Café Marlayne

Breakfast and Brunch day on Unilocal,so I’m reviewing Café Marlayne!
This is a place that is associated with happy memories, I’ve visited 3 times, once my first time at a knitting group, once when I passed my theory test, and once when I met my friend’s new baby. These feel good things definitely make Café Marlayne a cheerful place for me!
Now, the place itself is huge, it has a large dining room through the back and comfy sofas at the front in the Windows, and on a sunny day you can sit outside.
The breakfast menu is great, a mix of staples like bacon rolls, to full cooked breakfasts, to fun things like waffles with bacon and maple syrup. The portions are generous, and pretty reasonably priced.
It’s not just a breakfast place, you can go for lunch and dinner too, or just for one of their amazing cakes! Last time I was there they had a bright green spinach cake!
What lets this place down a bit is the service, the staff seem slow and disorganised and you may need to remind them about missing parts of your order.

I’ve driven past this so many times and felt intrigued to try but never actually did it until the OH decided to book it for lunch!
I’m glad he did. To start, we both had crab fritters which were very similar to arancini and so creamy. The saffron cream that came with the fritters really brought out the flavours. It was quite a delight.
To follow I tried something different and something I wouldn’t do myself at home — Guinea foul. It was beautifully cooked and came with a lovely sauce.
The OH enjoyed his duck — nothing left on his plate equals a good thing!
The flat whites were equally as nice.
Service was quick, friendly and efficient. Although it was quick difficult to catch the servers eyes to pay our bill. My one pick would be of that the sound bounces about the place and it can be quite loud.
Would I reccommened? Yes! Will I go back? Of course!

Dropped in for a coffee, a great menu, no wifi unfortunately, will have to come out to check out the cake selection :)

Great place to meet up for tea/​coffee or just chill reading the paper. Big restaurant seating area in the back. Good food but wish it was more brightly lit in the back!

I came here for the first time on a Sunday evening for a spot of dinner. I loved the atmosphere, dim lights, paintings on the wall, slow jazz playing and lots of comfy seating. There were two menus available, all day snacks and a la carte. I decided to go for the steak with garlic butter, fries and roasted tomatoes. It was really delicious! And at £14.20 it was a bargain and also the most expensive thing on the menu. This place is ideal if you want an inexpensive but good meal. The desserts are all £2.95 and I had the Key Lime Pie, a creamy cheesecake with a citrus tang topped with white chocolate buttons. Next time I’m in Edinburgh Café Marlayne will be high on my list of places to visit.

Tuesday May 5. 2015
Café Marlayne
Spectacular. Really. Can’t say enough great things. Beautiful seating. Music choice and volume. Service lovely. And the food! Sublime. See my photo of broccoli w/​almond shavings and garlic beans… Can’t wait for the lemon cake I’ve ordered. The menu looks divine. Really creative interesting. Courgette carrot cake I think?
My waitress, her name is Angus, really good. Makes eye contact. Is swift and thoughtful. Checked on me but left me be… A excellent skill when waitering. She comes across sincere and genuine.
Love that she clears away. No idea how that pleases me. The little table looks neat and tidy. I can stress out if table not cleared. It’s odd but a lot of cafes in Edinburgh miss this simple thing. Drives my bonkers!!!
Horahhh! my lemon cake here. I drank my entire non dairy milk cappuccino. I meant to only drink half. It was soooo delish.
Free wifi.
Milk alternatives
Gluten free brownies!!!
Oh my lord!

I have had some beautiful meals in Café Marlayne’s — and one of my favourite cakes in the entire world ever! It’s a go-​to place for me and my mum after we’ve had a cultured afternoon at the cinema or the theatre, with it being so close by, and the menu is good value for the quality of food you get.
The first time I went, I was blown away. I chose a main course of partridge, with gnocchi and herb oil, which was so delicious. I don’t think I had ever actually eaten partridge before, but this made me fall in love with it. It had a slightly gamey flavour, but the gentleness of the gnocchi and the herb oil created a really beautiful dish.
The true star of the meal though was my dessert. I opted for the Pistachio and White Chocolate cake, and I do not exaggerate when I say this cake was frigging amazing. The cake itself was thin and crumbly with the lovely, nutty flavour of pistachios, and covered in thick layers of light but sweet white chocolate frosting.
The menu has changed since I last visited but has a lot of variety as well as being quite refined. The lunch menu is slightly shorter but still has a good mix of meat and fish. Price wise at Café Marlayne, two courses will cost you around £12−15 which isn’t too bad for the quality of food they deliver.
I’ve never had any problem with the service, sometimes it can be a little on the slow side, but I’m usually willing to wait because the food is of such a high standard and rarely falls short of my expectations.

