Vegan
Organic
Western
Take-out
Bakery
European
Gluten-free

Cafe serving a selection of starters, burgers, sandwiches, all-day breakfast, soups, and Buddha bowls. Emphasis on cooking from scratch and creating healthy dishes. Est. 2016. Open Mon-Thu 12:00-22:00, Fri-Sun 10:00-22:00. Last orders 9pm. Open hours vary.


Featured Review

Angelina-Sabrina

Points +383

Vegan
26 Mar 2025

Holy Cow? Holy Grail! 🙏

Suuuuuper lecker und total lieber Service 🤩


649 Reviews

First Review by craigmc

purplebanshee

Points +44

Vegan
07 Aug 2025

Central location

Great cafe in the city centre - handy for Waverley station and the bus station. Outdoor seating available in the patio out the back. All vegan and decent gluten free options too. You can opt for a healthy salad bowl or burger and chips.

Pros: Great central location, Patio for good weather

DUNS4D

Points +20

Vegan
21 Feb 2026

Must-Try

one of the best vegan spots in the city. going back in the summer to try their outdoor seating.

staff are nice. food is to die for, and you will use your napkin.

atmosphere could be better

Updated from previous review on 2026-02-21

Pros: food, staff, friendly

Cons: needs more vibes

Vegangelist

Points +1405

Vegan
13 Feb 2026

Just lovely

Friendly, prompt service and great food! The Reuben sandwich is to die for, but we found the lentil soup a bit lacking in taste. The cheesecake was very good. Water was placed on the table as soon as we arrived, which I approve of!

Pros: Prompt, Friendly, Great sandwiches

Cons: Entrance could be nicer

SamanthaJadePW

Points +297

Vegetarian
08 Feb 2026

Lovely little establishment tucked away from the hustle of the city

Service was wonderful from the get-go. Super accommodating for our little one - provided us with a spare plate & little spoon for him!
Nice choice on food, and very well presented.
Saving space for one of the desserts is a must!

Pros: Service, Choice

Jennidaca

Points +1694

Vegan
04 Feb 2026

Good atmosphere and delicious food

We tried the Ruben sandwich and loved the vegan pastrami. The cheesecake was also delicious. Good place to have a snack.

Pros: All vegan

RumerBettie

Points +26

Vegan
29 Jan 2026

Holy wow???? Lmao idk

I had the Ruben sandwich (seitan pastrami, vegan cheddar, sauerkraut and pickles). The waitress kindly swapped the salad on the plate for fries for a 50p charge which I thought was good of em. Meaty Mum had coconut & cauliflower soup and oregano fries. She said "it was delicious, give them 5 stars - and the service was brilliant!".
My sandwich was lovely, lovely, lovely and so much more filling than I expected.

Updated from previous review on 2026-01-29

thebestveganlife

Points +74

Vegan
26 Jan 2026

Yummy

Really nice brunch and atmosphere

Cons: On the expensive side

JohnKnight

Points +443

Vegan
17 Jan 2026

There are better cheaper options in Edinburgh

They forgot our order, and although apologetic there was no mention of recompense. My tofu burger was OK but not great, Edinburgh has better options if not quite so central. Very pricey even for Edinburgh.

Updated from previous review on 2026-01-17

Pros: All vegan, Nice atmosphere

Cons: Poor vfm

Caroll

Points +308

Vegan
09 Jan 2026

Matcha and cake date

Popped by for a pre hogmanay matcha and cake

Pros: Tasty blue matcha, Forest fruit cake, The vibe

Cons: No

Coeliacsquirrel

Points +632

Vegan
03 Jan 2026

Good lunch spot near Waverley Station

Met a friend here for lunch on a flying visit to Edinburgh. Handily located for the station & city centre. I had the gluten free beetroot carpaccio open sandwich & my companions both went for the Reuben. We all really enjoyed the food and, with a side order of chips, we were all stuffed so sadly had no room for one of the delicious looking cakes.
Plan to return when next in Edinburgh to try their GF vegan breakfast with homemade haggis.

Updated from previous review on 2026-01-03

Pros: Handy location , Fresh food , Friendly staff

Cons: Expensive (but it is Edinburgh)

gabriellasnargles

Points +583

Vegan
02 Jan 2026

yummy vegan cakes

great flavors and super cute café; a little bit dry but we came at the end of the day so that might be why

catefr

Points +77

Vegan
30 Dec 2025

Tasty food

We both had the full vegan breakfast which was really tasty and generous portions too! It is pretty expensive, probably the most I’ve paid for a breakfast, but it was good food. We came on a busy day so service was very slow, took almost an hour to get our food but maybe we just caught them on an understaffed day! I also had a smoothie which was delicious. Coffee was okay. Overall it has a classic cafe feel which is nice. Obviously love that everything is vegan, and they have a great looking cake selection too, though we didn’t try any.

