The Gateway Restaurant in Edinburgh, City of

Muy caro para un pequeño tazón de sopa en un tazón de papel y un pedazo de pan rancio. Para la comida tan cara yo esperaría platos y cubiertos adecuados y porciones decentes. Este podría ser un restaurante encantador. No volveremos.

Tuvimos una porción muy pequeña de sopa con un trozo de pan igualmente pequeño, muy caro y ahora servido en recipientes de cartón poco atractivos igualmente pequeños, está muy bien tratando de ser verde, pero por estos precios no lo creo. He aguantado esto muchas veces pero esta vez con todo el cartón fue la puntuación final y no volveremos a ir allí

What a terrible place to eat: cardboard plates, no wine glasses, poor selection of food; and PLASTIC plants - in The Botanic Gardens. What an aberration! And it used to be such a good restaurant. What on Earth are you doing?? Never again.

A limited choice of food. Soup sandwiches cake traybakes etc but what there wa was very tasty. Its a green cafe intent on recycling so wooden cutlery paper bowls and cups. Highly commendable

Superb food made from own Kitchen Garden in Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh. They use organic fresh produce which grows in their garden. There is fantastic atmosphere and food is delicious. Staff is nice too. I recommend to come there with friends, family or solo.

Best roof in Edinburgh, inside the botanical gardens very peaceful, but you need it to restore dangerously high blood pressure if you try to get food, has improved but still a challenge

A nice and small cafe to have a hot drink or one of their warm homemade soups - it has a nice selection of sandwiches, quiches, salads and cakes and if not their best, homemade soup! It was very tasty with a nice hot chocolate to go with it!

A superb cafe in a beautiful setting. Be sure to go when you visit the Botanics.

Over-priced food and agressive staff. Horrible experience on a recent visit. £11.50 baked potato was cold - we spoke to a member of staff who asked 'have you eaten it?', as if to suggest we were causing a fuss and were trying to get it for free. Later the same staff member delighted in aggresively admonishing us for taking salad dressing to our table stating 'its not to be taken to the tables, it's for everyone'. When we explained we had asked for condiments (mayonnaise etc which there were none) another staff member gave us these to take to our table, the staff member again, aggresively told us 'they're not for your table - they're for everyone'. Went with my pensioner mother and disabled auntie and I'll never go back again. I emailed them about our experience but they never responded - they obviously don't care about their customers and there's clearly no management in charge. I've been once before and it was much better than this, so no idea what has happened but other reviews stae a similar experience. Atmosphere is good - it's a beautiful setting and view but my goodness what a horrible and upsetting experience. £45 for 2 cold baked potatos, 2 coffees and 1 slice of cake to get this level of service. I'm absolutely fuming when these sorts of outings are a luxury in these times... and to get no response to a formal complaint...? Terrible value. I would recommend avoiding.

Baked Potatoes were barely warm, cheese was dreadful, salad on the side was a bunch of leaves with no dressing all costing £11.50. Had to ask for the potatoes to be reheated, not a good dining experience culminating in a very rude member of staff called Yumo who spoke to us in an aggressive manner because I had taken oil and balsamic to the table for the salad ( I had asked previously if I could do this and was told I could) I was visiting with family and it was all very unpleasant. Will not go back again. Judging by previous comments this is the norm and nothing has been done to improve the service.

Caos desde la mesa - el servicio desapareció, y masivamente sobre - precio. Los avisos se jactan de ingredientes de sándwich cultivados en el jardín, sin embargo, los sándwiches muy comunes cuestan £ 8. 50 cada uno. Un plato simple de hummus - una risa de £ 12. 50 . La botella de cola - cuellos desde el principio en el frío - mostrador sin visibilidad del caliente - mostrador. Hay una curiosa brecha entre el mostrador caliente y el mostrador de café / pasteles, donde los clientes luchan por equilibrar las bandejas de comida, o ver a otros saltarse la cola a través de la brecha porque solo quieren café / pasteles. Los baños son sin aire, asquerosos y demasiado limitados para el número de comensales.

I had a very busy day it was good

MUY decepcionante! Tomó de nuevo una patata horneada muy tibia, pidiendo que se pudiera calentar. Me ofrecieron uno nuevo, y después de que se verificó con un termómetro de alimentos, se consideró apto para el consumo. Me encontré disculpándome por las molestias, pero no RECIBÍ ninguna disculpa. La papa de reemplazo era tan mala como la primera. Me comí la capa superior fina con el queso rallado muy seco, y un poco de la ensalada de col 'estilo asiático' acompañante, que también fue muy decepcionante, además de ser muy caro. Estropeado mi por lo demás muy agradable paseo por los jardines encantadores. También parece que el menú solo está disponible a través de Facebook. Sugiero que esto también debería estar disponible a través del sitio web principal - ¡La vida existe fuera de las redes sociales! )

Nice enough. Not cheap! No scones at 10.30am as not ready yet….

