The Golf Tavern

Before I moved here from the States, I had a vision in my head of what Scotland would be like. I pictured a cheerful pub serving comfort food with rugby games playing in the background. The atmosphere would remind me that people have been getting jubilantly intoxicated in this very location for hundreds of years. I imagined it being packed, but off the main road — a place that locals knew and loved but tourists never discovered.
And then I went to Golf, and my dreams came true.
Golf is a lovely pub that I would recommend to anyone looking for a cosy place to get a drink and maybe watch a game. They have an upstairs and a downstairs so there is plenty of space. There is also weekly trivia and open mic nights.
They offer a pretty good whisky selection, a handful of beers (I always get an Innis & Gunn though, so I don’t know how many other beers there are), and a decent menu. Their food is excellent, though I’m a bit disappointed that they recently changed their menu. The first time I went, I had deep fried balls of haggis alongside bacon macaroni and cheese. Excellent.
When the menu changed it got smaller and (I suspect) a little bit pricier. A meal is probably going to be in the 10 – 15 pound range. That being said, it’s completely worth it. Since the menu changed I’ve had a «meat feast» pizza and the homemade beef burger (smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, a perfectly soft brioche bun, the BEST chilli jam, and fries).
My only complaints, and they’re pretty minor, are that one day my girlfriend and I tried to reserve a table to watch one of the Rugby World Cup games (Scotland vs USA, of course I have to watch this). The person on the phone said we wouldn’t need a reservation and it definitely would not get full. They were wrong. That, and the new menu is small! Bring back the old menu!
Still, no hard feelings Golf. See you later today.

This is a lovely pub tucked away from the main road. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. Nice and cosy for a wet, cold winter day with a nice old style pub interior that means you can while away the hours in here quite comfortably.
While we did not eat anything the table next to us did and they were raving about the food. We stuck to our liquid lunch though. A decent range of beers on tap.
lovely, quiet comfy pub.

This is a sport’s pub with screens all around the bar showing live sports. If watching sport is what you’re after, then this is a 4-​star pub probably. But if you’re just looking for a drink and a chat with friends, then it’s 3-​stars in my book. Situated next to Bruntsfield links pitch & putt golf course, the exterior of the pub oozes history and character with its red stone frontage and columned doorway. It could almost be the front of an old university college or something. The initial impression of the interior is also positive with warm lighting, tables made of old church doors and interesting artifacts decorating the walls, mostly sports related. The service is efficient but there were no smiles on offer when I was there. There’s a good selection of beers and they do food although I haven’t tried it. Finding a seat may be a challenge though as even though it’s a fairly large pub and there weren’t too many people in, somehow we couldn’t find a table, not helped by several reserved notices on some tables. There are a few picnic tables outside which is nice when the sun’s out. But overall, it’s a decent pub, well worth a visit, especially if you want to watch a match. And you can hire golf clubs here for £3.50 for the pitch and putt course over the road.

We took the visiting family here for a traditional pub meal on there visit to Scotland. The first floor, or ground floor as I guess you call it here, felt very war and festive, although good sized and not too packed feeling even though it was busy. Unfortunately it did not have room for 7 people so we went upstairs, which was empty. The service was good and the beer selection on tap was fairly good. They have Blue Moon on tap, which was a huge plus in my book.
The menu is pretty extensive and in the end everyone opted for more traditional foods, except myself who tried the ultimate burger, which was a burger with Macaroni and cheese on it. We had the haggis fritters and the bruschetta for a starter, both were very good and well spiced and seasoned. Our food did take a bit long, but they were busy so it wasn’t unexpected. The food arrived and was very well presented, also the portions were not too big. Good sized, but not overwhelming.
Two of us got the venison and chorizo burger, which was very nice, my burger was amazing! So naughty, but so delicious with the Mac and cheese. It could have done with a bit more cheeses goodness, but both myself and my sister in law loved the Mac idea. The fish and chips were also good and the sweet potato fries served with just the Mac and cheese on a bun were amazing. Overall, it was a surprisingly excellent meal. We were far too full for dessert, but were very keen to try to come back for it.
The music was a bit weird, but if you like hits from he 90s mixed with recent hits it’s ok. The atmosphere is nice, the food is good and the service is great. Such a nice pub to make a stop at on a cold day.

