Piecebox

What a little gem of a place this is. My friend was treating me to lunch for babysitting her kids. She brought me to piecebox as she thought I would love the décor and the food is good. Well she wasn’t wrong.
We arrived about 2pm on a Saturday and it was really busy. We were welcomed by the lovely friendly staff and told we would probably need to wait 5 mins for a table. We made good use of our waiting time looking at the menu. So many tasty choices, perfect place for breakfast or brunch as loads of breakfast choices. We soon got our seats and staff quickly cleaned the table for us. We ordered chilli nachos and drinks. Whilst we waited we chatted and checked out the décor, lots of lovely nik naks and pictures. My fav things were the stunning bright plastic chandeliers and the bird cage lamp shades (check out my photos)
The food arrived, the nachos came in a bowl with sour cream, guacamole, jalapeños, salsa and a good amount of cheese. The salsa and guacamole were fresh and homemade and we’re full of taste. We then shared cakes, we had a blueberry loaf and Victoria sponge. Both were homemade and really tasty. I would highly recommend a visit. I’ll defo be back.

I was looking for flats in the area and found this place for my early lunch/​late breakfast. It was really tasty, I loved the smoothie and my brunch! I got the Poached eggs with curry sweet potato and courgette fitters with sweet chilli sauce! It was amazing! Thought I was hungrier then I was and got a smoothie too, it was delicious but left me stuffed.
I had been eyeing the cakes and got one to go… It was super disappointing :(. crumbly and oily with not great flavours. It was supposed to be a strawberry white chocolate cake but only had one strawberry piece on top.
So stick to the brunch and smoothies =)

Piecebox is one of this little gem that your randomly come across when looking for a place for brunch and my family loved it! We had a bunch of different food and i think my favourite was the egg Benedict followed with the british breakfast and the mars brownies but everything overall was delicious; the only disappointment was that all of our poached eggs were not runny which kind of made my sweet potato fritter courgette fritter a little dry and when i ask for some hollandaise sauce on the side i was told it was not possible which was kind of disappointing as i like hollandaise on my eggs .
This place is very cosy and the foods/​drinks are very good and i will definitely be back:)
I would recommend you go before noon during the week end as this place gets packed big time!

I’ll be honest the food was really good, but the mice dropping on the floor at my table were not! And when I mentioned to the girl working there that I had seen them she shrugged her shoulders and told me ‘it’s hard to keep on top of them!’
OMG! Cleaning the floors may help! An establishment that serves food should be 100% on top of this problem and doing there best to make sure it is clean and not encouraging mice.

First of all, let me make clear I loooove the food served here (at least all I’ve tried — always end up going for the AMAZING French toast). But the service, I find, is so inconsistent. We moved to the area about a year ago and with it only being 5 minutes from the flat it was an obvious choice. Love the decoration and relaxed atmosphere, staff always seem polite and friendly.
Our first visit we had to wait more than 25min for the food. Fair enough, it was the weekend and it was packed, but I would have thought they were prepared for it. My smoothie arrived on the table almost by the time I had finished my breakfast, after asking for it several times to two different members of the staff.
The rest of the times we’ve been it’s been a mix, some times amazing service and some others long waits among confusion about our orders.
And today, we thought is the day to enjoy another French toast! Everything alright, we were served breakfast in less than 15min, which is pretty amazing considering how busy they were. But my choice of breakfast arrives in the tiniest wooden cutting board. I mean, I’m OK with burguers on it. But French toast? Needless to say the maple syrup ended up all over the table and dripping on my legs, along with some bits of bacon.
I will of course continue to go there because I can’t live without your toast and because there isn’t any good place around here for breakfast /​brunch, but please, reconsider the trend of serving food on a cutting board!

Amazing place to get brunch, perfect environment for a small group of friends or a couple. Enjoyed good conversation with delicious food in a delightful setting.

