The Three Sisters

Boy of boy, this place was pumping! The Fringe was happening and the bar and outside area was completely packed. They handed the traffic well.
Only thing o wish they did was clean the bathrooms more frequently with the excess of people. It was pretty nasty.

The Three Sisters was my daughter's favorite place to watch soccer with her team during her semester in Edinburgh. It's basically an enormous sports pub with an outdoor courtyard and a two-level indoor space. There's a giant video screen outside (12 ft?); and smaller screens line the walls inside. Consequently it's hard to miss the sports action...which is really the main reason to come here.

We were here to watch some World Cup matches. First, the Netherlands vs. Ecuador. (My daughter had Dutch school friends here who arrived early) and then England vs. the USA. The evening ended up being a Jekyll & Hyde experience for us. During the first match, we sat comfortably inside at a table, sipped beers and ciders, enjoyed some snacks, chatted, and watched the game (a 1-1 tie). But...

For the second match, we were kicked off of our table (It had been reserved weeks in advance) and eventually found our way to an open spot in the increasingly crowded courtyard. From there it devolved into one of the loudest, rowdiest, sloppiest ordeals I've experienced since my 20s. But we weren't about to leave and miss the match. (We had heard other nearby pubs were also packed). At first we were a bit disheartened by the large number of people wearing the three lions on their shirts (or having painted St George's cross on their face). But we were buoyed by several groups of Scots who were chanting "U-S-A...U-S-A!!" behind us. Plus we found a few random Americans in the nearby throngs, who we toasted.

The Three Sisters didn't seem to be concerned with crowd control; it got so packed we could barely move. And getting a beer took ages. (I found a line where I could see the game and eventually bought the biggest cup of lager I could get - about 1/2 liter). The bartenders were sullen (I would be too). Bottom line: If they're gonna let this many people in, they need to compensate with more tenders and/or roaming service.

In the end, the second match was another disappointing tie: 0-0. Afterwards, we dispersed with most of the crowd. But that was not the end of our night. We were in the Cowgate neighborhood, and there were plenty of pubs & clubs nearby.

Came on a Saturday night out. It was crowded and it's a big venue. It's indoor and outdoor. The bathroom will take awhile. It's all the way inside, and I had to get through the crowd. Inside is very hot. Bartenders were definitely over it. They walk around with jaeger shots for people to buy. Playlist was not lit. They played old music.

The great thing about Three Sisters is the huge venue that offers space indoors and outdoors. They are always hosting events here from sports games to holidays, so there is always something going on. Despite that, there is not anything too special about this place either.

On Superbowl night, they did open late for the viewing. There is also a booth serving food ranging on the occasion. Their potato wedges (£2) were super crispy and delicious though! It was the perfect snack to go with drinks. Maybe in the summer days (which I have yet to see), this place would be in full effect with its outdoor space though.

This place is a local bar with an awesome vibe. Lots of different ciders on tap here along with the usually lagers and pale ales. We came here on two separate occasions since it was so fun. Both for World Cup, first was England v Columbia and second was Croatia v Russia.

They had setup a huge screen to watch and it was incredibly festive. Lots of drinks being thrown when England defeated Columbia in PK.

Rowdy crowd when cheering on England with a tamer crowd for the second game.

Highly recommended by a local and it was definitely a highlight for me in Edinburgh.

Great environment! Full of young people. Came here for my spring break/ brithday trip for my 21st and it was amazing.

Don't get me wrong it's a good bar and I didn't get to see it in it's full glory but it's definitely a sports bar. It's big and cheap and the food is delicious, well at least the ribs are. I would go back and it's a good place to go if you have a big party.

3.5 stars. Open beer garden vibe. Huge outdoor screens for sports. Drinks a little pricey though, so we moved on after 1 drink.

Visited here as part of the free fringe and i was surprised to find an absolutely massive venue.

There has a great outdoors space with food stalls and bar areas and tv screens that tell you what shows are due to start.

I was quite surprised about the amount of free shows that are here. There is literally something on every hour of the day. Whilst we were here for 2 specific shows i kinda wish that I lived in Edinburgh as I would have loved to have the chance to see more of what the free fringe offers.

Great venue choice for the free fringe and I hope its here next year too!

The Three Sisters is one of THOSE places. Going seems a great idea, and you wonder why you don't go along more.

Then when you get there, you remember.

Although it's big, and has a huge open air area with an outside bar and food stalls, and the bar inside is quite big and pretty well stocked, getting served in under 5 minutes is usually impossible.

I don't know why! It just takes an age to work your way to the front of the queue. The staff are by no means slow, it's just one of those things.

With the huge courtyard always full of people, there is a bit of a "meatmarket" feel to proceedings, and even as a usually single guy, I feel a bit uncomfortable here with the amount of guys who just stand and ogle anything in a skirt, making usually unrepeatable comments. Not much the place can do about that in a huge courtyard, though...

During the Fringe, there are free shows all through the day, so it's worth checking out what's on while you grab your drink (eventually) and then head off elsewhere, as you always invariably do.

Unless there's a big sporting event being shown on the HUGE screen, this is very much a meet-and-move kinda place for me.