Absolute rip off. £11.50 for a baked potato with cheddar. This is not helping the botanic garden. It is part of a giant catering company exploiting the trapped customers.

Esto podría ser mucho mejor. Gran sobreprecio y porciones bastante malas de comida poco inspiradora. Sistema de cola sin esperanza. Tienes que estar en línea con tu bandeja. La comida caliente está fría para cuando pagues. No hay colas separadas para bebidas calientes / pasteles. Debido a la ubicación en los jardines botánicos tienen un público cautivo y a menudo inconsciente. Gran ubicación cuando el sol brilla en la terraza (es decir, no muy a menudo), aunque el diseño (es cierto que encantador) significa que la mayor parte está orientada al este y extrañamente para Escocia en la sombra la mayoría del tiempo, así que hace demasiado frío para sentarse fuera.

It was a wonderful cafe to take some snake and rest after finishing the tour in the garden. It has a positive atmosphere. There are toilet and free Wi-Fi.

A nice place for a tea coffee or hot chocolate (recommend going for the extra hot). Great view through the large windows along one side looking over the botanic gardens.

Nice area to have a light lunch with plenty oif space

Decent place to stop, relax, and grab a drink/snack while visiting the gardens.

Cold salty soup - supposedly lentil and fennel - don’t think there was any fennel near it. Inedible. £1 for a tiny bit of crusty bread. Then to cap it all, I was charged more at the toll than the stated price. Wish I hadn’t bothered.

Okay for a quick coffee and snack after visiting the garden.

Staff is very nice and friendly but the food is terrible! This sandwich was £8,50 and had some soggy salad and wet courgette, 3 pieces of cucumber and a paste which I assume was houmous… not good at ALL!

Nice garden and castle. £17 if not a member of English heritage. park inside or just off road.

Absolutely dreadful and sub- standard food. A small amount of mulched up vegetable paste in my sandwich. All bread with minimal ingredients. Staff were lovely though and it’s a pleasant environment but I will never come back as it was embarrassing and disappointing for me to take my partner here.

Food is terrible and expensive lately. It never used to be like this, not sure what has happened?

Rather busy place during lunch time. Queuing almost certain. Prices high. Customer service kind and polite.

A very nice cafe in the garden. They have many cakes and sweets, all of which are delicious Tea and coffee are also excellent...

Dry food and no sauce for the kids.

Sadly, not the best experience. The only thing on the menu my friend and I fancied was a baked potato. £11.50 for a spud!!! To be fair, it came with some "leaves" but it was tasteless, maybe microwaved but skin not crisp or anything. Only one girl behind the food counter and although others were in the vicinity, they seemed more interested in moving things around than actually serving. THEN, had to wait for an inordinate amount of time, holding a full tray, in order to pay. No system in place and very disorganised. Also had to hunt for some cutlery and was unable to find any napkins. Fabulous location but it COULD be so much better!!

Extremely slow service. No logical system for cooking the pizzas on the deck. Cooking 2 at a time is too slow, and waiting 35 minutes for a pizza is crazy. Price for all the food is too high. Staff are not very welcoming.

Our experience in the restaurant was really poor. The food is at best mediocre and is extortionately expensive. We paid £14.95 for ‘main course’ mac and cheese. The same for quiche, meant to be with salad but which had to be asked for like it was a favour. The portions were very small and the mac and cheese was overcooked. When my son in law asked for a bit more than one spoonful, he was told no. The veggie soup was the only thing that was actually worth eating. £93 for a snack lunch for six felt like a punishment. We then had tea and cake for an extra £43. There were no dairy alternatives to cows milk on offer either. Drinks were separate. We understand that profits from the cafe helps fund the gardens, or we hope it does, but the prices, quality of food and service are a disservice to the place.

As a first visit, the look of the Café is promising and there is plenty of available seating to choose from. As a person who chooses scones in most places, I ordered a fruit one. Also own never to leave anything unless it is seriously concerning, I had to leave this scone on the plate. Seriously disappointing. The scone was SO sweet, that it was inedible for me. I’ve never eaten anything like it before. Not for me. Not for my guest. As a staple product in any café, I would suggest a look at the recipe and a removal of a lot of sugar.

