Valvona & Crolla

Delicious breakfast, good service and a nice atmosphere, what else is there to wish for…

The service here is always impeccable, meaning I was happy to wait 10 mins for a table, as they worked through their busy lunch rush.
On this occasion I went for their special ‘Taliere di Formaggi’ with a glass of the recommended white. After getting over the initial shock that this wasn’t tagliatelle but a cheese board (I misread the menu, in what can only be described as an extreme, post-​yoga, hunger frenzy!!), I tucked in and it was delicious! So good in fact that I was prompted to buy some cheese from their deli counter on the way out.
Once again visiting here was a resounding success, I would definitely rate it with 5 stars!

Amazing customer service! My wife and I are big fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series of comic novels in which V&C is featured as part of the setting in Edinburgh. The characters pop in to Valvona & Crolla for their sun-​dried tomatoes, olive oils, wines and other delicacies. Angus’ dog Cyril once surreptitiously ate a small salami that was knocked of a shelf. Having never been to Scotland, I didn’t know if V&C was a creation of the author’s imagination or a real shop. I Googled and discovered that it is indeed, real. Next, I found a perfect gift for my wife, a Valvona and Crolla shopping bag. After setting up an online account, I began to input my PayPal and shipping info, only to discover that there is no provision for shipping outside the UK. Alastair and the Despatch Team to the rescue! He answered my questions, got me a shipping quote, and gave instructions on filling out the forms. My order is now on the way to Texas via Royal Mail. Hooray and it occurs to me that Mr McCall Smith is also a fan of this fine establishment, since he features it in the novels. Thanks again and Happy Christmas!

It’s so nice to walk through their amazing shop on the way to the café as it gets you really excited about good food in general.
Went there on a recommendation of a friend and it did not disappoint. Delicious wine too… and courgette flowers in a starter is cool :)
Loved the olive oil and balsamic so you should def get bread if you’re eating there– it doesn’t come automatically, but is delicious

Recently had a lunch there, I ordered the scallops which was brilliant! Since I took a late lunch at six o’clock, I didn’t try other dishes.

An amazing find! It was clearly our favorite place to eat while on vacation in Edinburgh for a few days. I did not realize how much of an institution Valvona & Crolla was. We were so excited to see, that we ended up visiting two other locations and ended up eating at Valvona & Crolla 4 times in 8 days!
I had a meat and cheese plate for breakfast and it was incredible. I also had the Papardelle Ragu (at the Multrees location) which was also very good.
The service at all locations was outstanding. I’ve seen some notes about the service being slow and I don’t know if that’s an American thing. Most times I’ve visited Europe, every restaurant let’s you sit and enjoy rather than having you feel like they’re pushing you out the door to seat the next set of patrons. Similar to other restaurants, the only time it is «slow» is when it comes to the check. I would highly recommend Valvona & Crolla to anyone visitng Edinburgh.

Had a lovely lunch today at Elm Row. Really impressed with the aftercare.
Had two waiters who had style and grace. They both had well groomed breads. I was hungry after my mains and had a roast potatoes side at the end of the meals! Completely back to front! They didn’t skip a beat. They were delicious as was the polenta, rocket and pine nuts mains I had before. The sauce on my dish was gorgeous. Can’t place it, love the mystery. It didn’t matter as I nearly wanted to lick the plate! My friend had a aubergine dish. She loved hers.
Thankyou. Happy New Year!

A cute little Italian gourmet shop. Totally unexpected to find in Scotland. Good variety of wines and beer too. Cheeses, meets, pasta, sauces. They have it all. With a little bistro in the back. Outside of the more touristy areas and not as easy to find but definitely worth a visit!

Valvona and Crolla is definitely all about the space — or lack thereof. As you walk through the door, you gasp with surprise as you take in the shelves stuffed up to the ceiling, and everything else that is suspended from the sky. Deli counters about, and after winding your way around the counters, looking at frou frou oil, frou frou jam, frou frou chutney, frou frou… you get the picture, you find yourself in a lighter, brighter space, ready for eating. It’s perfect, you have been lured into the lair of the coffee woman.
It’s not cheap, but it’s delicious, we shared an antipasti dish complete with char grilled vegetables, mozzarella and olives, fat and juicy. We drank from Italian soda cans. We ate some lovely orange semolina cake. We paid the high prices, and didn’t regret it. So it’s not an every day kinda place, and the setting in the café is spartan, we did still have a lovely time there, so I’m perfectly happy to recommend it.

