Toast occupies a former art gallery on The Shore in Leith, a glass-fronted corner room on the banks of the Water of Leith. It bills itself as Edinburgh's first dedicated wine cafe, and the format holds up. There are 44 seats inside and 20 more on the cobbles outside, with a list that runs from morning coffee to late natural wine.
Who would love it: anyone after a low-key glass of organic wine by the water, a slow weekend brunch, or a short cocktail before dinner on The Shore. Who might not: a drinker who wants a deep cellar of blue-chip Bordeaux, because Toast leans hard into small-grower, biodynamic and natural bottles instead.
The wine list is the reason to come. It runs predominantly biodynamic, organic and natural, with a rotating by-the-glass selection the staff are happy to talk through. Square Meal describes Toast as a wine cafe pouring a carefully curated list alongside simple, imaginative food, and that balance is exactly right.
Beyond wine, a hand-picked set of craft beers sits next to a short but intriguing cocktail list, so a table of mixed drinkers is easy to please. The kitchen keeps things simple: creative cakes, pastries and breads from local suppliers, with vegan and gluten free options, alongside small plates. Toast opens at 8am on weekdays for coffee and stays open to 1am on Friday and Saturday. On a fine afternoon the coffee crowd and the wine crowd overlap, and the room handles both without missing a beat.
The space reads bright and contemporary rather than cosy, a former gallery with pale walls, a long counter and big windows onto the water. It is the kind of room that works as well at 9am as at 11pm. In summer the outside tables on The Shore are the seats to ask for. Inside, the counter is the spot for solo drinkers, with the bottle display doubling as the menu.
Priya Nair's read: treat Toast as a daytime-into-evening anchor for a Leith wander. Start with coffee and a pastry, come back for a glass of skin-contact white in the late afternoon, and watch the light move across the water. The room is small, so the window seats go early.
The crowd is a Leith mix of locals, brunch regulars and visitors walking the waterfront between The Shore and Ocean Terminal. It runs relaxed and conversational, dog friendly and child friendly by day, and warmer in the evening once the wine takes over from the coffee.
Toast holds a 4.1 rating across 331 Tripadvisor reviews, where the recurring notes are the natural wine list, the friendly service and the waterside setting. The main caution regulars raise is space. It is a 44 seat room that fills at weekend brunch, so booking ahead is the safe move.
Best time to go: a weekend brunch that drifts into afternoon wine, or a quiet weekday evening before dinner elsewhere on The Shore. See where it sits among Edinburgh's wine bars, read our wider guide to the best bars in Edinburgh, or browse the full Edinburgh bar guide.
Pair this bar with
For a waterside Leith pint a few minutes along the dock, head to Teuchters Landing Edinburgh. For seafood and wine in a historic room on The Shore, The King's Wark Edinburgh is the obvious next stop. And for fish and a glass right on the water, Fishers Leith keeps the waterfront theme going.
Sources
Square Meal · Tripadvisor Edinburgh · Yelp Edinburgh · Toast official site · venue listings (accessed 2026-06)
Reviewed by Priya Nair, barsforKings. Published Feb 17, 2026. Last reviewed May 13, 2026 · How we pick bars
