Cafe 52 in Aberdeen City

Lovely place, food and service. The grilled aubergine and roasted courgette dish was very tasty.

A somewhat hidden place in a square at the bottom of a large staircase. worth the detour for its very nice salads.

Great place, great food, great art on the walls

This is a great place to eat. Every aspect of this restaurant is spot on. Clearly run by people who know what they are doing. The food and service are first rate. Well done! We will be back.

The beating heart of the aberdeen food scene

Popped in here for lunch between trains and so glad I did! Fantastic food (don’t miss the chocolate bread and butter pudding) and excellent service, managed to have two courses and coffee well within the hour I had.

Overall great experience, highly recommend

French tourists, we discovered this gem nestled in the heart of Aberdeen. Hurry up, the town hall wants to close them for a dispute with their terrace (what a shame)

A strong 4th … the food very good and cozy place. We were lucky to get a table even though we didn't book. The downside is that there was a long wait to pay... we were "forgotten" it feels like...

Fantastic food, cheap lunch menu and great atmosphere :-)

Joyful cuisine with a surprising touch & lovely flavours! Y'day we enjoyed each of the 4 dishes we shared: seabass, fried Scottish kale & chilly relish, herring paté and fried haloumi. Different side salads. Nice athmosphere. Bravo!!

Great tasty food, special dishes and very nice staff.

Today we had the best,freshest,reasonably priced lunch in Aberdeen. Haven’t been for a while but it never lets us down. Amazed at how many foreign visitors were stopping looking and then trying to get a seat. This is a unique place and then we learned about the possible demolition!!! Why do this to an already broken city centre.

Lovely lunch here, very much a restaurant in Aberdeen that doesn't get mentioned enough but never has a problem here. I highly recommend the Chorizo Cassoulet.

Best food and best service 🥰 Our favourite place in Aberdeen. P.S - try Eton Mess x

Being an Aberdonian who lives overseas I’m always keen to see what the chefs are conjuring up these days when I’m back on holiday. Tonight we went to Cafe52 for dinner - no idea why it’s taken me so long but oh my it was such a lovely experience. First and foremost the manager was so kind and generous with her time explaining the extensive menu and history of the restaurant etc. My friend and I opted to go for four starters to share plus a dessert. Highly recommend the mackerel pate, then the black pudding with pesto and poached pear. The meatloaf was not your typical dried up meatloaf that needed a gravy; instead it was cooked I believe in a bain Marie so it was tender, and flavoursome and we also had the halloumi which was yum. We finished off with baked nectarines with sorbet. A simple but well made dessert. I’ll definitely be back. We sat inside and it was very cosy. PS I believe the Aberdeen Council are looking to reduce the restaurants space as they bring in new plans for the historic area of “the Green”. I hope this doesn’t happen as their current set up appears to be just perfect.

No, assolutamente no. Il patè di fegato sembrava salame tritato, le patate nei piatti principali con pesce erano crude. Per mangiare abbiamo aspettato 45 minuti l'antipasto e altri 45 minuti per il piatto principale. L'acqua del rubinetto sapeva di cloro. Dentro al locale esterno era freddo e tenevano continuamente la porta aperta. Non lo consiglio

It's important to note Cafe 52 has NOT passed a health and safety test in over 4 years. Their last inspection was "improvement required" due to mould and feces which still hasn't been fixed. Most of the food is either made by his mum or bought at marks and spencers anyway due to him not paying his chefs a decent wage... https://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/business/cafe-52-1425302.html

A wonderful experience thank you food excellent and staff amazing.

