Frizzante

After coming back from Milan I still wanted Italian food so I figured I’d give this place a go. The restaurant is near the Odeon cinema on Lothian so not too difficult to find. I thought there would be folks eating there by 8pm but my friend and I were the only customers there. We got a bottle of prosecco for £23 and it was pretty good.
The menu isn’t extensive and is pretty generic. You won’t find anything out of the ordinary here and is pretty much just pasta and sauce. They did have gnocchi and that’s what I was craving so I ended up ordering it. The dish was ok… Was put in a grill in tomato sauce with melted cheese on top. There wasn’t much flavour going on and the tomato sauce was probably from a can or box. I guess I couldn’t really be picky since it was only £8.
I checked out the dessert menu and it was pretty generic as well. Had some weird combination of sweets. I was going to try their tirimisu but honestly after I ate the pasta I said I better not lol… So I just enjoyed the prosecco and the company.
The waitress was super nice. She kept making sure we were ok and I’d say that was the best thing going on for the place… Well and the fresh cracked peppers lol. I guess it was my bad for choosing the place especially since I jus came back from Italy but lessons learned!

I was SO READY to love Frizzante, but I left disappointed in almost every way.
Italian food is my absolute favourite, but I’m not snobby about it. Give me a semi-​comfortable atmosphere, a large glass of quaffable plonk and a plate full of that cheesy, creamy goodness and I’m as happy as a pig in proverbial. I am not hard to please! But Frizzante fell short of my very modest standards.
The first thing you may notice in Frizzante is that there’s no obvious spot to wait at the entrance. It’s very narrow, with the open kitchen immediately to your right. My wife and I hovered awkwardly by the door for some minutes, unsure what to do. The kitchen staff were frenetically plating up, not looking at us. If we had proceeded further inside, we would have been standing uncomfortably close to people trying to eat. We caught the eye of at least three different waiters several times, who saw us standing there and then roundly ignored us. Not even a «I’ll be with you in a minute» or anything.
After three or four maddening minutes, a gentleman showed us to our table. Walking through the dining room you notice that it’s VERY cramped inside. It’s not a big restaurant and they have really packed the tables and seats in there. We were basically pushing past people to make our way through the room and my wife had to hand me her bag to fit by the table adjacent to ours otherwise she would have sent their wine flying.
The atmosphere is about as warm and inviting as an operating theatre. The lights are bright, the décor is plane and characterless and the music is awful. There is a set of huge mirrors along one wall to try to make the room feel less claustrophobic, but it instead forces you to confront the grizzly image of yourself stuffing pasta into your mouth and removes any sense of cosiness that the dining room otherwise might have had.
We had been seated no longer than ten seconds when our waitress was already asking what we wanted to drink. I asked if we could look at the menu first, so she came back maybe 30 seconds later. We ordered a bottle of white wine, which came in a giant plastic ‘ice’ bucket that actually was full of water with no discernible ice and did nothing more functional than take up about 75% of the tiny table. We were then harried to order so quickly that I caved to the mounting social pressure, panicked and picked a random thing from the menu that I instantly regretted.
So anyway, the food was not bad. Not great, but fine. My randomly chosen order was gnocchi, which was very salty, somewhat small and a little ‘meh’ but I certainly ate it all. The missus had some veggie pasta, which tasted very acceptable but really nothing better than I would make at home with my extremely humble abilities.
With so many great Italian places in Edinburgh, I doubt I will be back to Frizzante.

This little spot is a gem! We had dinner (2 adults 1 9 year old) and everyone was happy. Seafood pasta was great, HUGE portion. Caprese salad was fresh and delicious, also large. Pizza was only OK — good but nothing special. Didn’t have room for desert, but wish we had — they all looked great. They will do most pastas with gluten-​free penne for a small charge which made my life easier. Service was friendly and efficient. Excellent food. Definitely worth a visit!

Frizzante was a great find on my first trip to Edinburgh. The owners and staff are so friendly and are quick to make recommendations on entrees and wine selections. My team and I travel to Edinburgh often and always make a visit here. The food is outstanding and they have a great selection to choose from.
If you are in the mood for Italian I truly recommend this place. I have tried several other Italian restaurants in the area and none compare.

Don’t be put off by the unassuming storefront entrance that opens up to a simple dining room. The food here is wonderful. The menu offers a generous offering of classic Italian dishes freshly prepared on site. I was particularly delighted with the gluten-​free options that allowed my first meal of pasta in some time. A great choice for a lovely meal in Edinburgh.

Having I think been in here once many years ago when it was still Lazio’s I can’t say I’d ever really given it much thought since, it was just one of those restaurants that seem to have been around forever & likely to continue as such. As the Japanese place across the road was oddly closing at 9pm, however, Frizzante got our business at the start of December and that proved to be a good choice.
The crostini starter was attractively presented & a pleasing size. The two different risottos ordered (funghi misti & al martin) were also great in terms of taste & portion size whilst the tirmisu was doorstep size & the panacotta enjoyably firmer than anticipated.
As mentioned by an earlier reviewer the restaurant was very clean and the service was friendly and attentive throughout. Once I’ve visited again I would imagine a fifth star will be the order of the day.

My husband and I had a wonderful time at this Italian restaurant. The food was delicious and authentic, and the staff made us feel so comfortable. It was our favorite restaurant in Edinburgh.

Nice, clean restaurant with a really friendly environment! The staff are really friendly and the chefs quirky!
They always cook my steak to perfection!

Discovered this place before Christmas when it was under different ownership and loved it, was just as impressed when we returned. The service was great, the food was amazing and the staff were so friendly. Go there anytime I’m in Edinburgh now.