Grand Cafe Edinburgh in Edinburgh, City of - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

We came here our first night in Edinburgh. We did not have a reservation but the hostess was very accommodating and squeezed us in. The food was very good but the service was slow. The next night we had a reservation. What a disaster. Our server took our order and that was the last we ever saw of her. I ordered steak frites medium rare. It arrived well done and impossible to cut.There was no way that it was the cut advertised. I waited patiently for ten minutes but never saw another server, let alone ours. I finally had to go up to the bar to get help. The bartender was very empathetic and placed an appetizer order for me so that I could get something to eat quickly as my husband had already finished his meal, Then a guy in a suit showed up and questioned every aspect of my story (rude) and then the bartender showed up and asked me if I would like him to "try to get my steak comped". The steak that was inedible that I did not eat! Seriously! Meanwhile, my server (who I could see from a distance) NEVER RETURNED. As we were leaving I noticed that every empty table in the restaurant was still filled with dirty dishes. Clearly a problem here!

Special thanks to the host on 15/09/24 for seating us despite no booking made in the evening. The service; as well as the food were equally lovely. Also, Shan for the polite & delicate approach. We Loved the lip gloss. Thanks again, we enjoyed our time dining here & Edinburgh as a whole. Would recommend the Malbec.

We popped into Grand Cafe for brunch on our daughter’s 30th birthday. Deborah provided a fantastic service and offered suggestions for drinks, both non alcoholic and alcoholic. Deborah was polite, professional and friendly. To top off a lovely brunch of French toast and pancakes, coffee and Prosecco, Deborah gave us a plate of 3 pieces of tablet with Happy Birthday written in chocolate. Would definitely come back and will recommend to friends and family 😀

Perfect evening our server shanmukh was lovely will be back

Shanmukh was excellent . He was attentive, polite and very professional. He made our visit all the more special. The food was excellent also.

Great service by shanmukh loved him the food ok but he made up for it

Loved the place our server shanmukh was best will be back

Had an wonderful night our server shanmukh was amazing delightful friendly great hair loved his service will be back Nevada

Shanmukh was a wonderful and attentive server. I stopped in and enjoyed the atmosphere and the food was delicious.

Shanmukh did a great job today with our afternoon tea service! Thanks!

This is a total pass for afternoon tea. The food was mediocre and only a few things from the menu were actually served. The price for what you get is greatly exaggerated--for example, the tea is a tea bag, not even loose leaf tea. While the servers were friendly enough, it was impossible to catch their eye to either order or get the check to pay. The environment is great, and I feel like it's a wonderful spot to grab a cocktail, but look elsewhere for your high tea.

Deborah was awesome! Food was great! From the Canadiens!!!!

It was quite delicious. Great atmosphere too

Great ambience. Friendly and very attentive service and excellent food. The best meal so far in Scotland. Highly recommended.

Limited menu meant that having eaten there once you were not sure you wanted to again. Some daily dishes would help a lot. Seemed as though they were short of staff

The speakers used for the piano is too loud and the service was very slow

Absolutely brilliant experience. We were served by Brodie who was super charming and informative on the menu dishes / drinks and current events in Edinburgh (Fringe)! Highly recommend this restaurant.

Excellent service very kind and friendly service by shanmukh will be back soon. Matt was a Great manger excellent service

Frindly service by shanmukh loved him he left a very good taste in a mouth will be back

Great service by shanmukh had an amazing evening loved him

Great Service by shanmukh Loved hin

Great service loved the atmosphere our server was shanmukh loved him

Very delicious food & nice service (from Deborah)

Shanmukh did a great service ! The place is beautiful

Shanmukh was an excelente Host and servicial with us.

Amazing food loved the drinks loved our server shanmukh. Thank you!

Had a great time our server shanmukh was amazing loved him will be back

Beautiful welcoming room. For a perfect tea time one might think. A little disappointed with the quality of the sandwiches and the service... could do better.

Shanmukh Nice service and the food was really delicious. This restaurant is the best.

Some of the dishes were great. I loved the lamb. For some reason despite being empty the service was very slow, very.

Nice place and brunch was pretty good overall. Pretty building and felt very grand

Shanmukh was amazing! Lovely dinner conveniently located in the hotel!

