Edinburgh.The Witchery or Tigerlily??

[lilaloves]

Hi,planning a night away for my dh's birthday.After reading reviews its between these two hotels,but as they are so different Im having difficulty choosing.

Tigerlily seems very light/feminine and would be my choice but as its dh birthday thought he might prefer The Witchery.

Any thoughts ?

we went tot he Witchery a few years ago for our anniversary - the website, guest book (CZetaJ, Michael Douglas, Andrew LWebber etc..) looked fab.

It was very disappointing

Dining room was very, very small tables very close together, felt as if we had to whisper throughout the meal. Also my starter (crab tarlet) was rocjk hard, my knife couldnt cut through the pastry!

the best thing about it was the wine list or should I say encyclopidia!!!! It was amazing, wine waiter was thoroughly knowledgeable.

Overall not what we expected, experience didnt make me want to go back

Only been to the Witchery and it was a beautiful meal.

I'd say Witchery - classic and elegant evening meal but if you want drinks later on you'd need to walk or get a taxi back into town unless you are happy on the high street.

Tigerlils - modern, right in town and you could probably stay there all evening as I am sure there is a bar for after dinner. I've just not eaten there.

How about Hotel Missoni www.hotelmissoni.com or one of these www.townhousecompany.com. I haven't heard anything good about the Witchery for a long time.

I was at hotel missoni on Thursday. Didn't rate it at all. Wouldn't go back.

Ok thanks for that.
It makes sense to be central as we are only travelling down for one night.
Having hotel/rest/bar all at Tigerlily might be good option for a short stay.

Will have a look at Townhouse company.

I had considered Missoni,so thanks for the input.

I'll keep looking,we have been to Sheraton,Scotsman etc so looking for something a bit different.

Gregs, what was wrong with Hotel Missoni? It's top of my wish list for our stay in Edinburgh later this year!

If you want hotel and restaurant together then what about The Balmoral? Way more class than any of the ones mentioned above, restaurant Michelin starred, rooms beautiful, swimming pool and spa there too. Or check out 21212 on Royal Terrace. would definitely avoid tiger lily unless you are big drinkers or clubbers, it revolves around the bar and club downstairs and is pretty noisy until early hours.

We went for a girls afternoon Bolter. Had treatments (very poor and pretty expensive at £75 for a body massage for 45 minutes) and then a champagne afternoon tea.

Food was dry and pretty bland. The champagne was on draught of all things and I complained because it wasn't fizzy. Getting them to replace it for another glass was impossible and when they eventually backed down (I am the customer and should not have had to battle with that) and gave us a second glass, it too was flat.

We just ordered a bottle which we probably would have done after the afternoon tea inclusive glass. Getting the price of the flat champagne off the bill was a hassle too plus when we left the restaurant, we had to wait at reception to pay our bill. Being a Friday afternoon, reception was getting busy and we had to wait 25 minutes to pay the bill.

Just my opinion of course. Every experience will be different.

I agree with the post above. If it were me I'd go to the Balmoral. Far superior standard to Missoni but again IMO!

we stayed at the Scotsman and it was fab, service, staff amazing. Our flight was an early one and when we arrived at 9ish they took our bags and brought us hot chocolate and home made biscuits foc. Lovely room and toiletries (Molton)

Bar adjacent to it was great really buzzing at night - would recommend

Go to the Balmoral, went for my mother's day lunch there, Number1 restaurant and it was just fantastic.
Tiger Lilys is really just a bar/club and very expensive for not great quality.
Scotsman would be good as well.
Witchery is a bit stuffy

If it was a choice between those two I'd go for The Witchery as it has much more ambience, although I have to say I have never been overwhelmed by the food.
Ondine is my favourite restaurant in Edinburgh, gorgeous seafood and wonderful steaks and if you book early you can get a window seat.
Sheraton hotel has an amazing spa with loads of different rooms and an outdoor rooftop jacuzzi so I'd recommend that to stay.
Edinburgh is fairly small so it would be a shame to book a hotel just so you could eat in the restaurant there, part of the fun of the city is going for a wander and having a pre meal drink somewhere.