The 9 Best Fish and Chips in Edinburgh (2026)

The Fishmarket at Newhaven is the best fish supper in Edinburgh, and the one worth building a plan around. It sits right on the old fishing harbour at Newhaven, about ten minutes north of the centre, in partnership with Ondine's Roy Brett and Welch Fishmongers next door, which is why the fish is as fresh as it is. Newhaven has been a working fishing port for 500 years, and the place leans into it: you can sit down in the seafood restaurant for oysters, crispy squid and battered monkfish, or queue at the takeaway hatch for a straight haddock supper and eat it on the pier looking out at the Forth.

The clever thing is the price gap. A standard haddock supper at the hatch is £7.50 (£8.50 large, £11.50 for the 'whale'), which is genuinely cheap for fish this good, while the sit-down restaurant costs a fair bit more. It rates 4.4 on Google across more than a thousand reviews, and the main complaints are queues at peak times and the restaurant prices, not the fish. My move is the takeaway hatch, a bench on the pier and a can of Irn Bru. If it's blowing a gale off the sea, book the restaurant instead.

Landy's is the best proper sit-down chippy in the city centre, and the one I'd send you to at the top of the Royal Mile. It opened at the end of 2024 in the old Byron Burger site on North Bridge, from the Vittoria Group, and it's built as a big, bright 1950s-diner-style room with around 200 seats. The point of difference is the fat: Landy's fries its haddock in beef dripping, the traditional coastal way, which gives the batter a deeper, savoury flavour and a proper shatter. The menu runs well beyond the classic (Cajun-spiced haddock, a haddock 'seadog' roll, deep-fried pizza) but the battered haddock is the order.

A battered haddock and chips is £15.95, which is restaurant money rather than takeaway money, and that's the honest catch: this is a sit-down night out, not a cheap supper in newspaper. But it's a very good one, rated 4.6 across more than 1,300 Google reviews, and it's the rare central chippy that does gluten-free properly in dedicated fryers, with halal options on request. If you want a smart, comfortable fish-and-chips dinner five minutes from the Castle, this is my pick.

The Chippy by Spencer is the best neighbourhood takeaway in Edinburgh, and my pick if you want the real thing rather than a tourist supper. It's on Broughton Street, the New Town's quieter, more local high street, and it's a small operation where owner Spencer is usually the one behind the counter. Everything that makes a chippy good is done right here: the fish is fresh rather than frozen, the batter is crisp without being greasy, the chips are thick-cut and cooked to order, and the deep-fried haggis is the thing to add if you want the full Scottish experience.

It's the highest-rated shop on this list, at 4.8 on Google, which for a chip shop is remarkable. A haddock supper runs around £13.50 (recent reviews report two suppers for about £27), a little above the cheapest chippies and worth it. The one real drawback is that seating is minimal, so this is a takeaway: get it wrapped and eat it on a bench up the street. It's closed on Wednesdays and opens only in the late afternoon, so it's an evening plan, not a lunch one.

Bertie's is the most convenient proper sit-down chippy for anyone based around the Royal Mile, sitting halfway up Victoria Street, the curved, colourful lane that's one of the most photographed spots in the Old Town. It opened in 2018 as a polished, two-level restaurant doing sustainably sourced haddock, double-cooked chips and a run of Scottish twists (battered haggis, white pudding, a vegan version wrapped in seaweed). It's slick and reliable, and with well over 8,000 Google reviews behind a 4.5 rating, it's comfortably the busiest chippy in the centre.

Two honest notes. Fish and chips runs around £16–£17, and Bertie's adds a 10% service charge, so it's one of the pricier suppers in this guide once the bill lands. And its fame means it can feel like a tourist machine at peak times. But the fish is genuinely good, the room is comfortable, and the location can't be beaten if you're doing the Old Town. Book at busy times, and treat it as a sit-down meal rather than a cheap feed.

