This was a BITTER disappointment. The review is mainly for the cafe, but I reckon that if you purport to do something and you have so much praise and cult status with the yuppie organic-veggie set then you had better deliver.
Ordered a bowl of soup, poached eggs on toast, a carrot, orange and apple juice and an apple and pear juice. Cue several fails:
1. No apple and pear juice
2. At 12.36, as printed on our receipt they were out of eggs - a fail for a FARM. Even giving them the benefit of the doubt on that point, they certainly weren't serving eggs, also a fail, because the only thing on the menu that had a time limit on it was the full veggie breakfast which finished at 12.30. It should be stated which items have a time limit, and anyway - we were in the queue long before 12.30, and come on what is the hassle over poaching an egg...?!
3. OH had to substitute for a ciabatta instead - which cost a whopping 5.90!! At that price we were expecting an awesome cheese and caramelized onion sandwich.
4. Our receipt stated that we paid at 12.36. We were served at 1.15. The service was soooo slow - it wasn't even that busy. It was by no means full. When we did get our food it was dumped down without so much as an 'enjoy'.
5. Half the chickpeas in my chickpea and tomato soup were hard...no excuse
6. My chickpea and tomato soup was just a whole heap of veggies - which i loved, but a fussy eater - i.e. my younger self would have hated it and tried, in vain to eat around the green stuff.
7. The ciabatta was tiny - absolutely tiny. There was some interesting cous cous served with it and a nice carrot and coriander salad, but the sandwich was so disappointing. In addition, it had been met with the fate of far too many sandwiches - the paninni press. (FTR I love me a pannini, but hate it when every sandwich regardless of the bread it is on is squished to death - a grilled ciabatta would have been nicer.)
Our wallets suitably lightened, we had a look around the shop. To be honest, there wasn't anything there that I couldn't get at the supermarket, at a health food store, or even at the world shops on Argyll Place in Edinburgh. The produce, didn't look amazing, the local stuff looked good, but so much came from The Netherlands, Peru - miles away, it made me wonder whether the air-miles were worth getting organic. Why they couldn't have sourced more home-grown organic stuff.
Never mind, rant over - they seemed to be doing stellar trade, so some people seem to like it. I just felt like it was trying too hard to be 'earthy' and 'Hugh Fearney-Whittingstallish'
I would much rather frequent Ardross farm - no cafe, but great produce - mostly from the UK and much of it organic, tons of great locally produced groceries and local meat. A far greener choice in my opinion. read more