Tonic
12:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Monday
3:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Tuesday
3:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Wednesday
3:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Thursday
3:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Friday
2:30 PM - 12:00 AM
Saturday
12:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Sunday
2:30 PM - 12:00 AM
Write a review
About
Come in, sit back and have a look at our award winning menu to see what takes your fancy, or forget the chair and enjoy the music while one of our bartenders creates the drink of your dreams. As a small independent bar we have very few restrictions on what we can do. This, for our staff, is perfect. We can make new and exciting drinks every day, using all the best homemade ingredients to quench your thirst, whilst creating the perfect atmosphere for the occasion.
Suggested duration
1-2 hours
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: New Town
Suits and shopping bags rule the streets of New Town, until after dark when strappy dresses come out to play. This is the city’s central business district with its smaller offices, clothes boutiques, and many of the city’s flashiest restaurants and ritziest clubs. The architecture along roads like George Street helps give it a swank and formal feel: it’s a planned Georgian development of regal townhouses, geometric squares, and self-important statues. But it’s also a very wanderable neighborhood, with a healthy bustle at almost any time of day and fine people-watching in places like St Andrew's Square which fills with picnickers around lunch. You’ll also find a series of cheerful basement bistros on Hanover Street, while dark Rose Street has something of the feel of an undiscovered back alley and is chock-full of characterful pubs and small independent shops.
See what travelers are saying
  • Kayley Hird
    Leeds, United Kingdom4 contributions
    Great Bar, Amazing Staff & Excellent Drinks
    Would highly recommend to come to this bar if you’re in Edinburgh, Despite going on a weekday night the atmosphere was top class. Both nights we were greeted by amazing staff notably Niamh and Ryan who went out of their way to always offer their service when needed. Overall made our first get away to Edinburgh a great experience and provided a great night life even in the mist of covid :)
    Visited September 2020
    Written September 16, 2020
  • amarchu09
    Bristol, United Kingdom61 contributions
    Recommended
    My wife and I visited Edinburgh this week for a Staycation and I was recommended Tonic as a place for cocktails before our dinner plans. Our table was situated by the window, the atmosphere was warm, romantic and the staff were friendly. We had a couple of cocktails each and the service was efficient with the drinks carefully crafted to deliver flavour. All in all, a decent bar with lots of options for cocktails. Expensive but most places are around the centre if you want quality.
    Visited September 2020
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 17, 2020
  • Ciaran T
    Livingston, United Kingdom4 contributions
    Great Drinks and Great Service
    Me and my girlfriend ordered drinks under the impression they were £6 as stated on the menu. After asking for a second drink we were told they were going to cost more. Even with the discrepancy they honoured the price on the menu. Exceptional customer service and out of this world cocktails. It's the place to go in Edinburgh for cocktails.
    Visited September 2020
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 6, 2020
  • Adventure639691
    1 contribution
    Drinks.
    Booked a table tonight and I was reassured on the phone prior to our booking every effort would be made to extend our time at the table. After 1.5hrs and a hill off £155 pounds we were kicked off the table and sent outside to the Cold and rain. Staff were rude in explanation and no apology was given
    Hi Adventure639691, Many thanks for taking the time to leave your review. When placing bookings, customers are given a choice of time frame ie. 60, 90 or 120 minutes. As you can imagine, our automated booking system will then allocate a table which has availability for this and fill in the gaps around it. After 18 months of enforced closure due to Covid 19, it is vital to us that gaps are filled and so customers are able to join us. On the day of booking, you called to request an extension. Unfortunately, everything after 2pm on that date was booked up back to back, meaning we weren't able to extend the booking at the time. That being said, staff made you aware that we do sometimes have late cancellations and, unfortunately, no shows. It was explained that if this did happen and we were then able to, we would of course extend your booking as requested. That evening, we had no