Really like this pub on sunny days they have seating outside overlooking the bruntsfield links pitch and putt. On the more normal Scottish days the inside is cosy. I think David’s review describes the décor just fine so I wont dwell on that.
They have a nice selection of beers etc on tap, my current favourite is Orchard cider. The shorts are all there with a few notable whiskeys as well. I dont think I have eaten here past the sides as veggies arent well catered for other than mac and cheese type options, but the potatoe wedges and onion rings were amazing.
I wouldnt have a whole night in this pub, but for stopping enroute to another distination or a lazy sunday with the papers and a pint then this is the place for me.

3.5 stars. The golf tavern was a convenient choice for us to go grab a drink, hang out, use the free wifi, maybe get a meal (the food is pretty decent btw). A drunken evening led the three of us here during one of the live band nights and it was a grand old time. I’m not too big a fan of watching sports at pubs so its not really my kind of scene.

Yo a drink n clubs for 5 quid, for like 12 i think you can get food too. open pretty late and has a lively younger crowd. The golf tavern has 2 bars, one upstairs and one downstairs, and the seating is very comfortable. you can also buy your food and eat it out on the grass on a sunny day or bring your drinks out onto the benches outside to smoke. A pretty chill local pub overall.

I’ve been twice to the Golf Tavern recently to watch the rugby and it’s a really great bar. I can’t believe its taken me so long to check it out. I’ve only been early in the day so far due to the Lions tour time difference but I really like the look and feel of the place. It’s comfortable and spacious, and while the Lions tour rugby is on they’re doing breakfast deals for £9.95 I think, for a full breakfast with unlimited tea, coffee, or OJ or you can have a beer (that isn’t unlimited).
I will have to check out this place at night time to see what it’s like!

This sneaky place got my vote after my Uni mate (a Norwegian who loves food — especially Haggis) invited me to approve on The Golf Tavern Haggis. I say to approve but it was merely for us to both get some awsome haggis and replenish ourselves after trekking all over town and soon to be IKEA in the «moving in-​phase» of the Postgraduate Student Life, and for him to get some of his lovely Scandinavian neighbours fine furniture.
Outside it just looks like any normal pub but inside it transforms into a smokey fire lumberjack/​hunting lodge. Numerous woody décor and antlers on the wall and a open fire with couches and dinning tables all in a open planned layout. Very cosy and very chilled.
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So we both had Haggis, Neeps and Tatties which was served with a whisky sauce — Great combination! The Portion size was ample too, strangely filling up both parties (lanky Scottish slim guy & Norwegian retired viking who had let himself go). But it’s more than likely he would have been appeasing his self with some other treats prior to that meal.
Our meal was on a menu of 2-for-£10 which made it even better. And for the drinks we ordered (Cola & a Corona) the Viking had a Golf Tavern Members card which gave a % off the drinks. *The card could be bought from the bar and gave around 15% off drinks!
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Overall it is a great spot. I’d definitely recommend it for casual dinning, drinks, studying, chilling, social catchups, some kinds of dates (depending on what you want obviously — it could work!). Right next to the meadows for a wee stroll afterwards.

I have had an on-​off relationship with the golf tavern over the last 5 years. I started coming here for the quiz and rugby, and then have been a few times for other sporting and quiz based events. I’ve had friends birthdays there, had parties and watched some good games. It’s always pretty good. Thats about it. It is pretty good.
I wish there was a bit more to say about it but that’s all I can come up with right now.
The beer choice is fairly bad. They need to get in some reasonable keg and cask and I’ll be happier. Other than that it’s a fairly bog standard chain pub with some crazy décor.
I’ve had the food a few times and it’s been… pretty good.
The staff are pretty good, although there are rarely enough of them.
The layout is pretty good.
I think this is a pretty good review.

Great pub. Great Restaurant. I got the seafood cakes. Mostly seafood, not a lot of cake. Very good. No Complaints. Good location.

I am never teed off (mandatory golf pun) when I come here, quite the opposite in fact as The Golf Tavern has a good range of beverages at a reasonable price. The décor is a fusion of (someones perception of a) classic country estate and a modern functional bar, a little odd but actually cool once you settle in and fitting given the age and design of the building.
Without the quirky décor perhaps I would be less keen (though the alcohol selection is good, so maybe not) but as it stands I like the place. As to the food, well I am a meat eater and my carnivorous instincts were well served in the Golf Tavern, if however you are vegetarian your options are somewhat limited…
All in all though a comfortable pub to quaff a few brews in.

