Metropole – Cafe & Bistro

Must agree with other reviews, the temperature in here is the one thing that lets it down! I have only ever been in for breakfast, and it’s the best in Newington fo sho! I HEART their Eggs Benny, and fresh coffee tastes sooo good! They also do freshly squeezed orange juice, which is the bomb (especially when hungover). If you are in the area this is your best breakfast option (apart from my breakfast, but that’s invite only!!)
It’s cold, FYI

Getting late on a Saturday night we were walking further away from our usual haunts and our hopes of finding a place to eat were getting slimmer. We stumbled across the Metropole Grand and decided to give it a shout.
While it’s a really lovely building, the layout, with a large glass chiller cabinet near the front door made it feel a bit like a buffet room in an all incisive deal. This aside it felt pretty well put together, with plenty of space to relax and dine in comfort.
The evening menu wasn’t that extensive, I think there were 5 or 6 choices, but I opted for the special of chicken on green lentils while sugar and spice opted for grilled halloumi on couscous. Wow. Everything was great. I don’t normally head for the lentil options but so glad I tried this one. Worked completely and actually felt sad when the last fork-​full went in. The halloumi was perfect and we both left well and truly contented with our dining experience. Add very good service and a decent wine option and it’s a very difficult decision to go 4 rather than 5 stars. It’s great, not amazing but great.

Take a cardigan, this place is always cold! I really only go in summer, and even on a sunny day like today it was chilly.
And yet, I still go, because the food’s tasty and it’s in a handy location for me.
Metropole is lovely to look at — high ceilings, big windows, and booths round the edge to sit in.
The food’s delicious — I usually have a sandwich and chips, but there’s always a couple of specials, and some delicious-​sounding mains. And the staff are great and … I feel bad for giving it three stars, but it’s no fun eating with your coat on!

Congratulations Metropole, you survived the «angry customer» test.
Knackering day, where everything seems to go wrong, best way to vent, write a harsh review of a place. However the need to find a victim, thus the metropole and I met.
Red-​onion and tomato balsamic bruschetta took my breath away (and not in an oniony kinda way). Absolutely fantastic, perfectly cooked so that one could taste the ingredients, and the flavour of the spices to compliment.
A haloumi sweet potato couscous followed with delicious rocket and freshly made tahini sauce.
While nothing I ate was really that original, (well sweet potato and haloumi go really well together, and this was a first for me), it was cooked perfectly.
Atmosphere also gets a plus, if I had one complaint, was that it was a bit chilly. Perfect place one could bring a book and imagine that they were in Paris.
Special dinner deal, two courses for 10 pounds!

After a day of sightseeing and charity shop browsing, we stopped in here for a drink before turning back towards the city and checking into our hostel. This café provided us with a table, plenty of space to plan our return route and a relaxed atmosphere so we could rest from a day spent walking. We didn’t eat anything but we had a large bottle of Deuchars and a glass of wine (house white) for less than £7.
The guy behind the counter was nice and helpful and we will definitely visit this café again. It’s a neighbourhood treasure and a great find!

This place is nothing out of the ordinary, but I’m bumping it up to 4 because it has such a friendly atmosphere. I’m half of the mind to give it a lower rating because the coffee there is downright appalling, but the food is cheap and varied. They change the lunch menus often enough so that you won’t get bored. They have mexican food, lasagne, caesar salad, soup (with brown or white bread) as well as a salad bar. The portions are generous and the vegetarian dishes are actually edible, which isn’t something I can say for every café in Edinburgh. The cakes are the definition of yum.
The space has huge windows and big tables, and there are always a few newspapers lying about. It generally attracts an older crowd and families during the weekends. It’s definitely popular, but at the same time, it’s a great place to work because it’s never very noisy. It’s kind of out of the center of the city, so it’s not overpopulated by students. The locals have stood their ground here.

I love this place. Old-​school quality and a traditional attitude to home-​cooked food are balanced out by the modern décor and varied clientele of all ages.
Whether it’s just for afternoon tea and a huge slab of one of their homemade cakes (or millionaire shortbread, which is unbelievably good!), or a substantial sit-​down lunch of soup and sandwiches, you could do a lot worse than here. It’s not particularly exotic food, which is why I only gave it 4 stars, but if traditional is what you’re after then this is the place.
And unlike a lot of other daytime eatieries, Metropole has plenty of space to sit and eat. Although you sometimes have to queue for tables at peak times, it’s never for very long and it’s definitley worth the wait.

I was nicely surprised when I first visited Metrople, as from the outside I thought it actually looked pretty expensive. Inside, however, the food and drink is all very reasonably priced and it has a great, relaxed atmosphere. There is plenty of comfortable seating and the service is quick and friendly. It is well wthin reach of Pollock Halls and so I came here a few times for lunch in my first year and was never disappointed. They serve a good range of quality food, from sandwiches to lasagne. I often had the spaghetti bolognese which was delicious, filling and never took too long to arrive. This, along with a coke cost about £6 which I always thought was pretty good value.
Metropole is a great place to come for a cheap and tasty lunch in a comfortable environment.