Pierinos is the Leith pick, and the best-value proper supper in this guide. It's an Italian-Scottish family chippy that's been on Bernard Street since 1983, a minute from the Shore, doing fish and chips alongside pizza, pasta and kebabs the way so many great Scottish chippies do. The haddock here comes breaded in a golden crumb rather than battered, fried to order, and reviewers rate it a consistent 4.5 for freshness and generous portions.

A breaded haddock and chips is £10.70, which is a proper local price, and the shop is a small counter with just a few seats, so it's built for takeaway. Grab it, ask for salt 'n' sauce, and walk the two minutes down to the Water of Leith at the Shore to eat it. The only caveat is that it opens from late afternoon only, so it's an evening plan; if you want to make a night of Leith, pair it with a wander round the historic docks.

The Gorgie Fish Bar is the local secret on this list: a small, family-run chip shop out west on Gorgie Road that quietly scores 4.6 on Google, one of the highest ratings of any chippy in the city. There's nothing fancy about it. It's a proper neighbourhood takeaway doing lightly battered haddock fried to order, chunky chips that are crisp outside and soft in the middle, and the usual chip-shop spread of pizza, pasta and kebabs alongside. The fish is wrapped separately from the chips to keep the batter crisp, which is the mark of a shop that cares.

A battered haddock supper is £12, or £13 for the breaded 'dressed' version, which is excellent value for fish this well cooked. The honest catch is geography: Gorgie is a residential area a bus ride west of the centre, so this is one for locals or for anyone staying out that way rather than a detour off the Royal Mile. It's also closed on Tuesdays and opens evenings only, so check the hours before you set off.

The Clam Shell is the honest choice if you want a supper actually on the Royal Mile, at 148 High Street. It's one of the last few genuinely independent, family-run businesses left on Edinburgh's most touristed street, going for over 30 years, and it does a straight, reliable job: crisp battered haddock, thick chips, generous salt and vinegar, a few seats inside and out for people-watching. It's the antidote to the identikit tartan-tat shops around it, and the deep-fried Mars bar, made to order and served with ice cream, is the party trick.

A haddock and chips is £14 (£15.50 breaded), which is Royal Mile pricing rather than neighbourhood pricing, and that shows in a Google score of 4.0: it's a good, honest chippy in a demanding spot, not a destination worth crossing the city for. But if you're on the Mile and want a real fish supper from a real family business rather than a chain, this is the one. Go at an off-peak hour to dodge the tourist queue, and get salt 'n' sauce on the chips.

L'Alba D'Oro is the historic name, and it makes this list on reputation and pedigree as much as current form. On Henderson Row on the edge of the New Town and Canonmills, it's been frying since 1975 and spent years being called the best chip shop in Edinburgh, known for fresh haddock and an unusual weekly-changing specials board that might run to monkfish, pollack, sea bass or halibut. When it's on song, it's still a genuinely good, ambitious chippy.

The honest truth is that it's divided opinion lately. A standard haddock supper is £14.50 (£13.50 for the smaller 'wee fish'), which several regulars now call steep for the portion, and its Google rating has settled at 4.0 as reviews split between loyal fans and disappointed returnees. I'd still send an adventurous eater for one of the specials, but I wouldn't promise the old crown. It's takeaway only and opens evenings, so plan accordingly.

Cafe Piccante is the late-night one, the supper you have on the way home rather than the one you plan a day around. It's a Broughton Street institution, open into the early hours, and it's the classic Edinburgh spot to try the deep-fried Mars bar (battered, fried and genuinely a thing here) or a deep-fried pizza, alongside fish and chips, burgers and kebabs. At 4.2 across more than 1,400 Google reviews, it's a reliable, cheerful, unpretentious pit stop with famously friendly staff.

Battered fish and chips is £15.95 on their online menu, and the honest note is that the fish is decent rather than a reason in itself: you come here for the hours, the novelty and the buzz after a night out, not for the freshest haddock in the city. If you want a proper daytime supper, one of the shops above beats it. If it's midnight and you want something fried and Scottish, this is exactly right.