Rocksalt Cafe — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Not impressed at all.

We waited 45 for the order to come. 2 soups and a breakfast roll. And the soup was already made sitting in the hot-holding pot, not like they actually had to cook it from scratch. They might have been busy with takeaway orders, I saw a couple of people collecting something. The place was less than half full. Soup of the day smelled like sewage. We didn’t even touch it. On the other hand the breakfast roll that I had was delicious, but we had to leave, and got this as a takeaway. One of the guys came for his shift and didn’t even washed his hands or put an apron on, and started making sandwiches with only one glove on his hands. And he used that hand with the glove, to open the door, bring in stock from the car, etc. and then make more sandwiches. But he was well dressed….for jogging but not for the job. The staff members had good manners and were polite, the place looks ok, but there is a lack of common sense hygiene rules when dealing with food products. I worked in a kitchen, a busy restaurant, and I know is not easy, and I made some mistakes myself, and probably that’s why I notice things like these when eating out. But we had a uniform, and a sink specially designed only for washing hands. I didn’t see one here, or any hint that it might be one that’s getting used by the guys at the front, or see them cleaning their hands, in some way, before touching the food.

Not happy, and not going to...

Today we tried Rocksalt after hearing some very positive things online, wanted to try it ourselves and left feeling pretty disappointed. Our experience actually began at the entrance where two gentlemen were stood, actually members of staff, one littered in front of us and the other blew snot from his nose on to the floor, it wasn't until we were seated and seen these fellas start working we felt slightly grossed out. We were greeted as we entered and got seated promptly, the next part of our bad experience was when taking a trip to the toilet, the communal sink area soap dispensers were empty and the bottle of carex they'd provided was near empty and had been filled up with water to use up the dregs, another cleanliness red flag. Next we ordered our food and paid at the counter a rather steep £29 odd for a "Full Brekky" two cans of diet coke and the French toast with bacon and maple syrup. The order took near 30 minutes to arrive at the table which felt excessive considering how quiet the place was when we ordered and the French toast appeared to be missing the maple syrup listed on the menu, we asked at the till and we're told it should be on the table already provided with the condiments, ended up borrowing some from another table. The food itself tasted nice however it's just a shame about the really slow service and the way the staff represented the company blowing their snotty...

I've been testing and thoroughly enjoying Rocksalt breakfast options. Top of the list is the Turkish breakfast. I think the family who run the cafe are Turkish so perhaps this is why it's so good

Next, is the Vegetarian breakfast. It looks a little sparse on the plate but don't be fooled. It's a large plate! Not only is this delish with the toast, waffles and breads really fresh, it's quite filling!

I think Rocksalt is an unsung hero for coffee to. They're overshadowed by more famous, more specialist, neighbours but the brew here is good and generous.

I've been coming here for at least a decade and I'm pleased to see how it's grown and evolved. It started good and got better. You don't thrive on Constitution Street by being anything less than brilliant. The weak do not survive here.

While this review stated with breakfast, as all good days do, given my years of experience here, I know it's good until close. Stuff does sell out, though.

Rocksalt is perfect for families, business travellers and tourists.

Your main problems will be tempting baking at the counter just asking for you to break your calories count and queues. Needless to say, with so much going for it, Rocksalt can get very busy. I'm not saying don't come here for a quick coffee to do if you're in a hurry. I'll saying look through those fantastic windows before committing and see how many...