Golspie Inn — Restaurant in Scotland

We visited in September 2021, and decided following our stay to wait six months before leaving a review.

Sadly, despite expectations based on the previous reviews, our stay here put a significant downer on the rest of our trip.

We booked this hotel whilst touring the NC500, and as it was our wedding anniversary as we were passing through Golspie, chose this hotel due to its fantastic reviews and a restaurant whose menu looked outstanding.

Unfortunately as we checked in we were informed that the chef had been given the night off and that we "should have been informed". Obviously we were very disappointed with this news, especially as we had confirmed our reservation by both email and on the phone to ensure that the booking had been made. Despite this, we had not once been informed that the booking had been cancelled, and as such had not made any other plans.

We went to our room, which at first glance seemed very pleasant, but later found that the bathroom extractor fan was extremely loud, that our room had been located above the bar, and as a result could hear a constant drone from what must have been an air conditioner, fridge or freezer. Both of these issues made sleeping extremely hard.

The next morning we asked to speak to the manager, who we had been assured would be arriving by 8am to talk to us. Sadly the manager never showed. As we needed to move on, we were given the managers office and mobile number such that we could call later on.

Despite calling multiple times over the course of the next 5 days, we were faced with nothing more than unacknowledged vociemails, and eventually gave up in order to not let this further ruin our holiday.

A few days later we received a text out of the blue from the manager, which at no point apologised or offered any explanation as to what had happened. Instead the manager accused us of verbally abusing the one and only staff member who was working. I must note that whilst upset with the fact we had our dinner reservation cancelled without notice, our awful nights sleep, and the fact the manager did not show up as they had assured us, we made it extremely clear to this staff member that whilst we were upset, we appreciated what she was doing, she was simply the messenger, and that there was little she could do to remedy it.

The whole experience left a very bad mark on our holiday and as a result I would not recommend anyone staying here.

I cannot comment about the food, as we didn't have an opportunity to experience this. The customer service from the management was abismal, and a prime example of how not to treat guests. We recognise there were staff supply issues occurring at the time, but that does not excuse poor communication for cancellations, nor blaming guests for your issues.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, we can highly recommend the restaurant "Platform 1864" who rescued our anniversary. Great food but sadly its a drive away, so we weren't able to enjoy a bottle of wine to celebrate together as one of us was the designated driver :/

This was a experience that could have very easily been avoided with better communication.

The management really need more training, and customer service needs alot of...

We stopped for dinner on our way up the road to Orkney as it looked nice from the outside. As soon as I saw the menu, I was immediately dissapointed as it just looked like basic pub food and I was looking for something more, but simple pub food can be good so I ordered.

We ordered three courses each, I ordered tomato and thyme soup, Braised beef stew, and Sticky Toffee pudding for dessert.

The soup tasted like cheap tinned soup, and the petit pan that accompanied it was microwaved and rock hard on the corner where it had been microwaved from frozen and gone hard.

The stew was tasteless and watery and the vegetables ,what appeared to be frozen microwaved and tasteless.

The dessert appeared to be microwave special also. My colleague was equally disappointed with his meal, which is saying something as he has a more simpler palate than myself and is happy with good simple food.

I personally could not serve this food to customers with a straight face, and charge money for it. A disgrace.

It would appear the current owners have put the bare minimum into the venue to refresh a local pub and cash in on the passing NC500 traffic, and this becomes prevalent when you visit the toilets and are transported back in time to a hellscape from your local in the 1980s. All skirt and no knickers as the saying goes.

I don't often post bad reviews, but this is deserved. The food was some of the worst I have been served in a...

I find it challenging to comprehend the positive ratings for this hotel in light of the following comments: "dirty room," "defective heater," "noisy," and "unclean hotel."

The pricing for this hotel seems exorbitant given its low quality. The only redeeming aspects are the restaurant and the staff who work there.

We had to check out one night early due to a power outage. We reached an agreement through a service worker, who communicated with the manager, that we could cancel our reservation for that night and receive a refund since we had to find alternative accommodations. However, once we left the hotel premises, we received no responses to our emails or messages.

To the hotel management: Charging over 100 pounds for a carpeted hotel with a lingering smoked fish odor is quite unreasonable. The interior and cleanliness are outdated and do not justify the price. The small heaters in the room are insufficient to keep it warm during late autumn, mainly because the windows offer minimal insulation. As a result, the noise from the busy road outside penetrates the room as if there were no walls. Waking up to a cold room and the smell of fish is far from pleasant, and the breakfast room's quality does not match that of the restaurant.

In any other location, this hotel would likely receive a maximum of two stars at best. However, the scarcity of alternatives within this price range in the area makes it challenging...