Pasta Fresca

This is by far the worst service and establishment I have EVER visited! I was horrified at the 20 minute wait I had after sitting down to a pretty empty café for the waiter to come and ask me what I want despite signalling him and a few other waiters a number of times! I was then told that a number of the things on the menu were not available. I was so hungry I ordered something else anyways. (A cheese and bacon crossant and a baked potato with egg and cheese) and a coke and a coffee! I waited a further 15 minutes on this and again had to call the waiter as I knew I had been forgotten about. I seen tables full of people come in and leave because they were waiting too long to be served.
The cutlery was really dirty and the food was brought out in less than presentable plates.
The food was bland the prices were outrageous and not even an apology from any of the staff to anyone about there wait or an attempt to win back customers that were leaving. I seen a number of people not get what they served and returning their plates while I sat there.
When I went to pay outside, as I am Irish I took a little bit of time to count my money and the server got visibly frustrated and repeated the price which was 27 pound and something at me a number of times causing me to get very flustered.
Absolutely appalling and I really feel this place should be inspected as I sincerely question the HACCP standard.
Please I urge you to try many of the wonderful cafes right beside it!
It is the least busiest for a reason!!!

We ate here on our last trip to Edinburgh. It is basic fare from a small shop. I thought the prices were very reasonable and the service was excellent. I would definitely come back.

Popped into this small internet styled café for late lunch, you can find it wedged between two touristy clothes shops in the «Arcade», walk through connecting North Bridge and Cockburn Street. Noticed it has upstairs Internet connected pc’s, but in addition has wifi to boot.
Needed to work, so with quick password link was off. Then came coffee and a scone. However the unusual thing that materialised was the scone served in a soup bowl? While I’m not saying this was in anyway bad, it made buttering and jamming a wee bit awkward… maybe it was because I wasn’t wearing my scone shoes the owners had perhaps noticed this!
Questioning whilst paying for lunch the young lad at the till, he seemed to either be unaware that it’s difficult to grab an already soft scone on a flat plate; but near impossible a get it to your face in one piece from ceramic with a slight curvature.
Maybe he was having a giraffe, or worse; had some mysterious force been at play the day before and smashed all the plates leaving them not time to replace any?
With not much of a response other than oh you didn’t like it on that, I can’t wait to go again to see what idiosyncrasies they might use in serving a pizza or pasta? Others were eating there but it was not busy, distinctly quiet apart from the tv on.
However a nice toasted warm scone with cappuccino — and if your not in for working lunch then a massive plasma on the far wall at the weekend shows sport, not sure if they serve beers also though?
In all food and coffee ok, served quick and was warm! What do you think? Is this place a hit or a miss?

Their soup was not good. It was heated for me in the microwave as I stared in bewildered awe. Then everything, including the soup, was wrapped in cling-​film, which was incredibly strange.
Overall, we said: «there isn’t a chance I’ll be going back to Pasta Fresca. I can confidently say that it’s the worst place I’ve visited on my quests, so far. They charge the exact same price as the New Town Deli, for soup and a filled roll. The difference in quality is an ocean the width of the Pacific.»

O nom, Pasta Fresca is a nice wee café!
Tucked away in the surprisingly small and sparse North Bridge Arcade (which is basically just a shortcut to Cockburn Street) Pasta Fresca looks vibrant. As Rezzi said, it looks like a hip wee café akin to some of the coffee shops on Nicholson Street. I am surprised to learn it is Italian, but from the quality of food and hearty selection, I can’t believe I didn’t guess!
Selling panini’s, wraps, sandwiches and soup with a variety of flavours and fillings, Pasta Fresca certainly offer choice. It’s the standard price for this area but not as steep as some of the café’s just around the corner on Cockburn Street. I’m pretty sure I even saw some haggis for those of you who haven’t tried it and want to get the taste of Scotland (we actually eat panini’s more here, but go for it!)
Very nice, funky décor with fresh food and friendly staff. Can’t complain, and it maintains the high standard of wee café’s within this square mile radius. Next time I might try the ice cream — Rezzi’s mention of chocolate sauce has turned me on to the idea!

It’s been a while since I visited one of the many Italian restaurants in Edinburgh. This one was a little different because it so resembles a hip café, I just assumed they’d chosen the name randomly.
However, it is indeed Italian with Italian staff and Italian food. But there’s more! On the menu, which is quite extensive and painstakingly written on a chalkboard they also claim to serve Turkish and Greek food. They serve breakfast, pasta, paninis, baked potatoes, and salads amongst many other things, and I feel the menu is comfortingly packed and chaotic!
I had an ice cream, but more out of good will than anything else; I would have loved to pick a cool flavour in a cone, but all they had was vanilla sans cone. The kind man could sense my disappointment, and I got a generous helping of ice-​cream with pistachio nuts and chocolate sauce. I have to say it was awesome, and any passersby watching me eat it on the street might have been a little freaked out by my icecream-​gasm face!