My wife and I + another couple stayed at the Witchery from October 14 to October 17, 2007. This is a rare treat that should only be enjoyed if you have the money to do so. If you are counting your pence or pennies don’t bother. You will be miserable. The Witchery is at the top of the Royal Mile and only 100 meters away from Edinburgh Castle. Immediately adjacent to the Witchery are numerous restaurants, pubs and shops to visit. Roxy and Tam are great and make you feel right at home.

I can highly recommend having breakfast in the Witchery Breakfast room, which was a rare treat. We stayed in both the Armoury and the Inner Sanctum and both room were fantastic. We also ate at the Secret Garden and it was very good.

My husband booked 2 nights in the Sempill suite for my 36th Birthday. We were shown to the suite by Roxy. He is a real asset to the Witchery and was happy to cater to our needs.

The suite is just stunning. It has an ante-room, fully equipped kitchen, drawing room and a huge bedroom.
When we went in Roxy had soft classical music playing. The lights were dimmed and the fire was roaring. There was champagne on ice with 2 bottles of mineral (still and sparkling). There were huge cookies and beautifully wrapped fudge and Scottish tablet if you were in need of a sugar rush. We did not get the Belgian chocolates that the other reviewers seemed to have got - nevermind.

The decor is just stunning. All thick velvet curtains and beautiful antiques. The Sempill bedroom walls are covered in velvet instead of wall paper. How decadent is that?

The Gold bathroom looked stunning. Much is made of the huge Witchery baths. The Sempill bath is actually plastic. What a total no, no. The fittings were pleasingly from Fired Earth but I could not get over the polyurethene bath. Tackorama. I was surprised that the loo roll was cheap,grainy Smartprice stuff. This did change later to a more comfortable padded version. The bathroom was well stocked with lovely Molten Brown products and a range of Essential Elements aromatherapy stuff which you can take home (plentiful and generously sized)

You fill in your breakfast order and the wonderful Roxy delivers it to you. I thought I would have like a cooked breakfast but I have to say the selection you get is staggering. Fruit juice delivered in old fashioned apothocary style bottles. Wehad creamy porridge, croissants, pain au chocolat, fruit platters. cheese and ham. Could not eat it all but it was wonderful.

My husband had booked dinner in the Witchery and Secret Garden restaurants. On the first night we dined in the Witchery which, although visually stunning was a total disappointment. We were sandwiched between two tables of expense account diners. It would have been more suitable to put us close to the other couple diners. Oh,how we enjoyed listening to their loud pretentious braying. The staff on the whole need to be pulled down a peg or several. Cracking a smile is obviously not de rigeur. The food was okay but you do not get much. It is way over priced- scandalously so in our opinion. We eat out a lot and this was Michelin star prices . I had the partridge which was tough as old boots. My husbands beef tournados barely touched the sides and were very bland. It cost £9.90 for 2 bottles of mineral water! I was absolutely shocked. The sniffy waiters were on us every 2 seconds. They did not ask if we were enjoying our meal. Just jostled our elbows topping us up with the world's dearest water. I mistakenly dared to lean towards the wine bucket to help myself . The wine waiter jumped in front of me and waved his arms up and down tutting. Felt like a naughty toddler trying to serve myself, what was I thinking. I would be furious if i had sent friends or relatives there to have dinner and that was how they were treated. We cancelled dinner at the Secret Garden the next night.

Upon checking out we were not asked if we enjoyed our stay. How rude when you have just spent a fortune.
So, to sum up. The rooms are amazing, Roxy is wonderful. Food and service in the restaurant is poor. Do go but eat elsewhere to avoid disappointment

My fiance and I went here for an overnight to celebrate my birthday. We had been given a voucher for a meal in the restaurant and decided to make a night of it.
When we arrived we were shown to our suite by Roxy, an exceptionally friendly porter who showed us around our suite. WE stayed in Sempil suite and it is more like a little flat than a hotel room coming complete with a sitting room and kitchen! There was a bottle of champagne on ice in the room as well as chocolates. The bedroom was the height of luxury. The four poster bed was decked out with a velvet coverlet and loads of pillows and cushions. The decor is opulent and luxurious. The rooms look old world but have all the mod cons you'd expect like TV, air con, soft lighting. The rooms have under floor heating and you control the temperature yourself using the in room thermostat. The bathroom was huge and well appointed. The only minor criticism I would make is that the bathroom is large enough for a separate shower cubicle which would be better than having to climb into the bath (it is quite tricky and would prove awkward for someone with limited mobility).
A continental breakfast is brought top your room which is excellent and check out is a civilised 12 noon.
We ate in the Secret Garden restaurant. The setting is gorgeuos and very romantic. On the whole the service was excellent (with the exception of the wine waitress who was a bit snippy when we didn't want to try our wine the minute she brought it as we were finishing other drinks). We had a meal gift voucher to use and unlike many places there were no supplements or menu items excluded. The voucher was for three courses and a bottle of champagne. We had that plus another bottle of wine but were told our voucher covered it all. The food was good but probably not of quite as high a standard as everything else. Had we not had the voucher to use, I would have said the food was a bit over priced.
The accomadation is expensive but worth every penny. This place is ideal for a romantic and indulgent get away.

My fiancee and I stayed in the Sempill Suite for a birthday celebration. The other reviews here are spot on re the luxury of the place, the attention to detail and the sumptuousness of the rooms. I haven't stayed anywhere that compares to it. This is a restaurant with rooms rather than a 5-star hotel so I don't know if they can deliver toothpaste or launder shirts at 4am, but the service we got was excellent. Getting the breakfast served in the room was a nice touch, it arrived bang on time. Given a completely free choice I'd prefer a fry-up to the continental version but when the time comes you won't want to leave that suite to get it! It is worth arriving early and checking out late, none of which seems to present much of a problem to the very helpful staff.

On the practicalities, you need to book a suite for a Saturday night several months in advance - there are only 7 of them. You should also note that the rooms are located in a mediaeval town centre so there isn't a car park outside. The best thing to do is use the NCP at Castle Terrace and walk or cab it up the hill. Being right next to Edinburgh Castle, it's also in the middle of a main tourist and events thoroughfare so while the rooms are delightful and tranquil (the odd creaky floorboard excepted), it is a city centre rather than a rural hideaway.

We had dinner in the Secret Garden. The setting is beautiful, the service was attentive and friendly without being overbearing and the food was lovely. The wine list is impressive. In fairness, you can almost certainly get better value for money elsewhere (the food is not head-and-shoulders above other Edinburgh offerings in the way that the setting and atmosphere is) but for a romantic night away with a nice meal I don't think you could do better. Really quite special.