Benugo - Historic Scotland in Edinburgh, City of

We booked this afternoon tea as a treat whilst away for a few days in Edinburgh but can honestly say it is the worst customer service we have received anywhere. To start, we were kept waiting for 20 minutes, after being seated, before anyone came to speak to us and the room was freezing cold. Food was reasonably nice but when asking for another pot of tea, which we had been advised was included in the extortionate price of the afternoon tea, they simply topped up the existing tea bag with hot water. When we asked for a new tea bag you would have thought we had asked for the world! Everything seemed to be too much trouble and made us feel as though we were making a fuss. There was a teaspoon of jam provided to accompany two scones and when we politely requested more jam we were told this was not possible as it had all been measured out according to the bookings for the day....unbelievable! A little more thought and consideration about the customer experience would have made all the difference but sadly we would not recommend this afternoon tea at all, you would do better in the regular cafe with a sandwich, piece of cake and cup of tea.

If you are here for the reviews *before* purchasing tickets, good for you. I bought the tickets first and then read the reviews below, and then I started dreading my decision. Well, it went better than I expected. Let's review. Location: they are back in the regular space with real plates and flatware. Seating: we were taken to our table right away (a few minutes early in fact) without any fuss. The service: I won't say that the server didn't want to be there, but she seemed uninterested in being friendly or helpful. Also, mark your bingo card square if you have "hard to get follow-up service after the food comes". Because we had prepaid our experience, we were free to leave at will, but we weren't told that until we finally flagged down a server and asked for the check (which we expected to be $0). The food: slightly above average, but just. It tasted as though everything was made somewhere else and trucked into the castle before being set on the serving plates. The tea (as in beverage): well, let's talk. I thought people in the U.K. loved their tea. I expect tea bags in hotel rooms, but at "The Team Rooms"? If you plan to be at the castle and get food there, this might be a good choice. If you are willing to spend a bit more for a proper tea, there are better choices in town.

The Edinburgh Castle is amazing and rich in historical significance. Having High Tea at the Castle was a bonus. The treats are tasty and the teas are very good. However, the decor was not as fancy as you would think. You must remember it is a castle and not a palace. SO the Tea rooms are not very ornate but the event is still fun.

This tea room experience for lunch at the castle was a memory my daughters and I will never forget. The food was good and we appreciated that they had a modified tower for kids. The service could have been better. Most disinterested servers who were rarely around for questions or refills.

We previously had a great experience at Edinburgh Castle Tea Rooms, and we're excited to return. Our experience could not have been more different. It started at check in where the host insisted that I purchased afternoon tea for three. I assured him that it was just for two. He finally relented and sat the two of us. It took a while for the server to acknowledge us and take our order. Once we received our food, she never came back. We were never offered additional hot water for tea, nor even a refill of our tap water. At the end of our meal, we got her attention and asked for a box. We waited 30 minutes and never got the box for our leftover treats. We tried to get her attention multiple times unsuccessfully. The food itself was good. Not the best afternoon tea, but tasty. But, the service was just terrible. It wasn't even busy the day and time we were there.

We arrived at 1.20 for our 1.30 pm slot and was told very rudely to come back as we were too early. We sat inside by the bar area to wait after assuring the waitress we were happy to wait for our allocated time. She did not redeem herself with a smile or a nod she just ignored us and made us feel most unwelcome. What a terrible first impression. Heard the same waitress speak equally rudely to 3 other groups. We were then sat down (by a lovely waitress) and waited for 20 minutes before any food or drink arrived. The room was cold, food very average and my wife had to ask 3 times for milk to go with her tea. By the time it turned up her tea was cold. The rest of the staff were fine but it was the same Asian waitress who was rude and then kept on forgetting what we ordered. Overall not a great experience particularly given the cost. So disappointed as this was supposed to be a lovely treat to enhance our visit to the castle but unfortunately it managed to taint our whole day.

Lovely setting, but even with a thick jumper on, the room was chilly. The mulled wine, gin, and service - I can't fault it. The 'afternoon tea'... mediocre. I'm coeliac and also a vegetarian. We booked in October for a December tea. The sandwiches I received were all the same: cheese and sundried tomato filling on white bread. The cakes were all chocolate. Chocolate millionaire (one square cut into two fingers), chocolate brownie (one square cut into 2 triangles), and 2 chocolate biscuits... so if you're a chocolate fan... Considering it's nigh Christmas, there wasn't even a gluten-free mince pie. The scone was nice, but not spectacular. My friend said the macaroon on her plate was dry/stale. At £50 a head... disappointing.

