Dragonfly

Hidden just off the grassmarket, super close to the art school this little cocktail bar is a wee gem.
Its plush as all heck, with a nice collection of new school and old school cocktails to choose from. Plus when the drinks come they are a good size, rather than that strange baby size you get some places now.
Staff need props, they are cool under pressure. Explain to you what things mean and what they taste like and are generally cool cats.
On the list of places to go back to, and soon!

Solid cocktails, and you can reserve the mezzanine levels for events at no extra charge (deposit required, but refunded at the end of the night). Great place to have an event!

I went for a bit of a bar crawl when some friends visited the Saturday just gone. One of the places at the top of my list to bring them to was Dragonfly.
I’ve been before and loved the atmosphere, the music, the décor, and the vibe. I could easily spend the evening having cocktails there but to top it all off the staff are friendly and the cocktails are awesome.
The range of drinks that they have is fantastic and they all (the ones I’ve had so far) taste delicious.
I would highly recommend the «Drink outside the box» bit for a single-​mixer with a twist especially if you can’t decide! (the tequila, tonic and orange is simple but well balanced)
The menu is fun to go through and the staff are helpful when deciding what you want to drink.
Great bar. Great atmosphere. Better drinks!

Hidden away on the edge of the Grassmarket, Dragonfly is easy to miss but a hidden gem. They do beer and normal mixed spirits but it’s all about the pretty and interesting cocktails from the record covered menu.
We both had Raspberry Royal’s a raspberry liquor and champagne cocktails with fresh raspberries and were delicious. The are a little pricey but not unreasonable and totally worth the money for a great drink to enjoy while having a chat. Mid-​week the bar has a relaxed atmosphere with low lighting, candles and chilled music that’s loud enough that you can’t hear the next tables conversation but not too loud that you can’t hear your table.
The only reason that I didn’t give Dragonfly 5 stars is that the staff weren’t that attentive, they were friendly and relaxed (sorry for making you feel how soft my sweater was but cocktails and no dinner) but lacked that extra something.

In a sea full of pubs, this little gem shines out.
Extensive cocktail menu, cheery and helpful staff, free wifi, and a great location. I should think you would win points taking a date here, it’s pretty sexy.

Sometimes only a cocktail will do to toast an excellent night and a romantic meal. We wandered to this small but lovely wee cocktail place around 9pm on a Sunday. My first impression of the bar was very positive– welcoming atmosphere, great music and lovely staff. We waited at the bar and browsed the cocktail menu before deciding on our drinks. I chose the Raspberry Berry which featured fresh berries, Martin Miller gin, Chambord, Grand Marnier, lemon, sugar, basil and cracked black pepper for £6.25. The sweetness of the berries and sharpness of the lemon resulted in the most pleasantly refreshing taste. This cocktail was long and brightly coloured which almost made me feel like I was in a bar abroad. My other half had the Patna Daiquiri–
Mount Gay Eclipse rum, Kwai Feh lychee liqueur, fresh passion fruit, lime and sugar. He absolutely loved it and I think given the chance, could have easily consumed a few more! The only issue I had with the bar was the lack of seating as some tables were reserved for a party and we had to wait quite a while to get a seat. Apart from that, I loved it and I will definitely be back next time I am in Edinburgh. Great for a cosy wee romantic evening or a social gathering :)

In need of a post Timberyard cocktail, my companions and I headed down to this little bar tucked just off the grassmarket — probably the only thing of its kind in the area. A really nice space greeted us, with a big bar, a balcony area and more seating tucked in the back. It is also LOUD on a Saturday night — not the place for a quiet or romantic drink!
This place is known for their cocktails, so when my sister ordered their house wine and it tasted pretty damn awful (a glass of luminous yellow vinegar??), I wasn’t totally put off. She should have just stuck to what they’re good at!
Their cocktails tend to err on the sweeter side of things, with lots of fruity liquers and syrups going on. I went for an old fashioned (or 3…) which were all delicious, if inconsistent — the strength of each drink differed depending on the barman making it, so be warned!
Their Long Island Iced Tea was delicious — went down far too easily for such a boozy beverage, and had a very cool layered effect before stirring! I would definitely come back here again for a more ‘budget cocktail’ experience, but If i had more pennies on payday I would probably still choose Panda and Sons instead…

Ohhhhh I wanted to like this place just a bit more than I actually did.
I came in here on a weeknight for a celebratory cocktail (any excuse will do!) and it was very quiet. This didn’t put us off though and I ordered the Raspberry Ripple and my boyfriend had the Hendricks gin & tonic.
The G&T was lovely, served with a wedge of cucumber (fancy!). The Raspberry Ripple LOOKED amazing with the hundreds and thousands rim but it just didn’t taste… nice? I found it so hard to drink and just not enjoyable at all. Maybe it just wasn’t shaken with love because there are some great reviews for this drink but from my experience it tasted like not much more than watered down vodka.
With all the great cocktail bars in Edinburgh I would find it hard to choose this place above anywhere else.

