Ralia Cafe — Restaurant in Scotland

I was driving from Inverness to Edinburgh, and stopped to Ralia for a morning coffee stop. Reading that their menu offered a Flat White, my hopes were raised as Flat Whites are hard to make and are rarely offered in Scotland- my coffee loving self rejoiced. I did however option for an easily made Latte, along with some other coffees for my fellow travellers. I would be remiss not to note that the coffees were pumped out like baby rabbits in spring, within seconds of ordering. The first cab off the rank, I received had burnt milk that was too hot to drink, and not pleasant to taste. The soy flat white was also burnt to the point the milk stuck together- forming a lumpy soy layer. And the Hot Chocolate quote tasted “more like coffee that hot chocolate”. The takeaway cup lid both dripped like a works burger with every sip and kept falling off, and spilt my boiling beverage all around my car. The cups were also not biodegradable or recyclable- straight to landfill. The service was nice, and the cafe conveniently placed along the highway. This is why their is one star out of five. Please visit Ralia with desperation, or perhaps pass on the coffee altogether - which seems absurd to me as this is a cafe - perhaps they could change the name to...

So me and my family decided to go on a road trip. We set off from north wales and drove for 7 straight hours untill we found ralia cafe at 12 o'clock at night so decided to pull in and stop for the night. We woke up in the morning and made some breakfast with our camping stove. After breakfast we all went to the toilets to freshen up before we set off, i decided to take two cups with me that we used for drinks and took my tooth brush. While i was in the toilet a grumpy old man came in to clean the sinks, he seen me washing out my cups and started shaking his head at me! I asked him if everything was okay to which he replied "are you enjoying the cleaning facilities" i said "yes thankyou" he then gave me another funny look! So i asked him politely asked if we were not allowed. He said " well if everyone did it" so i replied "does eveyone do it"? And his response was "its not the point" obviously he wasnt the friendliest of people but i wont let that ruin our trip as im sure the rest of scotland...

I love the Ralia cafe & although I only use it as few times a year on my trips to Scotland on holiday, and on the return, I do look forward to dropping in.

I travel to Scotland once or twice a year with my Labrador on holiday. He enjoys the dog walking area adjacent to the cafe & the flapjack I share with him. I enjoy the big range of snacks, the wonderful coffee that's prepared with love and care & the wonderful staff who are always super friendly & chatty.

It's always clean & tidy, no matter how busy it gets & it's always gives a welcome to the hungry & weary traveller.

The toilets at the foot of the cafe are equally clean & well stocked.

It's probably taken me 8 years to clock up 20 visits, but it's somewhere I always look forward to visiting and theres been a few trips that using the A82 would have been a more direct route for me, but I've used the A9 instead so I could visit the Ralia.

I guess you could say...