A polished, hotel-based French brasserie with excellent service, handsome rooms, and a strong cocktail/bar program, but the experience is priced at special-occasion levels and can feel inconsistent for drink-only or casual visits.
Brasserie Prince delivers exceptional food quality anchored by strong French classics, steaks, and seafood, paired with notably attentive and knowledgeable service that consistently earns praise. Its prime Princes Street location and polished hotel setting enhance the experience, though value polarizes diners and keeps it just short of the very top tier.
Brasserie Prince feels like a proper city-center splurge: polished, a bit regal, and happiest when it has a room full of diners who want to linger over cocktails, oysters, and a long lunch. The strongest reviews talk about staff who are warm, attentive, and almost absurdly good at making guests feel looked after, with one diner calling it an oasis of calm in the middle of Edinburgh's crowds. On the other hand, a handful of drink-focused or value-sensitive visitors found the house a little icy when busy, and a little too fond of adding charges. Culinarily, this is classic French brasserie cooking with Scottish ingredients doing some of the heavy lifting: onion soup, oysters, steaks, venison, scallops, tartiflette, crème brûlée, and the like. It is not a fireworks-and-foam kind of place; it is more about polished versions of familiar dishes, carefully plated and generally executed with confidence. That said, the sample also shows some unevenness on portions, seasoning, and the occasional disappointing plate, so expectations should be set at premium brasserie rather than flawless temple of gastronomy. For families, the menu has some easy wins like fries, burgers, club sandwich, haddock, Caesar salad, and dessert staples, but this is not really a kid-first restaurant. It reads more like a grown-up hotel brasserie where children can eat if they are comfortable with classic French food and higher prices. Picky eaters will have some options, but adventurous dishes and luxury pricing make it better suited to special-occasion family meals than casual kid nights out.
Area vibe: Elegant Georgian district with shops, hotels, and historic architecture.
Safety: Generally safe and well-lit with steady foot traffic into the evening, though busier at daytime and early evening.
What's nearby: Adjacent to Princes Street gardens, major shopping on Princes Street, Waverley Station and views toward Edinburgh Castle.