This building used to be the local post office that had to close down due to the locals not using…read moreit enough, thankfully there is something new there to replace it. It's such a shame for a small village to have hardly any facilities available to passing trade our group was glad to see this place, that has one side that is used as an antique shop and the other for a tea room. The cafe has not got a hot food licence so can only offer sandwiches and a bowl of soup if you are lucky, we where at least able to get a good cup of tea and something to eat to recharge our batteries. My friend had a sandwich with the only choice available being cheese and tomato, but there is a good selection of home baking on display. The lady that served us was nice and chatty, that made our visit a pleasant experience.

lovely wee tearoom and secondhand shop run by 2 friendly ladies…read more We stopped in to Simpatica on the way back from a walk - and what a delight! Not only did the owners stay open a little later for us they also allowed us to bring in our wee dog and we were then treated to an assortment of homemade soup, freshly baked cakes and teas and coffees all at a very reasonable price. The two ladies running the shop are just lovely - really friendly and chatty added to the whole experience and you are surrounded by beautiful, ornate vintage homeware and oddities. It's like a step back in time this little gem of a place where your tea is served in beautiful china tea cups and saucers in a homely enviroment. Definitely worth stopping in if you are passing through / in the area.

This is one of my all time favourite places for coffee in East Lothian. I love walking through the…read morenursery to reach the tea room, and I am even happier when I arrive and see the trays of delicious cakes and fabulous scones. The tea room is housed in the old boiler room of Smeaton House (now sadly long gone). It is not smart but it is very relaxed and cosy, the staff are always very friendly and helpful, and the baking never disappoints. I also really like the fact that the nursery is just that wonderful plants, none of the usual 'garden centre' ephemera. The nursery staff are also extremely welcoming. I recommend Smeaton unreservedly except that I don't want it to become too popular as I love its peaceful atmosphere!

From the owner: Offering east lothians widest range of trees, shrubs and all garden plants, set in a beautiful…read morewalled garden in the heart of East Lothian.

Today, we decided to go to this lovely little place for some lunch. From Dunbar it usually takes…read moreabout 15 minutes to get to East Linton but Google lists the wrong postcode and we got lost for ages. Once we pulled up to the car park, we were greeted with big trees, soft grass and bright flowers which gave a good impression. The tea room is tucked away at the back of the garden centre but was worth it when we finally managed to sit down and enjoy our lunch. I had a ham and cheese panini with crisps which was delicious with nice gooey cheese and crispy bread. For dessert I had a slice of the Victoria sponge cake which was so light and fluffy and made even better by the rich jam filling. It was a little bit pricey (£25 for 2 paninis and a sandwich with a pot of tea, 1 glass of cranberry juice and 1 cake) but the food was very nice and that's all that matters. The surroundings are cute and the tea room is set in a bright and airy conservatory with lots of little quirky decorations. The toilets are clean but there's only 3 so you should expect a queue. Apart from the navigation issues, it is a great little place to visit for a spot of lunch or afternoon tea.

A super tea room, set in the conservatory of the Smeaton Garden centre. When it's sunny it is very…read morepleasant to it outside in the sun. The food is good, though service can be a bit slow when they are very busy. The garden centre is well worth a visit, though you walk through it to get to the tea room. Smeaton Lake on the way up is lovely to walk round. http://www.eastlinton.uk.com for more details about the area.

This tea shop is absolutely delightful! After a beach and woodland walk, a stop in this adorable…read morelittle tea room is perfection. The lady that runs it bakes the cakes and brings them in each morning and there is such a great selection of home bakes. The sour creme, blueberry and cinnamon cake is a dream- perfectly light sponge, scrummy fruit and a creamy sticky icing on top! They also have a wonderful chocolate brownie which comes with sour cream and raspberries. They also do great soup (which comes with a whopping great hunk of delicious soft bread) and have a selection of sandwiches. The tea room itself is in a sort of wee farmhouse with a lawn and tables out the front. It also has an adjoining gift shop filled with lots of cute home and gifty things, mason jars, note books, decorations, cards (that sorta thing). The staff are lovely and friendly and the price is reasonable. I totally love this little tearoom and have visited on a few occasions. I look forward to many more visits!

A delightful teashop in a beautiful setting. The food is good, the coffee delightful and the…read moreatmosphere superb. Slightly crushed when busy, but great in the afternoon sun at the outside tables in the courtyard. The adjoining store has some interesting country craft type stuff for sale.