Ordered the meatloaf as you don't usually see that on a uk menu. It had some sort of soft sultanas in, a flavour of allspice, was cold and came shaped like a puck of fruit pudding. The meat used (if any) had no flavour and the side of red cabbage and red onion slaw ordered alongside was ruined with chunks of watermelon mixed through it. There was an extremely sweet chutney on the plate as well as a salad of lettuce, golden soft sultanas, dried apricots and cold caramelised onions topped with dill! This was all very unpleasant and after telling the staff I was not satisfied, was simply dismissed like I hadn't said anything. Will not visit again or recommend to others

Ordered the meatloaf as you don't usually see this on a uk menu. It came cold, pressed, pale and shaped like a puck. It had the flavour of allspice and was full of soft sultanas. Pretty sure I'd been served a bad slice of fruit pudding from orkney. The meat used, if any was bland and pasty in texture. The side of red cabbage and onion slaw (with mayo btw) was totally ruined by the addition of watermelon cubes!.. The side salad was full lettuce leaves with a pile of halved semi dried apricots, golden soft sultanas and cold caramelised onions topped with dill!.. This was all very unpleasant and after being asked how i found everything, was fully ignored when hearing it was negative. Complete waste of money and time

Really enjoyed my meal here in April 2024. I came here with friends. The chicken liver patte was brilliant. I then had the chorizo burger which I thought was okay. Service was good and the venue game me memories of being abroad. Definitely be back a great spot for dinner in Aberdeen city centre.

We arrived late, the waitress told us that the kitchen was closed but then the chef seated us anyway and also offered us a truly delicious fish soup. Then we ate Russian sausage, aubergines and goat cheese and a delicious herring. Friendly and professional staff. The environment is welcoming and very pleasant. I highly recommend this restaurant!

Always a lovely place to eat. Sat out in the greenhouse for lunch. All delicious. The crispy kale especially.

That was AMAZING! With my man, we had incredible and unforgettable experience in Cafe 52. First at all brilliant service with honest interest; professioonalism; approach. The meal was fabulous. Perfect combination of tastes. Just delicious. In the end very nice place; atmosphere. Definitely, you will love it :-)

Went for a meal prior to the theatre. Exceptionally pleasant and helpful staff. I enjoyed my meal (oxtail stew). My friends enjoyed mackerel with pear, Cullen skink soup with bread and butter pudding. Pleasant surroundings especially if you sit in the conservatory. I'll be back!...oh, I think this is a dog friendly place. I wouldn't go in if there was a dog near me but that's just me. Dogs and fine dining should not coexist.

Good food at reasonable price. Excellent service

My fave place to eat in Aberdeen, highly recommend. Food is always exquisite and the staff are really nice and friendly!!

Had a delicious supper on Saturday & despite it being the first Saturday of the New Year the menu was interesting & varied. We really enjoyed the Cullen Skink; Aubergine & Mushroom dish with hoisin dressing and the Arbroath Smokie. Lovely atmosphere and great service. We had a lovely evening

Nothing quite like an entitled business. They have an A5 card of information on their business and the good they do, but I was appalled at one article they wrote. They claim that GPs are forcing people into lactose-free and gluten-free diets, that it’s all a con, and will only cater to menu changes for ‘actual’ life threatening conditions. Gluten won’t kill a coeliac, but they shouldn’t have to risk hours of pain on toilet because of this cafe’s ignorance. This sort of misinformation and slander is so damaging to the NHS. Furthermore they claimed they couldn’t process card payments, yet another one of these articles spoke about how they prefer you to pay cash. Highly suspicious, and dare I say dishonest of them to force this upon paying customers. The food wasn’t worth the overpriced value I had to pay with cash.

Nice fresh food good service.did notice prices have went up

Absolutely love Cafe 52. Stumbled across it by chance, exhausted and hungry after Christmas shopping. I can Honestly say it's the best restaurant I've ever visited. I've never felt so comforted and nurtured by food before. Ever! You can tell every dish is made with love. Everything about this place is just perfect. Staff are warm and friendly. Decor is brilliantly unique and homely and the food... Like I say, I've never left a place feeling so content. It was like leaving your grandparents after they fed you up, made sure you were ok and sent you home with a smile on your face! Really reasonably priced too and the ethics behind the produce aswell is just amazing. Mrs B also makes the best chutney. Just sayin'. Will definitely visit again ❤️

Lovely food , great service & it's just a really good restuarant to go to .

