Justinlees Inn — Restaurant in Scotland

We were just so disappointed last night - 01/03/2024. We had family staying and booked a table for Friday eve. 4 adults and a baby. First, there's no one to greet you on arrival and show you where your table is anymore. We went and searched for it ourselves, found our name and time on the table. Fine, but then there was no highchair ready at the table on arrival despite requesting it when we booked the table.

The bar was really busy, so instead of queuing to order our food and drink, we ordered through the QR Code/ app.

Drinks then took ages to arrive. So did the food.

Portion sizes were measly! Not enough scampi and not enough chips on all our plates. Chips also didn't taste of anything at all, just frozen rubbish. We had also ordered a side of roasted vegetables which was embarassingly small for the money. Burgers were just really average too - they used to do some amazing crispy buttermilk chicken burgers but seems they've scrapped them sadly.

One of us had upgraded to (and we paid extra for) sweet potato fries but received normal chips by mistake. We told the waitress and then had to remind them several times about the sweet potato fries we had actually ordered, and by the time they arrived nearly 1/2 hour later, we'd all obviously finished our meal by then! Just rubbish service.

They were not quick enough - sweet potato fries really don't take even 5 mins in the fryer! No excuse for it, and clearly no thought for the customer experience. I can appreciate they are busy (and clearly understaffed) but if there's a problem with someone's meal, a good pub restaurant would remedy the issue asap!

Safe to say - glad we didn't leave a tip! Also weird that the app asks you to tip upon payment before you even get any service/ your food! Very strange.

I'm all for supporting local but it was rubbish last night and we definitely won't be returning. It used to be good and now it's awful. Understaffed and no one seems to care about the customers. Maybe it was just an unfortunate Friday night rush but still, could do...

Been wanting to try this place for a while now as it looks good, but the titanics hull also looked good.

Arrived at peak time and the place had barely a handful of customers (not a good sign). We had our year old son with us who needed a changed bum and there were no signs where changing facilities were located so he had to get changed on the toilet floor (we later found out they are in the disabled toilet from staff when I complained, which was locked and no sign saying the changing area was in there or why it was locked or where the key was. Why was it locked anyway? Are they that mental that they think someone will steal the disabled toilet if it isnt locked?)

Anyway...

The boys food needed heated, and as we always do when we go out we ask the staff to heat the food in their microwave. We have never had a problem with this before, some places even have a microwave you can use in the seating area for this purpose. They refused to take a tiny plastic bowl with food to heat as it is unsafe yet they offered us some BOILING WATER to use at the table...where my son was sitting. Im sure thats against some health and safety law and how stupid do you have to be to think that heating some baby food in a microwave is more dangerous than having a container full of hot water on the table. If my son had gotten burnt, they would have to sign the deed of the building over to me as they wouldny have enough money for the claim id make.

There are no signs that they do not support young children so we were very upset that we had wasted our time and had to pack up to leave. Anyone with toddlers and babies knows how much a hassle it is getting kids in and out the car, then taking outdoor clothes off and getting meals ready is.

By this time the boy is upset, hungry and crying leaving us no choice but to leave and as the evening was ruined we just went home.

We wont be going back and we didnt even order food, if you have young children avoid this place...

Visited for a family lunch today after having heard good things about this place. Either we were very unlucky with our experience today or people have been too generous in their recommendation.

Drinks and starters arrived in decent time but this does not excuse waiting 1hr 15 minutes for mains to arrive, especially after seeing other people arrive after us and being served before us. At no point did the staff advise us there were any issues in the kitchen or with service, so I went to the bar for an update.

Around 15 minutes later, plates arrived, and the presentation for waiting over an hour was pretty embarrassing. The food was fine - it's perfectly serviceable pub grub - but I felt compelled to ask the waiter/manager (not sure what the position was) what happened because our entire party felt frustrated.

I was informed 'it's been busy' and so I felt it necessary to push a bit, as the place was lucky if it was half full. I asked if there had been staff illnesses or anything like that, at which point I was informed there were indeed kitchen staff absent and we'd been 'unlucky' with when we placed our orders as two large groups have arrived at the same time as us. A poor excuse if I'm being honest.

Had we been approached by wait staff at any point during the meal to advise us of potential waiting times, I'd have understood. Had that been recognised as a fault of their own, I'd have understood. But I didn't appreciate them not taking ownership of what was clearly a poor experience for us, and then offering us desserts as we were leaving, the latter feeling like a poor attempt to cover for a job badly done.

The staff could certainly look at this as a learning experience and hopefully they'll improve in future for anyone who does want to give...