The Starbucks on High Street in the Royal Mile is a solid operation that handles the traffic flow very well. They do have iced coffee options and can do tea lattes so long as you are clear with the drink order. The queue moves fairly quickly if there is one and the baristas behind the counter are friendly and prompt. They handle the orders expediently and work fluidly as a team. The seating is located on the second floor which could be a hindrance if you are not adept to going up steps. There is no lift if you need assistance going upstairs so make note of there. There is outdoor seating but depending on the weather, you may not find it conducive. If you are picking up an order to head back out, the space available to wait for the drinks to be ready can get very crowded quickly. There isn't a lot consider, especially if you need to grab sugar and other items from the condiment station. It's also located next to the one bathroom so you have to be mindful if someone went in. read more

I've been to more Starbucks locations outside the U.S.A. I am not a fan of domestic (U.S.) Starbucks, but I am a fan of international branches. This specific Starbucks in Edinburgh, Scotland is two floors. Majority of the seating is upstairs. We stopped in to grab a snack, rest a bit, and use the loo (restroom). Place was not too busy, and service was quick and polite. The facilities were clean too. My chocolate croissant was tasty. No complaints regarding this Starbucks. Strange how I have better experiences at Starbucks locations that are not located in the United States of America.. read more

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Just meh. We got a pumpkin spice latte. We're from America and it tastes different here, not in a good way. It tasted like it had chai in it and my wife hates chai. We checked the label and watched the guy make it. It was exactly what we ordered. We got breakfast sandwiches and they were ok. The PSL got dumped down the drain because it was so bad. read more

This is a very busy Starbucks in a large, old building on High Street, right by the Royal Mile, its large upstairs seating area and opening hours until 9 pm, make this a rather useful location. Due to the location, it can get pretty busy with tourists, and the downstairs area can become cramped due to space being limited, but the seating area upstairs is quite comfortable and spacious and does also have some nice views of the Royal Mile and surrounding buildings, there is no lift though and the stairs are quite steep, so be careful if you do want to grab a table. There is a small number of tables outside, or other Starbucks locations nearby if the steps aren't possible for you. The staff seemed pretty friendly and my drinks were made quite quickly, with the menu and pricing in line with any other Starbucks should be in the UK, I ordered the new Venti Toasted Vanilla Shaken Espresso, with regular milk, instead of oat milk, while the drink looked nothing like the one in the photo, it still tasted pretty good, and I appreciated how the barista confirmed it had regular milk (and not oat milk which it should come with) when I asked, as I have an allergy to oats. All in all, a pretty good Starbucks location, with friendly staff, spacious seating, quick service, evening openings and good drink quality, which can be rare to find in a city centre coffee shop, not without its flaws, but still a good four-star is deserved. 4* read more

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tl;dr - spacious seating, can get crowded This location is really convenient on the Royal Mile if you want to stop in for a drink or rest. There is a second floor with ample seating. It seems to be frequented by university students. It can also get crowded from tourists. read more

I really loved Edinburgh, and you'd think that I'd have gone to a quaint little coffeeshop somewhere other than Starbucks, but sometimes you just want what you normally have (call it homesickness, although I wasn't). I also knew my Starbucks app would work, I could easily get free wifi here, and the caffeine in my Americano would keep me going for the rest of the day. This Starbucks has a roomy upstairs, so if you aren't finding any place to sit, take a gander up the staircase. read more

Walking down the Royal Mile (or up for that matter) requires a certain amount of stamina and fortunately for you (or us), Starbucks placed a coffee shop in the perfect location so you can stop, take a quick break and order your favorite beverage and a scone. Even though there were obviously some tourists in the store, I noticed a greater number of locals buying coffee. How do I know? They were dressed in suits (not the usual tourist garb!). Upstairs there is a lot of room to work or discuss the state of the world with your friends. Enjoy this Starbucks and hope that it isn't too busy when you get there. read more

Staff was mildly friendly. Huge shortage of disabled seating. I did love that they still were offering the Christmas flavors. Why are there no Starbucks gift cards with the word Scotland on them? read more

Starbucks - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

Super friendly and clean! Great cappuccino!! Free wifi also. read more

Starbucks - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

The service was great and fast. The staff were friendly. The coffee was really enjoyable and very nice. Great coffee with plenty of choice.