In addition to spectacular food, the entire atmosphere is spectacular, from the waiters to the cooks and the owner of the restaurant, they are friendly. As soon as you enter it seems like you are entering an art gallery and the only thing you can breathe is art! Even the food! We would also like to give a special thanks to the employee Ashley who was super nice to us, she is very friendly who enjoys what she does, she said it herself! I don't know how to describe her because there are no words for such a good person who makes us feel at home. She is always willing to help, she quickly helped us find what we were looking for in the city. And above all, he is a good person that shows in his eyes! So Ashley, if you are reading this we send you a kiss and a hug, one from Spain 🇪🇸 and another from Portugal 🇵🇹 thank you very much 🥲

Very nice dinner, very nice wine, very attentive service. Very cool vibe too.

Wonderful selection of excellent food. Look forward to trying more from their menu.

Very nice ambience and pleasant place to sit relax and have good food with loved ones. Staff services are excellent. They were very helpful and friendly. The outside sitting area is amazing

Ristorantino in centro Aberdeen, location molto carina e ben tenuta. Ha sia una sala interna che una sala esterna. Ho mangiato lo sgombro affumicato con insalata ed era buono, patate fritte fatte in casa (ed erano veramente patate). Servizio non velocissimo ma cordiale. Prezzo buono 23 £ circa compresa una birra (rigorosamente in bottiglia, pare non abbiano la spina).

A brilliant selection of food and friendly staff. You have the option to eat inside or outside with a wide selection of beers and wines. The only thing I would say to you is, ensure you take some cash as they do not accept cards (look at the picture of the menu).

Pues un descubrimiento. Platos muy distintos, cuidados al detalle y a buen precio. Tampoco son algo realmente vistoso e increíble, pero sorprende. Las sopas/cremas y los sandwiches, muy buenos.

Amazing place, independently run. Both the afternoon tapas and the dinner menu are delicious. For example, I had never imagined that aubergines with melt cheese (and other nice ingredients) could taste that good! Excellent service too.

I had a very pleasant meal at Cafe 52. The food was fresh with a lovely homemade feel. As per other reviews the parsnips were nice but to be honest my favourite dish was the kale! The flavours were sublime and the staff was incredibly attentive and friendly.

Really idyllic bistro with delicious food and lovely surroundings

Excellent meal, very much enjoyed the smoked herring — highly recommended!

Great food and service in a really relaxing environment.

Great fresh food and good portions, will come again

I went to this place not knowing what to expect as it was a very last-minute decision before I had to get a taxi back to the airport. Let's just say I was far from disappointed ... walking to Cafe 52 felt a little dodgy to me, but once I saw it and sat down, I fell in love with the place. This young waiter was so friendly towards me, and the rest of the staff were all so attentive also, including the chef who came down to ask how the food was. This is very rare and shows true passion! Which leads me onto the food. I have one word as it left me speechless at the time ... DELICIOUS! Thank you for such great service and serving up amazing food! If I am ever in Aberdeen, I know where I will be returning too ... I highly recommend this place and wish it all the success going forward!

Always love going here the food and service is really good

Cuisine typique écossaise, trajet clauque pour s'y rendre.

It’s always a pleasure to go, my daughter says it’s worth going for the chips alone! Lovely staff and always first class food- got to add a special mention to the proprietors mother Dorothy, who provides the ingredients for all the desserts and puddings

Delicious food and also nice staff. The location is also quite nice. Highly recommend.

Where do I start? For 20 years this has been my favourite restaurant in Aberdeen. However, the last two visits have been dreadful. Last but one visit I ordered a stew dish - it had a single cube of meat!! Most recent visit….first thing we spotted was the sign saying ‘Cash preferred’ with directions to the nearest cash machine. This is 2023, FFS! Next, there were 8 mains on offer. Something like five were veggie/vegan, two were fish and the solitary meat dish was chicken. Wont be going back.

Nice home cooked styled food. Good for a cosy reasonable meal.

Excellente qualité du menu et bon rapport qualité-prix, cadre agréable, personnel sympathique, un restaurant à ne pas manquer au coeur d'Aberdeen

We didn’t have a place to go since it was already late. This cafe was an amazing surprise with great food at a reasonable price. The service was super good and the staff was super nice 😊 Plus the location is just in the city centre.

Perfect place and amazing food

What a great café. Food very good with very good service. I fancied the crayfish but not with a croissant. The server said I'll change for the evening menu of bread which was really good. Recommended for lunch

Small select menu. The food was amazing. Large portions so no room for dessert.