AMERICANS and ITALIANS who appreciate lasagne that has not been pre-​cooked… this is your savior. Not even Lupe Pinto’s my favorite little shop in the universe has lasagne that has not been pre-​cooked.
I will not explain myself to you UKers who say «But who cares if it’s pre-​cooked»? «It’s the meat and cheese that matter”“What is the difference?» or my favorite, «I can’t taste any difference». You and your bad opinions are wrong. You know what? I feel the same way about instant mashed potatoes (not true, but using for effect) — how do you like THAT?
Valvona and Crolla has many, many good attributes, which everyone else has already written about. So I am here to tell you about Valvona and Crolla… the only place in Edinburgh to get un-​pre-​cooked lasagne.

Extensive. That’s the word I would use here.
Expensive would be another one…
The shop reaches all the way down and around the corner. The walls are laden, fit to burst with all manner of things from cheese to cakes to whisky to chocolates. There’s sausages hanging from the ceiling and a wonderful selection of those fancy Italian cakey things!
I came in here recently, needing decorative edible flowers (aw yeah, dinner parties in my gaff are all about class) and fully expecting not to find any. Low and behold, there they were, in the exact shade of blue I needed.
5 stars for serendipity!

Overpriced but interesting shop.
Things to buy here
— chocolate donuts, they use a real ganache and they are only £1.25, rest of the pastries are crappy italian versions of french things.
— some of the fresh vegetable can be a real steal, sometimes they have purple sprouting broccoli for like £2.50 a kilo!
Edinburgh institution so probably worth a visit. I feel lucky Edinburgh has this but hardly shop here apart from the aforementioned products.

Oh Valvona & Crolla, how my heart is torn in twain over you. If I could eat from here every day, I would. But then I would be living in a cardboard box on the street outside, a very well-​fed but poor person.
Valvona & Crolla has been established as a genuine Italian deli (meaning, run by an Italian family, with real Italian products) since the 1920s in Edinburgh. They are like the Godfather, but with less horse heads (oh, is that contentious given the current food situation? Hmm.)
For that reason, their food is at once exquisite and expensive. We went here on a Sunday afternoon to buy ingredients for a simple Sunday supper. Gluten-​free pasta, pasta sauce, and some vegetables. That’s it. So why, pray tell, did it come to £18? The two types of vegetables we got cost more than the wine we bought later. I kid you not. £6 for a pot of maybe 5 slices of chargrilled aubergine, and £6 for a wee pot of sundried tomato. More fool me for not checking the price before we paid, so it is my own fault, but wow that was a big sting.
Other products may be cheaper, but it seems their grilled vegetables come at a high price. But if you are looking to spend an extra few pennies you can get olive oil that tastes like it’s been squeezed straight from the hills of Sicilly; balsamic vinegar that is the only dressing needed to some rocket salad. They also have baked breads, croissants and the like. Equally pricey (around £1.50 for a croissant) but a nice treat.
I previusly came here for breakfast, and I remember two breakfasts and two coffees and OJs costing £20 to sit in. Ouch.
Maybe not the best place to shop daily, but if you’re looking for quality, taste-​of-​true-​Italy ingredients for some home cooking, then Valvona & Crolla can’t be beat.

I had a pasta dish in the caffe bar for lunch when I met an old friend with whom I used to work in San Francisco before she moved back to Edinburgh. Valvona & Crolla was someplace I had on my Edinburgh food list to try not only for its caffe bar, and wonderous selection of deli meats, cheeses, and wines but because it was mentioned in one of Andrew McCall Smith’s Isabel Dahousie novels. The fact that it was 2 blocks from the B&B I was staying in was also a factor.
Good meal, good company, and I’ll have to return one day to pick up some picnic supplies.

Was delighted to get gift vouchers for here for my birthday and had so much fun spending them :0)
I bought their own brand prosecco which is delicious and highly recommended. Also stocked up on pasta, olive oil and chocolate.
The shop is so nice to just have a wander around.

