I have walked past the Storytelling Centre umpteen times and have always thought that would be a lovely cafe to sit in and watch the world go by in. It has a massive windowed front looking right onto the Royal Mile. Perfect for drifting off and staring into the distance.
So, I decided one day I would give it a go. It was fine when I arrived, although I had barely sat down and was asked what I wanted. I felt a little rushed, especially when the waiter stood there whilst I had a look through the menu. To be fair to him I should have just said I wasn't ready, but I ended up going for a cappuccino and a piece of millionaires shortbread. The coffee was perfectly pleasant, and the millionaires shortbread was sweet, crumbly and pretty nice. Almost as good as my mums but not quite.
Where this cafe fell down was the image I had in my head, and what it turned out to be. This may sound awful to some, but there ain't any point in beating about the bush. I came here for a quiet half an hour chillax. Did I get this? No. Why not?
Kids. When I first walked in there were about two families, that was fine. After sitting for about 10 minutes I swear the place being swamped by screaming, crying, shouting kids, and their mothers who were decidedly unimpressed at the lack of high chairs. I think I turned up just after/before some book reading for them. Needless to say I did not stay long after that, my head was starting to hurt.
Moral of the story, next time I will double check what is going on in the actual centre before I turn up. The cake selection is wide, and very tempting. Good specials on the board and a fairly solid menu. read more