cancellations and all bookings arrived, which did mean we were full and thus there was no free table in the building. Unfortunately that does mean that, regardless of amount spent, we are physically unable to offer an extension without kicking another group of customers off their table. This was made clear on the night, so it is disappointing to see that you felt this course of action would have been correct. Having spoken to management on shift that evening, I can ensure staff were not rude in explaining this, but unfortunately did have to eventually get back to serving customers after repeatedly explaining we were only able to give you the table for the amount of time you had chosen when booking. We do thank you for joining us at Bar Tonic.
    Written October 3, 2021
    This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
    Visited October 2021
    Traveled with friends
    Written October 1, 2021
  • Jason
    Glasgow, United Kingdom1 contribution
    Not suitable for younger people
    Me and my girlfriend had a weekend away and on the Saturday night we went to tonic for drinks as we read the reviews and sounded like a good place to go on a Saturday night. Me and my girlfriend are 20-21 years old and when we walked in everyone was a lot older than us and those older people made us feel very uncomfortable as we were easy the youngest people there we had many people stare at us really weirdly as if we shouldn’t be there because of our age. The staff we were really pleasant with our booking but due to a lot of people giving us weird stares and which made us feel uncomfortable we left our booking for only 1 hour in.
    Hi Jason, We're very disappointed to hear you did not feel welcome at Tonic. In regards to our customer demographic, we have a very mixed age group at the weekends (which can be verified by the photo albums on our website/Facebook page) so this is not common at all. We'd never want any customer to feel uncomfortable in our venue, regardless of age. As such, it's pretty disappointing to receive a negative review like this which, as you can imagine for a small independent bar, can have a big impact on our business. We'd love for you to give us another try if you are back in Edinburgh again.
    Written March 9, 2020
    This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
    Visited February 2020
    Traveled as a couple
    Written February 16, 2020
  • Hannah
    3 contributions
    Waitresses
    enjoyed a few drinks here last night which was shortly ruined by men harassing myself and my friends, these men were friends with a waitress named Amy. The men wouldn’t leave us alone and we had to change tables to get away from them, which Amy then moved the boys to the table 2 away from us, still allowing them to come over to our table n try it on with myself and my friends. She patronised us the whole night and got aggressive near the end because we wouldn’t entertain her friends. She then proceeded to follow myself and my friends outside to shout at us for no reason as we were just leaving.She told me i “need to get my attitude sorted” and claimed my friend hit one of the men (she didn’t), it ended in a lot of screaming as she condoned the behaviour of her friends. People at the tables around us did a better job at keeping the men away than she ever did. Being a young girl in a bar surrounded by men is always a scary situation and she handled the situation in a very unprofessiona and childish way, whilst basically egging her friends on to harass us and blamed it on “them being drunk”. However i would like to give credit to the other lovely waitresses who noticed the situation and got us a new table, and niamh who chased us 2 streets down to make sure we were okay. Those are the type of staff you want to employ more of! Thanks, but you’ve just lost out on future business thanks to your waitress Amy! :)
    Hi Hannah, We would like to ensure you are aware we take this very seriously and are currently investigating the events further before making a decision on disciplinary actions. It's disheartening to hear anyone would not feel comfortable in our venue as we constantly strive to create a fun but also safe environment for people to enjoy our drinks in. As such, we would like to discuss this with you further and hoped you could contact myself on chris.aitchison@bar-tonic.co.uk Many thanks, Chris
    Written July 9, 2021
    This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
    Visited July 2021
    Traveled with friends
    Written July 4, 2021
  • yasmineyvonne
    Hitchin, United Kingdom107 contributions
    Absolutely recommend 🌟
    We managed to book a table here last minute and I am so glad we did! Such a lovely cocktail bar. Service was fab, range of cocktails was insane and you can even request off menu cocktails. Our glasses were never empty and the atmosphere was great. Absolutely would recommend going here! (But definitely try and book a table, so many people were trying to walk in and couldn’t get a table)
