The Annex — Restaurant in Inverness

This small town is extremely lucky to have such a high food quality restaurant! You can tell the menu was carefully curated by a chef who understands harmony of flavour and texture. I was alone and didn't experience the slow service people mentioned in the reviews.

Food 10/5 Location 5/5 Menu 5/5 Présentation 5/5 Mocktail 2/5

The sourdough bread and homemade butter is delicious, I recommend it. I couldn't afford a started so this was perfect for me as it's only 5$.

The maritime mushroom skewer is insaaaaaaane. If you love mushroom and are vegetarian (or just love mushrooms) this is the plate for you. Presentation is beautiful and the meal is so tasty. Definitely the beat mushroom focused meal I've had, ever. A bit on the salty side so avoid if you dont like salty food.

The only meh thing was my pineapple moscow mule (mocktail). It lacked something (I think rosemary syrup and branch would elevate it and make it so much better!). I'm sober and I like to have mocktails but this one fell flat.

Definitely recommend having dinner there. Is you wish to avoid the long service delay (cause by the kitchen being slamed) I'd recommend just going early or as a small group. There were a lot of large groups (6-9 people) and this is what tends to take a while.

Bonus: there is a cute friendly male cat coming on the patio to get love from everyone. He came twice while I was there and went around all...

The food here was very good however the service is where things fell short. We had the oysters to start which were good, the chicken wings and the clam buns with tarragon butter were absolutely to die for. After our appetizers things fell short. We waited for well over an hour and a half for our mains. I had to ask a few times what the eta was on our mains and was told each time they would be out shortly. They did not come out and it was frustrating to see other tables who were seated after us get their food. Finally, I advised our server that if our food was not going to be out within the next few minutes we just wanted our bill. We were advised the kitchen was putting a rush on it and it would be out within 5 minutes. By this point we asked to move inside as we were cold due to the sunsetting (our reservation was for 6:15pm and had initially sat on the patio). We did get our mains this time (after 8:30pm), the scallops and pork belly and the halibut were excellent. The restaurant did offer a free drink to my husband and comp the oysters for the delay in getting our food however it was a disappointing experience. They advised us someone in the kitchen had called in sick and that is why there was a delay. We did not have any dessert as we had been there for so long, we were tired and just...

The Annex – Ruined Me for All Other Food

I don’t say this lightly: The Annex served me the best meal I’ve ever had in my life, and now I’m furious. Not at the restaurant, I'm angry at everything else I’ll ever eat from this day forward that will pale at the meal I've just experienced.

Perfect. It was the kind of perfect that made me look around mid-bite, just to make sure I wasn't deceased and dining on ambrosia.

Fiddle stitches, that was the best meal I have ever had.

But here’s the problem: it's over. I walked out of The Annex a changed man, and not in a romantic, “oh-what-a-lovely-evening” kind of way. No, I left knowing I had peaked. That no matter how hard I try, how much I spend, or where I go, I will now - for the rest of my life -chase the dragon that is that meal.

That god-damned delicious fish will haunt me to my last breath.

Service? Impeccable. Ambiance? Stylish but traditional. But honestly, they could’ve served this food in the parking lot and I’d still be writing this.

Go. Run. But just know: once you eaten at The Annex, it's over. You've won, and lost...