**March 2024: Weekday Morning Visit**…read more A couple of things to note -No reservations -Hours: Tues-Fri: 10am-4:30pm; Mon: Closed; Sat/Sun: 9:30am-4:30pm I saw this tearoom featured on a youtubers channel and thought it would be a great breakfast option as Clarinda's is known for their scones and baked goods. I came pretty close to the opening and was able to select my choice for seats. I picked a table near the window for natural lighting. They have a table of a lot of tasty treats and while I didn't get a chance to try them all, I can attest to the scone being very tasty! I ordered the Cream Tea (I think I ordered the Lemon and Elderflower) which comes with a freshly baked homemade scone (I chose a fruit one), and a cup of tea €6.80. I decided to upgrade to a pot of tea (€7.75) and added a bowl of porridge (€5.50) with jam as I usually prefer savory breakfasts. This was more than enough to eat for one, but I just enjoy trying different items - does anyone else have this problem? lol I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here as the ambiance, food and tea were homey and intimate. This would be such a fun place to converse with girlfriends for tea time!

If you make it down to the bottom of Royal Mile you MUST stop at Clarinda's Tea Room, a small…read morehole-in-the-wall place with so much personality. We had breakfast here on our first day in Edinburgh. It's cozy and the walls are covered with paintings, antique cups, and plates. To be honest the walls are quite chaotic but that's where the personality comes in. We ordered the eggs with toast and the full Scottish breakfast. Food was great, coffee hit the spot, and service was excellent. Even with the chaos they keep the place clean. Also, BEWARE they do not have hot sauce here LOL. I asked the server and she said "No, but it was worth a try to ask" Respect lol. We sat by the window and people watched and awed at the beautiful architecture of Edinburgh. It's a chill spot to rest and refuel. Would love to come back for their afternoon tea!

This hit the spot on a rainy cold afternoon in Edinburgh. We especially enjoyed the spiced scones…read moreand clotted cream with earl grey tea. Also, the chocolate cake that looks like a volcano is divine. It's actually more ganache than cake. The other chocolate cake was rather dry and lifeless. The roast beef and horseradish sammies were better than the egg salad.

Cute little place down a close. 2 sweet little ladies greeted us. We had afternoon tea with…read moresandwiches and scones. They were attentive but not bothersome. They had delicious looking desserts in their case but they only take cash so we were unable to add those on to take away.

Wow! Great service and REALLY tasty food! When you are a captive crowd at a castle, you don't…read moreexpect great food. They could have had so-so food for too much money, but instead, there is a wide variety of delicious options at the Clock Tower Tea Room. My toasted tuna was delicious. They made it fresh in front of me. My husband loved his quiche and the portion sizes of both were great. There were so many different yummy looking options! If you are at Bamburgh castle, don't hesitate to go here. You won't regret it!

Staggeringly delicious scones and ploughman's…read more Our family of four recently had a late breakfast here that featured - no joke - the best scones we had in a scone filled tour of Great Britain from Dover to Edinburgh through London and the castles of Northumberland. Both they and the ploughman's were so good that we ended up eating lunch here as well. And while the soup, salad, and sandwiches we had for lunch weren't quite up to the same level they were still mighty tasty. My only nit (and it is a small one) is that though the coffee was reasonably tasty the sharp contrast between my smallish cup of joe and my wife's enormous pot of tea was more than a little dispiriting.

I really wish I had written this review as soon as I got home from Queen of Tarts as I knew I'd…read morebegin to forget what we had. Anyway I'll give it a go - orange & star anise drink, walnut biscuits, bean pate on homemade bread, quiche, lemon curd shortbread, lavender syllabub, chocolate & pear scone, grapefruit & yoghurt cake and I'm sure there was more but I can't remember. All of it delicious and homemade and served with Twinnings tea, a seemingly bottomless pot. You are welcome to take along a little tipple too. So I'm sure you're wondering where is this wonderful tearoom? Well it's a pop-up afternoon tea in Leith, held in the beautiful home of Angela who does all of the cooking and hosting. How she manages it it her flat is amazing. If it were me the place would be a bombsite. Ah, I forgot to mention the ginger sorbet. She doesn't have a freezer, or even an ice-box in the fridge, so I'm further impressed by the frozen dessert. Truly magic. She hosts these tea parties around every two months on Saturdays and Sundays and the dates are on her facebook page ww.facebook.com/QueenofTartsEdinburgh or you can check the twitter account @queen_of_tarts I think she can hold around 12 or 13 guests so you can either go by yourself, with a friend or take a small group of you along. She also comes to you if you'd like a party in your house It really was the most wonderful day. Carolann P and I had a great time and I am most definitely going to do it again.

