aran — Restaurant in Scotland

The aran Cafe is a cut above the norm with a real emphasis on flavour and freshness. The cafe is located in the centre of historic Linlithgow, located on the first floor at 1 The Cross, overlooking the Cross Well and Burgh Halls by the entrance to Linlithgow Palace.

The Cafe is run by husband and wife team Martin & Laura, who offer a warm friendly welcome and good menu, using local and small Scottish suppliers where they can, including Wild Hearth Bakery breads, Isle of Mull Creamery Cheddar and Unorthodox Roasters Kinross coffee. They make their own cakes, sauces, chutneys, hummus, soups and more, putting their own stamp on the food. I had a lovely breakfast of Avocado and poached egg on toast with roasted cherry tomatoes and sukkah.

They are keen on sustaiability, being powered by 100% renewable electricity and they don’t use any single use plastics. On the ground floor below the cafe is a good sized playroom for the children to keep them entertained too. I enjoyed my visit so much I went back later in the day and would certainly recommend others visit to this...

First visit here today and unfortunately will be the last. Came in for lunch and were told to sit downstairs. The area was cold and uninviting. The waitress wiped the table down and flicked the dirty old bits of food onto the floor and chairs we were about to sit on… not a great start.

Our order was taken and we had around a 25 minute wait for food. When this arrived it was lukewarm and the cooked breakfast was greasy. The toastie was advertised as three cheese and red onion and tasted hideously bitter. The home made slaw was bland. The kids macaroni cheese tasted like it had smoked cheese in it which my little one didn’t like at all and the garlic bread was hardly toasted and absolutely caked in garlic butter which dripped everywhere when picked up. The menu doesn’t give any indication of what cheeses etc are in the meals otherwise we would have ordered something else or have gone elsewhere… even if we had complained there was nothing else any of us would have eaten instead.

Really wanted to like it here but unfortunately just not for us…...

We found the cafe last minute on google ( highly rated) and were excited to enjoy a late brunch on a sunny Saturday. We were sat quickly, but on a dirty table that we had to ask to be wiped down. Then we realised all the tables in the cafe needed to be cleared and several tables were waiting waiting to order food (also on dirty tables), while the staff were behind the till and in the kitchen chatting. The food came out in okay time, was very nice and hot, so compliments to the chef. One comment, however, the bross bagel menu item with asparagus and egg is only half a bagel which I thought was a bit cheeky for £8. During our visit it became clear the staff have not been trained/mentored properly, and as soon as it got busy they could not handle the pile up of orders and customers waiting to be served. If they can improve their service we would return because the food...