OX184

Opted to finish this a while back to get a bit during the Festival. Granted, maybe not fair to review this after a Festival visit, and I don’t think they had been open too long… but I will just say a few things. They were nice enough to seat 6 of us with no reservation. It was obvious how busy they were and the place is massive, so I don’t think that makes it a picnic to serve in when rammed. We ordered drinks and some food. I had a veggie burger, which was nothing special and lacked a sort of sauce. I appreciate most places offer a veggie burger these days, but my general experience is that they aren’t very good, and this was no exception. I sort of wish places wouldn’t offer something that isn’t going to be enjoyed by people who actually have no other option to eat it. Now, I do understand it was busy, so it could have easily been just wanting to get the food out, but maybe a BBQ joint isn’t the place for me to eat a veggie burger anyways. I might go here for a drink again, but prefer smaller, quieter places.

Been to OX184 a few times now, and each time has been lovely! Always easy to find a place to sit — which is rare for Cowgate. Last time I went, they were featuring a local brewery — can’t remember the name of it now but had a great selection, and a delicious mocha stout. My friends had some food as well, and apparently the halloumi burger is fantastic.
It’s a bit quieter than other bars in the area, which can be nice. Also a great spot if you’re looking to go with a large group. Very modern décor — and big windows facing the street, which can be so entertaining for people watching at 1:00am on a Saturday.
Also — I don’t know if it’s on the drinks menu anymore, but if you can find it — get the winter gin and tonic. Sooooo delicious if you like nutmeg and cinnamon flavors.

Went here tonight with 3 year old and a baby. Serving staff were super friendly and really accommodating towards the kids. The food took a while to arrive and we were a bit taken aback by how spicy everything was, including the fries and the BBQ sauce on the ribs (?!) which meant that said 3 year old couldn’t share any of it (though she had a brave go). Fortunately aforementioned fab staff ran up to get her some unseasoned fries at no extra cost.
I quite enjoyed the pervasive smoky smell on a cold night. However I found the food a tad overpriced and it took a long time to come when we were one of the first people eating. May give it another chance but will be sure to ask for unseasoned fries next time!

No.
The prices they’re charging for a breast of chicken with some radioactive looking sauce is bordering on obscene. The quality and the venue do nothing to justify this! The comments in my last review still stand but I am not fond of paying over the odds for a bit of chicken that doesn’t even include chips.
That, by itself would warrant dropping a star, maybe half a star (if you could) but added to the wait, the loooong wait for a simple pint of cider the last time I was in on a not particularly busy Friday night… brings this place down to a ‘meh’ in my mind…
Please sort yourself out OX184, I wanted so much to like you!

Industrial chic décor and good selection of vegetarian options — would recommend halloumi burger. Pleasant service. Not a beer drinker but fair selection of wines.

I was attracted by the cute shepherd dog brought by other guest inside so I came into OX184. Great (and dog friendly) pub for grilled food.

Très sympa, tables privatives au premier étage. Excellent service. Large choix d’alcools. Un peu cher peut être.

This place is cool, a huge space, massive bar and upstairs has even more tables and neat private sections you could hire for bigger groups! Also the smell, ahhhh I can’t even describe, so smoky! You just have to go and experience yourself!
My advice if you go here, order meat!!! And lots of it! The wings, the hot rib tips, jalapeño smoking piglets, steak, sausage, ribs are all so tasty and cooked to perfection on their wood fired grill!
Unfortunately every time I order anything other than meat i’m disappointed. I could not find ANY lobster in my shrimp and lobster sliders, both times I’ve had them :(the mac cheese side was bland and just ok, the bacon cornbread was dry and my fries were overdone and unseasoned.
I can’t comment on the burgers as I’ve not tried any but next time I’ll defo give one a go! If they can just bring their sides and non-​meat dishes up to the same level as the meat I would defo give OX184 a 5!

Do you have more money than taste? Want to throw down £8.50 for a single chicken breast and a grilled fucking lemon? Who grills a lemon? Ox184, that’s who. For this princely sum they will even have the incredible hulk jizz a mint sauce or something on your meal. This is to ensure mainly that the paper they serve your A-​cup chicken on gets soggy and clings to every bite, adding bulk and fibre to what would otherwise be an unsatisfying snack.
The fries were good, though, and they have pints.

First and foremost, the fantastic tap list was just what I was looking for! Henry was amazing and attentive. The staff worked with us and our large party and everyone was happy with their food. We’ll be back.

My friend and I decided it must have been staff training this past weekend, because things were pretty shoddy here. I can appreciate it’s a newish place, and they probably are taking on extra staff for the fringe, but I nearly passed out water for out food and drinks to arrive. A bunch of orders for both booze and food were forgotten, and what wasn’t took an age to show up.
Generally we were happy enough with the food that arrived, although I felt my Halloumi burger could have done with a bit more grilling.
OX184 has a pretty decent vibe, and seems a lot better than I remember it’s predecessor being, however it really failed to light me up this time round.

Look, go here if you like eating smoked meat it’s worth a try. We have been here 3 times now — mainly as we are lazy and it’s super near our house, not for any other reason.
I really don’t know what to say, the space feels a bit too BIG, the food is good but I feel a bit pricey and there needs to be a bit more variety for me to make a bee line to come back.
The staff have always been helpful and nice, and you do get sweeties at the end when you pay your bill!

