my main each time, as this is the best I’ve ever had.
The only issue is space. This time I was tucked away into a tiny corner surrounded by other tables. I could barely walk through the tables to exit without hitting someone with my purse.

Chez Jules is something of an Edinburgh institution, and has been a cornerstone of good eating-​out in Edina since I can remember. When visitors ask me what Edinburgh food is like, I’ll always tells them about the Auld Alliance and how there is a heavy French influence in good Scottish dining. Chez Jules is all French, but for me it tastes like home.
The menu is largely delicious meat or fish dishes, with of course frites on the side. Many types of steak. Surf n turf was a special at £24.50, but I went for the ½ lobster and frites at £14.50. And a kier royale on the side of course, at only £4.75. My two lovely dining companions shared the whole chicken, which was only £15 or so I think (really great deal!)
The food was delicious, and just how I imagine a bistro in France to be. My ½ lobster was really small and there wasn’t much meat on it at all, so it was lucky there was some chicken going spare on the whole chicken. That was my only sad moment of the evening.
The rest of the menu offers up lamb shank, rabbit, duck, all at around the £20 mark for a main course, so it’s not cheap per se. The starters offer snails, French black pudding, there’s child portions on the menu at cheaper prices, and lots of fish options too.
Oh and not forgetting the chocolate mousse dessert, which was rich and light all at the same time. Exquisite.
This was my first time here, despite living in Edinburgh for over 3 years, and I’m so glad I finally made it. It satisfies the craving for a hearty, good meal without any pretence or pomp, in bustling, buzzing, old-​world basement-​level dining, with friendly staff and happy fellow diners. C’est bon!
And at one point they played some songs from Amelie. Always a good thing.

A little slice of Paris in Edinburgh. Slowish service when busy, but extremely good food and wine. Go here for a cheap luxury lunch!

They cook their steaks perfectly. The lunch set menu is so cheap. You get free bread, salad (i LOVE the dressing and it“s abundance) and olives. What’s not to like?
You can choose sizes of steaks of different cuts but the 6oz fillet does seem to get smaller and smaller and looks teeny on the plate. The half of a tiny tomato is pointless but the potatoes… the dauphinoise potatoes… oh they are wonderful… though again, different every time…
I don’t love the studentjustgotinfromalectureandnowhastoservepeople aspect — they seem poorly informed and incapable of mature and proper service. And even tho the whole thing seems v cheap and cheerful (notices all over from Jules irreverantly inferring to the new ‘better’ ladies rooms (still hideous) and generally rude french style rules here and there) it does still seem that £60 for 2 courses and a ½ltr carafe of watery rose wine is a bit steep. …
But there is only one star missing coz I still cannot stop thinking about the fillet steak any time I have to chose somewhere to eat with friends/​family etc. And i think of the creamy dauphinoise and WANT IT! Be 5 stars if the illusion of cheap food and wine actually turned out to be cheap!

Qu’est-ce que je ferais sans toi? What an amazing place. Came here before the peak hours and we had the place to ourselves. Love the style inside, sort of like a 1940’s hipster movie theme. Love the wooden tables and the candles and everything about it. Being an old romantic I love that atmosphere. I decided to get all the food that would normally be strange to folks. I got the frog legs which were amazing! Soaked in butter and spices and herbs they were so tasty, honestly just like chicken but more tender. Then for my main I had the beef tartar which was actually minced steak not normal hamburger. Its healthier haha. Had some very good red wine and a number of after meal drinks. Cant express how good this place is anyways the prices were not to bad at all either. Do come here cause this place is really really good and they have a very very good menu.

Dined here last night and really enjoyed it. We were rather on the late side around 10pm having been at a networking event in 99 Hanover.
Still, it was no issue we were seated by the waitress and settled in. A bottle of prosecco came very reasonable priced and I really enjoyed the olives, pickles, salami, bread and salad. I read a review complaining they no longer give free pâté too… seriously???
Anyway, for my starter I went for the frogs legs and snails — 3 of each. Garlicy goodness, I think how that can be best described. I managed to convert my 2 dining partners into being escargot fans which I am taking as a big win.
For main we all went for steak. I had rib-​eye and the others went for fillet. I had the bayonaise sauce — wish I had gone garlic butter… hmmmmmmm garlic. We were served with a large dish of dauphoinise which I really liked. The steak was perfectly rare if a little on the thin side. very tasty meat though and well seasoned.
This was my first trip here, it wont be my last!
Ches Jules comes highly JD Recommended! :)

One of my absolute favourites in Edinburgh. Always a good atmosphere bordering to party vibes. And good food for little price. You can come on your own or in a big group — Chez Jules staff will never be fazed will always make everything happen and you will have a feel-​good evening!
Nice clean clear French food — good wines — oysters (which is of course for me a super plus aspect). Surf and Turf is one of their star dishes in case you can’t decide whether to have seafood or meat.
Either way — this place is a must-​go in Edinburgh!

