Alba the Restaurant and Claremont Hotel — Restaurant in Scotland

We had heard so many positive comments about this place that we had high expectations when I booked it for my wife's 60th birthday celebration, which I mentioned in the text of my online booking. We arrived and I told the woman who met us that we had a booking at 19:30 and told her my name. She didn't check anything and asked how many the booking was for and pointed us to a table for 2. Maybe my expectations were too high because I'd hoped for something a bit special and simply being pointed to a table and told "that one over there" caused my heart to sink a bit. I've been to restaurants in Scotland where they have really gone the extra mile with a secluded table decorated with balloons etc. for special occasions. I don't expect that every time but is it too much to ask to be taken to your table in a good restaurant? The table was not in the best of locations being effectively in a corridor with people passing by continually. Definitely not secluded or romantic. Maybe the restaurant was busy and that was the only table available? Disappointing table and service right from the start but maybe that was the only option? We noticed that the tables around us were almost 100% male. I counted 10 men and 1 woman. Nothing wrong with this and everyone was well behaved but not conducive to a romantic evening. I realise that this is outside the control of the restaurant but I mention it simply because it was a bit odd and contributed to the atmosphere. The waitress then came to take our drinks order. No welcome or smile, she seemed a bit frazzled-this was her attitude through the entire service. She didn't particularly fill me with any hope that things would improve much from the poor first impression. Drinks arrived and since this was my first time at Alba I decided to order my default Indian Chilli Garlic chicken and chose the chicken tikka option. Our starters arrived. The lamb tikka was delicious but the haggis pakoras were a bit disappointing. They didn't particularly taste strongly of either haggis or pakora and the dominant flavour was the pastry. So kind of bland really, not unpleasant but nothing like as good as the lamb tikka. Our main courses then arrived and I didn't hear what the waiter said my dish was but my wife heard "chicken" and told him it was mine because she was having lamb. I've already mentioned that chilli garlic chicken is my default but the dish served to me was like none other I have ever had. Firstly it was bright red, which seemed a bit odd but there was no visible chilli or garlic in the dish. Maybe this was Alba's interpretation of the dish and the chilli and garlic are ground up in the meal? In hindsight, I'm not sure that the chicken was chicken tikka it could have been plain chicken. If I'd noticed this at the time maybe I would have queried what it actually was, because I'm now not sure that I actually got what I ordered. Nevertheless, it was tasty and slightly spicy but not the level of fire I would hope for in this dish. My wife complained that her naan bread was somewhat burnt and dry. So overall the food was good but not outstanding. Some time later the other guests had left and my wife commented that someone had brought out a Henry hoover and we were getting "looks" from the staff. Were they trying to get us to leave? It was only around 9pm! I do not like feeling rushed when I am finishing my drink at the end of a meal and this is the main reason I have given 1 star for atmosphere. It should be a no-brainer that if you want a customer to return then you should make them feel welcome and all this passive aggressive stuff to try and get people to leave does not make them feel welcome. Then something odd happened. I have never had this occur ever before in a restaurant. A waiter who was talking on a mobile phone came over and asked me my name. Odd! I wonder now if they had indeed prepared a special secluded table for us and were wondering where we were? If so, you really...

I wanted to like this place as Alloa badly needs more good quality restaurants, but honestly, while the food is OK, the service in here lets it down in a very big, and disappointing way. We've been a couple of times, as one experience can be an off-night, but on both visits, the food was fine, if nothing particularly great, and the service awful.

On our first visit, the table was booked for a specific time, and we were made to stand in a crowded bar area for 25 minutes. We asked if we could wait in the bar but were told it wasn't open. As we weren't the only people standing waiting for tables (at least three other couples or groups), surely it would make sense to have an extra bar person available to cater for the numbers? People would be less inclined to have a bad experience if you give them somewhere to go while they wait, you would sell some extra drinks, and it would give people somewhere to go continue their night once they've finished their meal. Win-win.

We were eventually seated in a similarly crowded part of the restaurant. Tables are so close together you can barely move your seat out to sit down and you are always in danger of backing into the person behind you if you want to get up.

The service was very slow, and it took another 30 minutes to get a drink and order. When the food arrived, the plate wasn't actually what was described on the menu. It was broadly in the same area though so I took it and it was tasty enough as I said. Our first drink ran dry and it took another twenty minutes to get another. I appreciate it was a busy night but these things shouldn't take this long. On top of that, very few of the staff gave the impression that they wanted to be there and we felt like an imposition. One server was more interested in telling me what bets he'd put on that day than taking our order. There's always a fine line between being cold and being friendly with customers, and I'm happy with a bit of a chat, but please do the basics first!

On our second visit it was much the same story… nothing dramatically wrong, but enough niggles to ensure we won't return 9to the restaurant anyway). I don't think it will matter to them at all as the place always seems to be busy, so it's obviously not a problem for others, but for us, we'll look elsewhere for food.

Food aside, we have been in again for drinks only on a Saturday afternoon and it was a much better experience – still very slow in terms of service (you guys really need to sort that out), but it's a lovely little bar and the beer garden is great on a nice day, with a really good atmosphere. Extra star...

Alba is a new restaurant in Alloa, the new owners have no connection to the previous numpties who had this place before and did a runner with a lot of pre paid booking money before going bankrupt, just to make that clear, the guys that have it now are a totally new outfit and have no connection to what went before. So Alba have a comprehensive menu offering a variety of traditional food including Italian, traditional Scottish and Indian! We booked in there on a Saturday night , dinner for two, the place was full and buzzing, our table wasn't quite ready so we were invited to have a drink in the bar area which is through to the rear, actually the bar was really nice, lovely decor and cosy in there, we sat on stools the bar and had a few beers, it was really calm and civilised there, bar staff really friendly and chatty, you could hear yourself speak, no drunken shrieking and shouting which is the norm in Alloa on a Saturday night!.....I guess you could describe it as upmarket, it had that ambience. We got seated for dinner and ordered from the Indian menu, two chicken dishes a nan bread, a side of bombay potato and rice. We thought as the place was so busy we would have a bit of a wait for out food but actually the food arrived in no time at all, freshly prepared and piping hot...and it really was exceptional quality food and extremely delicious, ....and the portions were generous, there was plenty of it. All in all a great dining experience with super friendly and attentive staff, after serving our food they politely visited our table a couple of times to make sure everything was okay and that we had everything we needed which is great, makes you feel they are really looking after you. This is a great place for a night out, few drinks in the bar then dinner, Alloa really needed a place like this, I'd say without doubt the best restaurant in Alloa and it is amazing value for money. Highly...