The Haven — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I've been coming to the Haven for years, although I wouldn't call myself a regular. I'm an irregular.

Another glowing review of this wee cafe feels a bit redundant however it deserves the praise. Most of all, I trust Haven for consistent and quality service.

Some tips;

The menu isn't huge but they're happy for you to be pick'n'mix from the big breakfasts and there are lots of options. I'd go for the pancakes anyway (you tend to get two) Look in the case dessert case by the till before sitting down as you may want to adjust your order to leave room for some of it! (Scrambled eggs on toast followed by cake is perfectly acceptable) The coffee is at least as good as some of the roasters up towards Victoria Park/Trinity It gets busy, but even one table finishing up opens up a lot more space. Dogs are sometimes brought in

I also sometimes use Haven as food on the go. For a takeaway, don't wait, walk up to the counter and when staff are ready, order. The catch? If you have to queue you'll also have to pay attention that you're not blocking egress from the counter area.

My takeaway default is sausage roll (sausages in a roll) which you can safely eat and walk at the same time.

Lastly, if you walk up the hill around the side and towards the Sculpture Workshop be aware the metal plates in the pavement there get very slippery in wet weather.

August 2022 update...

Me and my wife went for breakfast this morning we went to haven since got open and we always said this was best breakfast ever always fresh and good but recently and today was disappointed. You use to get breakfast with coffee or tea now it’s changed £9.90 for breakfast and £2.90 for cappuccino which was cold and all I wanted was hot drink, all day breakfast both of our eggs were burn on bottom and yolk burst & hard, bacon very hard and chewy, potato scone I think was microwaved only black pudding and haggis was perfect, on my wife plate a sausage when she cut in half was a thick string of fat about 40mm when my wife ask a lady what’s in sausage she went and check and came back saying it’s a bit of fat do we want anything instead but my wife was a bit off after that sausage so we left at that, plus my wife didn’t want beans on her breakfast so at the end we went to pay and we were charge full price £28.60 for 2 breakfast and two cappuccinos as we were loyal customers in years we need to say, we not going to return for very long time disappointing a lady didn’t even try knock off a bit of the total bill £28.60 for 2 all day breakfast and 2...

Visiting Edinburgh for Christmas Holidays, and this little cafe / bakery fits right into the festive yet cozy athmosphere of Edinburgh during Christmas.

The location is great, having a tram stop directly in front of the venue. The Haven resides in what seems to be a very old building that the folks running the place decorated extensively. After sitting down a few minutes with a very nice dirty chai and cafe latte, we felt right at home.

The food tastes great and was presented with care. The prices seem fair as well, especially for the coffees which are large in size.

The staff was very kind and attentive, and was really supportive around food allergies.

Highly recommend this cozy cafe / bakery for breakfast or lunch.

4/5🌟 for the food, although presented nicely, we had a raspberry that seemed it might not pass Q&A, just one though. The English breakfast was superb.

5/5🌟 Athmosphere and Service, really lovely little cafe with joyful staff.

Highly recommend...