Blairs Restaurant — Restaurant in Scotland

We really wanted to fall in love with this restaurant. We made a reservation on our 25th wedding anniversary at 7:30pm and as we were the hotel's guests, we did not have a problem to show up on time. We were seated promptly and the bartender we knew from the night before was there to talk about wine. We ordered a bottle, and he brought it right a way.

I specifically told them it was our silver anniversary, hoping there would be a recognition of that at the table. Even a little note, or a verbal mentioning from the staff... Nope, nada. But that's ok. No big deal, after all, the universe does not revolve around us.

The bottle of wine were served around 7:35pm, delicious wine, pleasant lad, the bartender... So far, so good.

We enjoyed our first glass in the restaurant that was not terribly busy. At 8:05pm, I stood up, went to the hostess table and let them know we were ready to order. The panic on the faces of the server and the hostess was a sight to be hold.

With thousands of apologies, they took our order.

It took another 35mn for the steaks to be served. Both of the steaks were overcooked. At that point, we just ate and left the restaurant.

The hotel is a bit out of the way, and they recommend reservations if you want to eat dinner at that restaurant. I would have liked them not to forget us at our table on our 25th anniversary night, even if they were going to serve overcooked steaks at £40...

Painfully Disappointing

We waited for 45 minutes in the restaurant for our main courses. When we asked when our food might come, they went off to ask the kitchen and it arrived 5 minutes later, no apology, in fact, the young guy who was serving is seemed defiant and annoyed that we'd even asked. He literally looked at us in disgust. It's love to say the food was amazing. The main was OK, but the starter of Cullen Skink was way too salty and was 90% potatoes..I wouldn't have bothered writing a review had it but been for the arrogant young restaurant manager. Ruined our anniversary experience that we'd paid...

The highlight of our trip to Scotland was organizing a traditional Scottish dinner at Blairs Restaurant in Ardoe House. Since it was a special occasion, they helped us arrange for a Scottish bagpiper, and the gentlemen in our group rented kilts to match the atmosphere. Off the menu, they prepared a refined version of haggis, neeps and tatties just for us, and I had a local Angus beef steak as my main course, followed by a delicious sticky toffee pudding.

Many thanks to Kerry and the events team for helping us organise everything, and to the kitchen staff for delighting us with...