Recommend me an Edinburgh restaurant

[thebottomofmypencilcase]

I have been tasked with organising a family birthday meal in Edinburgh but, having only visited a handful of times, am struggling to narrow things down. The meal will be for around 11 people aged between 10 and 80, and I'm hoping to find something that meets the following criteria:

• Meadows/ Bruntsfield type area (these are quite close, right?!? Please put me right if not!) or not too far from that approx area

• ideally some kind of private room for us to eat in (not a deal breaker but would be nice)

• mid priced (ie nice but not super fancy).

Thanks in advance to anyone who can advise 😀

@thebottomofmypencilcase Wedgwood, Cannon Gate is very good. Fin and Grape in Morningside is excellent, and I’ve heard The Rabbit Hole is really excellent- it’s a very reasonable price point but apparently the food is top quality.

Rabbit hole, fin and grape, and left field are all excellent and not unreasonably priced.

F&g and leftfield are seafood/fish. Rabbit hole more mixed. Don't think any of them have a private room but you might be able to sort something with notice.

Yamato great for Japanese and have a private area.

Three birds is great value and has a really good variety (and interesting wine list) - no private area though.

I ate there this week and it was dreadful enough that I had to complain (which isn't usual for me). I go to the Ivy restaurants in London regularly but this was so slow, it was painful.

We didn't see our waiter for the hour between our starter and main. No apology, update, nothing (the restaurant was half empty). When I mentioned the wait, he quibbled on the time and was quite rude.

Eventually resolved by the manager but pretty much all the diners were complaining at that point. Shame as the food was nice.

Would swerve the Ivy, recent posts on the Edinburgh subreddit from ex-staff said the food was made in a central kitchen, staff don't get the tips etc. They're ripping off an awful lot of people who think it's somewhere special - you can get much better value for money elsewhere but I get people want to go as they see it as a fancy place.

Oh yes I second avoiding the ivy, it’s nasty now! Please support independent restaurants as you suggested. Chains really need to be avoided as they ruin the individuality of the uk.
if that makes sense!

Kismot.

Haven't been in years, but it's run by a family who are very welcoming. St Leonard's street.

Glad that they are still in business. Went there over 16 years ago.

Just to make sure people know, the Black Ivy in Bruntsfield is not owned by The Ivy chain and is entirely separate and - I think- independent.

The guy that has Black Ivy also had McSorley's on Forrest Road which is now Ballie Ballerson which I really don't think would be quite the vibe OP's after. Guessing it's part of a different group now but Black Ivy is pretty decent and I'm all for not supporting chains especially where there are some fantastic indies in Edinburgh.

Coming very late to this, so I'm sure the event has passed but reiterating that Leftfield and The Rabbit Hole are both fabulous. Leftfield has a very small private room, but it is downstairs, which means missing on the lovely views over the Links.

Not sure about private rooms, but I would investigate Montpelier's and McLaren's in Bruntsfield (Holy Corner).

I think Howies with its private room would be perfect but maybe not as spendy as you want. I had a lovely meal with a vegan and a carnivore earlier this month.
Also, you may have already had your meal!

Avoid Howies & The Ivy in St Andrews Square, overpriced, terrible service & I’ve been unfortunate to have food poisoning at both, very disappointed by both restaurants.