For breakfast, it's great But a little expensive

Food lovely but unfortunately very slow service by the time you get your order in for your coffee your food is cold then you have along wait for your coffee

I've just walked around the gardens for an hour and a half. Then popped into the cafe for coffee and cake. I shared a piece of carrot cake which tasted divine. Best I've ever tasted. The coffee was full flavoured and good also.

“Canteen style “. Menus that scroll on the screen before you can read them. Noisey. Chaotic. Too hard for a quick bite.

No enough seating. Foodservice area has no flow. Wait too long to serve.

What a shambolic place to eat. It’s so badly organised with one huge query and a single till. Why don’t they separate the till so you don’t end up with freezing food while you wait in the drinks queue. And it takes so long to get a coffee you could get a bus to Costa in the city and back again before being served. Avoid at all costs unless it’s very quiet. And the layout of tables is a mess. If tables are busy you can barely get around.

The food is ridiculously overpriced, asked for 10.50 for a baked potato with some leaves on the side. No extra scoop of salad which you get with other mains. Also the food got cold in a minute after sitting down with it. It’s a shame as it’s a lovely place and kids friendly setting. But the prices need to be sense checked and the food kept hot.

Food terrible - £10.50 for a tiny salad, literally all leaves. You get 4 times as much from morrisons meal deal for a quarter of the price Service - what service. You do everything yourself apart from spoon the food onto plate. Queue, carry a tray, Queue to pay, Queue to find a table. If you want to Queue and feel like a loser. Come here.

Staff ignores you until it's your turn. Items on display won't sell by themselves, forced to buy several as part of meal.

Lovely place in the botanics, plenty tables inside and out…

Staff are so unwelcoming and unprofessional. Empty displays just after 3pm. I'm shocked with the service... unwilling to get some extra cakes from the back.

I go here with my client as she likes the walk after we have eaten - service is very dependent on who's working, food always excellent- though quite expensive, BUT, I asked for 2 tea bags in my pot of tea for one as I like strong tea - got charged for TWO teas so for my small pot of tea I paid £5.80 - REALLY 😳. I could have understood a additional cost of say 50p, but, have never ever been charged anything for the extra tea bag anywhere else - disappointed and disgusted 😑 Photo shows how it was served - one pot, one cup and saucer, one milk but i was charged for TWO of everything !!!!!

Love this cafe one of my favourites. Great selection of sandwiches, quiches, salads and cakes, and so tasty!

This cafe was at the first floor at the entrance. Great for breakfast. Relax ambience.

Great place to visit with family and friends, lovely food and nice atmosphere

Nice setting, lovely cakes. However the staff should go on a customer training course regarding manners : Hello, Thank you , Goodbye and a smile would have given this place a 5 star and bring customers back.

Lacklustre greeting and welcome. Well prepared cappuccino and baked snack. Some counter staff seemed oddly detached from attentive and focused customer service. Got the feeling some of them would rather be doing something else, somewhere else.

It’s a super stressful place to eat on a busy day like today. The system for getting food, then finding a table means you have dozens of folk holding full trays of food milling around, ready to pounce on any seat they can get, while individuals sit at tables for four. Cakes and coffee outside are delicious and a lot less hassle.

Great little shop at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

This place is beautifully located, has solid food, reasonable prices, a great relaxed atmosphere, and friendly service.

Lovely spot to eat after a walk in the garden.

Arrived at 3.15 on Sunday. No food at all. Massive queue for coffee. Plenty staff but none serving. £4 for a coffee. Very poor

Déjeuner le 29.09.2023 Une petite cafétéria un peu chère mais la nourriture et les ingrédients sont de qualité avec des légumes cultivés sur place. Cela dépanne bien et reste fort délicieux

WOW! The best food venue we found during our 7 days in Scotland, when considering food quality and price.

One of the worse pot of teas I have ever tasted!

Service is poor, food is poor, prices are extortionate, waiting time is long. Its just not worth it at all.

Delicious lite lunch with good coffee

The food is cafeteria style and not well priced. Their coffee is good. The interior affords a view of part of the woodland; the terrace part of the cafe offering a pleasant repast on a mild day.

Went there for an official party. I absolutely loved the place. It’s a beautiful location for a party . It’s got sort of a big deck with a lot of seating along with a big area which is indoors. The food was okay, I did like the burger that we had and chicken skewers were pretty good too. Lots of drink options. The place definitely stood out for me as to how pretty it was. Don’t miss a chance to visit it if you just want to chill out and have a good time :) The staff were also extremely patient and lovely guiding us with whatever questions we had. It was a lovely evening. Loads of parking available and it’s really close to Inverleith park.