Great Tapas food served in nice atmospheric surroundings by friendly staff

Great food. Love the antipasto plater! Nice environment Friendly staff

A great dining experience accompanied by excellent sound track. Steve knows his stuff and the front of house staff were a credit to him. We will be back.

We were at cafe 52 for an 80th birthday celebration and had booked the Shepherds Hut and hada truly unforgettable experience. The food and service were absolutely first class and we were looked after superbly. I can't wait to dine here again!

Cozy place, delicious foods and drinks, nice and friendly people. Highly recommend!

I had a beautiful meal at one of my favourite restaurants tonight. It’s always on my list of recommendations for visitors. The menu varies but is always interesting, and the hime-made fries and/or fried parsnips with honey and salt are a must! We had Spey burn prawn cocktail with focaccia toasts Baked black pudding, pear caramelised with Havana club rum and pomegranate molasses 👌🏻 Fried sea bass fillet with lemony apple and root vegetable salsa Crispy fried French duck confit with potatoes fried in duck fat and butter Homemade chips 👌🏻 Crispy fried kale with sweet chilli sauce

Nice little cafe near Union Street. Tried the casserole, which were nice. Vegetarian options are limited but they were good.

Ordered the sharing platter from the lunch menu..excellent and very tasty with stollen and home made ice cream to follow. Delicious. Staff very friendly and courteous, cool that they are keeping going with cash, will be going back with the pooch next time.

Is it dramatic to say I would move here just so I could spend all my time and money at this place? I think not. Everything was excellent: soup, fish, dessert, tea, music, atmosphere, friendliness… 10 stars.

Great food made using as many local seasonal ingredients as possible. Always interesting and sometimes quirky food that you not get elsewhere, but always tasty and served up by lovely people. Great value too!

For what your paying for it’s just not worth it. Presentation looks nice, but the quality of the food is just not quite there. The houmous is really just a disgrace to the Middle East as a whole. The combination of having black pudding with apricot, sultanas, topped with tangy beetroot salad is just mindboggling. If you’re a rich hipster who wants to take photos of your meal looking nice for instagram them this is the place for you - but expect some weird flavour combinations. The only thing that’s good is the ambiance and waiting staff who are super friendly

Gorgeous food, lovely staff and a magical atmosphere.

A superior establishment with an outstanding array of food and beverage options. I can't fault it.

Delicious filling food and excellent service.

Heerlijk eten super aardig en gezellig personeel

Sehr schönes Café/ Restaurant in Aberdeen und mal eine wirklich außergewöhnliche Küche für Schottland, kein Fish & Chips! Schmal, hoch, schönes Ambiente, freundliches Personal und sehr gutes Preis- Leistungsverhältnis! Wer es etwas privat haben möchte, sollte den ersten Tisch rechts buchen, er befindet sich in einem Separee.

By far the best place to socialise in Aberdeen. Relaxed environment, beautiful decor. Amazing food, great wine, excellent service and owned by a local. What more could you want? If you haven't had the cafe52 experience yet I highly recommend. I organised a staff night out here in the Shepherds hut, perfect location amazing atmosphere. Strongly recommended for work evening or a special occasion.

Excellent. The best meal we had in Aberdeen and amazing value as well. Great food, good ambiance and friendly staff.

Stopped in for an impromptu lunch while shopping. Loved the cassoulet.

Ended up getting a McDonald’s. Waited 2 hours and 15 minutes for a cold starter, with even colder cutlery, as the waiter didn’t give our order to the kitchen. We only got food because one of our party went to find a member of staff when we realise all the other tables had come in, eaten, and left whilst we still sat there. Our mains arrived and the pork was the driest thing I’d ever eaten in my life. Absolutely disgusting. Our original waiter didn’t come near us to apologies for his original blunder and everyone gave us a wide berth for the whole evening. Had to physically get someone to give us a bill so we could go somewhere else to get food. Absolutely appalling evening and if I could give less than 1 star I absolutely would. Bitterly disappointed with the entire experience.