    Visited December 2021
    Traveled with friends
    Written December 21, 2021
  • samk
    Dundee, United Kingdom14 contributions
    Wouldn’t rush back
    Booked a table for drinks on a Friday evening for my wife and I, did a bit of research before booking and this place was a winner for the menu and looked really nice. Staff were pleasant and helpful however I thought the member of staff who greeted us who felt the need to ask us “are you telling the truth” after we had already confirmed we were displaying no systems of covid was rather patronising however jokingly she meant it. With no real issues we were show to our seats which was literally in front of the open door, there was nothing relaxing about the positioning of this table and felt it was stuck there as another seating option without through for customer service. We stayed for 1 drink which was really nice however we left soon after as we didn’t feel comfortable with the social distancing guidelines. Shortly after we sat down the table next to us were seated and with 3 women sitting on the bench they were too close for comfort. This was made worse by the member of staff who decided to squeeze through the gap to get by. Staff were very insistent on the one way system in place when we arrived and asked us to stick to it and which my wife followed on her trip to the bathroom it’s just a shame that staff themselves felt they didn’t need to bother with the one way system. They were crossed over each other and going back and forth in the wrong direction. We had visited a few bars over our weekend in Edinburgh and this is the only one we felt uncomfortable in. Maybe our fault for choosing a such a small bar to visit.
    Hi Sam, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. Firstly, we do apologise if the host at the door came across as patronising and I can assure you it was not meant in this way. We fully understand the importance of the new rules we have in place which we must communicate to all customers, although do still like to try and keep things light-hearted and as such this will have been asked as a joke. As you will now be aware, we aren't blessed with a lot of space inside our venue and as such it's been quite difficult to ensure all tables are distanced by at least 1m. This has resulted in some tables being moved, for example the one you sat at which is now closer to the door. We realise this may not be ideal, but it's what is required to ensure we can continue to operate as safely as possible. If you had let a member of staff know you felt uncomfortable then we would have offered a different area at the time. We do run a one-way system for all customers but this does not include staff (as per Government guidelines which only suggest one-way systems for customers). I have asked all hosts to ensure customers are made aware of this going forward. We have taken your points on board as we are constantly tweaking things to ensure that we are offering the best, and safest, experience possible. Please do feel free to try us out again if you are in the area. Many thanks, Team Tonic
    Written September 15, 2020
    This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
    Visited September 2020
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 13, 2020
  • Filosofo1961
    Kirkcaldy, United Kingdom275 contributions
    Friendly, buzzing, great cocktails. Come here instead of The Dome
    We had been to The Dome for one drink before we came here. I wish we had just come here first. Very welcoming atmosphere. The place was buzzing and very busy. At first it looked like we'd need to sit at a narrow, tall breakfast-bar style table, right opposite the bar. However, a staff member quickly came to rescue us as soon as a booth became available. Great range of cocktails and staff bend over backwards to help. Prices similar to The Dome but everything is just so much nicer when you feel valued. Cocktails: Great Service: Great Ambience: Cool, laid back, buzzing Overall Value for money - As good as you'll get for Edinburgh City Centre. Come here instead of The Dome.
    Visited November 2021
    Traveled as a couple
    Written November 18, 2021
  • Stew
    24 contributions
    Probably the best cocktail bar in Edinburgh
    We happened across this establishment by chance and what a hidden gem! We were immediately greeted by the bar staff who invited us to seat ourselves in the bar area. Our order was soon taken (table service) and the cocktails were simply magnificent! The drinks menu is incredibly quirky and I highly recommend Tonic for any cocktail enthusiasts! 10/10!
    Visited March 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written March 2, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions

