Frontier

Wait, why have I not reviewed my favourite restaurant yet?
First came to Frontier last year, not that long after they opened, had a great burger, have since fallen in love with the fried chicken and the carnitas. The beans are also one of the best things ever. The staff are, without exception, exemplary. Friendly, attentive, just generally fun to be around.
But, well, at the weekend they do pancakes. I’m not lying when I say I have been here for breakfast far too many times over the past year. But at the same time, there is no such thing as too many times when it comes to Frontier.
The ribs also look frigging incredible, I’ve heard the hot dogs are pretty damn killer too, and I want a frozen margarita right now.

Frontier is a pleasant restaurant with decent food and lovely staff. That being said, it’s not particularly special.
My girlfriend and I just moved here from the United States, so it was fun to see what the locals think of as American food. Overall, I’d say they nailed us pretty well — New York street vendor-​style hot dogs, Southern fried chicken, and zesty Southwestern/​Mexican cuisine to top it off. They even imported a handful of beers that we recognized. I had their house-​brewed lager though, and it smelled a wee bit like vinegar. Not appetizing.
While the menu was spot on, the food itself was just alright. I ordered the New Yorker hot dog and my lady got a bacon cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. My hot dog was solid, after all it’s pretty tough to screw up a hot dog. The relish was barely there and the sauerkraut wasn’t particularly exciting, but maybe that’s the norm around here? Regardless, not terribly impressed, but still satisfied.
My girlfriend’s burger was about the same — decent. The patty was smaller than the bun, so the bread-​to-​meat ratio wasn’t ideal. Besides that it was a perfectly adequate burger. The sweet potato fries were meh. Not worth the extra £1.50 nor the hype that our waitress was dealing.
The prices seemed steep considering the quality of the food. The entrees start at £10 and only go up from there. You can get better food for that price. Not to mention that a hot dog from a vendor on a street corner in New York is much better and only costs $ 2.50, which is what, £1.80?
If you’re craving American, Frontier isn’t a bad option. But for this price, there’s better out there.

On 4 of July we thought, why not have some ribs and set forth to Frontier. We were not disappointed. There was another family there but surprisingly empty. We thought it would be jumping! That didn’t matter. The food made up for it all.
I ordered the baby back BBQ ribs and changed out the fries with sweet potatoe fries with a side of cheese sauce. OMG that cheese sauce was extremely moreish, I literally licked the bowl clean. Also the sweet potatoe fries were proper. Lovely crispy fries soft and delicious on the inside and perfectly fried on the outside. We also tried the twice-​dipped buttermilk fried chicken & fries which was all really tasty and crispy! The baked beans were a bit funky but other than that wouldn’t fault the food.
I also had an edinburgh brewed soda! It was really interesting with chills and lemon and bell pepper.
Overall really impressed! Will be returning!

Ummmmm, how did I only discover this place now? It’s been open for well over a year! Great food, great service, great place. I had an amazing lunch here and need to return sooner rather than later.
The concept is straightforward, with home-​cooked style American food with no frills. The restaurant is owned by the same folk that run Mum’s, so it all makes sense.
I started with sweet potato fries. They were perfectly cooked, crisp and came with a mustard-​style sauce. The portion size was also epic — my other half and I shared the food and it was just right. Main course was fried chicken, with sweetcorn cobs, fries and dipping sauce. Another massive plate of food, I only just managed to finish it and practically needed rolled out of the place afterwards.
Come here if you want a proper feed and fancy some good old American comfort food. Frontier does its job very well, indeed.

I was very pleasantly surprised with this place. Starting to get a bit bored with the constant focus on burgers that a lot of places are doing right now so the wide range on the menu was a good start. The food was delicious and The Apple pie for pudding was the bomb. Having worked in retail and the food industry for a number of years the waitress was at the top of her game and the atmosphere of the place added to our enjoyment. Would recommend booking a table, especially at the weekend as it was getting very busy by the time we had finished eating. Definitely be returning!

A welcome addition to the Edinburgh dining scene for it’s take on the American experience alone, Frontier was an enjoyable place to go for dinner earlier this month but it’s by no means perfect.
Somehow they’d managed to run out of burgers on a Wednesday night & the solo (but excellent) waitress was kept on the go constantly & so hadn’t had time to blank the specials board, thus then being in the position of regularly having to state that was the case. Both of these are obviously due to the place’s initial popularity so it can be hoped they’ll not be regular occurrences.
The food we ordered was pretty much as expected although the fries were tepid at best & I’ll avoid the catfish (which was the 2^nd choice once the specials issue was explained) in future as, whilst it was well cooked, having to remove grease-​proof paper from it was more interaction with my food than I was looking for. The peanut butter cheesecake was a good dessert but the chocolate & chili brownie seemed to have missed out on the chili.
Beer-​wise they seem to have a good enough range but don’t expect to be able to read the wine & spirits list that’s on the table — tiny gold lettering on black doesn’t show up well under the place’s low lighting. The caramel salted pretzel milkshake went down well & almost required a second one, although it could do with being slightly thicker.

It was my first visit to Frontier today as I was craving for some ribs. Apart from the ribs I also ordered the chowder of the day which was made of sweet corn.
I was very happy with the quality of the food and the portions. The waiter was friendly. Overall I think it was a ⁵⁄₅ experience and I can definitely recommend both the ribs as well as the chowder. I am looking forward to my next visit there and then perhaps I will come back and add some more information.