Contrary to popular opinion, there are definitely good and bad examples of the Starbucks brand. This is one of the bad ones. Poor layout, running out of food by 1pm, messy and full of Johnny Foreigner, I can't really think of any positives except the cracking upstairs view that a previous reviewer already mentioned. There's a better, less hectic one down a bit past South Bridge. read more

Starbucks - from website - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

Meh..... I've found a better Starbucks just 5 minutes down the street!! It's much quieter and much nicer. This branch is always busy, the tourists are always needing their caffine rush and the queue is always MASSIVE. read more

Maybe could do with some sort of heating upstairs? Literally had to keep my hat, scarf and coat on. Nice smooth latte though.

This location is incredibly busy. It's in a great location in the middle of the Royal Mile, and the service is always quick and efficient. The employees are curt, but I think it's because it's one smallest locations, with a constant and steady stream of often-times confused customers. The upstairs area is wide, expansive, with plenty of seating. I do want to say that I stopped by about 5 times while in Edinburgh, and every single time the napkin/condiment area was always a disgusting disaster zone. This location is also right in front of the Sandeman tour spot - so if you have a few free hours, you can always hop onto a tour. Just keep an eye out for the red umbrellas. My husband and I jumped onto a late night Dark Side tour just because we had just landed and didn't have anything to do. It ended up being one of our favorite tours of our trip - but I'll talk about that on another listing. read more

I like Starbucks and nnormal get prretty good service but was not happy with my service, I have found Edinburgh a wonderful city with friendly people but the gentleman who tooK my order was rude and condensing. There are plenty of Starbucks so I would skip this location. Also got my order wrong. read more

This is a popular tourist spot. Even I can't help it but to take a few pictures in front of this building and grab a coffee. The queue was quite long. This is the first time that I actually have to wait for my SB drink. The real purpose it was because I wanted to check the view upstairs. What a nice view of the castle. This is probably the nicest Starbucks cafe that I've been. I love the windows! read more

Some say Starbucks is Starbucks is Starbucks, but I don't think this is particularly true: you definitely get good ones and bad one. I actually really like this particular Starbucks, which is surprising considering its location. As it is placed on the Royal Mile it is of course nearly always extremely busy and you may have a wee wait when you're in there. It is quite obviously nearly always full of tourists which you would imagine would put you off this particular branch but this is actually my favourite Starbucks in Edinburgh. Of course it has all the important things: it is nice and clean, the staff all seem to be helpful and friendly, and the coffee is just as good as any other Starbucks. However it is the seating upstairs that makes me love this partcular branch of Starbucks so much! It looks like an old library and has such a nice atmosphere. There is plenty of room, several comfy seats and a great feeling to the place; you really wouldn't guess that you were in a chain coffee shop. Maybe I'm just falling for the whole stereotype of the student with a Macbook in a coffee shop surrounded by books but if so I am unashamed. We all need a guilty pleasure every now and then and you could do a lot worse than this particular branch of Starbucks. read more

Starbucks is Starbucks of course. They do such a great job of maintaining consistency with their products a review of the coffee is hardly news. It's very good. The location however is a different story. This location has a large upstairs area that gives a nice view of the royal mile. A couple of helpful hints: 1) If you plan to use the restroom, get the code before going up the stairs. 2) It's hot upstairs. 3) The wifi doesn't work well towards the back (restroom side) of the upstairs area. Works better towards front (royal mile) side. read more

Starbucks be Starbucks. This happens to be quite a nice Starbucks. On the Royal Mile, the upstairs looks like an old library and is usually jam-packed with tourists filling out postcards or examining their newly purchased kilts. The staff are friendly, it's usually pretty clean given the quick turn-around in the seating area and the coffee is up to Starbucks standard. read more

