Castlegate Cafe — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I went to the coffee shop on October 15th 2024, in this day I had one experience that remembers me until today on how to treat a customer! I was in Scotland just for one day trip, and I had a problem with my card because I didn’t let the bank know that I would travel for a place and spend my money in pounds (I was living in the Republic of Ireland, so my bank account was just in euros). I had already ordered my hot chocolate and a gluten free pie and I was in the queue to pay my bill, so than my card didn’t accepted the payment, I tried 3 times and it was declined, the lady who was behind me noted the situation and offered to pay my bill (this was the first time in my life I was so well treated from someone that I didn’t know), the girl who was with the card machine listened to the conversation and didn’t let the lady to pay for my bill, and gave me the coffee and the pie for free because was already done! The cashier and the barmen were so kindness and well prepared to solve the situation that in this bad occasion I had one of the best front facing customer service experiences in my life! After a while outside drinking my hot chocolate and calling the bank I could solve the problem with the card and I returned to the coffee shop to pay, but what took my attention was the humanitarian treatment that the employees gave me. Congratulations, I will not forget this situation, and I will train the employees in my restaurant to be like this! (The oat milk hot chocolate and the gluten free pie was both amazing as well.) I am pretty sure I recommend this place, good atmosphere, good food and...

The menu misrepresented the food. The bacon is not bacon, it is mock bacon made with turkey and liquid smoke. The haggis is a nut loaf and does not resemble haggis at all. The sausage I presume to be turkey as well. This would be less of an issue if there was any indication of the true ingredients on the menu so people can purchase with information. Please reprint your menus truthfully. "Halal" in a discreet corner of a menu doesn't mean you do not describe the food correctly. Halal and then multiple normal pork products would make someone think there is a separate grill or something, not just an incorrect menu. The establishment should still say it is turkey bacon and vegan/vegetarian (?) nut loaf. I did not expect to be served nuts, and I have since seen other reviews mentioning this. This could be extremely dangerous for people with allergies as nobody would expect almonds in "haggis" and the bacon tasted of many additives. Turkey bacon is pretty vile. Disappointed in my experience. Staff were at least polite and gave me a discount to apologize for the incorrect menu information. Ambience and location nice. Please rewrite your menus as a...

NOT ALLERGEN FRIENDLY - EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!

Unfortunately we had a bad experience here. Different than many other places in the UK, this place does not follows the food allergies guidelines and laws. We ordered the Scottish breakfast and informed the server that there were a severe nut allergy in the order and asked if this was a good order for the circumstance. She proceeded to say yes and when the plate came, the haggis had almonds in it. We thankfully saw that before starting eating, called her and asked if it was actually nuts. We were told yes and to just remove it from the plate and keep eating the rest. This is unacceptable to a severely allergic person. It took them 5 times to understand how serious this was. My partner had to leave the restaurant and go back home to take pills and a shower to avoid a reaction. They proceeded to give us a free dessert which was right next to a pistachio desert, so literally learnt nothing.

If you have a nut allergy, do not go there but here are a few recommendations of places that don’t even have nuts in their kitchen: makars (for some AMAZING FOOD) and arcades (for delicious haggis balls...