The savory part was good, my husband thought the bread was stale with one of the sandwiches. The dessert were not great one out of 4 was good, the macarons tasted stale. The scones were ok but the clotted cream had a thick yellow crust on it. The espresso martini, tea, and server were excellent. I would not recommend spending money on tea here

The afternoon tea at the Edinburgh Castle is lovely AND delicious! Having the opportunity to stop here and rest awhile was perfect after climbing up to the castle and exploring. The selection of teas was excellent (I had mango strawberry) and the sandwiches, scones, and desserts were great. They don't rush you so you can sit and enjoy the view as you leisurely dine. Combine it with your visit to the castle so you won't have to climb up there twice!

I gave this 3 stars because despite the incredibly slow service, the servers were very nice and apologetic when something didn't go to plan. We saw multiple people having their orders taken and being served that were seated after us, which was frustrating. We had to change the menu for our dietary needs and there was a lot of confusion around that and then they had to take back the food and bring it again. A few of the desserts were quite lovely, but they never gave me the modified finger sandwich I was supposed to get. Scones were pretty plain. Also, there are no real options with the teas - you are just served tea. Given the slow service and lack of anything fabulous in the menu and lack of tea selection, we wouldn't be back. You can find many other great places to have afternoon tea in Edinburgh. Try the Dome, our tea there was lovely.

So this is a must if you are in Edinburgh for a tour loved the tea and all the snacks we had a brilliant time as they would say

Nous nous attendions à mieux dans ce lieu ., Les gâteaux étaient moyennement pas ( pas tous ultra frais ) et on ne nous a pas proposé un refill pour le the ( alors qu’à la table voisine oui ) . Vraiment décevant pour le prix

Went for high tea. Expectations were far from met given the cost and status of the venue. Very slow service given the number of staff and customers. The table we were shown to was dirty and not really designed for 5- we were allowed to move but were left to shift the table settings ourselves. Waited an hour for food, had to ask for drinks order to be taken and part of it never arrived. The food itself was nice,there was plenty of it but not particularly special. The staff were nice when they came over but were really quite unattentive despite being far from rushed off their feet. Really quite a disappointing experience.

We attended Edinburgh Castle Tea Rooms today as a pre booked group of 5. Our ticket told us to arrive ten minutes before the reservation time, which we did. We were told to return at our booked time of 2pm. This was fine and we did as asked. We arrived at 2pm to be told to wait. We waited nearly 15 minutes before we were seated. We were taken to a table where three of the chairs were covered in crumbs and when one chair was pulled out the floor was covered in crumbs and mess. The staff member went and got a brush which removed the worst of it. We then were seated but one of the chairs was on the end of the table where there was a bar. They could not get their legs under the table so had to sit sideways. We were told that tables of six sitting in that position had already been in. Irrelevant as this person was uncomfortable. We asked if we could change tables but were told no as there were other bookings. Another staff member then said we could. We moved the crockery to the other table as the staff members did not do this. We were asked what drinks we wanted and we then waited over 20 minutes for the food to arrive. One serving was missing a scone, which was delivered. We were not offered tea so had to ask. We had asked for water for the table when we ordered our drinks, this never arrived. The tea took around 15 minutes. It arrived when we were nearly finished the food and was very stewed as it had clearly been sitting for a while. The staff member put the milk on the table holding the top rim of the jug rather than the body of it. With regards to the food, the ham, egg and mustard sandwiches had very little ham in it. One of the leek and cheese puffs had no filling, the others were stale. The menu stated strawberry and pistachio Battenberg, we got a vanilla cake with pistachio and raspberry, the sea blackthorn meringue pie was lemon meringue. We were told when the food was served that we were getting what was on the menu. In general, the food was nice. We were asked if we were ok, we were however not asked if we wanted anymore to drink. Whilst the staff were pleasant, service was poor and the experience was not one we would repeat. We paid £203 for this, and it was definitely not worth it.

This place was great. Staff was very friendly and helpful. The tea was good and it was just the right amount of food for lunch. Finger sandwiches were delicious and so was the tea. Well worth it.

Waited 20 minutes till waitress came to order. Took another 15 minutes for a pot of tea to come and it was wrong one. Not sure how long it took for the food to come and replaced with correct tea. The food was average and I didn’t expect to stand out but the staffs really need to get trained. They are like a group of high school student first day to work. I asked for a take away box and it took forever and never came. Thank god this is prepaid so we don’t need to wait for the bill.