Mortadella, arancini, pecorino … boy, this shop is amazing. Don’t go when you’re feeling skint, though — its pretty expensive! Fabulous, and worth the money, but I have come out a bit shell shocked after everything got added up at the till…
There’s every type of pasta, meat, cheese or Italian liqueur you could ask for, and some nice pre-​made quiches and sandwiches too. And if you’re peckish there’s always a range of olive oils out for tasting, with little bits of bread to dip. That’s where you’ll find me, oil dribbling down my chin…

Fancy a treat? Get yourself in here and indulge! The deli is a true feast for the senses … then go round the corner for the fresh bakery and the bottle shop, then up some steps for the kitchenware shop and the café. My Grandma shopped here in the 1930s and always sang its praises — and I can see why!

I have only been here about 2 times in a year and a half, but it’s not hard to tell that Valvona and Crolla have something special and different than other stores don’t have.
Thumbs up for providing good produce that is nearly impossible to find elsewhere in Edinburgh. There is a range of different wines in the back, and more meats/​cheeses type thing in the front. Not to mention, baskets full of delicious pastries and breads. So, I obviously had to get an Almond Croissant.
…It was delicious.
If I lived closer, I know I would have a peek in more often, but it’s great to go into, especially if you love cooking and italian food. You might find that special ingredient you’re looking for!
I know that there is an upstairs caffe as well, but so far I haven’t managed to eat there. Next time!

I went here with a couple of Italians (they’re like accessories, you should always bring them to a deli), and had an absolutely amazing time. The café, all the way in the back of the deli serves delicious sweets and café. No, not coffee, vero café, espresso, cappuccino and all the way they should be.
The deli-​meats were delicious. I miss my mortadela something awful when I’m not in Italy (unfortunately that’s most of the year) so coming here and seeing this beautiful meat displayed, well, I simply couldn’t resist.
I batted my eyes at the meat-​counter man a couple of times and hey presto, mortadela slices to taste for me and my friends. (Italians, I love them).
This is the type of deli that I’ve come to know and love back in the Northern part of Italy. I’ve missed it, as we don’t really have that many of them in the Netherlands, but finding one here was like finding the One Ring. (Only, maybe a little less. orcy).
I highly recommend you go here, I also highly recommend you leave your credit card at home. Otherwise your rent-​money may just end up as mortadele-​meat.

An absolutely outstanding deli, I would go as far to say probably the best I have been to in Edinburgh (and even Glasgow), and I just wish that I lived closer so I could eat from here every day.
Every meat and cheese variety you can imagine packed into this wee treasure trove of a store. I particularly love the front window which is covered in miniature bottles of alcohol, every single thing you can think of, it’s so cute.
You could spend an hour in here picking and choosing food, but you would maybe have to have a few extra quid in the back pocket to fund your meat and cheese habit!

Foodgasm is all I can say about this deli, which I’ve discovered is just across the street from where I live!
In business since 1934, this is by far the most impressive Italian deli I’ve ever been to! It was quite busy when I ventured in, after having walked past several times over the last few weeks. I have the feeling valvona and crolla has a loyal clientele, which would explain the lack of an interesting exterior; if I stocked half of what they did, I would be advertising in every corner of Edinburgh!
My friend and I were bamboozled by the amount of cheese, pasta, cold meat, desserts, chocolate, oil, wine, and many other fantastic things. For the free samples of olive oil and parmesan we picked up to taste, we held a moment of silence. I’d rejoiced, bitter-​sweetly, about not having a Peckhams nearby to drain my bank account, but I think this place is even worse!

WOW.
Now this is what I call a deli!
They have so much on offer, I can barely contain myself. All I can say is, cheese of the week, shit hot salami, anchovy paste, homebaked bread, Italian biscuits and chocolate; fine wines and beers from around the world. The shelves in here are tall and packed full of food that’s rich, fresh, delicious but also really good for you!
Kicks Peckhams in the butt, and I never thought I’d say that. It feels like a betrayal, but it has to be said. Never seen a deli like this. The biggest dill pickles I’ve ever seen, and the chocolate treats! There are no words. Just go and see for yourself. As good as the food is, it’s so healthy you’ll probably win back ten years of your lifespan.