1820 Rooftop Bar & Restaurant Edinburgh – Review

Since opening in 2021, the Johnnie Walker Experience on Princes Street has comfortably solidified itself as one of Edinburgh’s great tourist landmarks, arguably a place more for visitors to the city, but that is turned on its head when you visit its rooftop bar, 1820, which is very much a spot for tourists and locals alike. The bar is perennially popular, which I have gauged by the number of times I have visited without a reservation, only to find it full! This time, however, I did have a booking, so I went along to sample the new small-plate menu from chef Scott Smith and the latest cocktail creations from Mr Lyan Studio.

For those not in the know, The Johnnie Walker Experience occupies the former House of Fraser building in the West End of Edinburgh’s castle-facing thoroughfare, Princes Street. Since opening, it has welcomed 1.7 million visitors and won multiple awards. The building is enjoying an exciting time, having just released Johnnie Walker Vault, along with opening a pop-up in the former Hope Street police box outside. Head inside and take the lifts straight to the top floor where you will find 1820 Rooftop Bar & Restaurant, named after the year John Walker opened his grocery shop in Kilmarnock, the humble beginning of what became the world’s best-selling Scotch whisky.

1820 has a wonderful, cosy yet sultry ambiance in the evening, with glows of soft lighting coming from mushroom table lamps and zigzags of orange darting across the ceiling and walls. Seating comprises bar stools alongside comfortable pockets of tables and mini banquettes; the atmosphere is lively, but seats are comfortably spaced so it still feels social without being crowded.

We settled into a table next to the window on the left-hand side, a small rectangular nook area, which feels like one of the best seats in the house. Do take a moment to head out to the terrace between cocktails, to be rewarded with a spectacular view towards Edinburgh Castle and up Princes Street.

The menu is a rather fun format, passport-in style, with illustrated passport stamps on each page. It’s worth noting that cocktails lean more towards whisky, which is ideal for me as I love whisky, and there are some cocktails that use other white spirits if you are not as much of a fan. Also, what I found handy is a graph in the menu that plots each cocktail. X-axis: mostly whisky to no whisky and Y-axis: light to dark, helping you drill down to a cocktail you are going to love.

The menu itself was developed with Mr Lyan Studio, the consultancy founded by Ryan Chetiyawardana, the award-winning bartender better known as Mr Lyan. Ryan! The team dug through Johnnie Walker archives, uncovering old advertising and historical documents, and each drink conjures up a story around the people and places the brand touched on its travels around the globe. Highlights include the Rollerskate Sour, which celebrates the trailblazing Skate Bomb Girls of Manila through Filipino flavours and disco culture, and the Flinted Godfather, inspired by the volcanic landscapes beneath Mount Etna, pairing Johnnie Walker 18 Year Old with volcanic amaretto and tonka bean.

We started with the Amber Sour, which pairs Cardhu 15 Year Old with mango whey, golden turmeric and, in a very Scottish twist, haggis spices. It arrives over crushed ice, a deep golden yellow, crowned with a cluster of physalis. Alongside, the Black Fire Sazerac takes its cue from Valencia’s Las Fallas fire festival, blending charred Johnnie Walker Double Black with cognac, rejuvenated orange and scorched pepper. Dark, rich and served with a sliver of orange on a pick. For the second round, we went lighter. The Harbour Gimlet celebrates the trading ports that carried Scotch around the world, mixing Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Year Old with a grocer’s cordial, yellow pepper and lime zest. Served in a stemmed glass with a curl of pepper on the rim and for something without whisky, the Evergreen Negroni is an ingenious reworking of the classic, built on Tanqueray No. Ten, forest vermouth and a pine bitter aperitif, and garnished with a sprig of pine. Pale rather than the usual ruby red.

By the third round, we went back to what we enjoyed previously and had another Amber Sour and Harbour Gimlet. By this point, the cocktails were taking full effect, and I was eyeing up the drinks menu as a keepsake. When I asked about taking one home, I must not have been the first person to ask, as the staff had a better idea, fold-out mini cocktail maps for guests to keep. A clever move, I thought, as I suspect the bar would quickly run out of menus otherwise.

The cocktail menu is complemented by an equally tasty small plates food offering from Scott Smith, who trained under respected chefs, including Geoffrey Smeddle at the Michelin-starred Peat Inn, before opening the acclaimed Edinburgh restaurants Norn and Fhior, earning widespread recognition for his thoughtful, flavour-led cooking.

The menu is both exciting and innovative, with items that enhance the cocktails without overpowering them. Dishes use seasonal Scottish produce as a base lifted by international flavours, so many items on the menu caught my eye; the table was completely covered with a selection of plates! We started with a Carlingford oyster, just one to taste, it arrives on a mound of salt, and it’s dressed with a jalapeño and kelp hot sauce that gives it heat and a kick as you swallow it down in one go. The Whipped Cod’s Roe was a real winner too, served in a hummus-style mound with a dash of oil on top and vegetable crudeties to dip like a spoon into it.

We also chose The Crowdie, a Scottish soft crowdie cheese, served with a chilli crunch and mint on top and with batons of cucumber guarding it in a ring formation ready for dipping. The Barbecued baby squid has flavours that whisked my mind to happy moments of sitting in a beachside restaurant in Thailand, the charcuterie XO and kaffir lime giving the sauce a rich, savoury and lively flavour in the mouth, that you only find in East Asian cooking. But perhaps my favourite dish of the evening was the barbecued maitake, a dark, smoky tangle of fried mushrooms sitting beside a sauce that feels almost like the Spanish ajoblanco, and separated by a line of scattered pickled parsley stems and tangy persillade.

Saving room for dessert, I would go as far as to say my favourite desserts of 2026. The Guinness Ice Cream sundae is served in a footed glass and layered with Guinness cake and dark chocolate, then finished with a scoop of ice cream and shards of chocolate standing up like flakes in a seaside cone, it feels like a grown-up take on the classic sundae. While the Choux Bun sandwich comes with a generous pipe of cream and has just the right texture for cutting with a spoon and sharing, both being so good, I really just wanted them for myself.

1820 doesn’t coast on its Edinburgh Castle views alone; its new cocktail and food menu gives the vista a serious run for its money, and it’s very firmly on my list of favourite places for a drink and a small bite in the city.