Lovely meal, Shammakh went above and beyond for us, had a great birthday meal. Would recommend

Expected more from this place, given the lovely surroundings. The Steak Frites was extremely disappointing as the meat was chewy and inedible. Thankfully the management did not charge us for the meal.

Best service from shanmukh really loved him and his smile

Wonderful service by Shanmukh really nice of him lived to him

Came here alone intending to get some food and a drink. I was seated fast enough, but was left completely unattended for close to 30 minutes. I wasn’t even offered water. Meanwhile, other tables who came after me were immediately attended. After a while, I just gave up and left lol. Terrible, unfriendly service, completely not what it was pre-pandemic, and definitely didn’t feel welcome as a solo traveler. Come for the pretty interior, but it’s only good for a picture and nothing more, because you will simply not be attended. And you will leave hungry, because they’ll refuse to take your order and actually feed you.

Great service by shanmukh lovely meeting him will be back

Came here to have a few Fringe drinks with the wife following a stay at the Scotsman Hotel earl er this year. Happy to see Will mixing at the bar again - met him last time we were there - great service and great drinks.

We had a waiter called Shanmukh, suuuper funny and nice. Lots of laughs!

We went to the Grand Cafe for tea and cake. The atmosphere was very elegant and cozy, and the tea and cakes were also delicious and it was high quality. We can absolutely recommend the cafe! The waiter Shanmukh was a bit strange. When we asked what kind of cake it is, he replied "It's obviously cake". Luckily, another waitress answered our question. At the end of our visit, he urged my wife to leave a positive review with his name on Google.

I am really happy with shanmukh and his service wonderful service thank you for having me in a busy place like this

Great service by shanmukh amazing waiter

Wonderful and funny our server shanmukh was really good of him to server us

Shanmukh was a breath of fresh air. His light hearted patter made the thursday night joyous and relaxed and only added to the atmosphere. Great start to our weekend. Food was delicious and quick, portions could be slightly bigger. Definitely will be back!

our waiter shanmukh recommended some drinks which was really good i loved his service with lots of sass really loved him will be back

had couple of drinks our server was amazing mr shanmukh top notch

Exceptional service from bubbly Aleetzia!

Oscar was a superstar, I was here for an event and everyone had only great things to say about his service.

Flew from Cornwall to grand cafe my service was the best top notch by shanmukh loved him will be back

When ordering the 'crab crumpet' starter, a pessimist may expect to receive a cold supermarket crumpet beneath some cold shredded crab meat, which could have come from a tin. That's exactly what came. Really disappointing food that's incredibly overpriced.

Great experience top notch service by shanmukh loved him huge fan

Loved the food fabolus Service by shanmukh

Great service by shanmukh very nice service by smile

Lovely cafe loved the service by shanmukh lovely service surely come soon

Went for lunch after a long flight. This was the first place we saw and it was great! Shanmukh was so friendly and helpful. Welcomed us to the UK and provided excellent service. I highly recommend this restaurant and the fish and chips were Great!

Great food, service was better by shanmukh service with a smile love him top notch ❤️

Bad service, you need to ask for everything yourself, no attention from the staff. Cocktails were seriously overpriced considering how small and basic they were. Would not recommend.

The hostess wasn’t very welcoming. When I mentioned I was staying at the hotel, she wasn’t pleasant at all. One of the chairs was uncomfortable, and it took the manager to move me to a better seat. However, the food was good, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Room service was exceptional thank you! I definitely recommend staying here if you’re in town for the Fringe or Edinburgh Military Tattoo. It's conveniently close to these events.

Thank you for the welcome and the very good meal

Beautiful place beautiful food.

The food wasn’t edible, fish was frozen, not sure what kind of fish it was. Potatoes had no flavor and cold. The pork you couldn’t cut, mashed potatoes were cold. Upside, wine was decent. Don’t eat here.

We came for brunch and we ate well! The food was very good and well presented. Too bad for the orange juice which clearly came from a carton and us from fresh oranges… The restaurant was not very busy and we waited longer than in other, much busier places, but without causing too many problems. The setting is magnificent and the staff are friendly.