Such a shame — visited a few years ago and LOVED this wee place. Last night’s meal AND service were nothing short of average… The interior /​vibe used to feel like a quirky French eaterie and now looks cheap and dated (plastic tables!!!) …
I normally give places a 2^nd chance, however, I won’t be bothering. Sorry Café Marlayne, time to have a reboot!

Great little place. Delicious steaks and seafood. Only complaint is that they garnish moules mariners (have i spelt the right?) with coriander x fairly pricey but worth it x

I have been here a few times, either for cake, coffee, brunch, porridge. It’s an interesting setting with roof top windows shedding light in the back area, which is quite spacious and can host plenty of people.
Their cakes were good. The porridge was not as solid as I would expect, it was more like warm milk with oats, which it’s obvious it’s not instant, on the other hand though, it’s not the real porridge.
Their Americano is rich and flavoursome, although I could do with a bit more strength.
I really enjoyed their music, morning upbeat songs. They have some really cool paintings on the walls, they have put some effort on selecting them.
There are gluten free cakes as well, all very reasonably priced.
If you haven’t already, you need to give this place a try!

C’est un restaurant très chaleureux avec une déco agréable, la cuisine est originale fraîche et inattendue. Service impeccable et rapide.

I’ve been here probably around 10 times, and it’s still one of my favorite cafes in Edinburgh.
When it’s sunny, you can sit outside (they’ve got quite a lot of seating outdoors), and when it’s raining, you can move indoors (they’ve got loads of seating indoors too!). I don’t think I’ve ever been when I couldn’t find a seat! And they’ve got a variety of different seats from comfy sofas to small tables.
They serve a huge selection of teas (many of them herbal), plus coffee, brunch food, sandwiches, and desserts. (There are 2 gluten free desserts — one is a brownie, which is really tasty, and the other is a polenta cake.)
The staff is friendly, and they bring the food and drinks to you wherever you’re sitting so you can relax the whole time you’re in there.
Best of all, there’s free wifi (something that few good cafes in Edinburgh has unfortunately).

Last time I was in Edinburgh, I was curious about the restaurant as it came up as one of the top pics. We were staying nearby at the Holiday Inn Express so it was perfect to check this place out for a late lunch after we checked in.
It was a cute and cozy kind of place. I loved that the natural light would brighten up the place even on a rainy day. Shortly after we ordered, we got a basket of bread and butter that was really good.
I was tempted to try the croque madame but ended up getting the salmon. It was perfectly cooked and really loved the curry sauce to accompany it. We didn’t have enough space for dessert but the pistachio cake looked amazing. Would love to come back again — maybe try the restaurant as well.

An extremely disappointing visit for me and I won’t be back.
This is quite sad for me as this little hidden gem is really beautiful inside, light and airy with tasteful decoration. I was here with a few work colleagues for lunch and upon arrival, bread and butter was placed on the table. I asked the waiter if there was any flora or suchlike — his nostrils flared, his mouth pursed as he told me with disgust that there was not. Fine, but when a customer has explained a lactose allergy then it would be nice to try and accommodate that?
This set the pace for the rest of the meal. There was almost nothing on the menu that I could eat.
Everyone else dining with me seemed quite happy with their food though so if you have no weird dietary requirements then give it a bash.

Went here for brunch today and, as my fellow Unilocalers have said previously, once you walk through the front café area, you’re greeted by a large, nicely decorated room at the back with funky art on the walls, tables that aren’t too crammed together and a big TV that is out of the way if you don’t want it but useful for keeping up on the headlines. With skylights in the ceiling, the room is filled with light during the day, so it got me in the brunch mood.
So to the food. For brunch, it’s a fairly standard menu with the full Scottish, bacon rolls, egg benedict, porridge, croissants and a few other varieties around that. I went for the eggs florentin and it was very good. The eggs were done right so that the yolks ran free and the hollandaise sauce tasted great without being overpowering. I also had a black coffee, which pleasingly was ordered and delivered within 5 mins of arriving — proper service.
And the cost was reasonable too. So I would recommend this place for anyone looking for a new brunch spot.

