The Ship on the Shore

This is a wonderful place to eat, relax, and most impotently have a great time no matter what time. Breakfast is a great way to start your day (I am recommending The Champagne Breakfast). Lunch is always a great time to get away from your day or just make your day that much better. Dinner is outstanding and you will never have anything but the best staff and food here.

Great restaurant. I would suggest reservations as weekends fully booked normally. Very good service, nice atmosphere, and we were pleased with the food. One of the more varied menus in Edinburgh.
We had the Royal Paella, and it was a very good. We also tried several appetizers. I would certainly recommend.

I seafood I eat food!
I’m a little obsessed with seafood so for my birthday dinner it seemed appropriate to check out this restaurant that had come highly recommended.
The location is lovely as its right by the water with easy bus links back into Edinburgh.
Drinks list was exhaustive as was the menu of all things seafood.
Oysters, scallops and langoustines were phenomenal! Absolutely delicious.
It was a bit on the pricey side and the staff were polite but I wouldn’t say friendly but would definitely go back for the high quality grub!

I guess this is the most gourmet square meter that I have been. There are two Michelin stars and at least 6 five stars restaurant half a mile from each other. Understandable why the Shore, Edinburgh has been consider the new area for good food.
The Ship on the Shore is another great example of the outstanding quality of restaurant in the area.

I’m surprised by the negative reviews here, as my experience was great food-​wise. I went with a friend on a Friday night. The highlight for us was his cod with truffle risotto main. It was moreishly delicious. Our waiter had personality. No problems with the service. Would recommend!

Came in for a spontaneous dinner as we live local. Can’t even remember starters; mains lobster was totally overcooked and rubbery, seabass was a a whole enitire fish (not stated) so many many bones and removal of flesh from bone totally dimininshed eating experience. Menu just said ‘seabass’, not filllet OR whole.
Worst part was cheese/​dessert. I ordered a dessert wine because i“m not a fan of port and had had fizz and white wine all day. Soon after ordering the ACTUAL manager rushed to the table to advise me that I MUST be mistaken. That NEVER IN HIS LIFE (he looks about 68 years old) has he ever seen cheese and dessert wine go together. He basically totld me I was an idiot then walked away with his hands in the air in protest, We stayed to avoid a (further) scene.
The cheese was dumped in front of us — when I asked what they were I was told by the terrible waitress «a blue, a white and a scottish one». Brilliant. Worse than all that, the cheeses were so cold as to render them pracically frozen, and entirely void of flavour, texture and character. A fact the manager refuted with massive attitude directly in combat with his feelings towrds dessert wine and cheese!
They refused to remove them from our bill and were combative to the end. A total embarrassment to themselves. Never again, ever EVER.

After reading all the positive reviews we dropped in as a special treat on a Sunday afternoon.
The restaurant is lovely and very classy… unfortunately that was as good as it got.
Most of the main courses sounded like starter’s or snack’s only at expensive main course prices.
For example Lobster Crêpe or Lobster/​Beef Club Sandwich or Chowder or Mussels.
For started my Husband had the Cullen Skink which was boiling hot and he had to leave it for 10min before it was cool enough to taste and even then it turned out to be… tasteless.
I had fish cakes which were ok but nothing special.
For mains my husband ordered the Sea Food platter which was a mixture of shell fish, salmon, haddock and herring all served cold and very bland.
I had the Lobster/​Beef Club Sandwich which was overpowered by Tomato and Lettuce. This again was ok but nothing special (I have had better club sandwiches in the local pub at a fraction of the cost).
Bottom line is we spent £80 on a very average meal and a couple of drinks and in all honesty we would have been better spending half at the local.

Had an awesome seafood meal here on a Saturday night. I love the cosy but elegant décor in here and spent a good amount of dinner coveting the wallpaper of old style maps for my own flat :)
The service wasn’t perfect — a little slow and they forgot the second round of drinks we’d ordered with our mains (though this turned out to be fortunate as we’d been a bit ambitious!). The tables are also packed quite closely so with our table being one in the centre of the room you do get a lot of waiters walking by.
We could forgive this though as the food was great — my whole sea bream was far too big for me but yum, esp once my date showed me the best way of slicing the fish to avoid a mouthful of bones (*skills!*). He’d got one up on me anyway though by being more adventurous and going for the seafood platter — oysters, mussels, salmon, prawns, clams and other unknowns — which was also way better value for money.
Nice setting for a special meal for seafood lovers — I’d go back, next time outside of festival time and having starved all afternoon so I made it to dessert!

Went yesterday with my wife in the mood for some seafood in particular oysters. So ordered 3 each with a glass of champagne then mussels and a whole seabass for me. The mussels came before the oysters & i was told they would be along shortly. Halfway through the mussels the oysters arrived. The German chap next to me had the same issue but ended up telling them to forget the oysters, should have done the same myself.
Not a lot of seasoning in any of our food but cooked well enough. When the bill came it was someone elses.
Lastly packed in too tigh next to other people.
Not somewhere i would hurry back to.