Ottimo pranzo a base di verdure e legumi coltivati nel giardino botanico, molto apprezzato dopo aver mangiato per una settimana hamburger, fish and chips e haddock ;-) complimenti allo chef!

Un beau café très lumineux et jolie architecture dans un magnifique jardin botanique, particulièrement le Demonstration Garden où on peut apprécier les créations des étudiants en cours d'études botaniques, très original. Wifi gratuit, un super carrot muffin, des prix... comme dans toute la ville, relativement cher, mais dans ce super lieu pas plus cher qu'ailleurs. Recommanded

A surprisingly good cafe for lunch on a rainy day. A wee bit pricey.

Non metto zero stelle perché non è possibile. Siamo stati a mangiare in questo posto ed è stata una pessima esperienza. Sin dall’inizio abbiamo riscontrato problemi in quanto non riuscivamo a pagare perché il loro pos non prendeva le nostre carte, successivamente ci siamo recati al tavolo ma purtroppo abbiamo scoperto che l’altissimo prezzo non rispettava la qualità veramente scadente del cibo, che addirittura non siamo riusciti a finire.

Nourriture vraiment chouette. Vraiment pas cher. Quand tu as fini de manger tu sens que tu as mangé sainement.

Lovely place to eat. We have been here many times and the food is always very tasty and we have never been disappointed. You can tell that the quality is really good, which makes it outstanding compared to other cafes.

3.9🌟 If you are a family with children you're better off bringing your own picnic and have it on the many places an lawns on the grounds as all the Cafés are NOT the cheapest. The food was fresh, there was a soup& sandwich deal that was actually the most decent thing, different soups of the day, staff is friendly and helpful.

Really nice to sit, kind staff and we had a nice rose wine :-)

First time going to the cafe since the renovations to turn it into an overpriced cafeteria line. Was very disappointed with the experience. Food was still OK, but not worth the very high price given the dining style. Also the atmosphere was very hectic and stressful, as guests were crawling over each other to try and see what was being offered. Disappointing experience, as I used to really enjoy this cafe.

Great place to eat and drink something! Sweet portions of scons, and more! All surrounded by the botanic garden makes this place a nice place to be. Feeling relax with the nature! Located in the heart of the botanic garden you will find this place, nice terrace but inside is so cool as well. Downstairs there is a nice shop and part of the museum with expos!

Great place to relax and have lunch after a stroll in the garden. Food is well-priced, fresh and tasty. Recommended!

It's OK, I guess. Exactly what I expected from a Café to eat at after walking for hours in the Botanic Garden.

Nice cafe with amazing garden view

Ensaladas y sopa de día imbatibles. Merece la pena parar un rato allí 👏

What should have been a pleasant lunch was dreadful. Huge queues, poorly trained, disinterested staff who hadn't a clue, no crockery, limited range, only one person who knew how to make drinks, missing items but still had the cheek to charge full price despite missing bits. We ordered 2 soups, they had no bowls left so put it in two SMALL disposable cups, they had no bread or scones (but still charged us £11 for the two small paper cups of soup like we'd got the bread/scone). We had to buy in addition, given they had no bread/scones left, a small pack of oatcakes - they had no plates left either, so after being asked twice to give us at least the butter we should have got with the soups, we were given the butter so had to make do with a napkin and a knife we found. Then we got to the "pot of tea" - they had no clean teapots left, so a disinterested guy dropped a teabag in the smallest teacup imaginable, half filled it, and then had the cheek to charge £3 for this, like i had got a teapot. I complained, outside, as I could not get my walking aid in the cafe, to be told "Susan" the manager was too busy and if I wanted to complain I had to go to her. I reiterated I was disabled and couldnt get in with my walking aid, and as the cafe inside was full and there was by this time a huge queue of people waiting for drinks, said again I was there outside and wanted to speak to Susan, the manager. Nobody bothered to come so my partner took the pathetic, overpriced teacup back in to complain and eventually was given a teapot. No apology, no acknowledgement, nothing. Downright ignorant. This fiasco cost us £18, for 2 tiny cups of soup, a packet of oatcakes, a tea and a coffee. I will be going elsewhere in future, it was overpriced for poor service and very little provided, we've received farcsuperior for less, AND been met with manners and civility. If this is the standard of this restaurant, they need to pull up their socks or shut down. Ruined a perfectly nice afternoon. The one star is for the view on the balcony.