Four!
OhgodokIdidit I made an awful Golf pun to open my review of the Golf Tavern. I was about to write ‘hole in one’ but that felt even more clichéd and cringe-​worthy.
But yeah, if The Golf Tavern were to be anything, it’d be a hole in one. I“m holding off giving it 5 stars as I’ve only been once and really, really liked it but feel I need to visit a place a few times to give it that highest accolade.
From the quirky wee location (there are hardly any other bars in the area) overlooking the Bruntsfield links, the golf putting course, and the fact you can rent the putting equipment here, to the Ye Olde World feel of the pub without it straying into sticky, old man pub territory, to the fact it has all-​day brunch and other tasty pub grub snacks, and most of all the awesome, random paraphernalia on the walls (a cobra fighting a weasel? A many lightbulbed thing on the ceiling? A saw?) it has me so excited that I have, in fact, written one long epic sentence as a paragraph. I like it THAT much.
So yeah. It’s a traditional bar, but with a young mixed crowed (a lot of students, but also families). It’s a gastropub. It rents out the golf equipment you need for the Links. It has outdoor seating. It has an upstairs and downstairs (ample space). It’s go ta nice community feel to it, with a weekly pub quiz, open Mic night, movie nights and the like.
The look and feel of the place is just awesome too. I can’t even begin to list all the different things on the walls and ceiling (although I tried). It’s going to be perfect in the winter months.
They also show lots of live sport. We went for the Wimbeldon final and it was mobbed. A little too tight, and hot, perhaps but a great atmosphere and the staff were really patient and accomodating with us scattered everywhere.
I want to come back and try:
— their food
— their pub quiz
— their open mic night.
Then it might creep up to 5 stars. But for a local pub, that’s a bit different, and does food on the side, it’s nay bad at all.

Bruntsfield is really lacking for good pubs. The Links, the Ettrick, Montpellier. .. these are the poor drinking options to be found there. As I work in the area, when I want a drink after work I normally drag people down to Tollcross or beyond, and never considered the Golf because it was crap. But it’s now been done up and has become our new first choice for after work pints.
All the décor is completely fake, a lot like the Brass Monkey pubs. Fake tradition and history, lots of «quirky» things attached to the walls and ceilings, but it produces a comfortable cosy setting. It’s almost a pub for people who don’t like pubs, a sanitised version of an old man pub. But then that makes it perfect for an after work group who can’t agree on where to go for a drink. Less off-​putting for non-​pubby types but pubby enough for someone who wants a few pints of ale (= me). There are four real ales on the pump, plus interesting options on draught such as Blue Moon.
Keen students of my oeuvre will note that I rarely rate the food in my pub reviews. There are so many good places to eat in Edinburgh that I generally drink at pubs and eat elsewhere. I’m partial to some pub grub when the occasion demands but I’d be unlikely to knock a star off a favourite drinking hole because the food wasn’t up to scratch. But in this case I have actually tried the burger and found it to be rather good, if not indeed very good. The rest of the menu seems a bit pricy for pub grub though.
So yes, spruced up pub that’s good for mixed crowds as it’s pubby enough for the pub goers but classy enough for everyone else. You can see that the mix of punters also seems to be edging from students more towards the after work crowd. I was going to give it 4 stars just because it’s great to have a decent pub in the area (although if you get that far from Bruntsfield proper then you could just as well go to a real pub like Cloisters or Bennett’s I guess), but the service is a bit hit and miss so I’m going for 3 stars and let’s hope I can upgrade it in the future after a few more visits.

I’m totally torn between 3 and 4 stars…
The Golf has recently (ish) undergone a makeover, which has left it looking pretty swish I must say. The ambiance is much better, the decoration is great, and it’s comfortable.
So, 4 stars for the Golf as a pub. It has taken over from the Links as the after work go-​to (unless the Head of School forces you to go to the Ettrick instead, in which case everyone stands around complaining that the pub is shite, before finally heading to the Golf). I had a drink in the upstairs bar for the first time on Friday and thought it was great (though, are their toilets up there? I didn’t see any and it’s a bit shit to walk down two filghts of stairs to use the toilet). There were even plenty of seats on a Friday at 8pm, which was excellent.
Food though… hum.
This needs work — and therefore the three stars.
My coworkers were all starving, so the minute we got there it was right into the menus, picking out food. Someone went to order at the bar and was told that it was table service. Um, from what waiter? I mean seriously I didn’t see anyone taking orders. I really think that it’s totally fine for bars to have table service, it’s a nice convenience, but they then shouldn’t prevent people from ordering at the bar! That’s ridiculous.
So my coworkers waited and waited for the invisible waiter to appear, and after half starving to death, they were back onto the bartender who finally relented and agreed to take orders.
I can say that I was nursing my pint, so I was at the bar for about an 45 mins to an hour. In that time, the only food to arrive were the chips which were ordered about 15 – 20 minutes after everyone’s mains. An hour to get someone to take an order, and wait and wait and wait for food.
Even on a busy Friday night, that’s unacceptable. I can’t speak for most of the meals, but I can say that I woke up the next day to a text from a friend saying «The steak was fxxxx carbonised! A lot to write about… ok food but really not great»
So, all that wait for overdone food of mediocre quality. What a shame.
Reading back my food review it sounds more like a 2 star, but I’ll reserve further judgement until I eat there myself.