This was my afterparty spot when another venue I was at was closing at 1am. This place was open until 3, serving awesome drinks and food. For me, I wasn’t interested in food at the time, but the people I came with did order mac and cheese and wings. They seemed moderately impressed with the food.
I personally liked the beer selection and different ales they had. Drinks were not that cheap, but there is a cool atmosphere there to help you get over that. Sort of a hipster/​industrial vibe going on. Upstairs looks really cool, but the only thing open when I came up there was their bathroom.
I think this place should get a more proper review from me, during the daytime possibly. I do see lots of people there during the day, so I’m guessing that this is a place liked by a decent amount of people. I will try OX184 again. Either at 2am or during the afternoon one day.

It looks super trendy from the outside, and inside even more. We had a lovely waitress whose name began with a K, who I would recommend to ask for to everyone and anyone. It’s super hip, the bottom floor has more life as it is open, great place for large parties. The inside is very modern with a base shade of dark grey which is lightened with intense blue, purple and yellow. Upstairs is perfect for groups up to four, as it has smaller tables there. Amazing interior here as well, with transparent fabric creating a soft division between groups. The food is divine and is fairly priced, with an interesting variety. The barrooms are clean and fresh, which is always greatly appreciated. The staff are kind and always around, so one is never left wanting for long.
Great place for trendy people of all ages for sure!

This place is a bit weird. Ventured here on a Saturday night looking to try some BBQ, but after going to college in the Southern US my hopes were fairly low. The interior of OX184 is pretty cool, a hip warehouse sort of vibe but not uncomfortable. If anything I found it a bit cavernous. We had called earlier to ask to make reservations for 2 and they said 9:30 was the only time available… ok…but when we got there it was pretty much empty. A bit strange.
We ordered a bunch of starters/​small plates to share and the food was… not good. I honestly found most of it WAY too salty. I love chicken wings and they were so salty I couldn’t eat them. I like greasy BBQ food but this just was not greasy in a good way at all. The drinks were ok, but served in these big heavy crystal glasses which again I found a bit strange with the vibe of the place. The service was good but I really doubt I will be coming back here for food again any time soon.

Restaurant owners should not offer a product they don’t know how to properly deliver. So much style over substabce thesedays means we need to filter through the nonsense to get to the expected tastiness — they all seem to model themselves on cool London outfits but this one in particular would be gone in a month in London. They just can’t execute what they claim to be so good at.
It’s massive and that style of soooo over-​styled so as to look like it wasn’t styled and just ended up looking like it does when the factory closed down, or something. Ginormous orange heaters hanging everywhere make you red and sweaty the whole time. No idea why. You walk for hours to find the bathrooms.
On entering you can immediately smell a smoking process is going on somewhere…
…but nothing tastes smoked. All the meat was clinging to it’s bones, not falling off as it should. All soooo dry and over done. No flavour imparted by whatever method destroyed it all. The worst part was the pricing. 3 very small thin slices of steak, cremated and flavourless for £13. A lone sausage, £7. A set of dry and tasteless and massively unenjoyable pork ribs, £13. You can have all these delicacies for these RIP-​OFF prices, but also mind that to make an actual meal with sides like fries, macncheese, etc, will cost £3 a pop per tiny offering. You will easily end up spending £20 each for bad fare at lunch time! Really really cheeky.
The mac was ok actually and the service fine, though we were never asked anything about the pile of food we did’t eat and the Madonna style ear-​pieces seemed overkill. Four of us had lunch, bottle of wine, 2 beers for close to £150. SOOO not worth it.
I have tried to contact them since to make my complaint but they don’t appear equipped to respond to emails. Very disappointing indeed.

Happened to stop by the same week this place opened and so nicely surprised. Great for food and/​or drinking. The craft beer selection is immense and one of the funky more unusual aspects of this bar is that you can get a huuuge bottle of craft beer for your table (I think around 8 litres for £30). Just be sure you like the beer you choose first! They also do these weird & wonderful shot combos called Picklebacks — a shot of pickle juice and a shot of whisky. It kind of works … i think. The food is also tasty — wood fire grill themed. I had the half smoked chicken which was huge and the cheesy fries — one thing to note it’s not simply grated cheese on top of fries — it’s like a gooey creamy sauce instead. I wasn’t a fan but everyone else seemed to love it. The bar itself is huge with quite a lot of space upstairs where the booths are curtained off for privacy which is quite nice. The lighting is also very darky — purples and reds. Stays open to 3am! Staff really helpful when choosing drinks and quick service. Oh and ground floor is apparently dog friendly

Holyrood 9A is one of my favourite bars in Edinburgh and so when I heard that the Cowgate was getting a sister bar I had to try it. I can remember the location for the bar being several terrible meat market style pubs and so it was pleasing to see that there had been a mini makeover that had turned the slutty girl from high school into a fairly cool young woman but you could still see the signs of the past misdemeanours.
Firstly, they’ve done what you would expect, a changing supply of quality beers on draught which is going to challenge the nearby Brewdog. Holyrood 9a also has a great reputation for its food and its here that Ox184 loses a mark on its older (and slightly more cooler) brother. I had a snack from the Lights menu which was a Chorizo Flat bread, it came out on nice looking wood plate that dwarfed the food on it — it wasn’t even a full flat bread. It was an odd combination of warmed chorizo and not quite cooked cheese, certainly not the quality I usually get from the Holyrood bar.
The guys serving were really attentive and pleasant and do make the bar stand out from the nearby opposition of Brewdogs «too cool for skool’ atmosphere or the ‘can’t be bothered to care’ staff at Three Sisters so will carve out a little niche for themselves.
It’s good to see the Cowgate getting another quality bar but it needs a bit of a tweak in the food offering to come up to the class of its older brother down the road.