Breakfast List #1, Breakfast #1, City Café on Blair Street

Breakfast #1 on the list

City Café on Blair Street

Originally reviewed on March 8th, 2015

His score: 2.8/6

My score: Meh

He ate: pancakes (£5) with berries (£2) and a pot of tea (£1.50)
I ate: small cooked breakfast (£5.50) and a pot of tea (£1.50)

Total cost: £15.50

Our pros: all day breakfast on Sundays; cooked breakfast is value for money, as are the pots of tea; nice diner-feel with layout and décor, and despite the breakfast being nothing special, the menu had some great lunch and dinner options that we'd be keen to go back and try at a later date.

Our cons: pancakes expensive for what you got; food was a little stodgy; sickly sweet syrup on pancakes; dark interior; slightly greasy food in cooked breakfast; quite poor service from our waitress and lack of attention from other servers when we went to pay.

Our experience: City Café does all day breakfast so we showed up maybe around lunchtime but were a bit miffed because over half the tables were reserved at half 12 for some bizarre reason, and the rest of the tables were all taken up by other people, so we had to sit at a reserved table knowing we'd have to leave in less than an hour and didn't get to have as much time to enjoy breakfast as we would've liked.

Food was fine but nothing special. I got a small cooked breakfast and I'm so glad I didn't get the large option because the small one was more than enough and I *still* feel like I might burst 5 hours later. I also tried black pudding for the first time, it was....ok. 

Gary got his coveted pancakes with berries (£2 extra for approximately 6 berries!!) which were so syrupy they allegedly left him rather sticky afterwards.

We each got a pot of tea for £1.50 which was pretty good and we managed to get about 3 cups of tea out of our pots, and for a tea-addict like me that was pretty damn good.  Also, if you're brave enough to order the large cooked breakfast you get free tea or coffee with it which would be a nice perk if I had a larger stomach.

All in all I'd have to say the food was good but nothing spectacular (my haggis and the potato scone with my breakfast were really greasy and Gary said his pancakes were a bit sickly sweet with the amount of syrup on them) and despite the place having "café" in the title, the atmosphere felt more bar-like or like a diner-restaurant. 

It was dark and gloomy and despite the fact we were there eating breakfast, it felt like it was the evening because there was essentially no natural light and the café lights were quite dim. 

However, the biggest let down today had to be the service - the waitress was abrupt and disinterested and she practically threw the bill at us at the end of the meal but thankfully she made up for this by tripping over a chair right after so entertainment value was 10/10, though she did then ignore our table for the rest of our visit so after 5 minutes or so of waiting we had to take the money up to the counter ourselves where we continued to be ignored for a bit until Gary spoke up and highlighted the fact we would like to actually pay so we could finally bloody leave!

It would've been a better experience but the service quality was a bit of a let down and it would've been nicer to sit for longer if the entire café hadn't been reserved for hoards of invisible patrons. Gary woud've been willing to give the experience a 4/6 instead if the service hadn't been so poor and rushed.

What's next: Blue Bear Café in Canonmills.