Òran Mór — Restaurant in Scotland

Worst Christmas dinner we have ever eaten. We booked this based on the seemingly fancy food descriptions provided on the menu but this was the most basic roast/Christmas dinner you could imagine like it had come from a canteen. When we arrived we had no idea where to go (the place is very large and had several separate areas for seating. We had a seek out staff to get sat down as no-one was forthcoming to greet us). To start we were supposed to have a very fancily described tartlet but this was actually cold garden peas in a small pastry cup that was already sat on the table. I had a starter of salmon, which although was ok was just slices of salmon on a plate. My partner had opted for the onion and rosemary soup and this was again just ok. The roast dinner though- the main event for Xmas day- was abysmal. We got 2 small slices of turkey each, a small slice of questionable disc of ‘stuffing’ and gravy. The accompaniments were served separately. One of these was pigs in blankets (I couldn’t eat these as they were barely cooked which is not my preference, I like the bacon to at least look cooked and not just warmed up). The next dish was the potatoes, parsnips and carrots mixed together. We had absolutely loads of parsnips but only 6 potatoes between the 2 of us. The potatoes were cooked but had barely seen the oven as they were pure white and simply rolled in thyme. The carrots were fairly tasty from the oven but very very soft. I noticed the table next to us had Brussel sprouts in their veg dish also but we were missing these so I had to ask for them and a small bowl of them was provided- these were your standard boiled Brussels. For pudding my partner had apple strudel with ice cream - it was plain and tasteless. I had the pear pithivier with custard and walnuts and this was also plain and tasteless. The drinks we ordered were good and quick to come. We tipped the staff based on the fact it was Xmas day- but in any other circumstance I would have complained about the food with every course provided. I feel the food quality was impacted by the volume of people they were serving at once- but this is not my fault- if you cannot deliver quality in volume then do not offer bulk timed seating and instead stagger the bookings (everyone in the entire place was provided their courses at once). There was also a long wait between every course to the point where we actually overran our booking slot and people were arriving for the next sitting and had nowhere to go. Òran mor need to seriously think about how they do Xmas next year as you cannot serve canteen food for the...

We tried to visit at 7.20 on the 27th of April . We were warmly welcomed by the bouncer who kindly asked “drinks or food”, to which we said drinks. We asked “there are 9 of us, is that okay?” and we were told yes. He kindly directed us to the right hand side of the venue, and we went ahead to the indoors. As there was no one at the counter, we sat at a booth which had no reservation card on it. We were then told “guys you can’t sit here, it is a table service, can’t you see?” We apologised and said “sorry, we didn’t know”. The waitress (short hair with accent) said “this is a set table, can’t you see?” We immediately stood up and I said “we’re very sorry, we were told it was this side for drinks, so we didn’t realise we had to wait to be seated”. I have worked at a restaurant before and though we have set tables with cutlery, we are happy to remove it for drinks tables if not reserved. I said, “we were told we were to go to this for drinks, i am sorry we sat down but there was no one around when we sat down” and the waitress was not receptive to our misunderstanding. However, the other half of our party was kindly told that the table was taken (lighter hair with glasses). I appreciate this waitresses kindness to our group, and do not understand why the other waitress could not have treated us similarly. She could have simply told us that the seats were reserved and that we had to wait for a table. Instead she blamed us for not knowing to wait; even though there was no clear sign saying to wait to be seated (there were 8 of us and none of us could see a sign saying such). If she had kindly said that these seats were reserved, we would have waited for a free table/stayed by the bar. This was...

It's not really a bar any more though is it? . Having been in the place a week before and enjoyed a pint of their Oran Dark, I visited again with a friend a couple of days after and Oran Dark was off. A friendly barman explained an alternative I might enjoy (can't remember what it was)..and I did enjoy it. The day after visited with my son and Oran Dark still off so tried to explain the alternative beer I enjoyed but was given a fruity lager. Anyway no drama it was OK. So a couple of days later...guess what?..yes it's still off so explained I'd been given an alternative which I enjoyed and tried to describe it. Barmaid this time was not sure so I asked if I could try a small sample to make sure. She looked a bit non plussed, went to the other end of the bar and returned with literally a thimbleful of something or other . She made her disdain clear by turning her back on me and leaning against the bar top as I dripped it onto my tongue to try and ascertain the flavour. I couldn't quite... so ordered a whisky instead. When I asked her if my request was unusual or if it offended her in some way, she explained that bar staff are NOT ALLOWED to offer guest a small sample of beer. This is normal practice in many pubs I enjoy and have visited. This along with the strange new practice of challenging guests as they reach the entrance and asking what their visit is for! Doh! I thought it was a pub? (hopefully this is for the Christmas period only...but it's annoying-however charming the ladies doing the asking are) means I won't be visiting this overhyped and over frothy wine bar any time soon. IMHO The G2 group have ruined this "pub" with over fussy embellishments...