Went here with a group of friends for a big reunion.
Where to start, décor was nice and plenty of room. Was a little put off by the prices but was promised that the place was worth it.
This being a specialist fish restaurant, I ordered a steak, which came out nicely done. The missus had a fish platter and did really enjoy it.
Service was a bit slow but generally ok.
Over all it was a reasonable meal, but I don’t think it was work 20 quid a main course, you can get as good a mean for a lot less.
Won’t be rushing back, but as the missus is a big sea food fan I suspect I may get dragged back at some point.

actually I would say 5* for DISAPPOINTMENT!
Seafood platter had more smoked fish than seafood itself, and it look like it was frozen and it came out of the jar!
Manager with French accent called me Daniel, and after correcting my name [Tania], they all stupidly laugh in front of me like if i wasnt there!!! Rude!
If im going there again… NO WAY! Im very very unimpressed with the restaurant: staff & food!

I took a friend in here recently who loves old man style pubs with great food. I have frequented the Ship on the Shore but never eaten in there owing to the fact that my other half has issues with all things out of the sea.
It was a Tuesday and the place was packed but we were seated immediately (I think more down to luck than anything!). They didn’t seem to have enough staff on to cope with the influx as we did wait quite some time to order, have plates cleared etc…
Now to the whole point of my review… the food. WOW! I have to say I didn’t have a single thing that wasn’t exquisite. I highly recommend the hot & cold smoked salmon for starter as it was out of this world in terms of flavour.
My friend loved the place equally as much.
I think my other half can suck it up and sit with a bowl of chips the next time I’m in the mood for seafood as I have to go back there.

Glutton for punishment!
My friend was visiting from London and we walked along the shore and she chose this place. I told her the service was pretty but we were in a rush to have dinner anywhere and head of to a show. She said it looked OK, whatever. We both had the mackerel special. She chose the prawn starter and I had the haggis filo.
Service still bad. The waiter came by to take our order and put down dirty dishes from another table on our table while he took our order.
There was also a ash tray full of cigarette butts which I moved towards him to take away (we don’t even smoke), he just put it on the floor by my feet. um, ok.
Now, the food was OK but it gets worse.
The next morning I wake up throwing up and completely sick. The entire day feeling ill up until today (Sunday). I have not had food poisoning like this in a long time. My friend is fine so it must have been the starter I had since we both had the same main.

I’m giving this place 5 stars, on the basis that I think this is the best place in Edinburgh to take someone who loves seafood. It didn’t quite capture my heart in the way that it could or should have, and their Cullen skink didn’t hit the mark, but their seafood platters are something very special, and must be sampled. A great mix of traditional pub atmosphere and dazzling seafood theatre, the Ship on the Shore is a richly rewarding experience.
«I’m glad to have finally sampled the Ship on the Shore’s seafood goodness. As a place to send seafood lovers, I think this would be top of my list of recommendations. The place didn’t quite provide me with as satisfying an overall experience as it might have, but there’s no denying that the quality of the produce on offer is quite exceptional.»

A lovely laid back bar with a French vibe. Great wine selection, not so great beer selection.
However, it’s the food that is the star here — the oysters are amazing, and go great with a Guinness or glass of bubbly.
I took my brother in law and his son for the seafood platter a few months ago and we devoured everything. The Bloody Mary Oyster shots are great too!
One of my favourite laid back bars in Leith, though it’s definitely geared more towards food than drinking.

Gotta say, everything from the clever decorations to the quality of the food makes this place special.
My family and I came here recently, and they have agreed that the mussels here are pretty much the best they’ve ever had. We all had different white fish as our mains, and it was absolutely delicious too.
Just gotta say it’s an amazing restaurant. Not too fancy, and great food. My parents loved it so much, they’re going to treat my boyfriend and I for a meal there for his birthay in the new year. sweet?!!

Holy cow. I am becoming increasingly convinced that The Ship on the Shore is in my top three restaurants anywhere in the whole world. It’s casual, down to earth and cozy with incredible, delicious, fresh fish and seafood. Does it actually get any better than this?
I have now been a handful of times and every single time has been an absolute joy. I most recently went last weekend with my family and pregnant wife and once again we were not disappointed. I had a grand pot of steamed clams with chorizo for a starter and then utterly divine monkfish tail with beautifully cooked rice in a cheeky little masala sauce. It was a bit ‘out there’ but boy oh boy was it good. I also had a couple of great spoonfuls of the paella jammed with so much fish and shellfish that it was fit for four people that my dad and brother shared and I nicked a few ‘Ship’s chips’ off my wife who had half a Berwick lobster.
With excellent, chatty, friendly service and a great, not too corkagey wine list I feel totally at home at this place. There are places in Edinburgh with better food (but not by much!) and places with more polished atmospheres but in the food/​coziness x friendliness ratio the ship wins hands down in my opinion.
Blinking marvellous.