It's slap bang on the Royal Mile, so this must be one of the busiest Starbucks branches in the world in August, but somehow they keep on serving efficiently and effectively. It's normally pretty busy in the morning too - coffee rush hour, unsurprisingly - but their morning supervisor is a delight. He welcomes every single new queue member through the door with a smile, takes names and orders on arrival and lines up the neatly labelled cups for the baristas to fill assiduously in sequence. There have been times when I've felt like I really must be the highlight of his day, only to see him greet those who arrive behind me with equal geniality. That's service with a smile, folks. You know what Starbucks serves and what it costs. Well, this is a Starbucks, so it's got all that. What this branch in particular has to recommend it is a very fine people-watching vantage point. Most of the seating is upstairs (the downstairs is little bigger than the queue and serving area) in what feels like an old library. From a seat by the plentiful windows there, you can see Hunter Square, most of the way down Cockburn Street and a good portion of the Mile itself. If, like me, you like to sit with a hot choc and watch the world go by, there aren't many finer spots to do it, especially if you like the people you watch to be buzzing around along beautiful uneven streets cobbled with history. They've got to know me by name in there now I think; although they know me as Mary. Spelling out my unconventional name just holds up the queue... read more

Free upgrade on size if you say Sandeman tours! At least that's what I was told...I forgot. Caramel Hot Coco mmmmm...I haven't seen that in America or Ireland, but maybe I just need to look closer. I also got carrot cake that was a disappointment over a carrot cake I had from them before, but it was free because of a coupon the Sandeman tour people had so I can't complain too much! Not a lot of room, and really crowded due to being right on the Royal Mile. read more

This location is always super busy but efficient and friendly. They are used to dealing with lost tourist and under caffeinated people early in the morning. Upstairs is a pleasant seating area which if you can get a window seat is ideal for watching the going on's of the Royal Mile. The only minor issue is that they have a lot of signs about pick pockets and to keep an eye on your belongings. I've never had a problem but it makes me wary of actually doing work here. Still it's very handy for getting take away before taking a wander up the Royal mile. read more

Friendly staff, and great upstairs. Good views of the high street. They still don't get iced lattes quite right, but that's seemingly true for most Starbucks outside the states. read more

Starbucks - Upstairs seating - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Edinburgh, EDH

Very rude employees, especially towards tourists. My friend wasn't feeling well so we wanted to sit down with her to rest a while, but they wouldn't let us upstairs unless we bought something. So my friend bought a drink and proceeded upstairs, we followed her and was stopped by the barista who condescendingly told us the top floor was for paying customers only. OK, I get it. This is a business and you don't want us taking up seats. We stayed downstairs since I was not thirsty and did not want to pay for something that I wasn't going to consume. All the time we stayed there the barista gave us unwelcoming glares. And then they send another employee upstairs to kick my friend, who was feeling extremely ill, out of the bathroom so we would all leave. That's just not how you treat customers, or people in general. But that is how you ruin a brand and lose customers. read more

This Starbucks became one of my essential rest stops during my trip. It's well located, has lots of seats and a great view on the second floor. It gets extremely crowded during the day because on the Royal Mike. The staff was always very friendly and efficient despite the demanding crowd. My dog had a great snoozle on the carpet upstairs and I had a fun time sketching the view while having my coffee. read more

Even when you're on holiday it's sometimes good to see something that it familiar sometimes and Starbucks is a place that everyone knows which I guess is why it's always busy with both tourists and locals. On a sunny day I'll sometimes sit outside with a cup of tea and my favourite lemon and poppy seed muffin - assuming they have any left that is. Due to it's location it really is permanently choc-a-block so they sometimes run out of a lot of things but I'm generally happy as long as they have my muffin. I guess this Starbucks location is good and bad. Good because it's a great people watching spot and I could easily sit for hours watching the world go by but bad because it's always full to bursting and it can sometimes be hard to find a seat inside or out. read more

