Café Jacques

Very average. I ordered an apple juice and a cream cheese bagel. I probably should have read the description to realize it also came with ‘crispy bacon’. Bacon was rather fatty and not crispy and there wasn’t nearly enough cream cheese. Boyfriend’s coffee was burnt ad his French toast was also pretty average. Bit overpriced for what it was in the end.

We stayed in a flat in a building literally next door to this café, so it was a no brainer to just pop in here for some breakfast the first morning of our stay. We hadn’t looked at any Unilocal reviews, which was probably a good thing, otherwise we may have been put off.
This place isn’t really all that bad. It smelled a bit like one of my grandma’s houses after she’d cooked breakfast using lard, but, generally that’s just the way some greasy spoons smell. I would definitely classify this as a greasy spoon type café.
We sat down and were immediately greeted by a young girl working. She took our drink and food orders and hurried away to make our drinks. We all ordered a coffee drink of some sort and they were just ok. My guy had black coffee which you can’t really screw up, but the rest of us had lattes or mochas and we all agreed there was just something a bit off with them. Either the milk was off or the coffee was burnt. We still drank them, although probably not the best coffees in our lifetimes.
The breakfast was your bog standard fry up. The bacon was actually really good and probably overcooked for most peoples tastes but I loved it– it was crispy and delicious. Our friend ordered french toast which she said was pretty good. Our other friend ordered the veggie breakfast and cleaned his plate.
All in all this café is nice and convenient and the prices are affordable. Not the fanciest of places, but if you’re looking for a quick breakfast, this is an ok place to be.

A-​OK is a good description. We popped in for a very quick lunch break. We had soup, which was pretty good, and coffee, which was only okay. Nothing memorable which would make me go back, but the soup was tasty.
Some of the pastries looked good too, so maybe these are worth trying.

Coffee beans used were too strong for my taste. Also got the Veggie Twist smoothie and if you are not a fan of ginger, would recommend you don’t get this drink as that was the strongest flavor to come thru. The spinach wasn’t finely blended either and towards the end I felt as if was sipping thru mush. The service was a bit brusque and the American accented waitress was a bit abrupt. Even the free wifi isn’t strong enough inducement to go back as plenty of other places located on this street have that on offer. I would avoid and unfortunately didn’t check the other Unilocal reviews before heading in, as would have then bypassed this place.

I luckily didn’t pay for my coffee here (someone else did. I didn’t bolt…) as it was absolutely atrocious.
Immediately, I knew this wasn’t a coffee shop, so I safed it and went with a black coffee, which turned out to be about as tasty as… something not tasty at all. My metaphors are suffering today, apparently.
While I was sitting down, someone else who had finished their food was asked to leave because some new customers had arrived looking for a place to sit. Now, I understand that you want to keep things moving, but this person had only had an empty table for a few minutes and I VERY much doubt they’ll be going back. I’ll certainly be avoiding the place.
The food didn’t look particularly appetising, but I didn’t have any so can’t really comment on the full experience of it.

This place sucks unfortunately. It’s just not good.
The servers just seem like they want to shoot you for asking for food, or the check, or ketchup. They charged us for water. We didn’t pay for that. It’s expensive not much more to it

I wish I’d checked Unilocal before I stepped foot in here. Truly THE WORST food I have ever had out. Our food arrived separately by about 20 minutes and then 10 minutes (so 3 separate food arrivals). The middle dish (mine) of French toast with maple syrup and bacon was freezing cold and really couldn’t be called French toast. I left it. I know food is fuel but that is taking the Michael. I know it’s the festival but please don’t assume that everyone is willing to put up with terrible food. We’re not. Won’t be back. Will be putting off as many as I can from going here. Disgusting.

Man kann draußen sitzen und hat einen schönen Blick auf den Grassmarket, das englische Frühstück kam schnell nach der Bestellung und war ok. Preis günstig, alles gut soweit. Drinnen ist es allerdings recht gewöhnungsbedürftig und die Benutzung des WC’s ist schwierig wenn man größer als 1,60 m ist…

It is not because it has a French name that it is a fancy place…
Don’t go there for breakfast… and actually don’t go there for any meal at all.
To put it bluntly, it is hard to fail scrambled eggs, and for that price you would hope that at least they can make decent ones. But the eggs were a thick spongy white block, in fact, I don’t even know how to do that myself, and the bacon was oily and overcooked…
All in all, the meal is bad and expensive!

Honestly the worst place in Edinburgh. Grumpy staff. Terrible food. Overpriced nonsense. As others have said, AVOID at all costs.

This is the WORST establishment I have ever been to. Here is why:
1. I ordered bruschetta. They brought me what looked and tasted like a grilled hot dog bun with tomatoes on it. When I asked them about it, claiming it wasn’t really bruschetta, they made faces at me and told me I was wrong.
2. The syrup bottle was DIRTY and had bits of old salad dressing or something on the inside. When I brought it up to the woman, she insisted it wasn’t dirty in a rude way and then gave me another bottle that also looked disgusting.
3. To top it off, when she brought us our food and I was handed my baked potato, there was a hair right on top of it… She just took it away and said nothing to me…
I kept making facial expressions and hand motions to people out the window so they wouldn’t have to suffer through the same experience my friends and I did.
If I could give half a star, I would.