I have visited the gold tavern many times over the years and its always felt like a painfully mediocre establishment so when some friends arranged to meet me there recently I cant say I was overjoyed, however on my arrival I found that it has been gutted out and had a complete refurb — and seem to have given it a personality transplant in the process.
The newly refurbished pub is odd to say the least, every square inch of the walls is covered in random and bizzare objects and pictures. Its very tacky… but so tacky it actually becomes quite cool again! The tables are made from old doors which is another quirky thing that I actually really like. The layout has completely changed so the bar is no longer in the middle of the room and this seems to really open the place up.
The staff are great, the drinks are very reasonably priced and they have given the food menu an overhaul too, making an attempt at going down the gastro-​pub route. While they haven’t quite hit the nail on the head, they have definitely succeeded at offering a good range of pub grub at reasonable prices.
All of this has gone towards creating a great atompshere in the pub and has taken The Golf Tavern from painfully medicore to a genuinely enjoyable place to go for a drink and a chat.

I’d spent the early evening dropping C. V’s in to nearby bars, and after seeing a pretty good cross-​section of the drinking establishments I was ready to sample the local Pub fare.
I stumbled upon The Golf Tavern heading back to my apartment and decided, after spying the fantastic selection of chairs, to give this newly refurbished joint my custom. An Inspired choice! I ordered the cheeseburger. I know, not really branching out, but I’ve decided the cheeseburger is my litmus test for pub-​grub. Unless you’re in Australia. Then it’s the chicken parmigiana ;)
It was hearty, with fresh lettuce, tomato and bun, and a meat patty that looked home-​made and tasted delicious. It also came with chunky fries clearly made from a potato (they still had the skin on them!). A solid win for The Golf Tavern. A hole in one. Par for the course etc.
So, while I was eating, I considered leaving my last C.V. here, but ultimately decided against. It was too nice a place for a rapscallion like me. Despite everyone in there being young and student-​like, it felt like an old boys club. Lots of chesterfields. But still, a great place for a meal and a pint after a round!

Certainly a pleasure to find a nice pub close to where I live.
The Golf Tavern was a good save to a mediocre night. Newly refurnished since the fire, the insides have changed so that it looks like someone went to a car-​boot sale and bought almost everything quarky and strange.
That being said it does all flow together and offers conversation starters as you wonder why their is a bike on the ceiling. Cheap drinks, good atmosphere and friendly staff make this place a grade above your standard pub.

Here comes my drum again… YOUR A PUB NOT A RESTAURANT!
When its good its great the rest of the time its god awful, when eating opt for the, well they cant get that wrong’ options! Cold pesto chicken wrap is one of the worst meals I have paid for in my life — the fact it took 40 minutes to preapre just made it worse.
As a pub for footy its brilliant, order the nachos and you have a winner which is why they still get three stars!
But they do try some things that their kicthen staff clearly are not upto!
Overall nae bad!

Right on the far end of the Meadows, by the Bruntsfield links is the Golf Tavern, one of the oldest pubs in Edinburgh. Despite the fact this is obvious outside, you wouldn’t know this once inside as it has all been done out in a really modern style. The bar is pretty cool, but the problem is that it takes up too much of the space. There is no room left for the customers, and once the (very) few seats fill up, there is a crush of people standing.
The drinks are okay, just normal pub regulars — Tennents, Fosters etc, and they have an alright selection of wines. They are not too badly priced either, and if you are a student you are entitled to 20% off with their discount card. They also have a pub quiz once a week on Sundays, but it is not great — short and easy.
The best bit of the pub actually isn’t even found inside it, it’s the golf course opposite. There is a really good fun 18 hole pitch and putt on the Links, and Golf Clubs can be rented for a £5 deposit. Only open during summer it’s really good fun, and adds an extra element to a pretty normal pub