All I wanted was a bacon sandwich (or similar) at 10.30 on a wet Wednesday morning. “We only do them on weekends.” Was the reply. 🥹

Used to like going to the previous incarnation of the restaurant, the scones were the best in town and table service exemplary. The redesign is a shame and indeed more akin to a canteen than a treat. We hurriedly chose soup and a Bombay potato salad with some leaves, being pushed through the packed cordon, seemed like £9 from the signage. After a wait to get to the till, it wasn't in the "soup and salad" deal, so £5 + £7.50? Overworked server agreed the options were "complicated". The food was well presented but nothing special, tables full of screaming kids and food mess.

Lovely, buffet style cafe but very disappointing to be charged 60p for alternative milk. Surely this can't be justified in an establishment promoting sustainable practices?

Since they changed the restaurant for a self- sevice option, in my opinion the Gateway Cafe have lost its charm. Also, I have noticed an increase in the prices and my mum's vegetable dish, literally she said:" the green beans are lhardest as stones" . 4 stars because we are fortunate to have such a beautiful places in the city. Thanks, Raquel

Large selection of healthy food!

After going in for a cup of tea we changed our mind and decided to have lunch here. After seeing the fresh sandwiches, salad bar and hot potatoes we couldn't resist. Average prices for the city.

The Gateway "Cafe" is accessed from the main reception hall of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. It is a really nice space both inside and out in which to enjoy the inexpensive food that is available on a serve yourself style. If you are eating outside watch for the Gulls!

Tasty food in a very good setting. Value for money.

it is buffet style restaurant, where you choose the salads the staffs scoop them on your dish and you pay for the number of varieties you choose. wheat and halloumi salad was good, frittata and polenta also tasted nice. beware of the seagulls! they are flying around the place waiting for food

Brie and chilli roll (one thin slice of Brie along the front of the roll) plus small lukewarm warm soup and two Cokes £16,30. Come on, botanics, we deserve better. Nice environment hence 2 star.

Four of us, all adults, visited for lunch. After a long queue for food, which is overpriced and served up by people who looked and sounded like they would rather be somewhere else, you then have to join another queue which includes customers wanting tea or coffee before the payment till is reached. The soup I ordered is getting cool by this point but alas this is not the end of our woes. Upon reaching the till we are informed that it is card only so a search party has to go and find another family member who is in possession of some plastic. Soup even cooler by now and holding up the other people in the queue until said family member arrives with the card. There was no sign either at the restaurant entrance or at the start of the food ordering section, that made any mention of card only payments, I went to look to see if I had missed seeing them. The soup, by the way, was quite tasty even though much cooler by the time we got it to the table, but it’s a shame that the experience was spoiled by very poor organisation.

Haven’t been back for a while, was so looking forward to their burgers, but their format has changed, more like a canteen then anything else. Think I prefer the a la carte menu before then the new format.

Ok.prompt service. Good soup and salads! Well worth a visit.seats outside too.

A must visit Café when walking around Royal Garden. Everything is clean and well organized. Wood architecture matches perfect with stunning garden view. Everyone were really nice and friendly all time, from staffs to customers.

There's a good restaurant in there somewhere if only a manager could step in and organise it. The queue moves as slowly as a glacier, so hot food becomes cold while you slowly move along. The same company runs the restaurant in The National Portrait Gallery very well, so what's gone wrong here?

I don’t know if the person was new but the cashier that helped me kept saying one thing and then changing their mind about how the meals worked. The price is way too much for the food I was given + the quality of it wasn’t good either. I’m very disappointed as many seemed to actually have enjoyed their food from the reviews I read before going here

Peu de choix de pâtisseries, service et hygiène très limites Le cadre agréable arrive à faire passer une note salée Dommage car pourrait être très bien avec un petit effort qui j espère arrivera bientôt

Disorganised and overpriced. People were queuing for hot food then had to join the queue of people getting coffees and teas resulting in their food being cold by the time they got to eat it. Staff kept disappearing. I only wanted a tea and a scone. They had to g get some more scones, wish I hadn’t bothered if I’d dropped it on my toe it probably would have broken it. The tea was horrible as the water wasn’t hot t. There were no knives to spread the butter on the scone. I was charged £6 for an inedible scone and undrinkable cup of tea.

bad overpriced cold food. Luke-warm baked potato with butter and cheese which could not melt - bad. Calling it a hassle back potato did not improve taste folks - did I really spend £9 on a cold baked potato?

Staff was very sweet and food was good, but I have been charged 15.50£ for one small quiche and a piece of chicken pastry which is total rip off

Trash! Buffet style conveyer belt. Overpriced boring box food. Go back to being a restaurant with a fan base worthy of the ‘royal’ title!

Great selection of quality and delicious food and drinks. Especially nice when the weather's good and you can sit out on the terrace!

Nice view from the patio. The salted caramel brownie was good.