My friend and I went here for a Sunday lunch and I was pleasantly surprised to see that a 2 course menu was only £7.90, so I had a green bean & bacon salad followed by mussels and fries.
Before tucking into these, the waitress brought over some nicely dressed salad, lovely bread, olives and salami. As the sister restaurant of Pierre Victoire, they both seem to have this concept — which I quite enjoy.
The salad was nice enough, though maybe a bit too heavy handed on the mustard dressing. I enjoyed the pot of mussels and those fries… mmm. They were absolutely delicious: hot and crispy and just perfect.
There is a big sign outside the restaurant that the ladies toilets have been renovated, and indeed they were.
The service was alright, but it seemed that one the waitresses just went through the motions and she really needs to learn to smile.
All in all, Chez Jules is a good place for lunch or dinner.

A birthday meal with a group of friends is always a difficult balancing act. You need to find somewhere that caters for your needs but isn’t too divisive financially or culinarily. A night out to celebrate my impending 31^st birthday had been arranged for some time but the restaurant had been left to the last-​minute. Where to go? My favourite place Martin Wishart? — too austere and expensive. My favourite chinese Wang (Star Sea Inn)? Too out there (what with all the pigs ears and intestines). My favourite bistro The Honours? — too flash. At the last minute I decided on the extremely unhip but reliable Chez Jules (Hanover Street). I have been many times before and am always impressed by the quality and consistency of their simple, unfussy, french cooking that lets ingredients speak for themselves. This was to be no exception.
The ragtag mob I brought with me in celebration are not easily impressed. One of them is a fine dining expert who has eaten in multiple 3 Michelin starred establishments and another is a former owner proprietor of one of Lanark’s premier eateries ‘McChan’! High standards all round and they would not be slow in telling me my choice was a dead duck!
One of the immediate things that hit me about Chez Jules was how busy it was. 10pm on a Saturday night and it was absolutely heaving, not a seat in the house. Noisy and rambunctious in atmosphere, the place was abuzz with patter, tittle-​tattle and the chink of glasses. Terrific, my kind of place and perfect for the occasion.
Fuelled by the light, cheap and eminently drinkable house red (£14.95)we were soon very settled in. One of Chez Jules appealing idiosyncracies is the ‘free starter’ that every table receives while perusing the menu. It consists of freshly cooked bread, french salami, olives, pickles and best of all (and i never thought I would say this), a big bowl of dressed salad. The leaves were fresh, crisp and the mustard dressing was bursting with flavour. We devoured the lot with such gusto that another free portion was hastily sent over! Of course, how this freebie affects the number of starters that people order is up for debate as a business aside, but for customer satisfaction it is top-​notch. Another Chez Jules quirk that screams value is their water policy. It’s a bug bare of mine when you ask for water and the restaurant brings you a bottle of £6 Tufa. Often you are made to feel like a philistine for requesting tap-​water. Chez Jules has cold tap water at every table in bottles that they diligently replenish. If you want mineral water, it’s there on the menu but you are not tricked or shamed into it.
After a reasonable wait, although not unexpected given the volume of customers, we received our main courses. I opted for the £19 ‘Surf n Turf’, a half Scottish lobster, half 6oz rib eye steak combination served with french fries. The lobster tasted fresh, succulent and meaty. It was well complimented by the excellent home-​made aioli served on the side. The fries were crisp, salty and moreish. A lot of my friends also ordered steaks of various kinds and compliments rained in over their seasoning and cooking. No steak, even the Fillet came in at over £18. Another big hit was the Dophinoise served as a complementary side dish with steak. They are served to the table in a large, hot pan, still bubbling away and they burst with flavour and creamy goodness. I would recommend ordering them at £2.75 regardless of having steak or not! The best dish ordered was the Bourride Provencale priced at £25.70. An enormous dish for 2 to share it contained half a lobster, Crab, fish, mussels, scallops, squid, aioli and new potatoes in a rich tomato based sauce. It is served with a pile of bread to dip in the so you can drain all the taste from the pan. Truly epic value and terrific, simple dish.
I was completely stuffed by my main but managed to cram in some mango sorbet which was delightfully cleansing on the palate and soothing to the throat. I’m not sure if it was homemade but the taste was very good. My friend McChan allowed me to taste his chocolate mouse which was dark and rich. A little bitter for my taste, it was clearly made with a very high cocoa solids chocolate. We rounded of the meal with a few Aztec (Kaluha) coffees, which at £2.50 a time, once again reflect the terrific value at Chez Jules.
With a bill for five winging in at £175. Chez Jules is cheap, cheerful fare but more importantly, it serves simple food very well. Recommended.

