Rotato

Great potatoes! I’ve been to Rotato several times as its close to my work and the food has been great every time. The potatoes are cooked rotisserie battle with some sort of very tasty herb and spice rub on the skins and are fluffy on the inside. A small range of toppings are suggested with quirky names like Aussie Mongrel and Healthy Beast. You can substitute toppings if you don’t fancy what’s offered and I’ve seen one customer get a sweet potato, which I wasn’t aware they did. My fave has to be the Healthy Beast, hummus, roast veg, topped with rocket. The portion size is substantial, I have trouble finishing the entire thing. Seating is offered, although as the place is small there isn’t a lot of room. I’ve seen other customers sit upstairs in the café above as there are internal stairs connecting both.
Loyalty card is offered.

Best baked potatoes in Edinburgh! Tucked away near the uni, it’s always busy at lunchtime, but you never have to wait long. My favourite is the Aussie Mongrel — although if you’re feeling in the need for something a bit healthier, Chicky Pea is the one. Any place that turn a potato and some chickpeas into a tasty, filling lunch is a winner!

This place is so ridiculously close to uni that I was always shocked it wasn’t busier when I went in.
It’s cheap and the food is good. I mean, hellooooo, baked potatoes? Who doesn’t love baked potatoes?
The options are few but they’re damn good options. I think that would be its only vice: limited options. A make-​your-​own option would also be nice but considering the space and the prices, I’m pretty happy with how it is already.

I walk past here every time I leave uni, and the smell that is emitted from this underground baked potato shop leaves me feeling in desperate need of food. Only once have I given into this, usually I just tell myself not to waste money, and cycle home.
The lovely people at rotato cook their potatoes on a spit roast, which it would seem the perfect way to produce a potato which is soft and fluffy on the inside, and crispy on the outside. The fillings are fresh and tasty, and the staff are thoughtful enough to ask whether you want butter, salt, pepper etc.
My boyfriend had smoked cheese and beans, I had hummus and roast vegetables. Both were delicious, filling, and probably the best baked potato shops available in Edinburgh.
The only downsides:
–Very few filling options, I feel this could easily be remedied… Given that this place only serves baked potatoes, surely they could offer a few more exotic fillings, like tangine, dahl, feta and spinach? Maybe I am asking for too much, but rotato feels trendy enough to offer a few more fillings.
–There isn’t much space. During a uni lunch hour, you’d be hard pushed to find a table, and if you do, expect to budge as soon as you’ve eaten to make room for someone else. This wouldn’t stop me coming though; I might just go for a takeaway next time.

An underground baked potato shop! Set underneath French Press, they do the best baked potatoes with crispy skin as they’re all cooked on a rotisserie. The insides are always soft and fluffy. They have a list of fillings that you can select from, rather than just choosing what you would like although they are always happy to mix it up a bit. As they’re that bit more lovely than a microwaved potato from a sandwich shop, be prepared to pay that bit more than average — the cheapest is £3.50. You can also sit in (there’s probably about 8 seats) and enjoy the music (usually rock — I sat through an entire Pearl Jam album one lunchbreak) and the cute prints on the wall or take your potato upstairs to French Press.

Can’t go wrong with the Vespa (v.). Heaped with toppings on a sizeable jacket potato.

Without a doubt Rotato offer a good baked potato, cooked on a rotisserie until the skin is crisp, while the inside remains soft and fluffy it almost doesn’t need any filling. However fillings are offered and if I am honest they are a little generic (essentially predefined combos of standard sandwich/​potato fair) and it is a little pricy compared to other baked potato offerings in a student focussed area…
Still as long as they keep cooking the potatoes as well as they do I will keep coming back for a decent filing hot lunch.

The potato was SUPERB. It was huge and filling, really crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside. Had the chicky pea topping which was really lovely, but I am wondering if the chickpea salad was the as the one that is supplied in every deli/​sandwich shop in Edinburgh. (The company I am thinking of does a spicy bean pâté which is quite nice, comes in little square containers for regular shoppers to buy)
I am not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing, because the chickpea salad was lovely and there is skill to sourcing good ingredients and suppliers, however, the menu in Rotato is small and limited — it would be nice if the items on it were home-​made rather than bought in.
All in all a great lunch, was kept wonderfully sated for the rest of the afternoon!

Handily located underneath the excellent Press Coffee and right by all the central area uni buildings, Rotato (great name) is a nice little place for a Friday lunchtime treat. I say that because it’s bloody expensive.
They give all the fillings stupid, irritating names like The Vespa (chicken, pesto, rocket) and The Bigos (sauerkraut and pork). But if you can overlook this little mishap you’re staring at a huge, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, delicious filling packed baked potato. They really are the best potatoes I’ve had. They cook them in a rotating oven to maximize even crispyness.
The fillings are good, the staff a great and the potatoes are excellent. It’s just a shame it’s so expensive, otherwise I’d go all the time.

Great potatoes with crispy skins. Wide selection of toppings, but you can’t go wrong with a ‘fully loaded’. Be prepared to queue in term time.

My life is full of boring assessments at this moment and you can tell this has happened when my only highlight of the day is a baked potato. But let me tell you why:
I followed the smell of baked potatoes and there it was an underground baked potato shop! I thought I had found a well known secret, but as my friendly pointed out, the place was full, which was probably helped by its big red sign.
Swallowing my pride as a secret hot spot locator, I loved their baked potatoes perfectly crisp skins with white fluffy inside! They really don’t have a huge selection of fillings as Jonathan M. pointed out, but you will find that the ones they do have are very good indeed. Perhaps we are spoilt with having too much choice but bad quality it comes to a surprise to us when this balance is reversed.
Having said that, the girl who served me seemed to be having a very bad day and was very unfriendly. However, this baked potato shop left an impression and was certainly not like other baked potato shops in the area– the interior was clean and modern with some sitting area as well.
Do you understand now what I mean about highlight?

Possibly the best name for a shop ever, Rotato delivers what it promises — potatoes cooked while rotating slowly on a spit roast. (See what they did there?). Located so close to the university its silly, Rotato is a fairly new place hidden away under a café — but dont be put off by this. When I first entered Rotato I was shocked — I had been expecting a small, dark counter and not much more. Instead I found a modern eating area, bar type service area and beautiful furnishings. Stunning. Of course, you can take out as well, but I’m not sure you would want to!
I really cannot give any higher praises for this place-​. The potatoes are cooked to perfection — crispy on the outside and fluffy and light on the inside — just how a baked potato should be, but so few places manage to get it right.
Rotato admittedly, have one downfall — it only has a selection of 7 fillings for your potatoes, but these fillings are simply sublime — well thought out, stunningly tasty and sometimes even odd combinations that work so well its a suprise you have never though of it before. There are being new fillings added to the menu all the time, but the ones that are available now are absolutly perfect. Having tried the entire menu now, I would suggest going for the adventurous sounding ‘Aussie Mongrel’ — chilli, coleslaw, cheese and sour cream. Mmmmmm.
I love this place, I really do, and I wish that Unilocal could give some sort of extra special sixth star — this place deserves it!