Glencoe Gathering — Restaurant in Scotland

Just left the Glencoe Gathering for a spot of lunch on our amazing day out. We were all hungry and ready for lunch. First impressions were that we were disappointed it was like an old social club. We did have to wait quite a while before being served, and my girl was running out of patience. Have to say though the food was very bland, very flavourless and very cheap tasting product. We ate half of our meals but couldn't finish it. I guess we are just used to nicer food.

However, the issues we had was when my daughter visited the toilet. My daughter had limited verbal skills due to her severe disabilities (she is 10 years old) who can't always comply to commands and who is non responsive. However she can use a toilet herself and lock and unlock cupicals. Never had an issue locking or unlocking doors. My daughter went to use the cubical and when she was finished she couldn't unlock the bolt (as we discovered later it was very stiff , and it has been chipped at before, so we assume this has happened before). My adult son used his keys to no avail, I talked to staff and asked for a knife to help, they provided a knife. This did not work as a knife has obviously been used before, and the lock was to worn). At this point, my daughter was getting severely distressed.

I went to the bar and asked for the manager. I was told her was coming to assist. He never appeared. A lovely lady using the facilities helped as much as she could as temperaments were flaring. She was amazing. If you read this, thank you so so much for your help today. However we still couldn't get her out.

I went to the bar again to ask for the manager yet again. Again, I was told he was coming. Again, he didn't assist us. So I shouted and instructed the staff that the door was now being kicked in. I am was informing them there will be damage to their property. Nothing no response.

So we carried out that act and kicked in the door. My girl was distraught.

A lady did come in to try and assist, we are not sure if she is a member of staff or not but my girl was out. After a lot of cuddles, we left.

No one even asked how my girl was. No one apologized or recorded it as a incident or even looked in our direction.

They didn't care. They didn't care a severely disabled child got locked in a cupical and that three people tried to unlock the door. They didn't care their door was kicked in or about a scared wee girl who got a massive...

First of all we couldn't find the way in and then we were treated rudely when we did. And we saw/heard this behaviour directed at many others. One couple walked past us as we tried to locate the entrance and said, "It's round the back but I wouldn't bother, they don't seem to want customers, even though there's people inside". We persisted however and sure enough there was a sign saying Closed for food, bar open until last orders 9.50. A group in front opened the door at which point the manager (given his look/demeanor) rudely said to the group "we've no food, there's a sign i wrote, how did you get in anyway the door was locked?" The group asked if there was any chance of a coffee to which the staff sighed and showed them in. Again when it was our turn at this 'excellent' service we highlighted the sign did say the bar was open and we wanted to get to that and was shown through. Meanwhile a young female staff sighed and said "I thought we weren't letting people in,even for coffee what's going on?" The drink choice was limited in the bar, the staff were clearly exhausted/over worked, we understand there is a recruitment crisis and talked to one actually friendly member of staff who said they were indeed struggling with staff cover and didn't have enough to run all the services. That's fine but each visit is a new visit, we were new customers and we don't know your current business challenges and when it's explained politely it's easier to be understanding, as it was this rude 'manager' and the impossible merry go round to access the bar resulted in about 15 people walking away in the short time we were there as they weren't allowed through or told that drinks could still be served. It's the most appalling customer 'service' I've seen. Just put a polite sign up "we are really sorry...as a result we are unable to offer food services but we do have limited capacity area for drinks, we would love to see you again..." and operate with reduced hours so the staff are not working ridiculously long shifts everyday of the week and remember that every guest lost is also a loss for the future. - this was not a solitary event we went twice and had same experience, actually first experience was 'we are closed' even though we could see people in. Again just explain e.g. we only have capacity for hotel...

I have brought my two sons, as well as my Mum and Dad on holiday with us, and we decided to eat here. We are staying in Glencoe, and decided that this was the closest place for something to eat. The restaurant is very easy to find, and is well signposted. There is a large car park to the rear which is suitable for cars as well as motorhomes. On entering there was a fabulous welcome, and we were shown to a table. The restaurant was exceptionally busy, but this did not stop the staff from being very attentive to us.

The order taking was quick and efficient, with our server preferring to take our food order first, and then drinks. The server was extremely polite, and even suggested to my two sons that they put away their mobile phones whilst at dinner, and talk. People do spend too much time on electronic devices, and I found this approach to be quite refreshing, and my two sons, one aged 19 and the other 20 listened to the lady, and in doing so we had a very enjoyable dinner.

The food is cooked in an open kitchen, so you can see your food being cooked, as well as being able to see the the standards of the chefs. As someone who has been in the restaurant trade, being able to view my food being cooked in a kitchen that is on view to the public is a really good touch, and positively enforces good standards. All of our food was excellent, accurately cooked and very tasty. No doubt I will eat here again, so next time I will leave a more in depth review of the food. During the meal we were asked if everything was okay with our food, which gives you a chance to highlight any issues, but we had no issues with the food at all.

Paying for the food is done at the end of the meal, and the bill was brought to our table almost straight away. On visiting the toilets I found them to be clean and presentable.

In all an extremely nice dining experience which comprised of good staff, great food and a really...