I did try this place thanks to great rewievs on Unilocal.
BUT WHAT A PLACE OF BAD FOOD.
Mussels-​soggy and old
Chevre chaud-​nothing speciell just boring
-
Surf and turf-​Lobseter soggy and old-​meat dry
Lobster-​soggy and not fresch
-
And the last bonus Crème Brulee at a french restaurant??? it was so bad actually the worts i tried.
Staff was ok and audience vibrant.
Will not return.

Popped in here for a bit of impromptu lunch as I remembered they did a nice rotisserie chicken and frites and I suddenly had a yearning for some comfort food. The atmosphere is very informal and typical French café style if you’ve ever been to Paris. You get presented with French bread, olives, cured meat and some dressed salad as you peruse the menu. Nice! The wine is served in beakers! When in France…
The lunch menu was really good value at £7.90 for 2 courses but I was fixated on my roast chicken and couldn’t be swayed by the coq au vin with mash or the steak and frites which did look lovely. I couldn’t really fault the food — my chicken was tender, the gravy savoury and fragrant and the frites yummy. My mum and aunt thoroughly enjoyed theirs too.
What did I not like? Well:
1/​The toilets are disgusting and smell foul. I don’t like washing my hands with the cheapest soap possible and drying them with blue roll!
2/​We were put at a table near the kitchen so every man and his dog banged into our table inc the waitresses and this stupid huge board thing with the lunch choices on it. The chef walked over my aunts scarf as he passed with a box of food.
3/​I didn’t like the taste of their pre bottled water. The bottle looked grubby and it tasted of fish tank!
4/​Sticky tables and glasses! Ew.
The only reason I’m scoring this place a 3 is for the food and the fact my mum reminded me I can’t compare it to higher end restaurants. Fine. 3.

Great wee place! Chez Jules has been around for ages — was a massive chain in the 90’s but now limited to Edinburgh. Food is rustic French — hearty, no frills but very good and there are some lovely (free) touches.
Headed here as a group of 9 for a Christmas lunch. Bargain £9.90 3 course lunch! A choice of around ¾ starters, mains and desserts and being GF, I had no issues so a nice ‘safe’ place.
Arriving at our table, there was a large bowl of lettuce with dressing, salami, olives, bread and water — all free and ready for us to tuck into which was appreciated. Service was pretty quick and efficient — it was busy but staff coped well. Note — its a small restaurant at basement level so tables are close together.
I had smoked salmon to start, the coq au vin and a chocolate mousse! It was fantastic and hard to criticise for paying less than £10! The salmon was ok but the coq au vin was delicious — the chicken was so tender and fell off the bone. Divine! The side was potato gratin which was great too! Chocolate mousse rounded things off nicely.
I’ll definitely go back to Chez Jules and will keep an eye out for any of their special deals as it is well worth it!

Chez Jules is a bit of a caricature of a French bistrot, the décor and the cheesy background music contributing to that a lot.
Chez Jules is also great because it’s a non-​pretentious place where you can get good food at decent prices at any time in the afternoon. It is thus the perfect place for a late Saturday lunch with (preferably) a bunch of cheery friends.
The steak is awesome. I like their ‘cote de boeuf’ and hurray, they can make it blue! Steak is served with a pan of gratin dauphinois so if a few people at the table order steak then we all get to share a huge pan of yummy gratin. The steak tartare is not bad either and I’ve heard that the seafood and fish dishes are damn good too.
Minus points:
Service can be a bit slow
The cheesy music (although I guess it makes a great conversation topic)
Can get very noisy at busy times and make conversation difficult
I find the set lunch menu not so great (but, for £8, I guess you can’t complain)
Plus points:
Great a la carte or specials
Fab gratin dauphinois
Salad, bread, olives and charcuterie brought on arrival
Very drinkable house red
Open all day from 12 noon
No frills place
Friendly owner
The ‘rincette’ coffees (you gotta have one of those!)
Overall, highly recommended for a casual lunch or dinner with friends. I love this place and I can’t believe I only went for the first time 2 months ago!

