Arta — Restaurant in Scotland

We had been given tickets as a Christmas present to a Hanz Zimmer evening, and decided to treat ourselves to dinner afterwards as the performance started at 6pm and only lasted an hour. I noted from the website that the place is not wheelchair accessible. It should have said not suitable for disabled customers. I have to use a walking stick due to severe sciatica, and the concert was accessed by a steep set of stairs to the basement. The very uncomfortable chairs were crowded together in the room with no space between them and all I could see were the fingers of the cello player. I was very disappointed that the music was just a string quartet when Hanz Zimmer uses a full orchestra, and although there was no way the space could have accommodated an orchestra, some other instruments would have been nice. I hardly recognised any of the music played other than the Pirates of the Caribbean encore. When we tried to separate the chairs to make seating easier, I ended up with a view of a thick brick pillar. There was very little thin padding on the chairs so I was not at all comfortable. Imagine my horror then, to discover once we had climbed the stairs again, that to access the restaurant, we had to climb two further steep flights of stairs, each with about 20-25 steps I guess, and then to find the seats were the same awful ones we had had to endure for the concert. Although I had pre-booked the dinner, there was some confusion over which menu we had booked. Our drinks and first course were served quickly enough, but we had a very long wait for our main course, and half of my beef was inedible as it was just thick gristle which we mentioned to the waitress when she collected our plates. We then had another long wait for our desserts, and a waitress eventually came over to ask us if we were waiting for dessert even though we had ordered them when we first arrived. I asked when ordering if we had to order dessert as well, and that waitress said yes we were to order all three courses together. The layout of the venue means that there is a space at one corner of the room where you can see down to the bar area below, and as the evening progressed we were aware that the volume of the music in the bar was being gradually increased, so that by the end of our meal it was uncomfortably loud and intrusive. The toilets too could have been serviced more frequently, as there were bits of paper all over the floors, and water spilt everywhere from the quirky wash basins. There were only hand driers at one end of the room, meaning that if you had a handbag with you, there was nowhere to safely leave it while you dried your hands. I was also not aware of a disabled toilet anywhere, which due to hygiene reasons I have to use. Sadly not at all a pleasant experience...

Went to the Cabaret evening which included entertainment and a 2-course meal for £25 each. Very, very disappointed. Arta is a great venue too and always had a good time until now. The entertainment was above average but couldn’t hear for groups of drunk women talking throughout. The comedy consisted of a standup - whom I think was hilariously self deprecating - and cracked a few lol gags, a mind reader - who tried to keep the crowd quiet with some clever & quick-witted turns - as well as a good burlesque performer. I felt sorry for them as they were put off by loud chatting too. Staff maybe could perhaps have intervened to explain to the noisy groups that it’s rude and not the done thing to chat throughout performances. I don’t blame them for not right enough in case of abuse.

The meal, and I eat anything and tbh never expected too much as it was a package, was quite terrible. As poor a food as I’ve eaten out. A potato soup which tasted like a poor school dinner and a butternut squash gnocchi for main that tasted both burnt and like a chicken bisto-cum-soup at the same time. A basic olive oil, butter, garlic and cubes of butternut squash would have tasted better as a sauce. We both never ate it rather than complain and send back as the staff already had a tough gig. I have only ever done that once before when the food was not edible. The staff were amazing, polite and prompt and I feel sorry for them having to go through the anguish of customer complaints due to very very bad food and raucous guests. We weren’t the only complainants.

This was meant to be a rare, fun night out for myself and partner and we left immediately upon final act (we think it was final act) to get a pizza from Sainsbury’s. For £50 between us for food and entertainment nevermind drinks, it was an expensive night out to feel sorely disappointed. Sorry Arta, it really...

I’d like to start by saying I categorically NEVER leave negative reviews, but feel Arta could be doing with hearing about this experience so they can do something to improve for future guests. I Was here last night for Christmas night out with four friends, one of whom had specifically ordered of the Hogmanay menu due to dietary restrictions, and was expecting sourdough bread - she was given the same soup roll as the rest of us. Turkey trimmings were meagre, and the ‘cheese platter’ consisted of 3 portions of cheese which were lovely, but served with only 3 crackers - bit stingy considering what we paid! Music ridiculously loud, even upstairs so conversation during dinner was a struggle. Tables crushed together so that every time a member of staff needed to serve the table behind us, my chair was being bumped. First two cubicles in the ladies were splattered with faeces and vomit and clearly hadn’t been checked in a while - this was disgusting. Lastly, and most seriously, we witnessed a middle aged, presumably manager (had an ear piece in), in a blue waistcoat and silver chain, with his arm thrown around a clearly uncomfortable young female member of staff as he gave her instructions, pulling her in towards him as she quite obviously was trying to keep her distance without pulling away. He then patted her inappropriately on her lower back as he sent her towards whichever table required her attention. This was deeply unsettling to watch as it was so horribly obvious that the girl was uncomfortable but didn’t feel able to say anything. Please investigate this and have a serious word with your manager, this is not an acceptable way to interact with staff. If you take none of my other comments on board, please at least do something about your management staff. Will not...