Metropole, from the outside, looks like a classy little café. The experience on the inside may leave you wanting more, but I would still recommend it as a good place for a cuppa with a friend.
I was here just yesterday for lunch, and there was just a smattering of customers considering it was a Sunday and not particularly early in the morning. We all ordered some food and drink, and sat down in one of the booths. The food arrived before too long. It was a tasty meal for sure, but I felt slightly let down by the quality of the food. However, I don’t want this to sound like a negative review, because it isn’t one.
I have a recommendation from a good friend that Metropole is a great place to do uni work, as she said she wrote a fair bit of her dissertation in there with a friend and a cup of coffee. This is helped by the free wi-​fi, which although broken at my visit, would be very useful. I imagine it’s a popular student haunt, as the other reviewers have already testified, being not a great distance from Pollock Halls and other university accommodation.
All in all, a good place for some cheap studenty grub, but maybe not for that sophisticated café plate of food that so many others in the city provide.

Metropole Coffee House is situated in an ideal location in the centre of Newington, a short walk from the University, halls of residence and the Meadows. So it is a great place for students to grab their breakfast or lunch on their way to classes. Inside it is very spacious and airy with lots of big flower pots and seating booths.
Despite calling itself a Coffee House, Metropole serves so much more. They serve delicious cooked breakfasts, salads and soups as well as more ethnic style food such as Moroccan style hummus and olive dishes — yum! The staff are always very friendly and the food is very reasonably priced for what you get.
Metropole Coffee House also have free WiFi and I took my laptop there one afternoon to do some work, but I found the connection painfully slow and I barely managed to get any work done. However, this was several months ago and I haven’t tried their WiFi since so hopefully the connection will be much faster now.

A fresh, airy and modern interior doesn’t detract from the below average food and drink available at the Metropole. Like so many aesthetically appealing café’s, they often don’t have the quality of service nor food to back up their image.
I had a weak and luke-​warm coffee here and an equally naff panini. Not particularly expensive but not particularly good either. A bit transparent.

In my first year of university in Edinburgh me and my flat mates would finish lectures at the smae time and all head to Metropole for a breakfast roll — the best, we agreed, we had ever had.
However, Meropole does more than just serve breakfast to students — its open way later, and serves food, coffee and teas all day long. Everything from ‘Lite Bites’ (Tapas, Nacho’s, Paninis and soups) to big hearty meals such as cottage pie or chilli con carne. There is also a huge selection of sweet treats, such as millionairres shortbread and cake.
The interior is very bohemian chiqe — bare wood tables and squishy mismatched chairs, but this all adds to the relaxed vibe in Metropole.
Its unsuprising then that Metropole is always full of students, families and office workers — at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

This café advertises Wi-​Fi quite prominently, but when I went in I didn’t manage to connect. I reported the problem to the staff but they were unable to help. My laptop did connect fine elsewhere earlier and later in the day, so it was their fault and not mine. Yesterday i decided to give them a second chance and asked someone else using a laptop if the connection was OK and they said it wasn’t –very slow and unreliable, so I walked out. This is a shame, because otherwise the café feels very welcoming yet distinctive. I ordered carrot & coriander soup and bread and it was nice and good value. The cakes look gorgeous but I didn’t try them. They shouldn’t market any Wi-​Fi, though!

Went in for a coffee and cake before going to a gig at the Queens hall… The décor is quite nice except for the fake flower on my table decorated with other peoples chewing gum?
I had an Americano and it the barista poured the whole coffee through the coffee nozzle as opposed to pouring an expresso shot and adding hot water, the result was a coffee that resembled perfume… My friend had a costco muffin that cost him £1.50 (you can buy 12 of them for £3.99 in costco) and a cappucinno with burnt milk… my cake was too dry to eat, perhaps we went on an off day, shame as it looks the part (except the chewing gum). Staff were friendly too.

Like the new décor although some of the framed pictures are a bit dated. My pannini was on the cold side so more attention to detail would be good. SEnt pannini back and it still came back cold. whats that about…

This is a lovely, airy art-​deco style space with big plants and booths. That said, I have been a few times and I have never been particularly impressed with the food which I have always thought was very over-​priced and nothing to write home about.
The staff are friendly and helpful but the café can be very crowded and it not suited for groups of more than six. I also don’t think it is particularly family friendly as the tables are quite crammed in together. Might be better in a nice quiet day though.

This place is doing itself a disservice by calling itself a ‘coffee house’, because it has a lot more to offer than just coffee. Formerly an old bank, it is peaceful and airy and scattered with lovely big plants and an eclectic mix of paintings. But the real surprise is the wholesome food on offer AND at great prices. I always go for the salad plate, because I like picky food and you can pile your plate high with loads of different fresh salads. But they also offer great cooked breakfasts and other more exotic treats, like ‘mezze’ style humous, pitta and olive dishes. Anything I have off the menu always exceeds my expectations. And did I mention it’s cheap too?!