The Edinburgh Coffee Lounge — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I want to preface this by saying I never normally leave reviews, good or bad. This topic has been on my mind for three days now and as I find myself on a 9 hour coach home from Edinburgh, I can’t hold it in any longer. I came to the town for Fringe, and it was a heavy few days of drinking. I wake up one morning, hungover, fighting for my life, desperate for a coffee to fix me so I can continue serving face. I leave the house like a savage looking for prey. Almost instantly, right in front of me is The Coffee Lounge, a super cute cafe just 30 seconds from where I’m staying - perfect! I walk in and am met with a friendly barista, smiles all round and he looked happy to be there. At the same time, it didn’t look like he knew where ‘there’ was; almost as though he had found himself at the till after being led there unwillingly. As I ordered my £4.20 vanilla latte with semi-skimmed milk, I saw the pain slowly grow in his eyes as the mental list of tasks increased, still appearing as though he’d never been here prior to this very moment. Alas, he poured a shot of coffee perfectly ready and waiting for the steamed mil- oh WAIT! “There’s a brunch order I haven’t finished yet, let me just do this first.” No problem! He’ll run another double shot through. I’d say at the time he arrives back from running the brunch order, we’re around 4 minutes into the interaction. Slowly, my inner demons are getting louder as my need for a coffee is growing at a great pace. I feel a sense of relief as he returns, while also surprised he remembered where the counter was. The milk steaming has begun. As did the decline of my mental stability. Wincing, I can hear enough air to cause a minor wind disaster being blown through my milk. But it’s okay - he’s a barista (?), he will save it with a quick tap of that milk jug! As he pours the milk I notice that his selection of coffee shot was in fact the bitter, dead, crema-less shot he poured what feels like 3 hours ago now - sat, mourning the beautiful milky drink it could have once been, longing for someone to end the suffering. At this point, I’m desperate, I’ll take it. He hands me the cup and instinctual confusion appears in my brain - ‘this cup feels quite light’. I ignore it. The technology we have nowadays is amazing. I wait for my friend to receive their drink and we leave. My mouth watering, exhilarated that I finally have this drink, I take a sip and my brain pauses. The world turns cold. It cannot be… were my famous last words. I lift the lid to reveal a ‘latte’ which has the foam equivalent of 3 bubble baths and 12 cappuccinos. I would be generous to say that my cup was 45% coffee, and 55% foam. I’m far too British to turn around and complain, so I build a bridge and get over it. The foam slowly dies down to reveal the pipette of coffee I have to enjoy, which tasted great. Lovely...

Ordered a flatwhite and a scone. The older lady serving seemed very flustered and was a bit abrupt. But I decided she was maybe just new, and stressed. There was another woman making coffees. There were 2 other tables occupied, so not busy.

During my wait I could here the two staff bickering over what orders had been placed and who was at fault for the errors in another table's order.

I was by now regretting coming in. I just wanted a quick coffee and cake to fill a spare hour.

It took 20 minutes for order to arrive. No apology or acknowledgment of the wait

The scone had been microwaved to make it warm (did not ask for this to be done) so it had the rubbery texture of an old sponge. The butter was is a small dish and was pretty much melted. Rather than an individual portion of jam, it was an open jar. I would question the hygiene of this.

As she placed the coffee on the table, the waitress told me that I could ask for a stronger coffee if I wanted, but to remember that a flat white is supposed to be a "short, sharp burst of coffee" (!?!). What was in the cup was just weird. It was not a flat white. It was more like a really weak watery americano with milk added, and a bad foam floating atop, as if it had been spooned on. It was really terrible.

I did not ask for another, as I had already spent to long waiting for this one.

The decor is OK, everything feels a bit cheap and flimsy and the paint and woodwork looks like it was a rush job. That coupled with the bickering staff did not make for a relaxing environment.

The service was poor, the food was bad, the coffee awful. They need to hire a proper barista who can make coffee, work on the quality of the food and the speed of service. If they do not work on this, I don't think they will be in...

Twice I have visited this cafe and been very let down. The first time I ordered a panini and was given a regular toastie that wasn't properly cooked. I am not however gonna dwell on my first visit. I will begin by saying that it is very nicely decorated place clean and spacious it is a lovely place to sit. On to the service and things take a horrible turn, my cup and spoon were dirty when I was given them and the milk jar had large chips in the rim. Our tea for 2 was a pot with one tea bag in it and it simply couldn't turn the water into tea. It not like we were not paying enough to merit 2 t bags. The wait to order was 10min as only one guy was working solo and the counters looked like chaos as he tried to keep up. Maybe if he didn't spend his time standing next to us outside smoking when he didn't have any customers he could sort it out. My other friend said her coffee was very good and she liked the slice of cake which she told me was the one she buys from costco herself. Sadly I can't bring myself to recommend this place.

I just noticed you left a reply saying you don't sell panini (they are in the photographs) and it's true you NOW don't but you use to. Or should I say it was on the board to buy when the previous people worked there but the cafe had the same name. Since you are intent on making me out to be a liar I will ensure the other diners I was with also leave a review about our first visit with the panini you don't sell. Witness to your poor judgement in leaving a petulant reply. Seriously people trust me just avoid this place it's not worth the effort, ill mannered and unhygienic...