Whiski Rooms.

Whiski Rooms

Whiski Rooms runs a tutored tasting every day, in a room built for it beside its own whisky shop.

Why go

The bar sits on North Bank Street where the Mound joins the Old Town to the New Town, and it lists more than 300 Scotch malts and world whiskies. The Scotsman's 2025 guide to the city's whisky bars puts it as a brilliant selection of drams in a far grander setting, perched on the Mound with dramatic views over Princes Street, offering daily tutored tastings, a dedicated whisky shop and an Ardbeg private dining room. The venue's own site confirms the tastings run every day and that it takes both bookings and walk-ins for the bar, the restaurant and the tastings. Seasonal Scottish food runs alongside, which nobody has yet reviewed.1

Order this / avoid

• Order: a place on a tasting, where somebody pours and talks you through the drams.2
• Avoid: arriving without a plan in August. This is four minutes from the Castle esplanade.

What locals & experts say

• The Scotsman (2025), in Rosalind Erskine's city whisky-bar guide: the Whiski Rooms, which is also situated near the Royal Mile, offer a brilliant selection of drams in a far grander setting. She files it under Good for: a dram with a view. This is a compiled roundup, and it weighs as one.1
• City of Edinburgh Council rated the premises Pass under the Food Hygiene Information Scheme on 28 May 2024.3

Good to know

• Timing: all day, with food service running alongside the bar.
• Booking: recommended. The venue says it takes bookings and walk-ins for the restaurant, the bar and the tastings.
• Getting there: on North Bank Street just off the Mound, between Princes Street and the Lawnmarket.
• Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, inspected 28 May 2024.

Verdict

could-visit — A whisky bar on the Mound with a dedicated tasting room running daily tutored sessions, a whisky shop attached, and more than 300 Scotch malts and world whiskies by its own count. The Scotsman's 2025 city whisky-bar guide files it under a dram with a view and notes the Ardbeg private dining room. It also serves Scottish food all day, which makes it a different proposition to the pure drinking rooms on the same list. Nobody has published a verdict on the whisky or the plates, so this is placed on format rather than on cooking.