The National Library of Scotland Cafe

While waiting for Edinburgh Castle to open, we stumbled upon one of the few cafes that were open in the area. A library café may not sound like much, but you can’t judge a book by its cover. They make a great cup of espresso for a very reasonable price — a latte was only £1.70 and it comes with a little gingersnap cookie. There’s plenty of seating and wi-​fi is free with any purchase from the café.

I don’t actually have a Reader’s card for the National Library. Studying there has always seemed to me like this exclusive activity, the sort of holy grail of academic research at an exalted level that my own, lowly undergraduate studies never merited.
For that reason, I quite enjoy the National Library Café, as you can go there and sip coffee or unobjectionable sandwiches while rubbing shoulders with distinguished scholarly types and pretending you’re one of them, without ever having to produce any accreditation that would justify your presence there.
So yes, I come here mainly to soak up the intellectual atmosphere and haven’t got anything in particular to say about the food and beverages they offer here, other than that they’re pretty standard and not exorbitantly priced.

Like Julia, the Café in the National Library of Scotland, is a great place to go for a well deserved break during your many hours of studying. The Café always seems to attract a weird selection of people. With tourists, workers, pensioners, students and some people who frankly look lost and confused, this place attracts them all.
The Café itself offers a good selection of hot and cold drinks. Furthermore, it also offers a good range of normal typical Café foods, including sandwiches, pastries, cakes and salads. However, the downside is that if you’re a student, your budget in this Café does not go as far as it would in the Café in the student library!
However, with news channels on screens, this place is a good place to catch up with the outside world, and skim over that newspaper you bought in the morning!
A Café that fulfils the needs of the library!

If you’re doing your dissertation or working on your own research, you’ll spend most of the daylight hours in the NLS. It’s a great place for research. It’s a great place for quiet. And for being surrounded by loads of people who’re in your same head space.
But, here’s the thing. You can also just go the National Library of Scotland to grab a bite or have a drink at their café, which is generally open more regularly than the Reading Rooms are (which is where the geeks hang). I became a regular there because it was the perfect place for procrastination. You see, if you’re still in the building, it seems like you’re still studying. Right?
So, they have a range of fairly decent salads and sandwiches as well as your regular teas and coffees and cakes. They only downside is that the coffee isn’t brilliant and everything costs at least 50% more than it should. The café is surrounded by books (related to Scotland in some way shape or form), so you can always grab one and have a read while drinking a coffee (and then maybe even buy a copy) and they also have a few screens that show the news (on silent with subtitles).
If you just want to check the building out and have a drink this is a decent place to go. Surprisingly, they also have bottles of Sierra Nevada ale! So, I guess you don’t have to remain sombre and quiet in this library space.