Probably one of my worst meals ever experienced. We were blown away at the decor of this restaurant so decided to try it. Ordered a tomato soup and I had a pc of styrofoam that had come in my mouth. That same soup I was giving my child to drink. Then the baked brie was not even baked. It was very strong in flavour and completely chewy not edible. We had to leave the entire thing. There were flies around the food when we were dining and going on our food. Didn't expect this from a top restaurant in a beautiful hotel. The manager after all this didn't really do much even after the complain. Never go to this restaurant!

We made reservation at 11.00 am for 20.00 pm at 9th of august When we went to the restaurant on time, we had a table in front of the kitchen stairs amd back im a part of a restaurant as you will see at the pictures of my view. I have talked with the lady, she just said she is sorry Food is average, service really not kind

Great environment. Deborah was lovely. Goats cheese salad needed more dressing.

Tardy service and an overcooked steak. Not recommended.

Terrible service. Sat for 30 minutes and no one approached, even with water. Waited over an hour between appetizer and main course. So many mistakes along the way. Food was just ok.

Lovely staff, special thanks to Rosie for her help

We ordered cappuccino and sweets. The café is luxurious and beautiful. The service is excellent. It is worth a try. We entered without prior reservation

Great food loved the Scottish cheese great service by shanmukh he was very kind and entertaining

Wow. A gorgeous space but a terribly disappointing experience. I’ve never posted an unfavorable review before, but … 🧽🪣 No attention nor water service after being seated and had to ask for the check several times, as well. Mentioned that we are hotel guests twice before the host corrected the bill. Inattentive service is triffling compared the lack of hygiene. We watched guests be seated at a very dirty table that was not wiped down and nevertheless reset and witnessed cutlery that fell on the floor put back on the service cabinet. Not surprisingly, we were pestered by flies throughout our meal. We are staying at the Scotsman for a few nights this week but definitely will not return to the Grand Café.

Great spot in our favourite city

Had some drinks was amazing our server shanmukh was fab made our day after the festival

Excellent service by shanmukh top notch tye breakfast was good

Fantastic service by Shanmukh cake good

Grand Café at the Scotsman Hotel is simply beautiful, and just sitting there is worth it. I ordered the soup of the day, which was very good, nothing spectacular, but more than adequate for the price. It's a lovely place to enjoy a quiet meal in a beautiful location.

The venue is very nice, a bit too open (so not ideal if you’re looking for something a bit more private) Mainly the service and the food were a huge disappointment…We ordered the watermelon salad which probably had a quarter of a watermelon slice in total, sparingly spread over a king sized bed of rocket, with no dressing, it was rather unpleasant, dry and bitter. The mains were average at best, would 100% discourage the scallops, you get 3 rather small scallops and the pork belly they’re served on top of were ridiculously salty, and again, not pleasant at a £26 price tag. For us, overall, not worth the hype, wine was average too. Wouldn’t recommend.

The cafe dates back to 1905 and has a very beautiful, historical and mystical atmosphere. We went for tea time. Tea time is between 14.00 and 17.00. The entry level, i.e. classic tea time, is 37.95 pounds per person. There is also a 10% service fee, like everywhere else. Sandwiches were nice. Desserts were delicious. You can buy unlimited tea and coffee. As written in the comments, the service is very slow, but the employees are courteous.

High tea here isn't worth it. Beautiful space and very nice staff, but very mediocre high-tea set-up. :/

Café in a central location in the old town The atmosphere: When you enter the café you immediately feel like you have been transported to another century - which is exactly what you would expect from a grand café. But the new music in the background disrupted this impression. A bar that was heavily frequented by wedding guests from the adjoining rooms further detracted from the atmosphere. We sat at a small table on rickety chairs, which further detracted from the ambience of a grand café. Eat: The tea, which was made with a tea bag, was disappointing. The cake (see picture) did not meet our expectations and was relatively expensive. However, the taste was okay. My opinion: This is definitely a missed opportunity to maintain the magic of another century. The name of the café no longer fits the reality of the location. Visit: July 6, 2024

Great service from Mr Shanmukh 🙂

The servers seems over worked and tired . One or two smiled at us, but the rest seemed down. Waited a long time to order. The food was not bad exactly.. it was edible. We had the Steak Frites and two Pepsi max, and it cost about £97. Now, we knew the price because it's stated on the menu- but our thought was that a steak for that price must be very nice. Also the menu made it seem quite fancy and well though out. It was not. Altogether a very expencive, mediocre experience, but we just had to laugh because it was so rediculus.

great service by mr shanmukh he was quiet friendly and entertaining

Great cocktails our server mr shanmukh was so good

Shanmukh was fantastic, 100% recommended!!