I think it's also called the Sir Walter Scott Tea Room? We loved our experience!…read more The service was excellent and food delicious.

A quick word of warning, to get to this lovely traditional tea room, you will have to either climb…read moreup a LOT of steep steps or go up in a dodgy old lift. I usually take the stairs because the lift is a bit of a faff and you have to get a staff member to come and operate it for you. Once you get up to the café level, you are met with a charmingly decorated dining room, amazing views across Princes Street Gardens to the High Street and great Scottish food. When we first walked in, the place was quite empty and we were guaranteed a seat because there were only 2 other people dining at the time. As the waitress showed us to our table and gave us our menus, I decided to have a slice of the gorgeous looking red velvet cake and a glass of Irn Bru. While we waited for the food to arrive, I visited the toilets, which were up some more steep steps. (UGH!!!!) This time the steps were spiralling up, which made the journey even more exhausting. However, the toilets were clean and functional with hot water, soap and plenty of paper towels. When I got back, the food had arrived and I tucked in. The cake was very filling and delicious. The cream filling is what made it amazing. The Irn Bru was as traditional as always. The waitress checked back on us after about 5 minutes to see how we were doing and of course, there was nothing but praise back to her. Once we got the bill it was a tad pricey but it was worth it for the first class food, service and surroundings. I was slightly disappointed that we didn't get to sit by the ginormous bay windows overlooking Princes Street but we still had a pretty good view as we were seated in the row of tables behind the window. The stairs put me off going here slightly but that doesn't really matter because I will be back to try one of their delightful looking scones!

Today marked the first birthday of the Bluebell Tearoom and since I'd wanted to visit for a long…read moretime, there was no better time than the present. Why, hello there, Bluebell Tearoom! Birthday banners, complimentary birthday tablet and an afternoon tea raffle for every customer. And of course, the perfect excuse for cake. We are in just the right place for it, after all. Crisp and white and fresh like a beautiful spring day, the tearoom is cute and cosey and the welcome warm. Whilst small in size, there are certainly a good amount of seats and despite arriving slap-bang in the middle of lunchtime, we were able to get a table for two. The first thing that caught my eye was the crockery. We had some dainty little matching cups, bowls, saucers. And there were some more pretty selections displayed on the walls. Tea is always served best in a magnificent teacup. The bluebell are testament to this. It certainly is a the perfect spot for tea and cake! I had Cock-a-Leekie soup which was delicious, wholesome, warming. - The perfect prelude to the main event. Oh boy, did we have trouble choosing a cake from the selection. Despite it being the Bluebell's super special first birthday, you will always find such a plentiful selection of cake, including plenty of gluten free selections and it really was a delight to hear about just how many cakes and gluten free options they prepare daily. Today, there was Lemon and Coconut, Cranberry and Orange, Carrot...Would we like to have a peek at the selection? Oh, mama! Now we're talking. They look delightful. Every single one of them. After far too much time spent making a decision, I go for the Lemon and Coconut. My friend and I do a swap (always the best thing to do in these situations!) and I get to have a nibble of his slice of the Cranberry and Orange. Mmmm. They're both so light and with just the right amount of sweetness. I genuinely can't make up my mind which I liked best. Just perfect with the Japanese cherry green tea I had to accompany the afternoon sugar fix. If you asked me where to go for tea and cake in Stirling a few days ago, I might have told you to just hop on the train to Glasgow. That would have been silly of me. And I hope you didn't listen. - Do go to the Bluebell Tearoom. And take me with you!

The Bluebell tearoom is always our first port of call when we visit Stirling and often our last as…read morewell. Wonderful home baked cakes, great dry cured bacon and scotch pancakes, daily roast sandwiches made with honey and oat bread and served with gravy. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant food! The only thing better than the food here is the service. Lisa treats her customers as though they were family and you won't find a warmer welcome anywhere in Scotland. Fantastic! Highly recommended.