4.5
274 reviews
Excellent
181
Very good
51
Average
16
Poor
9
Terrible
17

Adventure639691
1 contribution
Oct 2021 • Friends
Booked a table tonight and I was reassured on the phone prior to our booking every effort would be made to extend our time at the table. After 1.5hrs and a hill off £155 pounds we were kicked off the table and sent outside to the Cold and rain. Staff were rude in explanation and no apology was given
Written October 1, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Adventure639691, Many thanks for taking the time to leave your review. When placing bookings, customers are given a choice of time frame ie. 60, 90 or 120 minutes. As you can imagine, our automated booking system will then allocate a table which has availability for this and fill in the gaps around it. After 18 months of enforced closure due to Covid 19, it is vital to us that gaps are filled and so customers are able to join us. On the day of booking, you called to request an extension. Unfortunately, everything after 2pm on that date was booked up back to back, meaning we weren't able to extend the booking at the time. That being said, staff made you aware that we do sometimes have late cancellations and, unfortunately, no shows. It was explained that if this did happen and we were then able to, we would of course extend your booking as requested. That evening, we had no cancellations and all bookings arrived, which did mean we were full and thus there was no free table in the building. Unfortunately that does mean that, regardless of amount spent, we are physically unable to offer an extension without kicking another group of customers off their table. This was made clear on the night, so it is disappointing to see that you felt this course of action would have been correct. Having spoken to management on shift that evening, I can ensure staff were not rude in explaining this, but unfortunately did have to eventually get back to serving customers after repeatedly explaining we were only able to give you the table for the amount of time you had chosen when booking. We do thank you for joining us at Bar Tonic.
Written October 3, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Jason
Glasgow, UK1 contribution
Feb 2020 • Couples
Me and my girlfriend had a weekend away and on the Saturday night we went to tonic for drinks as we read the reviews and sounded like a good place to go on a Saturday night. Me and my girlfriend are 20-21 years old and when we walked in everyone was a lot older than us and those older people made us feel very uncomfortable as we were easy the youngest people there we had many people stare at us really weirdly as if we shouldn’t be there because of our age. The staff we were really pleasant with our booking but due to a lot of people giving us weird stares and which made us feel uncomfortable we left our booking for only 1 hour in.
Written February 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Jason, We're very disappointed to hear you did not feel welcome at Tonic. In regards to our customer demographic, we have a very mixed age group at the weekends (which can be verified by the photo albums on our website/Facebook page) so this is not common at all. We'd never want any customer to feel uncomfortable in our venue, regardless of age. As such, it's pretty disappointing to receive a negative review like this which, as you can imagine for a small independent bar, can have a big impact on our business. We'd love for you to give us another try if you are back in Edinburgh again.
Written March 9, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Hannah
3 contributions
Jul 2021 • Friends
enjoyed a few drinks here last night which was shortly ruined by men harassing myself and my friends, these men were friends with a waitress named Amy. The men wouldn’t leave us alone and we had to change tables to get away from them, which Amy then moved the boys to the table 2 away from us, still allowing them to come over to our table n try it on with myself and my friends. She patronised us the whole night and got aggressive near the end because we wouldn’t entertain her friends. She then proceeded to follow myself and my friends outside to shout at us for no reason as we were just leaving.She told me i “need to get my attitude sorted” and claimed my friend hit one of the men (she didn’t), it ended in a lot of screaming as she condoned the behaviour of her friends. People at the tables around us did a better job at keeping the men away than she ever did. Being a young girl in a bar surrounded by men is always a scary situation and she handled the situation in a very unprofessiona and childish way, whilst basically egging her friends on to harass us and blamed it on “them being drunk”.
However i would like to give credit to the other lovely waitresses who noticed the situation and got us a new table, and niamh who chased us 2 streets down to make sure we were okay. Those are the type of staff you want to employ more of! Thanks, but you’ve just lost out on future business thanks to your waitress Amy! :)
Written July 4, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Hannah, We would like to ensure you are aware we take this very seriously and are currently investigating the events further before making a decision on disciplinary actions. It's disheartening to hear anyone would not feel comfortable in our venue as we constantly strive to create a fun but also safe environment for people to enjoy our drinks in. As such, we would like to discuss this with you further and hoped you could contact myself on chris.aitchison@bar-tonic.co.uk Many thanks, Chris
Written July 9, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

yasmineyvonne
Hitchin, UK107 contributions
Dec 2021 • Friends
We managed to book a table here last minute and I am so glad we did! Such a lovely cocktail bar. Service was fab, range of cocktails was insane and you can even request off menu cocktails. Our glasses were never empty and the atmosphere was great. Absolutely would recommend going here! (But definitely try and book a table, so many people were trying to walk in and couldn’t get a table)
Written December 21, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