I’ve been to Piecebox a handful of times through the years and have always found it to be perfectly acceptable. Not thrilling, but fine. Usually I opt for takeaway as it’s not far from the canal which is a lovely place to spend your time on a sunny day.
I ate in recently and decided that actually the pricing pushes this place from «a-​ok» to meh. I paid £6.50 for a sandwich. A wrap, actually. That is insane. That is more than (larger) sandwiches from places which are actually IN Bruntsfield/​Morningside.
After waiting a long enough time to wonder if we should be ordering at the counter, we were visited by a waitress. I ordered a brie/​cranberry/​watercress wrap and asked for it to not be toasted. I received a brie/​cranberry/​rocket wrap, toasted. For £6.50.
Was the wrap good? Sure. Did it taste exactly the same as any other brie and cranberry wrap? Absolutely. Was it worth £6.50? No. Will I be returning to Piecebox for lunch? Also no.

After moving out of Leith we lost our favourite weekend breakfast spots. So far, the Bruntsfield/​Fountainbridge area just hasn’t managed to cut it. That is, until we found Piecebox!
Literally two minutes up the road from us, we headed here to check it out and were converted. The menu is pretty reasonable, though limited. They had poached eggs (win) and in serving me said eggs, forever earned a little piece of my heart. The coffee was good too. They have Artisan Roast — though I believe (I may be wrong) the filter coffee is from somewhere else.
The décor is kitschy but I like it, you can tell the demographic is more casual, studenty than what you’ll find up at Bruntsfield. The crowd ranges from old ladies out for tea, to a dad with a toddler and dog to a large groups of super hungover students. It’s a mixed bag.
They lose a star as, although we’ve only been a few times, they’ve managed to get on the wrong side of the SO ever so slightly (not an easy thing to do).Hopefully they can win him back next time!

A stone’s throw from our house, would have been such a lovely local place for us to go to. Unfortunately, we were treated with utter contempt by the owner; suspect she thought we were tourists, or worse still, there was a racist aspect to her manner. Who knows, but we have not been back since. And never will…

I’m in Edinburgh on holiday. I dropped off clothes at the launderette, and on my way back to the hotel stopped here for lunch. What a delightful place! Cute atmosphere. It’s in a student section of Edinburgh and reminds me of places I would eat when I was at uni. I had the soup of the day, tomato with veg and red beans; I added bacon and cheese toast. Yummy! I’m very surprised at the reviews stating bad service, as I thought the staff was lovely.

Lovely people but when its busy its a disaster area.
Was there for brunch with 6 friends at the weekend and it was all a bit disappointing. We ordered quite promtply, food and drinks and were looking forward to our vrunch.
It took 20 minutes for our drinks to make it to us, even the tap water which we had to ask for 3 times. Then all of a sudden drinks and extra drinks were appearing to the table as we were quite sternly told we had ordered!!!
The food came out probably after about 35 minutes, not too bad but you know… HUNGRY man!!!
I went for the fry up, immediate issue was my poached egg was a fried egg, the fried egg looked tatty, there was almost no white… where it had gone im not sure but not great. 30 seconds later my poached egg arrived… im guessing they use poaching cups or one of those funny pans becuase this isnt a poached egg as I know it… !
Then I relaised I didnt have my sausage… pretty key to my fry up… again in lightening speed it was brought to me. Sorry to say the poor thing was mroe wrinkled than my Gran. It was tough and not very good — im guessing it has been under a heat lamp for quite some time.
as ive said before if you do a fry up you live & die by the ingredients… this was not a good example of Scotlands favourite breakfast. Looking at my friends food there seemed to be mixed opinions… the hollandaise wasnt hollandaise… some mad looking mexican breakfast option seemed to be the biggest hit.
Will i give it another go… yes…but they have to do a lot better!

My flatmate told me about this place and it’s so close to me I’m surprised I’ve never noticed it before. Myself and three friends decided to check it out and for a Sunday it was easy enough to get a table, and the service was very quick. There was a lot of choice on the menu of really good sounding food and I went for the french toast with bacon and maple syrup on sourdough bread. It was gooooood. Everyone enjoyed their food and we were all impressed with the café in general. It was nicely decorated and cosy. My only complaint was that they didn’t leave the jug of maple syrup with us, but maybe that was a good thing! :D