Never judge a book by it’s cover and this should stick with this place!
It looks so small from the outside but it opens up on the inside. Nice doorman, open door for us in and out.
I ordered a raspberry ripple which was delish, even with the black pepper in it! The boy had a old fashioned which reminded me of marmalade. Quite delish.
Def would come back again as handy for that part of town and good cocktails too!

Public Service Announcement!!! They no longer do goblets, which makes me ever so sad! When I was in Edinburgh as a student I used to come here all the time during the week for a goblet (massive drink for a student price in an awesome big glass goblet). So a few years later, when I came back to visit last month, I was so excited to stop by again. But nooooo!
The bartender, who I think was the manager too, shot me down. He even said that he wouldn’t bring back the goblets even if it was an option because he hated it. Without the goblets this just makes it a nice bar off the grassmarket with above average cocktail prices. I just crossed this off my list of places to go when I come back and visit again.

Edinburgh has seen something of an upturn in cocktail bars of late with Panda & Sons and the like, Dragonfly however has been supplying our good city with the best of mixology for quite some time.
Hsve been here for a number of occassions from #cocktailquests, brithday partyies and just a quite Sunday night, Dragonfly always delivers.
Their menus with recycled vinyl covers are a treat, the menu has a bit of everything. Cant find something you like? Talk to the staff and they will either invent somethign entirely new or suggest an alterntive unlisted drink to suite your tastes.
All in all a cracking bar. Dragonfly comes highly JD Recommended!

Unilocalers take their cocktails seriously and as such we started our very own cocktail quest to source the best in all of edinburgh. our first quest saw us entering Dragonfly, a lovely wee quirky and fun bar in the Grassmarket. I had been to Dragonfly exactly once before about 6 and a half years ago in the very early days of my edinburgh life so it was nice to re-​visit.
i’d had a wee look at the cocktail menu before arriving, so had a few options that i was ready to try. my first cocktail was Up the Apples and Pears. to quote the menu it was a mixture of: «Absolut Vanilia vodka, Xanté pear Cognac, crushed apple, apple juice, lime juice, cinnamon–
infused syrup and a dash of egg white for texture.» to top it all off was a lovely fan made from thinly sliced apple and a dash of cinnamon on top. it was lovely, like a punchy apple juice but still went down a treat!
before my next cocktail, i took advantage of the genorosity of Unilocalers and had a wee sip of some other cocktails that had been ordered. after tasting a Patna Daiquiri, i quickly went to the bar to order my own. this was a lovely mixture of: ‘Mount Gay Eclipse rum, Kwai Feh lychee liqueur, fresh passion fruit, lime and sugar.” this went definitely the highlight for me, slightly sweet and slighty sour and all around delicious! i would have happily drank this all night if i hadn’t had work the next morning.
the bar itself is lovely, with fairly getting seating on the entry level and then a mezzaine available for booking for larger parties. sadly the mezzaine was booked on our visit so we crowded round a few tables near the bar. the bartenders were friendly and happy to make drinks off the menu if asked. the best part was that two cocktails in the centre of edinburgh only cost me about £12, so quite reasonably priced! i definitely think our first cocktail quest was a rather good success and i will definitely be back to the dragonfly to try out more of their amazing cocktail menu!

Ohhhh, this place was a bit nice! Visited here on Wednesday night as part of a UYE organised by the lovely Robyn Z (thanks for letting me come along at short notice!). I liked the décor and the vibe in here, it was relaxed yet classy and was moderately busy but not heaving.
The thing I liked most though, was the cocktails list. A sign of a good cocktail bar (to me) is a well written and funny cocktail list. That is the best way to get my attention and get me excited for cocktails (although I always am excited for cocktails, if I’ll be honest). Initially I really wanted the Loch Scotch and Two Smoking Barrels cocktail, just because that’s my favourite movie of all time. But then I saw it had scotch bonnet in it and that put me off. The rest of the cocktail sounded nice so maybe next time I’ll ask them to make it without the kick! (Ardbeg, bitters, lemon, sugar, egg white).
I settled for the Raspberry Berry or «the cocktail formerly known as Prince» (again, great name). Gin, Chambord, Grand Marnier, lemon, sugar, basil, cracked black pepper. I really enjoyed this and possibly drank it too quickly. It really was super berry flavoured and I think some of the other ingredients got a little lost in it.
I also had a Mount Gay, mint & ginger which was also lovely. This is a nice bar that I’d definitely swing by next time I’m in Edinburgh. And of course, the best part of the night was the company, meeting new people and catching up with all the East Coast goings on! Thanks for having me!

