Encore — Restaurant in Scotland

Today is Easter Sunday and me and my partner are making a visit to Inverness for the first time. The sun is shining, the birds are tweeting and Jesus is risen.

When we arrived in Inverness we needed an emergency pit stop at Boots the Opticians for a little adjustment of my new glasses. Whilst there, the optometrist recommened a little place called, Uruqharts, but, we didn't like the look of that, so, over the road we saw Encore and off we went.

Upon arrival we were greeted by a young lad with one long sleeve and one short sleeve t-shirt and were directed to a table. So far, so good-ish. He soon returned with menus and took a drink order.

EASTER SPECIAL MENU -£15 for 2 courses. Perfect, its Sunday and there are two roast dinners on the menu, beef and chicken with all the trimmings. Soon after we ordered, 2 starters, 2 mains. One sleeve returned with cutlery and set the table. However, whilst he was doing it, someone from behind the bar came to deliver our drinks and decided to publicly critique where the spoon was placed in front of our table and two others. It was unnessecary and unprofessional.

To start I had a Skink Soup, it was superb. My partner had goats cheese bellinis and was also suitably satisfied.

Then came the mains. Now, I'm a bit of a roast dinner connoisseur, but I expect there to be a variance in quality and quantity. What I've never had is to be served a roast dinner which is essentially Aunt Bessie Roast Potatoes and Aunt Bessies Yorkshire Pudding, which wasn't even cooked in the middle. Alas, this is what we were served, accompanied by some tough and overcooked beef. I'm hungry though so, ask for some Horseradish Sauce to cover it... NO, they don't do that. Mustard? Yes, he says we have that.... and what does he return with? Hotdog Yellow Mustard. Now I give up!

When the check back happened, I expressed my disappointment and one sleeve said he would speak to the kitchen, needless to say, he never returned.

We left most of our dinner and when it was collected there was no question about how it was and one sleeve was nowhere to be seen. We paid the bill in full and left.

Would not...

The first thing I should say here is that this experience could have been, and actually kind of was, a complete disaster... We came in here on a Friday night wanting to enjoy some local vibes of inverness and catch some music/get a drink. The place was slammed, but we got a table by luck. It was immediately obvious that the staffing situation was in crisis mode, and nobody came to take our order. We eventually went up to the bar and talked to the bartender. He explained to us that every single staff person except the bar staff had called in sick and they were running everything by themselves. The bartender was very very friendly and he took our order. He brought our food and even comped us a dessert. We went back to the bar to reorder drinks, and again even though he was running around in circles he was very responsive. We would have left if the bartender hadnt stepped up. Our visit was the night after the Floyd mayweather and Connor McGregor fight and this is apparently why everyone called in sick. It's a shame that this restaurant is managed so poorly that they have this many staff who don't care about their jobs or can't take care of business when people call in sick, but there wasn't even a manager around. We left the poor bartender a fat tip at the end and I made sure to give it directly to him. This would have been a walkout and a one star review but he kept us as a customer. Good job bartender, bad job Encore! Also, there was some live music which we got to enjoy at the end of our dinner by a Scottish man with a missing eye and terrible/missing teeth. It was great he looked like a roughed up sailor and was hilarious! He played piano, took requests, and it was truly enjoyable. The music and this bartender saved our night and earned back a few stars to...

Service was really poor. This was our 6th city we visited and probably 15th restaurant. It was the first time we had servers with rotten attitudes. Server with dark hair and black glasses… you need to use a tray. She had 3 beers in her hands and two of them had her breasts dipped in them.. as funny as the sight was, come on.. totally unprofessional. When she brought our water glasses her fingers were in all 6 glasses.. lol again wasn’t asking for extra seasoning. Food quality was nice, tasty for sure that’s why the higher review. We were there with my partners parents, local to Scotland so when we were forced to put a 20% tip we knew that the integrity of the place was a disgrace.

Lots of great places around this beautiful town with staff that’s happy to make your time a 10/10; unfortunately this wasn’t the place. Some extra staff training is very much required.

I’ve done work in restaurants for 12+ years and if I did any of those things I would be immediately fired.. for many obvious reasons.

Anyhow, thank you to the cooks,...