WHAT?! I thought… I thought this place was tiny! I… I have to dress up as Thorin now and hug Robyn Z while saying emotionally: «Never have I been so wrong.» Memetastic.
Basically, behind the cute’n’kooky café out front displaying its deeeelicious looking cakes, there is this enormous and beautiful room with elaborate wallpaper, an upright piano, cool art on the walls, candles, lots and lots of tables and space… woah. I had no idea.
When we arrived, we were offered a couple of options for places to sit, and we (predictably, on such a freezing cold night) elected to sit next to the radiator. The only slight issue with this was that I had my back to the upright piano, which has a little lip on the lid. I have this big, big laugh that is basically a «HAAA!» with my head thrown back, and on one occasion this resulted in my almost needing stitches, but I think I managed to stop the bleeding… ok, exaggeration. I bumped my head on the corner and said «ow» quietly, is all that happened.
Anyway, the food, folks. I wasn’t too sold on the bread that came while we awaited our mains — the wholemeal seemed a little bitter and dry. However, when the main event arrived… well, I can’t remember the last time the very first mouthful of something made my eyes widen, my heart leap and my voice go «OH!». I’d ordered the guinea fowl with curly kale and sauteed new potatoes, and that kale and those potatoes were the first thing I tried. And OH MY. Flavour explosion. Amazing! The guinea fowl was tender and perfectly cooked. At first, when the plate arrived, I thought there wasn’t much on it, but it was the perfect amount. I had a couple of Robyn’s fries that came with her steak, too, and oh my. Light, crispy, beautifully seasoned… perfection.
Dessert was where the real difficulty lay because the selection was fairly astounding. We informed the waiter of our indecision and he was so helpful with his recommendations. «The sticky toffee pudding is the most popular, but in my opinion, is nothing special. The carrot cake is very good, and the fruit and frangipane tart.» Right you are, sir! Carrot cake for Robyn Z, F&F tart for me, and, of course, we partook of one another’s desserts… in the name of, er, reviewing completionism. My tart was warm, which I hadn’t expected, and served with mascarpone. It was utterly delicious, although «fruit» seemed a little vague and I’m not convinced there was much involved beyond apple. I could be wrong, but that’s how it seemed. Robyn’s carrot cake was monumentally huge and really nice, although I’m not sure it necessarily would stand for me in an identity lineup of carrot cakes. Oh, but to be in a situation where I had to taste an identity lineup of cakes… now I’m in a dream world…

Café Marlayne is one of my favourite restaurants in Edinburgh. The food is simple but always tasty and very reasonably priced for what you get.
Don’t rely on just the menus they have on their website, as they also have a ‘snack’ menu on offer which I didn’t know about — but which suited me yesterday as I didn’t want a big dinner, but did want something to fill up my stomach.
The snack menu consists of items such as omelette, paninis, hawaiian bbq pulled pork panini, croque monsieur /​madame etc. I had a goat cheese, beetroot, walnut and thyme panini. For drinks, it was a large glass of bubbly (one of those mini bottles of bubbly to ensure you get all the fizz you deserve). The panini was tasty and the little side salad well dressed.
Mmm. The star of the show was yet to come. For dessert I ordered a passionfruit pavlova. Oh my goodness! A pavlova so light and fluffy like you were eating manna sent from the heavens above. The pavlova was absolutely delicious and made me so happy that I almost cried (and almost wanted to marry the chef).
Thank you Café Marlayne for the good food you serve — you guys rock!

Finally, I managed to have a dinner here and I can see what all the fuss is about.
The back room is beautifully decorated. The large print on the walls looks so bright and friendly, surrounded by knock knacks you would be forgiven for thinking it could be a living room.
The food is delicious. I went for the black pudding to start, despite a bad experience with it during breakfast, I much preferred it as a starter (though I would have preferred the mussels more, they were unavailable). For main course I had the lamb, served with mashed potatoes and green beans on the side. The food was all well cooked, nicely flavoured and clearly prepared and presented by someone who knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, there was so much going on at the table I couldn’t probe people too much about their dishes, but I saw a lot of burgers and a cullen skink which went down well.
The staff were attentive, but I get the feeling larger group bookings aren’t their thing. Despite the delicious food and, once we arrived, decent service, I can’t go 5 stars for my visit here. There was one or two things that just weren’t to my fancy.
I would definitely recommend this place for coffee, lunch or dinner if you were in the area.

