after a demanding walk from the old town to calton hill to portrait gallery and then the longest route to royal botanic garden sitting down was a damn good idea. the first thing you see entering the royal botanic garden is the gift shop and then the gateway restaurant on the top.
by the looks of the restaurant it was very much inviting and a place you would want to sit next to the glass window looking into the garden.
the restaurant is tastefully designed with wide spaces between each table which gives it a more relaxing feel as compared to crammed up spaces.
the ambiance was soothing, the restaurant is quite a hit with senior citizens and you might spot many around which i think is nice as it's a quite restaurant with peaceful setting no loud music, no crying babies, no loud men and no overly joyous families. since it was just a sit down for a quick bite.
i went for salmon bagel with cream cheese and rocket and side chips. nothing in the dish was complaint worthy and i quite liked it (more for the ambiance) than the food. standard cappuccino nothing fancy.
one very important thing that we noticed was the overpriced bottle of wine on the menu. it was four times more expensive than it's actual value. it is the case with every restaurant and bar in the uk but four times more than the actual price ouch.
it's a great place to sit down before you take on the walk through the entire garden.
i do recommend the gateway restaurant.