Starbucks

I like this Starbucks.
The location of this cozy coffee shop is very good. It is right near lots of shops and is in a good area overall. The downstairs lobby is small, but don’t let that fool you. There is an upstairs area that has lots of seating and cold air conditioning for those warm, if rare, sunny Edinburgh days.
The baristas are nice, quick, and drinks are also good. Some of the local Starbucks struggle to make certain drinks here, but this location gets them right. However, I do wish that there were more tall tables upstairs, but at least there is plenty of seating to be had.
In the end, this is one of the better Starbucks that I have been to in Edinburgh. If I’m around, I’ll be back!

As far as Starbucks locations go, there isn’t a tremendous amount of differentiation. However, you can still rate the atmosphere, the attitude of the baristas, and quite importantly, the accuracy of the drink orders.
We ordered two drinks — first, a cool line refresher. My companion requested «easy on the ice». It was almost completely filled with ice with very little drink. I ordered a triple caramel frappucino with no whipped cream. Instead, there was lots of whipped cream. So they were 0 for 2 on drink accuracy.
There is a decent amount of seating upstairs, with couches and so on. So they get points for that.

This is a great, cosy Starbucks location that is perfect for weekend relaxing in the large leather sofas that engulf you. The large windows are also great, especially upstairs overlooking the Stockbridge Sunday Market. On the ground floor the space is small but efficient with the counters and a small area with high stool seating by the windows. The menu is of course the same reliable menu, too. I like this location a lot.

Plenty of seating
Staff is really welcoming
Good place to study

Starbucks = 1 Star
Stairs = 5 Stars (minus one for dodgy WiFi and no stem ginger muffins)
So was there some sort of breeding incentive in Scotland/​UK in the last few years? One for the parents, one for the grandparents and one of the country? A baby bonus perhaps?
Since I arrived back in Edinburgh in September 2010, the main thing I have notice is all the mothers pushing babies around. And is not just one baby, it’s a couple, side by side in big «armoured car sized» strollers. I could go on and on about the obnoxiousness of these strollers on the sometimes narrow footpaths here, but lets stay on topic…
Not so much in the city centre, but every café of decent size (with no stairs) in or near a residential area invariably has half of it taken over by some sort of mother/​baby/​dragged-​along-​hubby group, taking over the space with themselves, their offspring and their prams.
Here’s how they operate… One of the group members will come to a café 20+ minutes early and snag one of the couches or the biggest table («Why does that one woman and her baby need that big table to herself?» you always asked). If you are sitting nearby and you see this happening, now is the time to look out for an open table at the opposite end of the café, or you will soon be be hemmed in by at least half a dozen mums and at least 1.5 times their number in kids, be they in prams or crawling under your table, looking for that purple elephant toy that they have thrown under there 3 or 4 times already.
So, the Stockbridge Starbucks review. Well, its a Starbucks in the UK, which is better than a Starbucks in the US, as the tea seems to be better. Don’t drink coffee, so can’t comment on the difference there. Its clean. Toilets are usually clean. Staff seem friendly. The WiFi is a bit dodgy (it will work on our Mac, but not on the PC) and they don’t seem to have the stem ginger muffins that I have seen at other branches.
But the big plus over the nearby Costa and Nero is its stairs. I can sit down and not worry about screaming kids or being blocked in by gargantuan strollers etc…
In the end, I would prefer not to go to a Starbucks/​Costa/​Nero, but the independent cafes in Stockbridge are small and not really conducive to sitting down and pulling out a laptop (and I guess they would be taken over by the baby brigade, if they were any larger).
Now if I was to do a review on the Princes St. Starbucks, which is large AND upstairs, I would be whinging about too many students taking over the place with their laptops. Yes, I see the irony.