Söderberg The Meadows — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

You would think that a café in the heart of the Meadows, where every other person seems to be walking a dog, would offer some purchase mechanism – even for takeout – for customers with dogs. I checked both the Söderberg website and the door signage – no information on either. So I went in to queue at the counter, as there was no outside service hatch. I kept my small dog on a tight lead, and was told 'no dogs inside'. Now I wasn't wanting to sit inside, I simply wanted to purchase from the bakery and go. To be fair they did say they could take my order outside – but if I hadn't gone inside in the first place I wouldn't have been noticed, so catch-22. Yes, I can understand a business adopting this policy for hygiene, customer comfort etc. but I felt quite embarrassed. At the same time there were loads of toddlers running around, directly next to the trolleys of cakes and buns, so I do think this policy needs some thought. The food is good, yes, but that's about all, Söderberg is not what it once was, and has become complacent and pricey in spite of good competition in the area as the business has grown. Contrast this with Kauai, a couple of minutes walk away, which has signage stating it is dog friendly, offers service inside and outside via a hatch, and an app-based click-and-collect facility. Söderberg, this is how it...

There's been a serious decline in quality here over the years. 5-10 years ago, this was called Peter's yard, and a one-off place where you could see through into the kitchen, where bakers prepared bread and pastries.

Peter's Yard was in the Locavore guide, and frequented by people who were into the Slow Food movement. You could pop in to buy good bread and everything was top quality. There was no music and it was a nice relaxing place to take coffee. The coffee then was very good. An espresso was served with a piece of valrhona chocolate. The tea was from Palais des Thés. The pistachio horse shoe were vegan and basically pure pistachio flour. Now they feel less intense and padded out by a flour filler.

I'm not sure what happened, but since changing the name to Sodeberg, the quality has dropped, and this is no longer the same cafe. The coffee is always stale and burnt tasting. No side chocolate. The buns are lacklustre and dry. The soups are overly seasoned. There are far more branches and everything is probably made somewhere far away in a bigger place.

The owners obviously opted to choose profit over quality. This is now a pretty average and...

My wife and I have been coming to Söderberg for over a decade now, it’s one of our favourite cafes in Edinburgh. We always get the frukostbricka breakfast tray with a cinnamon or (my personal favourite) cardamom bun. Söderberg at the meadows has an amazing atmosphere, especially on a sunny day when the light streams in through the glass walls. It’s the place to be for some zen time, good food and the quiet bustle of city life. I would whole heartedly recommend Söderberg to everyone! My one piece of constructive criticism to management - on occasion, you can hold back on providing a proper portion size for some items. If you order the meat frukostbricka breakfast tray, I’d expect more than one slice of ham. On one visit we only got one slice of bread each. This certainly isn’t every time, and in general I love the mix of foods you include in your breakfasts. Just remember that you have a lot of loyal customers who enjoy coming back time and time again, so...