This place is cute and has an excellent view. I got the feta and olive salad which was delicious. My dad loved his big breakfast too.

This was my first dining experience in Scotland. I got a salad. Scottish salads are not what I think of to be salads and I don’t know why anyone would want to eat some sad lettuce drowned in malt vinegar dressing? Not good. The smoothies were great though. Thought everything was a little overpriced.

Unpretentiously charming little place I just happened upon after a wet cold dreary day of sightseeing.
Had the walnut graham cake. Unbelievably good.

Conveniently located. Fine if you just want a quick drink and a sit. They also do takeaway pastry (mediocre looking pastry), sandwiches, and beverages.
People were totally right about the coffee being too hot though! JEEBUS that stuff was scalding. My latte was out to torture tongues.

I visted Edinburgh on my honeymoon in September. Our first full day of exploring must start with a bountiful breakfast so we had energy to explore all day. We strolled down to the Grassmarket from our hotel on Prince’s St. Looking up and down, we chose Café Jacques because it had the most customers dining. A good indicator is how busy the place is, right?
We squeezed in, and I DO mean squeezed because it’s tiny, and found a seat. I had a traditional English breakfast and my hubbie the American. The coffee was SO HOT and I made the mistake of trying to gulp my first taste as I tried to caffeinate my jetlagged self. My mouth was scorched for the next two days at least. Although we received a weird look, the waiter brought my husband two tall glasses of milk on request. Is that an American thing to drink milk with breakfast?
As my three stars indicate, this place was A-​OK and got us going on our first full day in Edinburgh.

The sun was shining down upon the Grassmarket, and after a fruitful (or cupcakeful) excursion to Cakes for Japan, Chris M, Kay L and Darren M and I agreed a wee outside spot to soak up the rays was what we needed.
After, I think, shifting spots at least 3 times (once down to rude waiters, once because the place we chose was full, and the last didn’t actually serve coffee) and methodically working our way down the outdoor café seating areas in the Grassmarket, we came across an empty table at Café Jacques. Perfect.
First off, the seats outside are comfy. Yep, they are. I only had a peppermint tea (a bag, not loose leaf. As a tea drinker, I take note of this distinction everywhere I go) and Chris M a coke. But Kay and Darren both had some food. The chicken pannini had cheese that still wasn’t melted. The whole point of a panini is that it includes cheese and this cheese is melted and just nom. So cold cheese = sad face. Kay only had half her cheese and tomato toastie. It looked ok but just… ok. Chris M finished it off (after picking out the tomatoes). So, we did finish all the food but I didn’t really hear any exclamations of how outstanding it was.
The cakes at neighbouring tables looked nice enough but I think it was the ‘generic carrot cake’ with piped icing carrot that is shipped out to half the cafés in Edinburgh.
One thing I did notice was the toilet. Did J K Rowling actually base Harry Potter’s bedroom under the stairs on this toilet? The first door up the back of the shop takes you to a small space with a door on the left hand side that even wee me, and my 5’4 frame, had to bend over to go into. It didn’t look like a toilet. I opened up the slanty door and lo’! There was one. It was clean, well-​kept but… in a cupboard under the stairs. How very odd. Quirky and cute, but odd.
If I ever needed a table out in the sun and there was one free at Café Jacques, I would probably go for it. But there are more exciting places nearby, one of which does fresh leaf peppermint tea, and another one of the best capucinos in the city so I may also perhaps stroll on.

I had some amusing language difficulties with the friendly staff at this café. However, they did claim to be the oldest restaurant in the Grassmarket; if this is true, they should definitely make it well known as I’d think that’s be worth something!
The restaurant itself is quite small, and definitely benefits from the summer days when it can capitalize on outdoor seating. As written on its exterior, the menu consists mainly of breakfast, light lunch dishes such as sandwiches and salad, coffee, tea, and cakes. The dessert by the counter were extremely tempting and I just had to buy a slice of the chocolate cake which was really good. One meal I haven’t eaten out in Edinburgh is breakfast, and I’ll be curious to go back there and sample theirs.

About as secretive as you can get in the Grass MArket, this unnassuming shop front houses an outstanding French café.
Crossing traditional with modern French values, this café has a relaxed and strangly hypnotic vibe — perfect for watching the worlkd go by with some splendid café snacks (Sandwiches, hot mains, soups, cakes and pastrys) and a coffee. The food itself is a tad on the expensive side, especially with competitors in the area offering similar stuff at more competitive prices.
Regardless of that though it is plainly obvious that people return to Café Jacques for the atmosphere and taste of the food, meaning the price is irrelevant.

I like little independent Café’s. But today I was stung. Ordering a scrambled egg breakfast the beans were cold, the bread — cheap white bread, had the characteristic crispyness of having been reheated and the final insult:
Being charged £4.40! Tea was extra. Some microwaved scarmbled egg, a single slice of cheap white bread and cold beans for £4.40. Total bill £6.10. Look around Café Jaques and see what your competitors offer for that amount of money. You insulted me today and I won’t be back.

Café Jacques, located in a quiet spot on the Grassmarket (or would be quiet except of course for the ongoing roadworks that have seemingly eaten up the entire street), is a great little café.
If you’re looking for a quality sandwich, foccacia, roll or salad without breaking the budget, then this is the place to be. The staff are friendly, the food is great and the coffee is well above average.