The absolute best Earl Grey tea I’ve ever had! I sure wish I knew what brand it is and where to purchase it.

Excellent Afternoon Tea experience. Prosecco served with tea and three tiered offering of pastries and finger sandwiches.

Service was slow and room so cold due to lack of heat. Very disappointed! food was of poor quality and scones were hard.

Very average food and service. The tables and chairs were also very standard and not pretty at all. We didn't get what we hoped for.

We were just looking for the bathroom but happened upon the Tea Room and were very pleasantly surprised by the quality and service. And we found the price to be very reasonable for such a captive audience. Thank you.

Food was great and the location made it even more special we really enjoyed the food and the staff telling us stories about the place and history

Amazing view because its at the castle. Food was alright. Most staff members were great except for one who was discriminatory which was uncalled for.

Christmas tea at the castle was fantastic and such an experience. My husband and I had a great time celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary.

We booked the tea because we were visiting the castle after a morning of walking the city. We knew we would need something to eat. Having has a tea at The Witchery the day before, we were not very impressed. The service was great. And...

Had afternoon tea with prosecco at Edinburgh Castle. Having booked, we had to wait while a table was set for us in the two thirds empty tearooms. Not a great start. The prosecco arrived and was excellent. However, I did not think we would have...

Lovely experience, we arrived early and were seated early, we had mulled wine and Gin or Prosecco plus hot drinks with our meal, all included in the price. The Gin portions were generous. The cakes, delicious. The staff, friendly and attentive. The room was spacious...

We were a little disappointed with our afternoon tea. We had high expectations but it just wasn't as nice as teas we had in other places. The food was fine - but nothing special. The room was nothing great...certainly it didn't give a castle feeling....

Ligger inne på Edinburgh Castle sitt område, og vi smatt innom for en pause. Gledet oss til et koselig tehusbesøk....

Really simple, just avoid. Overstaffed, with staff wandering about chatting to each other and simply ignoring guests. We stood for ten minutes waiting to be seated as staffed walked past us about five times and more and more groups came in to stand behind us....

Staff made sarcastic , condescending remarks when I asked for more chocolate sprinkle on my mocha , which was really uncalled for , not to mention extremely unprofessional. I will not return.

When booking our trip to Edinburgh as a birthday surprise this was my one must do. However it fell utterly short. From the moment we arrived we were left unattended and waiting. We walked in, a staff member looked at us, ignored us and turned...

I was so disappointed in this experience. There are no tablecloths. The room is a cafe. The tea pots are metal and leak everywhere. The china is basic cafe cups. You are served an individual tray with three plates. Far too many sweet things and...

Great experience. Recommend you schedule for after castle exploration so relaxing and sitting a spell is even more enjoyable.

Visited Edinburgh castle on a birthday weekend trip and booked a special afternoon tea as a surprise for my mum. Unfortunately we were really disappointed with the quality, considering the price we paid. The afternoon tea was small in comparison to other places we’d been...

This was a great choice for High Tea. The setting was delightful and it brought our visit of the castle to a perfect end. Delicious food, generous pots of tea and great service, Also, they offered one of the biggest glasses of Gin & Tonic...

Excellent afternoon tea selection with Earl Grey tea. Super fast service and lots of attention throughout.. Excellent but a bit pricey at £25 per head.. Delicious extravagance..

While in Edinburgh castle me and my partner decided to go for afternoon tea. We were seated by a scruffy looking man. We read through the menu as he seated more people. We waited 20 minuets as he proceeded to serve people who came in...

My hubby and I went here for afternoon tea. The sandwiches were a joke, the size of a postage stamp. The cakes were bite sized. It's the worst afternoon tea we've had by far. The people on the next table to us were shocked and...

A wet, soggy slap in the face. Great location at Castle with great views across the city but atrocious food! Soggy, wet, tasteless tuna sandwiches! Eat before you go to the castle or just have coffee. Edinburgh Castle is a fantastic venue but let’s itself down by outsourcing to Benugo.

Bit of a hidden gen this one. Service was great, food was most enjoyable. Maybe not super cheap, but defintely made up for it with teh setting, service and quality.

The tea rooms are right at the heart of the castle and was the old kitchens area - the layout is lovely in a nice bisque environment. Great food and coffee and the staff are lovely. A must do.

Great cafe and a lot of choises of desserts and sandwiches. We tried the scone and was tasty and freshly baked.

