Mary's Cafe Bistro — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I don’t like giving bad reviews but the service I just received at Mary’s bistro was ridiculous. So hopefully someone will see this and know not to waste their time!

We arrived here at 11am and waited a while to get our order taken. We then waited about 20 minutes for our drinks to arrive.

After another 30 minutes since the drinks arrived we asked how long the food (we’d ordered a full breakfast and pancakes with Nutella and strawberries) would be as there was no sign of any food coming out to any tables apart from those sat outside. We weren’t the only table having to ask when our food would be coming (one table saying they had been waiting already for an hour and 15 mins!!!). The waiter said he would check then disappeared for 15 minutes and we had to ask again when we’d see the food and he said he would go and check, and shock horror no sign of him again!

The food eventually came well over an hour since we’d ordered and my friend’s pancakes had all the wrong toppings. They said they’d scrape off what they’d put on and put the correct toppings on and we didn’t have faith in a quick remake.

We were already fed up with the wait never mind having to wait even longer for the correct order, and we were absolutely starving by this point, so we asked if we could just get the bill for the drinks and leave since we’d waited long enough and the waitresses didn’t answer and stormed off muttering under their breath. Annoyed at us for being annoyed with the wait and the service? No apologies whatsoever.

We then decided to get up and go pay at the bar and the waitress completely ignored us when we asked how much it was. We waited there and without even looking at us eventually she said £15. A complete rip off for a tea (which I didn’t even drink because it was salty?), a coffee and 2 apple juices.

Service is way too slow, no urgency and no apologies at all from the staff. One of the worst and rudest experiences I’ve ever had! Wouldn’t even give...

I know the Fringe is coming and options will be limited but DONT do this to yourselves, not even during the festival.

Order for five people, standard breakfast things (french toast, what they call a "Mediterranean" breakfast, pancakes and eggs benedict) and four coffees.

We sat and for the first half an hour there was no cleaning of the previous plates from the table and after we asked them twice they actually kind of took the plates and crumbs off. Then we had to order at the counter because nobody would be coming.

Coffees come after a while and they're salty and vinegary which is a sign of either a really dirty coffee machine, spoiled milk, or descaler fluid, or any combination of the above. (undrinkable see picture)

For the above order it took them over and hour and two more promptings to get something delivered to our table. So by now it's been 1,5 hours and finally something comes and people eat it because they're hungry.

French toast and breakfast are on 79p discounted sliced bread from the store of your choice and are quite soggy and look weird. The eggs benedict are (after you clean the oil-spill level "hollandaise") quite watery and release said water into the dish as you cut into them, set on the thinnest ham wafer on top of a frozen muffin which has gone into lukewarm from the sauce and egg.

Pancakes are super oily, they get the order wrong (toppings) but by this point you just kind of want to eat and leave. The raspberry jam and maple syrup are thinner than well-warmed-up ketchup (the kind you find under a fast food bag).

I might remember more, but a final thing for now is how for five people, five minutes after three of the dishes were delivered, only four sets of cutlery arrived.

Till...

This is a nice cafe just off the Royal Mile. It is furnished with hard, wooden chairs and tables.  The tables are close together making getting in and out of seats a squeeze. If required tables can be rearranged to accommodate larger groups.  There is also a smaller beer garden to the rear.  A good choice of breakfast and lunch is offered - we only had coffee and cakes so can't comment other than to say they were well presented, had good quantities and looked appetising. 😀 The cakes (Red Velvet, Carrot and Marlenka Honey) were lovely and large too. 😋 Something of note is this is a licensed cafe with a few draught beers, ciders, wines and spirits available. Also, it is table service but you pay at the till.  Service...