Do you like good food, preferably of the piscine variety? Furthermore, do you like ludicrously huge portions? Well, then hie thee to The Ship on the Shore!
Husband and I randomly wandered in this afternoon, soon after our arrival into Edinburgh after having spent the last four days eating gorgeous, freshly-​caught seafood on Skye and Mull. I was a little wary of harshing my HIghlands seafood high, so I ordered just a prawn cocktail to start and the macaroni and cheese for my main. The prawn cocktail was absolutely delicious and with super-​fresh shrimp. Perhaps a little too heavy on the Marie Rose sauce for my taste, but still great. I’ll admit, macaroni and cheese is a weird thing to order at a seafood restaurant, but it was absolutely delicious. Creamy roux, perfectly cooked pasta, and accompanied by a lightly dressed salad and french fries. Yum.
My husband ordered the haddock and chips. Although the portion of fish was as large as his forearm, no quality was lost in the gargantuan size. Great batter, fish was firm and fresh. If I weren’t face first into my giant helping of mac and cheese, I would have eaten most of his haddock!
Service was also great and the atmosphere very relaxed. If I were in Edinburgh longer, I’d definitely visit again — I’d love to try their brunch.

Sorry Sebastian, but you’re far tastier out of the sea than under it. As are your fishy friends, Mr Sea Bass and his troop of King Scallops. Oh and don’t forget the mussels. And that hot-​and-​cold smoked salmon. Oh yeah and the razor clams, prawns, and the big daddy lobster.
That’s a very succinct overview of my meal at The Ship on the Shore, but what I have lost in the brevity of the foodie description is not a reflection of the amazing, fresh, lush, melt-​in-​the-​mouth goodness of all that was served up.
Myself and my family wanted sea food to celebrate the youngest ones coming of adulthood (21, the big ‘un). There are quite a lot of seafood restaurants in Edinburgh but it really had to be one on the Shore, and The Ship on the Shore pipped all the others to the post based on Unilocal review research.
It has a lovely, warm, upmarket pub feel to it (I don’t mean ‘pub’ as in boozer, but country smiddy where you’d go for a *nice* Sunday roast meal.) The walls are plastered in charters, a hefty stack of oars hang from the ceiling, and in the evening the summer sun sets over the Shore which you can see from the window tables. Lovely.
The menu is almost exclusively fish, with a dedicated crustacean menu. There was steak on the mains menu but it was by far the most expensive thing and also, if you’re going to a fish restaurant, why order steak (coming from someone who eats steak at every given opportunity).
So, between us we had some starters of cold and hot smoked salmon salad and a mussell pot. First off, the portion sizes were huge! I had half a whole salmon fillet and a good 3 slices of cold smoked salmon with the juiciest capers. I was also *really* pleased to see the size of the salad with it. Not little complimentary bits of rocket, but a nice big portion that meant I could have a mouthful with every bite of salmon. The mussells were quickly devoured too, which I take as a good sign.
Now, for the mains I suggest you look at the photo I uploaded. The seafood platter for two, with crab, lobster, oysters, mussells, razor clams, and more of the hot and cold smoked salmon. Way more. It was spectacular. I personally had the king scallops in a delicious red pesto sauce, and the boy had the biggest whole sea bass I have ever seen. Also it was absolutely most definitely the softest, most beautifully cooked sea bass I’ve ever tasted (after asking him 4 times could I pllleeeeeasseee try it!) My scallops were also divine.
The cheese board that came for dessert was ma-​hoosive. The waiter actually warned us that it was. We’re talking 3 whole blocks of cheese here. It defeated us, between 4.
The servers were friendly, down-​to-​earth but still professional. It is that wonderful mix of fine dining, fantastic food (and therefore pricier) but not pretentious or la-​dee-​da. The prices reflect the quality of the food and are not ‘setting a bar’ for the clientelle they expect or the way you should dress. Definitely somewhere to come for a nice occasion but their breakfast and lunch menus look far more affordable for a wee weekend treat.
Overall, fantastic food, great service, lovely location, really nice inside and just — yep — I like it a lot!

Really 3.5 stars.
I thought the food here was pretty good. There is only seafood on the menu. Seriously — there is nothing but seafood on the menu. My mom was in heaven!
The quality of the food is higher than Mussels and Steak (if you are familiar with that place).
We took a short taxi ride over because we wanted to see the Leith area. It’s a cool place — not too fancy — looks like locals go there.
They had only one server working that night so the bartender had to help out. Needless to say the service was somewhat lacking.
In all a good experience but I would likely try other places in Leith rather than return to the The Ship.