I’ve only discovered Piecebox recently but I think it might become a new favourite haunt. Tucked away quietly on a corner of Polwarth, this is one of those places that you’d never find as a matter of course. It feels like an Edinburgh secret!
The café is a really cute little place, with mis-​matched furniture, comfy seats and cool décor all over the walls. The owners had made an extra effort for Halloween when I last visited, so spiders, cobwebs and skeletons made an appearance!
This place is great for cakes (they are immense), tea and coffee. I haven’t eaten here for a proper plate of grub, but I have it on good authority that the club sandwich is excellent.
Definitely recommend as a place to go if you want a relaxed and fun catch up with friends or family. It’s got a lovely atmosphere. Very cosy and fun.
Only downside is the service. Sheesh! It can be very slow and the staff look so miserable. If I was working in a lovely little coffee shop like Piecebox I’d be chuffed — I’m not sure why they always look so glum…

Had brunch here yesterday and have to say it was great.
The décor is very cool, nice and colourful, wee bit quirky without being wanky. There were four of us and we all went for the Eggs Benedict with bacon. The eggs were perfectly cooked and you can tell they were high quality, same goes for the bacon. Berry smoothies were also consumed by all and hit the mark, very sour though so perhaps not for all. The staff were very helpful and made room for a buggy with smiles. It was packed and I can now see why.
All in all a great option and reasonable too, it was £32 for four Eggs Benedict, four smoothies and two OJs.

In a sentence: Piecebox can shine when it wants to but it can also be as dull as an old tin lunch box…
So what’re the vibes like?
Pretty cool.
I like the aesthetics of this little spot. The fresh and trendy interior design and crockery sit somewhere between Scandinavian chic and British eccentricity. It manages to appeal to a huge cross section of people; my Granny would think it’s bohemian and someone used to drinking coffee sitting on an old hessian sack would find it pretty quaint. …and that’s a compliment by the way. Nobody is in here to be seen; and put it this way, you’d be hard pushed to feel over or under dressed here. The atmosphere is always relaxed.
If you sit-​in you’ll get table service, which has been nothing but smooth and friendly on my visits. The portions are handsome and the food is generally lovely, justifying the price tag which approach that of a restaurant.
So, nice spot, and if the service was consistently flawless, or even flawlessly consistent then my finger would be hovering in deliberation between the 4 and 5 star button, unfortunately however Piecebox doesn’t hit the nail on the head every time.
My first visit to a newly opened PB proved below par and saw me wait nearly 15 minutes for a take away sandwich, which, in the end was decent, but had nothing over the pre-​wrapped ones in nearby deli Santangeli’s. A fairly unapologetic member of staff trying to crack jokes about the length of my wait did nothing to improve my fettle.
I’ve had the beef nachos 3 times, twice lovely, once however, I obviously got the bottom of the bag of tortillas, with only a few whole chips and half a bowl of proper crumbs, and, although I forget exactly what, something stated on the menu was missing from my dish (perhaps fresh tomatoes).
My trip today was for a take away coffee and my flat white was a latte, and a rather milky one at that. Not a HUGE problem, but considering both flat white and latte are on the menu, its worth flagging up.
If Piecebox were to get a school report card it would read ‘Very bright but easily distracted’

I dropped in here for lunch today and loved it.
I had a summer fruit smoothie, which arrived looking more like a cocktail — in a fancy glass, with a skewer with fresh fruit balanced on top. (It’s these little touches which make me smile!) I went for a sandwich and soup combo and wasn’t disappointed. There were loads of sandwich filling options and (I went for ploughmans — yum!) and the soup was delicious too.
I didn’t sample the baking this time, but all the cakes and brownies that were on display looked amazing so I’ll definitely be going back to sample those soon!
Whilst the food was great, the overall experience was what made it a nice venue. It is decorated with colourful wallpaper and there are a mix of normal wooden seats and comfy looking armchairs and sofas. The staff on today were so helpful. As soon as I arrived, soaked from the rain and struggling to get through the door with my pram, a member of staff ran straight over and helped me in, then brought me a menu quickly. The food was served quickly and with a smile, and they happily accommodated my request for bread and jam (not on the menu) for my fussy 2 year old’s lunch.
For me that’s the difference between 4 and 5 stars.
The notice board on the wall said that Piecebox can be hired/​reserved exclusively for events or groups, and it also has an alcohol licence and is open late! Definitely somewhere to consider for date night in the future! We’ll certainly be going back.
*One tiny problem with it, is that whilst I managed in with my pram today, if the café was busier at all I might have struggled to get in and find a space. It probably isn’t somewhere that a group of mums could all squeeze into unless prams were left outside. However my daughters foldable buggy was kindly popped into the staff room for us, so perhaps there is storage room for folded prams out of sight!

