Scotts Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Great Britain

It was my mother's birthday and she travelled from Dunoon and my partner and I travelled from Glasgow. We booked a table for 12.15 pm and almost immediately I got a very poor opinion of the service. We were early and sat at a waiting booth near the bar to wait, I am not quite sure why as there were around 4-5 tables seated but totally understand that they might not have been ready for us. We were not asked if we would like a drink whilst waiting until 10 minutes into our seating.

This is when it all went downhill. It got to 12.20pm and we were taken to our table. It was by far the worst table in the restaurant. We were next to the till and next to the bar, also through most of the people walking past. We felt like we were an afterthought. We were not asked if we would like our coats to be taken and we were just left to sit.

The man that sat us was by far the most disappointing member of staff and I believe one of the management. He was quite loud in tone, had a pale shirt and just an overall dour demeanour.

We ordered our drinks which were nice and then a couple of starters came which were timely and very nice. We then waited 25 minutes for the main but understand that things can be a bit different at weekends with not the same level of staff so we were absolutely fine with this.

We then started hearing loud noises from plates being cleared and my partner and mother spotted behind me that the staff were clearing plated under the till. It was so unsavoury and made us feel quite ill at points.

Our mains came and we noticed while we were waiting that other people were having coats taken and shown to tables that were far less uncomfortable. I realise that there are booking systems in place but it was as if the manager took a dislike to us and sat us at the worst table.

The mains were fine, nothing special. The roast dinner was ok, but both party members commented that the Yorkshire puddings were not good and the gravy had an odd taste. I had the fish tacos and they were fine.

We were going to have coffee and desserts but we were so disappointed by the staff, the table and the utterly disgusting plate-cleaning system behind us that we left. Upon payment, our tip reflected exactly how we felt about the experience.

I am really disappointed as it was my mother's birthday and we still spent quite a notable amount of money for a lunch given how tough it is for people in the cost of living crisis and how awful it is for the hospitality industry. The food overall was good but given how poor your staff are, we won't be back. There are far more accommodating and friendly...

Decor and views are very good. Service was slow and food, which is at a high price point for Inverclyde, was very poor overall.

Here's a detailed breakdown:

Starters Chicken Tempura 6/10 Crispy light batter but chicken quite thin and a bit overcooked. Served on a bed of wasabi mayo which softened the better, was quite strong and should have been served in a small dish the same as the sweet chilli sauce. Kids chicken goujons 4/10 Breaded chicken which had been overcooked at too high a heat. Very crispy and dry/ tough chicken. Daughter struggled to eat it. Garlic bread 7/10 tasty but very inconsistent. 3 slices, 1 a bit soft and undercooked, 1 cooked fine, 1 burnt Prawn cocktail 0/10 sent it back which I've never done before in a restaurant. Came in a nice glass with one king prawn on the side which really showed how tiny the other prawns were which had clearly been frozen and were very tough/rubbery in texture and tiny, really poor. Genuinely awful for a starter costing £10.75.

Mains Chicken fajitas 5/10 ok, nothing special. Pico de Gallo advertised but got served halved cherry tomatoes with some dried herbs. Sauce was nice, chicken was a bit tough and overdone. Steak pie 8/10 very tender steak, nice puff pastry, well cooked fries. This was the only food served that was restaurant quality. Kids burger x 2 2/10 both kids couldn't eat theirs. Advertised as prime beef but almost certainly made from cheaper mince/ground beef, possibly a beef and pork mix, and quite tough/overdone. Vegetable tempura (large starter as a main) 4/10 similar issues to above chicken tempura but veggies didn't taste fresh at all.

Drinks all fine except kids milkshakes which the server confirmed were made with ice cream but were too thin and a bit tarte/sharp tasting like they had used frozen yoghurt instead of ice cream.

Service was pleasant but quite slow, had to prompt server to order more drinks and had to wait quite a while before dessert order was taken. Desserts were average save for pavlova which was decent.

A very disappointing experience. We have been before not long after it opened and the food was so much better and staff more attentive. The place was approx 50% full when we were there so slow service was a surprise but it feels like they have changed kitchen staff as the quality of food making it out of the kitchen is really quite poor. I've been to other buzzworks venues and this was my worst...

On behalf of James Brown Unfortunately, I had a terrible experience at Scott’s in Greenock in October. I handed a letter into the restaurant for the manager on 31st October to raise my complaint but I have not had any acknowledgement or response to the letter. Full name, postal address and phone number were noted on the hard copy letter that was hand delivered. Perhaps management will respond to this review? Here is the letter again:

On Sunday 22nd October I booked a table for five people for 5pm. We arrived at the restaurant at 4.45 pm and not seated at our table till 5.20pm. We ordered 5 roast dinners only to be told an hour later they were no longer available! We then ordered 5 chicken dinners, which took another half an hour so in total it took one and a half hours for our food to arrive!

The chicken and vegetables were so undercooked that one of us had a choking fit at the table, which gave us all a fright! Needless to say no one finished their main dish! Having been to the restaurant on a previous occasion this was so disappointing, for a five star restaurant to serve this food and the time we had to wait was a disgrace in my opinion.

We had been looking forward to our meal out for a month as my daughter and relatives had come from Manchester for the weekend and this was my treat for them. Needless to say they were not impressed.

To top it all off when the bill arrived it came to 345 pounds to which I handed over my card for payment and luckily my daughter didn’t think that could be right so checked the receipt. It wasn’t even as if it was a simple mistake I was overcharged 122 pounds for food and drinks we hadn’t ordered!

We didn’t complain at the time because we had a toddler with us who was grumpy and tired at this point due to all the waiting and also the restaurant was busy so we didn’t want to cause a scene.

However on reflection I feel it is within my rights to make this complaint to you before I put a review on your website of...