Review: The Dome’s Christmas spectacle

It is that time of year again when the Zebra Eclipse team, the parent company behind Edinburgh Reviews, dusts off the festive jumpers for the annual Christmas meal. Girdy and Birdy have now made the pilgrimage to The Dome three times, suggesting that despite the crowds, this George Street icon is doing something right.

We would not keep returning if we did not think The Dome was fabulous. It is a mandatory Edinburgh Christmas experience, transforming from a grand building into a glittering beacon of festivity that signals the season has truly begun.

A Tale of Two Rooms

The Dome offers a choice of atmosphere depending on where you are seated, though the visual impact is high regardless. We have dined once in the Club Room and twice in the Grill Room. The difference is distinct. The Grill Room houses the famous giant Christmas tree and offers that bustling, packed, yet polite restaurant energy. The Club Room, by contrast, offers a slightly more intimate, quieter setting.

Crucially, the choice of room makes no difference to the speed of service, the quality of food, or the attention you receive.

The décor is the headline act. This year, the Christmas tree reportedly boasts half a million lights. It is huge, shiny, and an absolute stunner. The sheer wattage of the Dome’s Christmas tree could give the Newhaven lighthouse a run for its money. It is a spectacle that demands to be seen, even if you still hold a candle for the inverted tree of previous years.

Booking, however, is the real challenge. You must be on your game the minute reservations open, often halfway through the year. If you have secured a ticket or reservation, you can bypass the legendary queue outside – frankly, I cannot imagine any other way of getting inside.

The Festive Feast

Despite not coordinating our choices, we found ourselves drawn to similar items on the menu. We started with the bread (which we shared), which at less than two pounds per slice, actually felt like a surprisingly good value compared to other city centre eateries!

For starters, we both opted for the smoked and hot salmon, which arrived with lightly pickled cucumber and oatcakes. A word of warning to future diners: you have enough oatcakes for your salmon precisely. Do not try putting your oatcakes with the pickled cucumber or anything else, or you will run out. Other options included chicken liver parfait and burrata, but the salmon felt like the right festive opener.

The main course options included risotto, sea trout, and venison, but we both opted for the traditional Christmas dinner. This featured a hand-carved turkey roulade with sage and onion stuffing, carrot and parsnip cream, sprouts, roast potatoes, and pigs in blankets.

It was delicious, with zero complaints. It wasn’t one of those MasterChef-style dishes designed more to make marbles look presentable than to feed you; it was a proper, satisfying meal.

Dessert saw us diverge. Birdy chose the blood orange panna cotta, while I braved the Christmas pudding. I feared a tiny, cheffy dollop, but was relieved to receive a proper slice.

Pricing sits around £46 for two courses or £56 for three. While sides like truffle fries or extra pigs in blankets are available, the standard portion sizes are decent. In hindsight, a side dish would have turned a good meal into an even better one, but we left satisfied. The service was good, if not super quick, handling the busy season with impressive efficiency.

Overall

I am not sure I am willing to make this a rigid Christmas tradition forever. I want The Dome to fight for our time, and there are other venues to try, but I understand why it is so popular.

If you are in Edinburgh from November onwards and have not yet tried The Dome, it is worth the effort. The visuals are stunning, the food is reliable, and the service holds up under pressure.