Updated from previous review on 2025-12-30

Pros: Delicious food, Big portions

Cons: Expensive, Slow service

JuliaTwiston-Davies

Points +1182

Vegan
29 Dec 2025

Nice place

Cute little place with nice staff. The Reuben I had and the quarter pounder burger boyfriend had were both pretty tasty. I like that they use organic ingredients. There was no one else in there - I hope they get more customers usually. ☺️

Updated from previous review on 2025-12-29

jessclifford5

Points +86

Vegan
28 Dec 2025

Yummy Cake

Got the red velvet cake and the double chocolate cake. Both were yum but the double chocolate was my favourite! Cute cafe and good central location

Updated from previous review on 2025-12-28

Universe77

Points +138

Vegan
23 Dec 2025

Great food

This all-vegan place offers a selection of mains and cakes. As always, the food was superb, especially the Wellington, which is a Christmas-Special. We will be back for sure when we return to Edinburgh. Sry for the bad quality of the pictures

Updated from previous review on 2025-12-23

RSweet

Points +336

Vegan
16 Dec 2025

The place to visit

I come here every year on my annual Edinburgh conference trip. This place is so good even my omni friends want to visit here.
I always go for the rueben sandwich and it never disappoints.

Pros: Fully vegan

Cons: Smalll venue

phil0s0phiert

Points +217

Vegan
10 Dec 2025

Amazing Vegan Soup!

We were in Edinburgh for just 3 days, and we went there twice because the soup was so incredibly good and filling, because you get a lot of bread with it. Also the fries are very crispy and tasty! Can only recommend 🥰

Updated from previous review on 2025-12-10

Mrs.Kamelin

Points +2264

Vegan
08 Dec 2025

Holy nom

Perfect place to go to eat after a whole day walking around the city. Amazing food, very kind staff and the cakes are crazy good. Loooved the full breakfast plate.

Updated from previous review on 2025-12-08

Alessandra1970

Points +188

Vegan
07 Dec 2025

Love

Love for animals just declared at the entrance

vasilys

Points +49

Vegan
26 Nov 2025

Definitely made with love

What a lovely spot! The place has such a cute vibe, and the food was absolutely delicious. But what really made a lasting impression on me was the atmosphere behind the scenes. On my way to the restroom, I could hear happy voices and laughter coming from the kitchen. It’s so refreshing to know the food is being made by a team that is actually having fun. You can really taste that positive energy in the dishes. Highly recommended!

ilexx

Points +46

Vegan
26 Nov 2025

very good!!

really nice place and really good burgers!!

chrisvegannn

Points +32

Vegan
25 Nov 2025

Great spot!

Came here for lunch. Quickly shown a table and menu bought over. We got the Ruben and the tofu pad Thai. Both lovely and portions very generous. I had a pot of spiced apple tea and my sister had a soy cappuccino as well. Although the sever was running FOH alone, everything was done promptly with no long wait even though the place was full. Would recommend 💚

liesj

Points +195

Vegan
17 Nov 2025

Fairly nice place but too chaotic.

Spending just a few nights in Edinburgh we specially looked for fully vegan restaurants and so we came to visit Holy Cow. I am very reluctant to give a not so nice review for a fully vegan restaurant but this just wasn't good. The floor was not particularly clean and the lady ,who was alone ,clearly had problems organizing everything -showing people their tables, cleaning tables, taking orders en following up orders- and we waited for so lang that we had, like someone else before us, just decided to leave when she came to our table and took our order. I took the beetroot carpaccio and my partner the Vietnamese tofu burger. Carpaccio should not come in thick heavy peaces and tofu should be prepared much more tasty than it was. The crispy fries were just not crispy. We were surely disappointed. For what it was it was definitely overpriced.

Pros: fully vegan, nice location

Cons: smell in the restaurant. , not original or very tasty.

Clara_D_M

Points +22973

Vegan
11 Nov 2025

Bad.

I hate giving bad reviews to fully vegan businesses. But honestly they don’t deserve a better rating, the golden rule is that the customer is the king. Their coffee machine was broken, which is fine, not their fault and their are worst things in life. I just wish they had told me instead of having me waiting 15min while the lady was on the phone with the coffee machine company or whatever

joe3000

Points +117

Vegan
10 Nov 2025

Amazing plant cafe with everything you’d want

I’ve been here a few times over the years, and during Fringe, but haven’t left a review, so here it is! A cute little cafe, serving everything from breakfasts, to mains, sandwiches, burgers, pad Thai, veggie bowls, pancakes, cakes, lattes, kombucha. I highly recommend. The most recent visit I went for the breakfast at about 6pm! With a kombucha and a whilst I couldn’t finish a cake while I was there, and took one away for later ! I’ll continue coming back to Holy Cow Edi

Pros: Wide delicious menu, Breakfast served all day! , 100% vegan

Knorbel

Points +1941

Vegan
09 Nov 2025

Kleines Restaurant

Die Karte ist recht übersichtlich. Wir fanden den Pilzburger nicht so besonders. Die Soße auf dem Burger war zwar gut, aber es war viel zu wenig, in der Folge war das Brötchen sehr trocken. Für den Preis hätte auch zu den Pommes noch eine Soße und allgemein ein bisschen Salat sein können. Der Kuchen, den wir hatten, war sehr gut.

Pros: Gute Auswahl

Cons: Burger war zu trocken

TiiaViirre

Points +18

Vegan
08 Nov 2025

Amazing vegan food

I had a pad thai salad and it was absolutly amazing! They also have wide variety of plant based milks, cakes, warm and cold drinks and food options. 5/5 recomend!

Pros: Food, Variety, Atmosphere




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