I had a great time with my husband. We had a couple of cocktails and some nibbles, our server Shanmukh was great and provided a friendly service. He suggested some nibbles and coctails which were really nice. He made our visit very enjoyable, we will surely come back soon.

The service in this place is really bad. Like really bad. I think its a case of losing competent staff during covid and having to replace this with students who have no vested interest in this restaurant. Zero knowledge of the menu, food or drinks. No real care taken to make our time a special one, its hard to flag a server down. If anything, we felt like a burden being there, and felt bad that our servers had to ask the kitchen what different dishes/specialties were (questions like what is a Jacobs Ladder/what is the specialty drink of today?). I would recommend management remove the service fee, this may motivate staff to care about the patrons.

Came here for mine and my boyfriends anniversary dinner and to be honest I think we would have had a better meal at bread meats bread across the road. The advertisement for this place makes it look high class and vintage, however it is completely the opposite. It seems like they just let anyone in this place and we did witness a man order two drinks and do a runner which really set the mood. I ordered an amaretto sour and for £13.50 it was tiny. My lamb was absolutely beautiful but the presentation looked absolutely nothing like the pictures online that had been taken by others. My partner had the steak frites and for the price he could have had a much better steak at Miller and Carter. The deserts were presented as to how I expected the rest of the meal to be, so congratulations to the chef in charge of deserts who knows how to set a plate. Finally the service was just everywhere, we had 3 different servers who came to us every 45 minutes. Order drinks, wait 40 odd minutes to order food. Order food, wait 40 odd minutes to order dessert. Ordered dessert, waited 40 odd minutes for the bill. We spent much longer in there than we even wanted to be. We got in there at 6:30pm and left at 9pm. I have never spent that long in a restaurant in all my life. The staff were okay, I did notice a huge group which probably overwhelmed them, but if they hired more competent adults instead of people under 25 I assume the night would have run much smoothly. Considering it's attached to a beautiful retro style picturehouse and £600 a night hotel we expected better from the cafe. Perhaps the title 'grand' should be taken away.

Visited couple of days ago had a cocktails it was so good our server shanmukh was so good entertaining and friendly he made my visit so good thanks to him fantastic asset to the hotel

Shanmukh was a great waiter and very kind.

Super décor and very nice staff. However the afternoon tea is a bit of a rip-off and not good enough quality. We payed 89pounds! For what is worth a maximum 45pounds for two. The savory bouchées seemed to be left-overs "refurbished" into little portions. The bread for the sandwiches was dry, and the scones were likely frozen baked scones and not freshly baked ones. But they tasted fine. Some of the bouchées were not the ones on the menu.

Nice place with a nice looking menu. Service was pretty good, some things not avaiable on the menu. The food overall was sooooo salty. I’ve never had saltier goat cheese and beets in my life. The side of broccoli…salty. The steak…salty. I wouldn't recommend and I wouldn’t go back.

Good food great service by shanmukh he was frindly

Beautiful brunch in beautiful surroundings this morning. Great service from Lauchlan! Definitely worth a visit.

Food was great service was poor. We were sat down and waited for service. My sister in law walked to the three staff members congregating and chatting. A few minutes later a very annoyed waiter approached us. He was so put out out by us he walked away while we tried to order a cocktail. We ended up drinking water. He never refilled our glasses and was quite inattentive.

Nice well decorated premises for food, had breakfast on way to old town, food was delicious, great waiter service, everything u could expect

Shanmukh was amazing! Food was beautiful and delicious, atmosphere was very beautiful

Breakfast was good our server shamming was really good friendly he made sure all good was in order fantastic service

Good food great service by me Shanmukh cocktail was top notch