18 — Restaurant in Scotland

My wife and I dined in the 18 restaurant on our anniversary in June, we were excited to try the restaurant after being unable to book a table the previous year. Initially when we first arrived, we were led to the bar by our snooty and indifferent maître d. Why is this lady employed in a front of house position when she can’t even manage a smile or any warmth with customers as they arrive is beyond me.

We took a seat at the bar and the friendly barman broke from a team meeting they were having in the restaurant. It was a little odd we were admitted to the restaurant but all the staff we’re occupying the bar area having a team meeting and our barman was given disapproving looks by others when he broke away to serve us. How weird focusing on customers when your having a meeting to focus on customer service. We then took our drinks onto the balcony.

The view is indeed spectacular! However, when you look past the view the balcony is badly maintained by the management. There was dirt everywhere and missing and worn chairs. As we discovered over the course of our holiday this was an ongoing theme with the Marine Troon group, great locations but terribly run and overpriced establishments.

Our waiter arrived, again completely lacking in any charm. Dour, disinterested and bored I guess because they automatically at the tip at the end there’s zero incentive to make even the slightest effort. Warm, inviting service at this restaurant forget about. It wasn’t even a busy night.

After some okay entrees, my steak arrived. It was huge, spectacular even! but at the price was it worth it? No way! It didn’t feel like a £115 cut of beef, not great marbling, a bit tough and frankly a bit bland, I have to say like I saw it, I’ve had way better at a quarter of the price down the local pub.

Would I recommend the 18 Restaurant? For drinks at the bar yes, it has a good feel overall and one of the best views in the world of golf but as a restaurant it’s a complete meh. Overpriced and overhyped, if you transplanted this restaurant to somewhere else without the view no one would recommend it. The restaurants and bars at the Old Course Hotel are all far superior and with arguably better views. If you are a couple looking for a romantic night out I would recommend them in a heart beat over this...

A party of 6 of us have stayed at the rusacks as part of the Christmas package. We have therefore eaten in 18 on 3 occasions over the festive period. The food on all occasions has been fantastic and we could not fault it, a very well put together package menu with everything we had being flavoursome and enjoyable and plenty of it (you often find set menu portions on the smaller side, not at 18). The views from 18 overlooking the old course and beach are phenomenal. We stayed at the marine and lawn north Berwick last year for Christmas and the one thing missing was music/entertainment on Christmas day. The Rusacks and 18 had put on some lovely chilled entertainment from a pianist in 18, and a saxophone player in their other restaurant which rounded off Christmas day nicely. Some lovely touches including a gift bag for kids on the table for Christmas to make them feel special. Service I have rated a 5. It would have been a 4 however Aheelyn on boxing day evening was phenomenal, so would have been unfair to give anything less than a 5. Other evenings including Christmas day, drinks were ordered 4 times before they arrived (a minor thing I am aware) and on the odd occasion service was on the slower side (I do however appreciate there were a few covers for Christmas day all at the same time) however boxing day evening Aheelyn was on point. Attentive, courteous, friendly, and did not miss a beat. If Aheelyn was serving every table I don't think anyone would be able to fault their visit. I would certainly recommend 18 to anyone who asked were to eat...

We struggled to find good quality food in St Andrews. We booked 18 after a run of poor quality meals and we were hoping for a better experience. The food was definitely the best we had in St Andrews. I had the kedgerie to start and it was lovely. Then I had steak to follow which was a bit overdone vs what I ordered but still tasty.

But the service let the place down. We tried to have a drink at the bar before our meal and it was a stressful experience. One of the waiters yelled at another “why are you offering still or sparkling when you know we haven’t got any f-ing still water!!!”. And then proceeded to throw things around. We quickly asked to be moved to the table. The same waiter was almost running around the restaurant, not really the relaxing experience you want for dinner. Some of the staff are great but one or two need a bit more training.

One of our sides was forgotten about and delivered towards the end of the meal, but the manager kindly took this off the bill. But again this points to where service is lacking.

There was a large table of extremely loud and overly enthusiastic Americans, and the staff had done what they could to seat people further away so their experience wasn’t impacted. This was definitely appreciated. After a week in St Andrews we’d reached out limit of loud and excited...