I am giving this place 5 stars despite them screwing up my order. It’s a French place with cheap plastic table cloth and non-​wineglass glasses. But it was quite busy and the menu looked vast and tasty. I got the 15 ounce ribeye here with béarnaise sauce, medium rare. Does that make you salivate? It should. It was a yummy steak, cooked very well, smothered in creamy sauce. It came with a whole frying pan of au gratin potatoes: potatoes in butter in cheese. It was the right amount of food, and delicious, so I forgive them for totally forgetting my French onion soup. My vegan friend also enjoyed her dinner, which was a salad. She claimed it was one of the best salads she’s had in Edinburgh. For dessert, I got a crêpe with citrusy stuff on it, and it was quite solid. Also, the waitresses are gorgeous here.

Painfully slow, but kind service.
Four of us walked in around 8pm last night for dinner (without a reservation) and we were seated right away. Before our asses even hit the bench a waitress placed a large salad bowl, basket of bread, and small plate of mixed olives and pearl onions on the table. Thank god for that, because it was a solid 20 minutes before she returned to take our order. That includes drinks!
So– 20 minutes later and finally a waitress arrives to take our order. I got the mussels, and holy crap were they deeelicious. Without a doubt, some of the best cooked mussels I’ve ever had. And on top of it, there were enough on my plate to last a lifetime (see my pictures).
Sister got the 6oz filet mignon, which FYI does not come with a side. Dad got the half chicken and mom got the scallops.
For dessert we shared the crêpe suzanne w/​chocolate ice cream– do it. Mom claims her cappuccino was incredible.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals and (despite the service) would absolutely return.

Good food at very decent prices if getting a lunch offer!!! :)
Food is good otherwise as well of course, but slightly on the pricier side.
Nice environment, friendly staff and atmosphere. Noise level may become slightly above average if busy.
Will definitively go back soon.

Sacrebleu !
Chez Jules is certainly not the most upmarket French restaurant in town and the service isn’t the greatest. Neither is the menu. But most of my French friends love this place for a a few reasons:
1 — It is reasonably priced.
2 — You can get French comfort food, such as «poulet frites» or «côte de boeuf /​gratin» like your (French) mum used to cook when you were a child.
3 — You drink your red in a tumbler resembling what you had in your primary school’s canteen (aaah memories).
4 — The interior is a hilarious display of clichés. The music is a mix of slightly ‘ringarde” French chanson and sometimes there’s an «accordéon» playing in the corner. Oh and let’s not forget the checkered tablecloth. Frenchness is better with a bit of self-​deprecating humour — a fairly Scottish trait should I say?
The place is not a French restaurant. It’s the stereotype of a French restaurant in a vague era of the past, somewhere between the ‘60s and the ‘80s.
Mais oui messieurs dames !

I’ve been to Chez Jules’ sister restaurant several times (Pierre Victoire on Eyre Place) and always had fabulous meals, so I was looking forward to dining here.
After an initial shaky start (literally — our table was very wobbly!) I had a lovely dinner and will certainly be back.
The dinner menu was a bit more expensive than I was expecting — most main courses were around £15 — £20. I opted for the plate of mussels that was served with aioli and a healthy (or not!) portion of chips. The enormous plate of food was lovely and I enjoyed every bite.
I went for the Dame Blanche sundae for pudding, having been tempted by the promise of Chantilly cream. Although overall it was really lovely and the vanilla ice cream was to die for, the chocolate was a bit too bitter for my tastes. However, this is the perfect dessert for dark chocolate lovers. Next time I think I will plump for the crème brûlée…
On the positive — lovely, lovely bistro food in rustic décor. I love the chalk board menus and hand-​written posters scattered throughout the restaurant. The lunch menu looks great at less than a tenner for three courses, so I will be back for that. Before ordering we were presented with a bowl of salad, bread and salami, which was a great opener to dinner.
On the negative — the dinner menu was a bit more expensive than I was expecting and was a bit limited if you’re not all about meat, and the ladies’ loos weren’t ideal. So minus a star for those reasons.
However, still a great place to eat. I will definitely make repeat visits here.