The Edinburgh Larder - Blackfriars Street — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Interested by the traffic going through this place. We thought we'd stop by for breakfast. We were greeted by some friendly staff, but we were offered some pretty abysmal seating. Now I don't say this lightly. Let me explain... The two options were on a long shared table shoulder to shoulder with other customers or at the corner of a table next to two other people. Not wanting to ruin the table and taking the less intrusive, we sat in the long table. Now, this was a terrible mistake... not only is it quite cold when other customers come in it's made worse by the fact that we were in the little larder which takes food from its neighboughring Edinburgh larder meaning staff will constantly open and close the door. Getting past that issue is the issue on the shared table where we're two seats next to us that were free, the ones closest to the door. They then crammed a group of 3 on a space meant for two, this table was already narrow and small. How on earth did they expect everyone to fit along with their orders and drinks? I don't know. Luckily, a table opened up, and we were then able to sit. This table left much to be desired. It was wobbly as the legs were made of repurchased rebar that was painted. Not stable stool super uncomfortable. Now let's get to the star of the show... the food! Let me ruin all expectations by saying it was almost mediocre at best. I had the full English. Eggs were nicely cooked, and the bacon and sausage, haggis, and black pudding were all okay, I attribute this to the quality of the ingredients as opposed to how they were cooked. The bake beans had an attempt at seasoning but ultimately fell short. The food containers are not great at anything but transporting food across the two restaurants, they are quite deep making them awkward to cut your food. I'm not a big fan of spoons, but honestly, I would rather go there or stay home and make it. Just being honest, I would suggest the restaurant stops cramming as many people as humanly possible, and to really make use of the great quality ingredients you pride yourself in and give...

What an amazing lunch!! I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t as good as this. It was my wife that decided to go here. We arrived a little late for our booking but they were very kind and kept our table for us. The menu is great as there was enough variety but nothing overwhelming. My wife went with the full breakfast and I was stuck between the waffle and the hash. I asked for recommendation from the chap serving us and he without hesitation said the hash. He said the waffle is nice but you can get anywhere but the hash is his favourite dish on the menu and is very special. I love it when staff are honest, instead of staying generic (almost like scripted) responses. Anyway the hash was absolutely incredible. I am usually quite fussy with eggs and prefer scrambled (this wasn’t possible) but the fried egg that I got instead of poached was amazing! Everything was expertly cooked and the sauce they used was what truly excelled this dish. It was that good I didn’t want the meal to end. It’s certainly in the conversion for the best breakfast/lunch I’ve ever had. My wife’s full breakfast was also great but maybe not on the same level as mines. She particularly like the beans. Just a pitty about her embarrassingly loud farts that followed. The almond brownie was staring at as so invitingly so we had to share one for dessert. It was as good as it looked. Very soft in the middle with a slight crisp on the outside and the flavour was brilliant. Not too sweet but enough to get my tastebuds tingling. Anyway, overall I absolutely loved this place. One of my favourites in Edinburgh. The only negative I could think of was that there was no iced teas which I was keen on having. One might think that it’s quite expensive but I don’t mind paying a little extra for food of this standard. Other than that, it was all positive. Staff were helpful and friendly. It was a very chilled and pleasant atmosphere with good tunes playing. Finally, the food was outstanding! I am going to recommend this place...

The food here was lovely but I was really let down by the service.

After eating, our food had been cleared and we sat for 10 minutes without our server asking if we would like our bill or another drink, etc. This was despite passing our table multiple times and attending to the customers next to us.

I asked our server, could we have our bill and was told ‘when I have a moment.’ This response already seemed a little offhanded because I was in no way rushing her and simply wanted to pay for my food. I totally understand they are a busy cafe.

For the next 20 minutes we were blatantly ignored by our server. Both tables either side of us had their tables cleared and had their bills given to them since we had asked for ours.

It was actually really uncomfortable for me and my partner because we felt like we were being overlooked by our server and we couldn’t understand why. Is it suddenly impolite to ask for the bill? 😅

After TWENTY minutes since asking for our bill, I went up to the counter and said ‘could we please pay for our meal?’.

Our server stuck her arm out and told me to sit down. It felt like I was being scolded by a teacher. I said ‘I asked for the bill 20 minutes ago and we are still waiting.’

She said they were busy. In that time the cafe had gotten significantly quieter and it being busy didn’t stop our server engaging with everyone else, except us it seemed like.

Seconds later we got our bill and left.

If you aren’t going to engage with your customers then don’t get an attitude and be rude when they have no option but to approach the counter. Also, don’t ignore your customers 😅

Our server had a rubbish attitude and it put a damper on mine and my partners morning.

That being said, the food was nice. And all the other staff members seemed genuinely lovely and happy to be there.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t go back due to my experience.

Fortunately we experienced some incredible customer service at other...