Vinyasa looks like a moderately priced Old Town Indian/Bangladeshi restaurant with real strengths in naan, balti and tandoori dishes, but a meaningful minority of reviews flag uneven authenticity, portions, and service reliability.
Vinyasa delivers solid food quality anchored by standout dishes like balti, naan, and biryani, but inconsistent execution across the same menu items prevents a stronger grade. Service is warm and efficient most visits, though reliability wavers, and the central Edinburgh location offers practical appeal without destination-level design. The gap between its best and most disappointing meals keeps it from approaching grade A territory.
Vinyasa sits in the sweet spot for a Royal Mile-area curry house: easy to reach, warm when it works, and very capable of delivering the sort of naan, balti, kebab and biryani that makes people come back twice in a week. When the room is humming, it sounds like a proper crowd-pleaser; one reviewer summed up the tone nicely with a feeling of being warmly looked after and leaving very full. The setting is handy for hotel guests and sightseeing dinner plans, but the restaurant does not coast on location alone — the best reports are all about fresh, flavorful food and genuinely attentive service. The cooking leans classic rather than avant-garde: familiar Indian and Bangladeshi curry-house dishes, plenty of tandoor, and a menu built around comfort, spice, and crowd appeal. The strongest praise clusters around chicken balti, lamb chops, naan, pakora, and biryani, especially when the kitchen hits the balance between richness and seasoning. That said, the sample also shows a real split in experience: some diners found the food bland, overly sweet, or too quickly produced, and a few South Asian reviewers felt the flavors were heavily adapted away from what they expected. In short, this is a good bet if you want dependable curry-house favorites, not a place for culinary fireworks. Families can do well here, because the menu has familiar, kid-friendly anchors like naan, rice, chips, mild curries, and vegetable dishes, and one family review specifically mentioned accommodating staff and filling food that worked for a child. Still, kids with adventurous palates will have more fun than picky eaters if they stick to plain naan, rice, chicken tikka masala, or milder dishes; the menu is broad, but it is not a dedicated children’s menu setup. If you’re traveling with young diners, this is workable and often pleasant — just don’t expect a glossy kid’s program, and know that the more spicy or regional curries are better left to grown-ups.
Area vibe: Historic, tourist-heavy and dining-focused central Edinburgh area.
Safety: Generally busy and well-lit in evenings though pockets can be crowded with tourists.
What's nearby: Near St. Mary's Cathedral, The Meadows, Lothian Road theatres and accessible from Edinburgh Waverley station.