I flitted my way to the Dragonfly for the Cocktail Quest UYE this week, and was surprised to find, once inside, that there weren’t many dragonflies to be seen anywhere in the décor. I’d been expecting flashes of blue and green, delicate lacy wings… maybe I was being too literal: it’s certainly colourful and exotic, with a richly patterned mix of wallpapers. There was also a definite *buzz* about the inaugural night of the Quest, so that’s enough dwelling on insect references! (Tigers actually seemed to be the order of the day — I befriended a porcelain tiger who looked rather cross, but perhaps he had just had one too many.)
I love the menus; the covers are made from old vinyl records cut into squares, which is very cool, and what contents! As with all good cocktail menus, there are some cracking names (Raspberry Berry: The Cocktail Formerly Known as Prince) and some delicious-​sounding mixes. I was a bit disappointed not to find a page for the harmless stuff and the super-​efficient bar staff seemed to boggle slightly at the concept when I asked, but when they realized they had free rein to create anything they liked for me they threw themselves into it with gusto!
Mocktail number one was shortly presented to me: a splendid raspberry juice potion with a lovely fresh kick from crushed mint leaves, which stopped it from being too sweet and made it very refreshing and refined. I think I detected maybe some watermelon in there too, but I could be wrong. Mocktail number two, a little while later, was a tropical hit: totally different, very rich, but equally delicious. In fact, it was so nice that after I’d passed it round for my table to try, one of the Unilocalers ran straight to the bar and asked for «whatever you made for her» (with a bit of alcohol too, please).
For want of a menu, I am going to name these drinks the Berry-​Mint Merriment and the Meg Ryan (as in «I’ll have what she’s having»). That is, of course, purely for myself, because if I go back in and ask for that, I will get an even blanker look, I think…
It was a lovely evening and I did enjoy my surprising ad hoc concoctions (adhoctions?) but it’s a shame that the upstairs was booked already; even on a Wednesday night it was very full and felt a little cramped. But then, maybe that’s only to be expected when a hoard of questing Unilocalers descend in search of cocktail bliss!

Great Cocktails great stuff!
Big cocktail selection.
Recomend for sure!

Beer lines need cleaning!
Overpriced for what you get…
Some good seats upstairs.

I liked the décor in here, and the staff were fast, but the prices and crowds do let it down a bit. Admittedly a crowd is usually a sign of something desirable, so I won’t use this against the place. It was just kind of annoying as my friends and I couldn’t hear ourselves speak, and we didn’t think we were going to a club. We also waited for ages to be served, and it wasn’t even the weekend!
The expertise in cocktail making really are this place shines. That and the high ceilings and elegant design.
Dragonfly does lose a point for the prices… However good the cocktails are, I can’t justify paying £7 for a martini… Nor £4 for the cheapest pint on menu. At the end of the day, this is still just a place where people get hammered, and I didn’t see much in the way of moderate drinking for the pleasure of it here.
I would return if I saw fewer crowds and lower prices…

Difficult to find but you will remember once visited!
brilliant pub, great atmosphere and the upstairs can be reserved as was done for friends birthday party. The staff is very knowledgeable on drinks and very helpful, friendly and customer focused without being in your face or overbearing.
I really enjoyed it and recommend this for a group of mixed friends together. Though an all guys group would possibly be a bit bored, but with girls they can actually impress with knowledge of the excellent cocktails they serve!

I’m game to check this place out again. Admittedly, this is for a few reasons:
1) Fab wall art — reminded me of Treacle and had me wondering if they are owned by one and the same
2) It used to be the Old Fire Station, and I struggle to separate the two in my affection
We had a coke and a Hendricks G&T — with an awesomely frightengly large chunk of cucumber to boot. I would note that in my first year (of secondary) school knowledge of science, the chunkier it is, the less surface mass, therefore less flavour emitted from the cucumber. Note to barman — less chunky flair, more cucumber goodness. When I first had Hendrick’s at the Food Festival, it was served with a smooooth tonic water, that left no metally aftertaste. I seek a bar who can deliver that flavour in a grown up serving, rather than a sample. Dragonfly isn’t the place, but judging from other reviews, a worthy place to checkout their (amusingly written, with LP sleeves no less) cocktail menu.
Otherwise, a barman who looked younger than my 18yr old nephews (always evokes amusing/​devastating conversations about getting old) and a nice makeover to my old watering hole, I’ll check out Dragonfly again before I deny my buck there.

Really amazing cocktails in a very quirky 2 floor bar. The bar itself is a mismatch of all sorts of decour — asian prints, chandeliers, random stone busts, etc and eludes a laid back feel (at least on a Sunday night). Crowd was good looking but definitley drew from all ages.
Prices are reasonable (esp when compared to London prices) with most drinks in the 4 — 6 pound range. Get the Apples & Pears — as tasty as it is elaborate. Actually most of the drinks seem to be very custom to Dragonfly and incorporate all sorts of fruits, juices, and spices.
There is a balcony level with seating above the bar — I found it very handy that there are massive tilted mirrors that let you see if it is crowded on the balcony (ie will you find a seat if you trek up the stairs)…wish more bars would do that!
Overall, if you are looking for a very creative and well prepared cocktail in a laid-​back and overly eclectic environment, I’d suggest giving Dragonfly a try.