I love piece box! Have lived about 3mins up the road for 2 years & never popped in!!! how gutted am I! Lovely décor in this place… somewhere you could sit & wind away a few hours with a good pal easily. The menu is pretty extensive… nice & creative but makes it hard to pick because it all looks so nice. The cakes are all sitting out as well… does not do good for the waistline! But they are fantastic.
Prices are pretty average… 10% student discount which is good. The food is worth the price due to quality & huge portions.
Only minor bad point is they don’t serve breakfast items all day (pancakes at any time of day is good!) please change this as everytime I am in I want to try them but I am always in too late!
Bad reviews on here count for nothing when you see people queuing up to come in on a sunday! That says it all!

This is a lovely little local café on a sunny corner in Polwarth, near Santangeli’s deli. It’s just round the corner from us, so we went here for Sunday breakfast, and it was just great.
I had the French toast with bacon and maple syrup, my OH had the mushrooms on toast with perfectly poached eggs. Scrummy! My sourdough toasts were HUGE, eggy, bacony and syrupy. Just what was needed. A pot of coffee and Sunday papers aplenty saw us ease into Sunday morning in style.
The café itself is styled in a mixed-​clashing-​vintage way, with cute additions to the décor such as flower-​stuffed birdcages hanging from the ceiling, and teacups hanging in the windows. It’s a cheery, cute spot, and judging from how quickly the place filled up, popular with other locals.

I’ve been here a few times now as I live nearby and yesterday had a lovely flat white and a very large slice of incredibly tasty blueberry and lemon *something* cake.
I also tried some of my friend’s Earl Grey which I thought tasted very nice, from a lovely old lady teapot and a nice cup and saucer!
The staff are quite friendly, not oooverly so but that’s OK in my books.
My only qualm with the tea time experience was that the music from the kitchen was loud enough to hear along with the music playing front of house. Both sets of songs were quite enjoyable but pretty annoying when overlapped!
Overall I like it there, will be back again and think it’s worth trying especially if you’re in the area!

Oh. piecebox. I’m trying to give you a chance, but no you have dissapointed me again.
So this morning I really wanted a coffee. But having just pennies in the bank account I thought that I’d reallllllly reallllllllly realllllly have to want one, to sacrifice the 2.10 in my pocket. So, with a bit of hesitation, I walk into piecebox with the intention of a coffee to go.
After waiting about a minute or so for the lady infront of me to be served, the lady at the till asks what I would like. Definitely not in any sort of enthusiastic manner, which is to be expected really, but she also did not give any sort of eye contact.
After, «One large Cappuccino please.»
She starts to make my drink. First, there was a random coffee cup that was on the machine, she pours what is left at the bottom of this, and then quickly heats up some milk that was in the metal jug, and pours. Voila! Really fast, almost too fast. and what was that coffee cup fillup? a shot already made? Didn’t look big. Well no, it wasn’t, it couldn’t be.
She gave a wee sprinkle of chocolate on top, and away I go, with a giant take-​away coffee cup (one of those bigger sizes, like starbucks style). Now at this point I thought, this was fast, but I was curious as to what my coffee would taste like.
So I start walking down the street to find what basically tastes like a giant cup of hot milk, with a bit of taste of chocolate on top. Pretty much the worst cappuccino I’ve ever had in my life. With a hope of finding something that would taste remotely like coffee, I decided to pour quite a fair amount of drink down the drain on the street.
Nope, no coffee. :(… my poor 2.10 down the drain (literally) and then into the bin. I was so sad.
Next time piecebox, actually make some shots of espresso please, fast service is only okay when it’s quality! People don’t like giant cups of hot milk!