samk
Dundee, UK14 contributions
Sep 2020 • Couples
Booked a table for drinks on a Friday evening for my wife and I, did a bit of research before booking and this place was a winner for the menu and looked really nice. Staff were pleasant and helpful however I thought the member of staff who greeted us who felt the need to ask us “are you telling the truth” after we had already confirmed we were displaying no systems of covid was rather patronising however jokingly she meant it. With no real issues we were show to our seats which was literally in front of the open door, there was nothing relaxing about the positioning of this table and felt it was stuck there as another seating option without through for customer service. We stayed for 1 drink which was really nice however we left soon after as we didn’t feel comfortable with the social distancing guidelines. Shortly after we sat down the table next to us were seated and with 3 women sitting on the bench they were too close for comfort. This was made worse by the member of staff who decided to squeeze through the gap to get by. Staff were very insistent on the one way system in place when we arrived and asked us to stick to it and which my wife followed on her trip to the bathroom it’s just a shame that staff themselves felt they didn’t need to bother with the one way system. They were crossed over each other and going back and forth in the wrong direction. We had visited a few bars over our weekend in Edinburgh and this is the only one we felt uncomfortable in. Maybe our fault for choosing a such a small bar to visit.
Written September 13, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Sam, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. Firstly, we do apologise if the host at the door came across as patronising and I can assure you it was not meant in this way. We fully understand the importance of the new rules we have in place which we must communicate to all customers, although do still like to try and keep things light-hearted and as such this will have been asked as a joke. As you will now be aware, we aren't blessed with a lot of space inside our venue and as such it's been quite difficult to ensure all tables are distanced by at least 1m. This has resulted in some tables being moved, for example the one you sat at which is now closer to the door. We realise this may not be ideal, but it's what is required to ensure we can continue to operate as safely as possible. If you had let a member of staff know you felt uncomfortable then we would have offered a different area at the time. We do run a one-way system for all customers but this does not include staff (as per Government guidelines which only suggest one-way systems for customers). I have asked all hosts to ensure customers are made aware of this going forward. We have taken your points on board as we are constantly tweaking things to ensure that we are offering the best, and safest, experience possible. Please do feel free to try us out again if you are in the area. Many thanks, Team Tonic
Written September 15, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Filosofo1961
Kirkcaldy, UK275 contributions
Nov 2021 • Couples
We had been to The Dome for one drink before we came here.
I wish we had just come here first.
Very welcoming atmosphere.
The place was buzzing and very busy.
At first it looked like we'd need to sit at a narrow, tall breakfast-bar style table, right opposite the bar.
However, a staff member quickly came to rescue us as soon as a booth became available.
Great range of cocktails and staff bend over backwards to help.
Prices similar to The Dome but everything is just so much nicer when you feel valued.
Cocktails: Great
Service: Great
Ambience: Cool, laid back, buzzing
Overall Value for money - As good as you'll get for Edinburgh City Centre.
Come here instead of The Dome.
Written November 18, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Stew
24 contributions
Mar 2023 • Couples
We happened across this establishment by chance and what a hidden gem! We were immediately greeted by the bar staff who invited us to seat ourselves in the bar area. Our order was soon taken (table service) and the cocktails were simply magnificent! The drinks menu is incredibly quirky and I highly recommend Tonic for any cocktail enthusiasts! 10/10!
Written March 2, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Eleanor
Edinburgh, UK2 contributions
Jan 2020 • Friends
Drinks were good, prices not too bad for the location and it was decorated really nicely for Christmas with the grotto theme. Only thing I would say is that the music was probably a bit too loud considering the size of the bar. We were sat right next to the speakers and could just about hear my friend shouting at me!! Other than that was a nice atmosphere and would probably go back again
Written January 6, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

emmacampbell339
Edinburgh, UK26 contributions
Feb 2020 • Friends
I booked a table here for a group of 12 friends on a Saturday afternoon. As soon as we arrived we were impressed. The staff were delightful, welcoming and so friendly. Cocktails choices were really interesting and made super quickly considering there was 12 at our table. Atmosphere was chilled, inviting and exactly what we wanted. Will definitely be back again xx
Written February 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Sam C
Basingstoke, UK55 contributions
Oct 2021
Delicious cocktails in an cozy environment. What more could you want.
We were running late due to road closures thanks to her highness being in town but we called ahead to warn them and they kept our table for us.
Very busy in there so really recommend booking. So many people came in and had to be turned away.
Written October 4, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Tonic (Edinburgh) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go

Frequently Asked Questions about Tonic

Tonic is open:
  • Sun - Sun 2:30 PM - 12:00 AM
  • Mon - Thu 3:00 PM - 12:00 AM
  • Fri - Fri 2:30 PM - 12:00 AM
  • Sat - Sat 12:00 PM - 12:00 AM


Restaurants near Tonic: View all restaurants near Tonic on Tripadvisor

Tonic Information

Excellent Reviews181
Very Good Reviews51
Tonic Photos89