The Mustard Seed Restaurant — Restaurant in Crown and City Centre

📍Scottish HIGHLAND cuisine at its BEST @ The Mustard Seed, Inverness Boasting nearly 2000 Google Reviews, this restaurant at the Scottish Highland capital is a FAVOURITE amongst locals. Serving authentic European cuisine, the location is set directly facing the banks of the River Ness. ⛰️Michelle and I wanted to experience authentic highlander cuisine; this seemed to be the perfect place to go.

⛪I was wowed by the interior designs the moment we entered. What initially was a disused church was transformed into The Mustard Seed restaurant; a lovely open log fire dances in the middle of the restaurant, and the double height ceiling brought a sense of grandiosity. Michelle and I were attended to by a kind lady by the name of Sophia; service here was top-notch.

🥖We were served fine pieces of bread (complimentary) with Irish butter. The lunch menu was well worth the price; 14.95 £ for 2 course meal.

🐠For the starters, the Crispy Fried Cod Goujons were heavenly. True to its name, it was crisp, fresh-tasting, tender and piping hot from the fryer. Michelle had the Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Hummus, a dish in which she enjoyed.

🥩Then the mains came. Mine was Lamb from the exquisite Sunday Roast Special with mashed potatoes (they served BLACK Pudding. It came with pork meat it in, so I had to decline the pudding). I normally tend to avoid roasts as I often find the meat to be rather dry-tasting. This time, however, was the first time I had such a tender lamb roast; it was juicy, succulent, perfectly complemented by the gravy. I've never had better to be honest. Michelle ordered the Pan Fried Fillet of Scrabster Hake - good stuff, she loved her choice. (Michelle doesn't eat meat aside from fish)

😁Highland cuisine here is so authentically crafted, I would vouch for the cuisine here anytime. The experience here is a must, should you ever step foot in...

TLDR: Food was fine for what we paid. Young lady who was a new start, did very well. However, the other staff member who seated a table just before us and 2 other tables later after us in that section, we were the only one not shown the specials - he showed the other tables. Missed out on better options, bit disappointed if I’m honest. I can only assume he was busy. It’s probably worth a look, but I can’t give it more than 2 for our personal experience

** The restaurant is very nice, options are good, our service was fine. (We had a young lady who was on her second shift and she did very well).

However, another member of staff (I think might have been a manager) did not show us the specials. As he did for the table seated just before us and the subsequent 2 tables after us.

We had already ordered. Just before our food began to arrive, a couple was seated beside us and shown the specials on a black chalk board which is moved table to table as they arrive.

We hadn’t noticed this until that point, and couldn’t exactly change anything as the food was being brought to our table.

It is unfortunate, I would have really like the duck and this was obviously not on the standard menu.

As for the food we did get, we both had the streak - medium, my own was fine. My wife’s was a bit unevenly cooked. It was more medium well on one side and medium on the other. Overall the steak was good for what we paid.

The chicken starter was a warm, not hot. That may just be the way it’s served it was good nevertheless.

My wife had the soup, which was carrot and I think coriander which was nice.

Overall the food was good what we paid £50 (without alcohol) but not being shown effectively half the menu, really did put a dampener on the experience.

It’s probably worth a look, but I can’t give it more than 2 for our...

I'm going to court controversy on this one.

"It's over rated and trading off its award history"

There I said it. It's officially no.13 out of almost 200 restaurants on Trip, so it's a decent dining experience.

Today we had lunch. It's taken us a few attempts to just walk-in so booking is recommended / essential.

My issue is actually with the rather gruff welcome you get from the well built gentleman with glasses doing the door. If you've had the audacity not to book, you'll feel like an idiot.

The servers are all running around and seem over worked but they are mostly smiling.

Personally, I think the host needs to be more authentic and less like he's running the only diner in town. Restaurants have a shelf life ( even La' Gavroche) although given that's had 40 years 😆

The lunch food was fine. A chicken noodle salad cold.(all pre cooked for speed as it arrived in seconds of me ordering) and a rump steak with carrots, crushed potatoes and gloop sauce (lunch portion) with too much sinew which couldn't be attacked with a saw let alone the steak knife.

The cocktail was pleasant and as I said the waiter was pretty good. Although the bar man barely smiled and never engaged with any of us waiting in the doorway for a coveted table.

Overall it's at best a 4 but today a 3 out of 5. I think you can find more genuine offerings with really engaging staff doing even more cool stuff.

Note to owner (when next recruiting FOH): If you can't find a table for a diner (because you're fully booked) at least be polite about it and maybe see if you can rebook them ? Yes I realise you spend half your evening telling people there are no walk-ins available.

I guess they'd be better off putting out a sign on the pavement (FULL - NO BOOKING - NO EAT -...