Booked afternoon tea for two during our long weekend in Edinburgh. Venue was lovely inside the castle, nice relaxed atmosphere. Staff were friendly and very attentive. Sandwich and cake selection was great, scones were delicious. Just the right amount. Planned it so we visited the...

The tea room was busy but it was possible to reserve a table and come back. Service was excellent and everything was tasty from soup to cakes,coffees and hot chocolate.

Visited today at 2pm with my boyfriend for our lunch. Very simple menu - I ordered the linguine which almost tasted like a frozen meal and my boyfriend ordered the light lunch option (soup of the day with 1 slice of bread and a very...

Great value for afternoon tea that included a ticket to the castle. The staff were really friendly and helpful and were happy to sort out our dietary needs. Would definitely recommend.

Great cake and coffee. The scones were really good. The decor inside could have been more in keeping with the castle vibe. Worth a visit though

Nice Victoria sponge and carrot cake. very sticky tables and slow service. I expected it to be a but more up market, being in the castle.

A very lovely visit. Portions small but enough bits n bobs to have an afternoon that leaves space for dinner later. However, mini carrot cake a tad dry and very parsimonious with the clotted cream. Half a level teaspoon of clotted cream per half scone...

Average setting. Below average staff service however the quality of food was the worst we have ever experienced. My family and I were very disappointed with everything from the extremely thin and measly sandwiches to the no food or drink refill to waiting for a...

We had the BEST tea here. I mean tea is tea is tea ya know but here we had TEA. We did a whisky taste + light lunch for the hubs and tea for me. The food was good, I mean not out of this...

We popped in for tea and cake at the end of our visit to the castle. It took a while to be acknowledged at the door and were advised of a short wait for a table. The tea room is quite modern with well spaced...

We left after 20 mins, as no one came to take our order, despite prompting the staff member who seated us after 10 mins to ask if it was table service. We were told they were very busy and someone would come and take our...

We had a fantastic experience at the tea rooms. We had afternoon tea for two. Great choice of hot and cold drinks and food was lush! Well worth the money and big shout out to Amy to taking our order and making sure we were...

Lovely regal surroundings within which to spend a little time during a long hot visit to the castle. The food was good, if a little pricey. The staff were warm and friendly and the decor was beautiful. Just a really nice place to be. Would...

The tea room is very nice with very efficient and friendly staff. The coffee was excellent, however the beautiful cakes we purchased had evidently been stored in a chiller which unfortunately had dried them out, leaving them unmoist and cold. Maybe something for the staff...

Det er en super hyggelig og flot, og så i de skønne omgivelser på Edinburgh Castle. Vi sad i deres...

I arrived early for my reservation & they were very accomdating to seat me. The staff was friendly & attentive. The food was quite tasty and I ate too much! It was a grest way to have a break from touring. A quiet, warm room....

Ambiente excelente y muy tranquilo. Riquísima comida elaborada con productos de calidad. Muy buena atención del personal. Si bien no...

Having done a fair bit of walking, we decided cake was the just the thing to reenergise us, so we went into the tea rooms at the castle and waited a short time, less than 10 minutes for a table. While waiting, all the available...

Enjoyed the afternoon tea set for two after touring around the castle. The set had a nice balance of scones, savory and sweet items while the staff were welcoming and friendly, and were more than happy to serve us extra jam and refill our teapots....

Really enjoyed visiting here and boy, was it welcome after a few hours of trudging around. Very nice quality of tea.

There's a good deal where you get soup and cake and coffee for £9. You only get the choice of soup of the day, which is fine. But you're also restricted to "cake of the day" - that's not even a thing. So instead of...

Très bien pour le goûter et prendre un bon thé et de très bon gâteau, par contre le prix et...

My daughter and I went to Edinburgh Castle for afternoon tea. She had already bought it online. We only wanted afternoon tea but she had to pay to get into the castle. As I am disabled we weren't going to walk round the castle but...

The castle is amazing! We can stays hours visiting every corner and The Tea Rooms is a very good place to rest, have some tea or lunch. The view is wonderful!

OK - so it was only coffee and a scone - but it served quickly and efficiently, and was a very welcome break during our visit to the castle. All very well done. Tjanks

Redcoat Cafe was Fantastic, lovely Sandwiches and Wraps, and excellent coffee.

Nice place to stop off to visit Edinburgh Castle. Prices a little higher than in other places, but it is logical due to the environment Have a ginger and lemongrass tea with a fruity scone which is a bit tasteless