Stitchers Cafe in Scottish Borders

Arriving in Galashiels on a cold, miserable morning we were disappointed to find that the delightful Why Not coffee shop has closed. There didn't seem to be an alternative but then we spotted that the Great Tapestry building has a coffee shop. Really excellent! Spacious, airy, comfortable, with excellent home baking and coffee, and really friendly staff. We shall know where to go in future.

We had lunch in the café prior to seeing the tapestry. The seating area is clean, bright and modern. The food was better than expected, with DH’s hummus sandwich being a plateful! Tripadvisor’s opening hours are incorrect as I write this. Lunch is only available until 3, and the café itself shuts at 4pm. This caught us out as we could’ve done with a cuppa after going round the tapestry. Points lost for serving the teabag on the side of a pot of hot water rather than in the pot. Coffee was average.

We have been here a few times and always had an enjoyable time. It is a really nice cafe to go to in Galashiels. A few weeks ago we went and I ordered Smoked Salmon Salad for the first time. It was absolutely amazing and gorgeous. I ordered with no dressing or onions. We went to the cafe again today though, specifically to order this same dish again. This time it came with added pepper over the salad unfortunately. It hadnt had this last time so i hadnt asked for no pepper. I asked the server to give new salad without pepper on it. I handed over my dish. But when i got the replacement dish the large lettuce leaves and fresh peppers that were on the first presented dish were gone from it. The salad was now only a mix of mini leaves and a few cucumber slices. I asked for the peppers back but after they checked i was told there were no peppers left as the kitchen was closing. I then discovered the mini leaves had a peppery taste which i couldnt eat so I shortly after queued up to ask if they could maybe give any more cucumber as the minimal amount given was almost done or some money off the dish. I then received a full refund by the server. This was positive. But alongside this i was made to feel that i had to explain the issue again to another staff member. This involved a lot of talking on my side which i think ultimately put me in a bad light even though the issue was with the dish. The server who served me and gave refund was good. But i wish the other staff who i spoke to had been more immediately understanding and given a positive or apologetic response. I write this review mainly to say that if you go to this cafe and order a salad dish, if you dont like pepper on it, say for no pepper before ordering to avoid what happened to me.

I’m a huge fan of the tapestry and the building which houses it, so I even purchased an annual ticket. I’m aware that it gets a lot of flack locally so I always try to support it. Today however I was totally let down by the cafe! My friend got the bus from Edinburgh and I arranged to meet her at 12 in the stitchers cafe for lunch. Some people were happily tucking in to burgers and macaroni cheese , however at 12.10 I was laughing ( the lady in charge seemed to find it entertaining!) that there was only soup left! They had run out of everything else! They couldn’t even knock up a sandwich. I was appalled that a restaurant business could run out of lunches by 12.10. We went elsewhere and won’t go back.

As the name might suggest, Stitchers Cafe is situated in the foyer of the smart, modern building that houses the Great Tapestry of Scotland. It is a smart cafe that serves a good range of hot and cold food as well as scones cakes etc. We only had coffees which were very good, as was the service.

Fab cafe in Gala! The woman serving who was a local, went to Glasgow for uni and returned was so enthusiastic about the new menu we had to try it. So much salmon in the ciabatta! Lasagna was rich and the garlic bread was a delight… brown bread! After meal coffees were good and strong. I saw/heard the waitress help a diner with food allergies decide on a meal. Excellent! Well done all of you

Had the salmon open sandwich. With americano & milk with a cool can of coke. Could not fault the services from the staff the were on the ball 5 star, food arrived prompt with my coffee. It was a strange combo smoked salmon and mustard mayo, the mayo overpowered everything. I like a strong cup of coffee and this wasn’t. Think i left most of food and coffee.

Stitchers cafe is part of the Great Tapestry of Scotland and offers a nice place to chill and have good coffee, cakes, scones and light bites. Handy for a catch up with friends or even an informal business meeting. Good staff too!

I asked for this to be added separately from the Tapestry as I know that lots of us pop in for a coffee and cake without going upstairs. Food is made from local produce. Cakes are home-made (and delicious). Toilets are very clean and individual cubicles with floor to ceiling doors and walls