The Gateway Restaurant in Edinburgh, City of

Chaos since table-service disappeared, and massively over-priced. Notices boast of sandwich ingredients grown in the garden, yet the very ordinary sandwiches cost £8.50 each. A simple dish of hummus - a laughable £12.50. The queue bottle-necks from the start at the cold-counter with no visibility of the hot-counter. There is a curious gap between the hot counter and coffee/cakes counter, where customers struggle to balance trays of food, or watch others rightly skip the queue via the gap because they only want coffee/cakes. The toilets are airless, disgusting and too limited for the number of diners.

VERY disappointing! Took back a very lukewarm baked potato, asking that it could be heated up. I was offered a fresh one, and after it was checked with a food thermometer, it was deemed fit for consumption. I found MYSELF apologising for the inconvenience, but did not RECEIVE any apologies. The replacement potato was as bad as the first. I ate the thin top layer with the very dry grated cheese, and some of the accompanying 'asian style' coleslaw, which was also very disappointing, as well as being overpriced. Spoiled my otherwise very pleasant walk through the lovely gardens. ( It also seems that the menu is only available via Facebook. I suggest this should also be available via the main website - Life does exist outwith Social Media!)

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.

This could be so much better. Hugely overpriced and rather mean portions of uninspiring food. Hopeless queuing system. You have to stand in line with your tray. Hot food is cold by the time you get to pay. No separate queuing for hot drinks/cakes. Because of the location in the botanic gardens they have a captive and often unaware audience. Great location when the sun’s shining on the terrace (ie not very often) although the (admittedly lovely) design means most of it is east facing and bizarrely for Scotland in the shade most of the time so it’s too cold to sit outside.

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.

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.

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

Nice area to have a light lunch with plenty oif space

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

Pricey, small portions and very little for vegans. So little that they should probably put a sign up to save vegans or people with a milk allergy from having to wait in queue for 10mins to be disappointed. Friendly staff tho

Decided to stop here for an early lunch as it was chucking it down. The staff were very friendly and made lots of suggestions. The soup was very tasty and the Viennese whirl was delicious. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to go here, but it is a lovely stop after a morning spent walking around the gardens.

A really nice selection of healthy, fresh food. Ranging from main meals to salads, soups and filled rolls. Staff were super friendly, helpful and patient with the elderly in our family group.

I visited here for lunch today with my 2 year old son. The queue was very long and it took a long time to move. when we got to the counter and got our tray there was only one person serving and she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. A couple in front asked for soup but it was cold and they had to ask for it to be heated. There was no menu or anyone telling you what was on offer, the sandwiches looked dreadful. I asked what was on offer and she said frittata, baked potato and tomato sauce and a sweet potato pastry. I got the frittata as its the only thing my son would eat but after going down the line I saw sausage rolls, quiches and a kids option on offer 5 items for 5 pound. It took a long time to get as she was serving down the bottom and there was no one else to help. Other people in the queue were getting frustrated. We found a seat outside and it was really nice, enjoying the sun with the lovely views and the frittata was really nice just don't think I would go back there again for lunch as it was so unorganised. I overheard some at the other table saying it was an "uncomfortable experience".

Please bring back the old restaurant! This overpriced and confusing cafeteria is awful. We used to be regulars but we're not coming back.

Gardens were nice but the Gateway Restaurant was really poor. Got three teas, two cakes, and a scone with butter and jam which all came to over £18. The tiny pot of jam alone for the scone was 75 pence. So, seriously overpriced but the worst of it was the cakes and the scone tasted like they were on their last legs. Left me feeling like I'd been robbed. I should have picked up on the disappointed look of the customers already sitting down or, better yet, read the reviews.

I had a nice visit to the gardens, but felt let down by the Gateway Restaurant. The actual cafe setting is lovely, but the food wasn't great. It was definitely over priced and the service was incredibly slow. It felt as though some of the staff didn't want to actually serve customers the food and it wasn't clear what you could ask for and which sides went with which mains.

Great treats, great coffee, nicely socially distanced areas for indoor seating. I got a festive mince pie with icing on top, it was nice.

Plus points space..clean comfortable to sit in.. Negative..prices of drinks and cakes..cake we had ginger..was tasteless and not sure if was actually fresh..surly girl serving at counter... We really should have taken cakes back to get replaced...but our mistake we didnt -just had a moan and struggled through...RIP off.. Anyone thinking about going dont..have a wander then leave gardens and pop along to choice of cafes not too far away at Brandon terrace..

What a wonderful few hours we’ve had away from the maddening crowd, the children had a wonderful time and cannot thank the young man in the cafe enough for making the children a special baby chino with extra mallows. In such difficult circumstances all the staff were helpful and welcoming, all safety measures carried out from what I could see, we had to wait no longer than 5 mins for a table to be wiped down and disenfected for us but the gentleman serving was more than helpful and ultimately had our safety in mind along with continuing serving others, I think in times like these Botanical Gardens are doing a grand job . We’ll be back very soon