The cafe itself has a very pleasant atmosphere and helpful staff. I did not enjoy my lunch 100% but it might be a matter of personal taste (soup and mackerel with red cabbage salad - those were some surprising flavors I have to admit 😊)

Great food, good service, but a very noisy room.

Tasty food for good price but excruciating slow service

Friendly waitress. Food is good with big dessert portion.

I really liked the food and also the staff was very kind. The focaccia was amazing.

What a great meal! Service from Ashley is always exemplary too!!

Delightful restaurant/cafe in a quiet corner of Aberdeen - very centrally located right next to Union st. Well worth finding it. Lots of intimate spaces in a lovely quirky old building with great outdoor covered space. Just stopped for coffee and desert today but planning on trying the restaurant food one evening. Looks like a great menu. Will visit again.

Just wow! Doggy friendly, marvellous customer service, food to die for both visually & taste, great ambience - a hidden gem of a last minute find!

Petit café bistrot très sympa je recommande !! Les prix sont très raisonnables et le goût est au rendez vous !! En plus le personnel est adorable ! Il y a une terrasse couverte ! En photo le Normandy chicken et les aubergines !

Great food and service. Well worth a visit

Outstanding food & Excellent service in a fantastic Restaurant in a Great area of the City ... you couldn't ask for more 👏 12 out of 10 thank you 👌 Atli Árnason 😉

Great food at a decent price along with good friendly service. You can't ask for better.

Absolutely top notch! Really good food, and super friendly very efficient service. Can't recommend highly enough!

Again out and about for Nuartaberdeen and we had heard good things about the food here and it didn't disappoint at all, very impressed with the standard of the food and service.

Very nice place and warm reception. Thanx guys. Food is also on point.

I m a bit sad, i used to say that it was my go-to place in aberdeen, but i feel like that the quality of the meals have droped a litle bit. However the staf and the environment is still wonderful and warm. I just wish more that more effort in the cooking side would have been involved! Being innovative is amazing, but understanding the right combination between different tastes, flavour and texture is crucial! For example there was nothing played with sourness! At all, all about sweet ans salty... Thats very poor, especially when the meals i tried weren't seasoning enough... The houmous was plained and lacked of flavour (no lemon nor cumin, even though its the base of any Houmous) and was really small (i mean look at the size of in that plate and all the bred), and lots of bred... Thats not what you expect when its written in the first row "Houmous"... And the vegies that went along with it had no purpose.. Big sliced of un seasoned salad and just Sweet pickled vegetables.... In plus i asked the waitress for a lemon and i insisted on a half lemon, and they brought me a fine slice... I didn't understand. And the mushrooms fricassée was nice, but that's funny that for a meal that had that much sauce you do not add anything to eat that sauce with, like rice or some of the bred that was over used for the Houmous..... Well, i am sure i was just unlucky this time, and i m sure it ll be better next time. But I trully have high expectations from my favourite restaurant in aberdeen.. Sorry to be honest

Excellent food and service, background music a little too loud. Would definitely recommend it.

Stayed the night in Aberdeen, one of the first places we stopped at for food and it was delicious. The soup was amazing and staff were very friendly and chatty! Shout out to Steve the owner who spotted our dog and had to give her some ham! Great experience for me and my partner and our wee furry pal. We'll be back soon 😊

Great service Excellent food Especially pudding Would recommend

** This is my own opinion and not the one of the group** First time here, on a Wednesday night for a group of 11 with a reservation ages beforehand service was horrendously slow over 4 hours for a 3 course meal!!! In addition, the menu does not clearly describe what you get. Definitely not coming back! The restaurant as a whole however doesn’t work well.

The place itself is nice, but I was upset today. My friend and I went there, and there was a choice in the menu called platter for 2 without describing what is that. We asked the waiter, and he said it's a meat plate. We asked him if it has a pork because we didn't want that. He replied that he will check. Later, he came with a platter that has onion cooked in different ways with other vegetables and a small piece of cheese. There was no meat. There was raw fish and tuna that we don't like. We told him that you don't tell us that it will be fish, but he didn't even apologise. We paid for food that we could not eat.

These Guardian readers, are they in the room with us right now?