Wow, what a well-​kept secret and wonderful little eatery. A glance inside will have you thinking it’s simply a café with sumptuous cakes. It is, but it’s also a restaurant serving beautiful, fresh cooked French food at a very reasonable price.
After stopping in one evening for a tea, and tea only, I came back the very next day for lunch. My French food eating partner in crime and I had a terrine to share, then one hake dish and one sea bass. The terrine was really beautifully seasoned, and the chutney it came with quite nice (it was the cumin that intrigued me).
My hake was, well, it was simply delicious. A huge serving: thick, juicy, watery chunks of hake, contrasted with a thin, crispy slice of prosciutto, and both complimented by puréed butternut squash. The side of fries may have been an overestimation on my part, I barely made a dent in those. But that hake, for £10.50, was just beautiful.
I didn’t have room for the cake that first caught my eye and enticed me in. I’ll save that for an evening this Spring when I want a glass of wine and big slice of bannoffee pie at 8pm. Because you can get that here. You can also get a bratwurst hot dog, or fresh made waffles. There’s a front room like a café, outdoor seating, and a big, spacious, light bright restaurant out the back.
Why I haven’t been here before, I don’t know. The whole menu looked delicious and I took a long time to decide. I’ll be back soon, that’s for sure. Don’t pass it by, despite it’s small appearance and little café inside. There’s so much more than meets the eye.

café marlayne is a true edinburgh gem. this place serves up simple tasty french bistro food at a reasonable price with a daily changing menu to reflect what is best in season. so clearly this was a perfect place to have a mother’s day lunch for the boyfriend’s mom. and lucky for us they had a table as most other places seemed to be booked out.
i love this branch of café marlayne as the front is a cute little café type seating. there’s a counter with cakes and a coffee machine and big comfy couches with cosy looking arms chairs as well. then you walk through to the restaurant and theres loads of light and tables and gorgeous green printed wall paper and a happy buzz of contented diners. i was impressed that despite it being a cold and rather snowy day out the restaurant was warm and cosy with lots of light.
the menu on mothering sunday was lovely and had too many good options to choose from. we actually had to send the waiter away twice while we made final decisions. i decided on the hake with butternut squash puerre and a caper sauce. i added some mashed potatoes for good measure as well. the other orders were two sirlion burgers and the toulouse sausage.
dishes took a bit of time to arrive which reassured me that everything was made fresh to order. although i did have a bit of food envy watching the table across from us getting served their meals. luckily ours arrived not too long after and i soon had in front of me a lovely plate of pan fried hake atop a lovely puerre of bright orange butternut squash with spinach mixed in and caper sauce. also a bowl for creamy mashed potatoes that were just delicious i never wanted to finish them! but the real star of my dish was that butternut squash… it was just OMG… i feel there may have been loads of butter mixed into it, but it was sooooo incredibly tasty and went incredibly well with the hake. the whole dish was perfect and i made sure to leave my plate clean. all our plates were clean in fact and everyone seemed very pleased with their dishes.
since we had forgone the starter in favour of cake after our mains, we then had the taks of deciding which one to get. there was a board of about 7 – 8 cakes to chose from! i went with the white chocolate and pistachio cake which was lovely and not too sweet. i definitely enjoyed it as i also did the taste of baked lime cheesecake i got. the meal was ended with a cup of tea that arrived in a massive teapot for two people. i could have gotten at least three cups out of it which is perfect for me, the more tea the better!
so another excellent meal at café marlayne and i definitely look forward to visiting again. i love that i’ve never had the same dish twice and there are always so many delicious options to choose from. only four stars though as service was a wee bit slow and it took ages to get someone to pay attention to us to get the bill.

Great French style restaurant — food is hearty french, rather then fine dining but portions are huge and even during December, a three course lunch festive menu was a great £16 for three (substantial) courses.
I ate here with three friends and we are all coeliacs. Staff were knowledgeable and told us to order what we wanted and whatever on the menu would be adapted for us which was great to hear. Sadly, there wasn’t much sampling of the menu as we all wanted the same things!
Starters of a goats cheese salad was lovely — great quality goats cheese, creamy but not too salty. Our main was venison daube with mash potato (sides included were green beans, broccoli and roasted potatoes). This was amazing! An absolutely huge portion of venison (I wish I had photographed it) with the daube including mushrooms and onions. Lovely and just the ticket on a cold December Saturday. Sheer gluttony meant we ordered pudding — again we all went for a lemon posset which was creamy and tangy but with a lovely moreish sweetness. I could only manage half of mine — again, this was a big portion.
I would definitely return to Café Marlayne — probably for dinner having starved myself all day so I can do justice to the portions. If you have a huge appetite, then this is the place for you — great hearty food, big portions and great prices.