Grand Cafe Edinburgh

This is a review of their afternoon tea Overall: 3.9/5 Let me start with the positives, 1. Atmosphere (4/5) 1.1 facility & decor (5/5) Their interior design is gorgeous—I absolutely love their upholstered couches/seats, those were my favorite part. I also love the high-ceiling, mezzanine design and the marble columns, that always makes a room feels grand a spacious. The wood paneling and lights are also beautiful. 1.2 Tableware (3/5) Thats’s where I have to subtract a star from the atmosphere. For a supposedly fancy place, their tea set was disappointing. The tea cup was an €8 illy cup with its red square logo on it (aren’t they a coffee company?). And the wrong filter was used for the teapot, so that the lid wasn’t properly closed. And the teapot was absolutely sizzling all over when it came up, including the handle, I almost burned myself (wish the waiter could have warned me.) And instead of a proper cloth napkin, we only got a paper napkin (which i used to help me pour my tea.) Also, their glass cup looked cloudy (I’m sure it was just old with stains and not dirty—still, one would expect better from a place that looks like this. See the picture attached.) The faucet at the bathroom was also unfortunately one of those that tries to boil you alive and whose temperature can’t be changed. I do appreciate the proper hand towels though. 1.3 Music I hope the soundtrack could have been more “posh”, to match the decor, or at least better than what they played. 2. Service (3.7) Friendly. And my food and tea came very quick. They did kind of seem to forget about me after the beginning though. I’m waiting for someone to come by so I can ask for my bill as I’m writing this. (Update: I guess they thought I already paid a deposit when I booked my afternoon tea. However, I actually just walked in. Maybe that’s why no one came to give me my bill.) (Incidentally, while this is not very food-critic of me, their male staff members were all so hot for no reason.) Food (3.8/5) The €32.95* we paid we more for the ambiance, I suppose. It was pretty standard afternoon tea stuff: finger sandwiches, scones, and sweet and savory stuff. I did, however, very much enjoyed their mushroom tart (at least that’s what I think it was.) The sweet treats were not bad but not remarkable as well. The scones weren’t obviously warm/freshly baked when they came out. While they did rise nicely and is crunchy/crumbly on the outside, the inside felt a little too dense. *for some reason, I thought the afternoon tea was €60 while I was waiting for my bill, which made my review a little more critical. Turned out it was half the price, which makes it all very reasonable. It’s not a bad deal to enjoy a fancy environment like this with a this price tag.

Had dinner here on a whim during a rainy evening and it was delightful. The interior is beautiful and we were surprised and delighted to hear a live singer/piano player during our dinner. The service was excellent, with Calum and Maggie serving us. They were both friendly, attentive, and engaging. The food was delicious and we were grateful to have found such a lovely spot to warm up over dinner.