My heart always sinks a bit when I see corporations muscling in on tourist territory, but after reading Eleanor's lovely, flattering review I feel softened up! This place is always teeming with Americans when I visit. While I want to persuade them to try somewhere different which will offer them a unique experience, I appreciate Starbucks is the ultimate in comfort coffee. If you feel homesick you can close your eyes, sip the cinnamon latte and pretend you're home for a while. I did that in Canada, and it actually worked (although I was homesick for approx 2 days since Toronto kicks ass). But anyway, as far as Starbucks go it's pretty standard. The staff are nice, the service is quick enough and you can't complain. But to solve impending food shortages, I would stand outside here and persuade tourists to spend their money elsewhere - variety is the spice of life, after all! read more

I went to this Starbucks while I was on a day trip in Edinburgh and didn't quite like the experience. I am generally not a huge fan of the chain, but I wanted to finally try the pumpkin chai latte that comes out around October. We'll I've not got much for complain about the latte itself, it was quite nice and different, but the service was one of the worst I've experienced. I know that being on the Royal Mile means being very busy but putting pressure to the customers is not something you want to do in a coffee shop where people go to relax. There were too many people behind the counter, raising their voices to take orders in a haste... and the queue wasn't even that long! I felt like I was at Mc Donald 's and I don't mean it as a compliment! read more

I do love the top floor and like all the Starbucks they have a very large selections of food and they all do astound you with the portion sizes! (Massive!). But what I immediately noticed when I came in to this particular Starbucks is that the atmosphere in there was just so calming and friendly. read more

As I walked the Royal Mile on a cold, blustery, misty day, I stopped at Starbucks for a warm drink. It did the trick, but even better, I discovered the most amazing dessert/bar. Back in London I discovered it's called Millionaire Shortbread and has Scottish origins. It's decadent and delicious and now a favorite of mine. Start with a base layer of shortbread, add a thick layer of caramel and top with a thick layer of chocolate. OMG. What's not to like? I finished it before my drink was even prepared, drawing looks for my orgasmic moaning as I devoured it. It's a reason to stop at Starbucks, even if you're not a coffee drinker. read more

I'm quite a big fan of Starbucks coffee but this one I tried today no thanks. OK the espresso shot cans and the cakes were nice as was the atmosphere the tea wasn't as great. I would go back to that one but for a cup of tea I think I'll stick to the one in princes street thanks. read more

Starbucks is always Starbucks, once you have been to one you can expect the rest. This Starbucks has a good location and nice saloon in the first floor to sit and rest with an interesting mix of local and non local people. Good place to have a rest in the Royal Mile of Edinburgh read more

Not a Starbucks addict myself but thankful for a recognizable good snack shop at this particular time during my site seeing. The employees were fast (it was quite busy) and friendly. read more

Normal drinks and fare as a Starbucks goes, but perfect location with excellent 2nd floor area that is spacious and has great views great for people watching (girlfriend especially noticed the soldiers in kilts!). read more

I'm a big fan of this Starbucks, it's got a great upstairs seating area and friendly staff who've never gotten my order wrong or questioned my ask of a free refill of their coffees. The couches, like in all Starbucks, are definitely a selling point, as there's a fair few available and you can usually nab one if it's not too busy. Of course, during the tourist season, this can be a bit hard, but I've only gone in a few times when it's been a bit too busy for me, and that's quite rare seeing as I head there very often. With free wifi and decent toilets, there's little to complain about if you don't mind sitting next to a wide range of different people. Unsurprisingly, this is also a great place to people watch, whether you're sitting by the window or in the ultra-central outdoors area. Also, the last reviewer must have gone during their toilet renovation, you can now simply use the facilities upstairs free and without hassle, handy to know if you're in the city centre and in need of a toilet! Great place all-round. read more

I know there are tourists around but if you want to use the ladies room ie. toilets, you have to wait in line and ask for the key from the staff behind the counter - very very poor, not impressed ! read more