Kilchrenan Inn — Restaurant in Scotland

Kilchrenan Inn - Monarch of the Glen’s!

As a background to our experience of travel and standards, we are seasoned worldwide travellers who’ve been lucky enough to experience 5 Star hotels all the way through to B&B’s from Eastern Europe to the Seychelles, Maldives, Caribbean and much more.

Our stay at the Kilchrenan Inn was a return on a trip from 2 years ago and we hoped that our lovely experience from last time would be repeated. The Inn has only very recently re-opened with new owners; and we were their first long stay guests.

The new owners Phil and Pippa have rejuvenated the Inn; redecorated rooms, added new fixtures and make you feel homely and welcome from the first time you arrive to the end of your stay.

The food quality has remained high, and far better than dedicated restaurants that are in the area. The breakfasts are fantastic; fresh locally sourced ingredients used; from a continental cereal and pastries to a complete cooked English/Scottish breakfast (the black pudding and haggis are beautiful). My wife and I think their home-made granola is to die-for. The evening menu has good variety from roasted Lamb through to Brown Trout mains (lots more available) and the presentation and quality was second to none. The wine selection was very good as was the bar which was well stocked with traditional Whiskeys and local and premium drinks. The bar area has a traditional wood-burner; perfect for cosying-up to each other upon a return from a hike across the hills.

The people in this area of Scotland are also extremely welcoming and friendly; we entered into many a lovely conversation during dinner.

We stayed for 3 nights in Room 3. This room was generous in proportions, modern boutique style fittings, it has a lovely en-suite with a very comfortable Super-King Bed that had a well-weighted duvet and choice of soft and firm pillows. The room was as expected, spotlessly clean, refreshing, airy, supplied with crisp white bed linen, complimentary toiletries and soft fluffy towels. The room was heated well and very, very comfortable. The view from our room was to the distant hills and we got a super, sound sleep every night.

Parking is great, check-in and check-out times can be tailored to suit and BT WI-FI coverage was excellent.

What make this place special is it’s homely character and the owners; nothing is too much trouble and you can feel that they genuinely care for their guests and will do everything they can to make your stay enjoyable. Our conclusion is that the Inn is a mini 5 Star boutique hotel that offers a high standard of accommodation, high quality of food and genuine customer care that many larger hotels across the world strive (and fail) to achieve.

Myself and my wife had a fantastic stay and we will be back! Many thanks to Phil and Pippa for making our Highland-fling...

Dog attack.

On the 4th of March 2018, my wife and I checked into Kilchrenan Inn with our then 8-month-old, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy, Charlie. Shortly after checking in we took Charlie out on his lead onto the hotel grounds as the drive had been long. We heard some nearby dogs barking, however we didn’t know exactly where they were as we were at the top of the embankment that the hotel is set into.

No sooner had we noticed this, than two dogs ran from the direction of the adjacent house at the bottom of the embankment and were quickly on both my wife and Charlie, knocking them to the ground. One dog was a small Terrier and the other a large Staffordshire Bullmastiff.

The Bullmastiff was on top of my wife when one of the owners pulled him off by his collar. Both myself and a chef from the nearby Kitchen – who had responded to the owner’s shouts for help – grabbed the Terrier, which by this point had locked its jaws around Charlie’s throat and was thrashing.

We managed to pry the Terrier’s jaws open, however before managing to remove the Terrier it attacked Charlie’s leg. Once the terrier was finally removed there was significant damage to Charlie and of course we were very upset by the event. If we weren’t there then Charlie would have certainly been killed.

I spoke with the owners and asked them to report the incident to the police. The owner was very reluctant to do so, eventually handing me his landline phone to let me make the call to the local constabulary. He then continued to entertain other customers from behind the bar as if nothing had happened.

We decided to leave straight away and get Charlie to our vet where he required to have his wounds seen to and a course of medication prescribed. Throughout the experience the owners did not apologise in anyway which I found incredible and very disappointing considering they pride themselves on being a dog and family friendly hotel. What if this had happened to a small child?

We reported the incident to both the Police and Dog Warden for the area through concern for any future guests at the hotel. These 2 dogs were unprovoked, were out of sight of our puppy and attacked on scent alone. We decided to take legal advice, as we could not bare the thought of anyone else having a similar experience and to cover the cost of our vet bills. Our hope was that the owners would recognise the severity of the incident and at the very least apologise and ensure the dogs were kept away from the guest areas.

Having previously acknowledged a letter from our lawyer and accepting liability (July 2018) they have not been in contact. This is now September 2018.

I would advise if you have small dogs or children not to go anywhere...

Nicely situated with really nice decor. Really enjoyed this place. Loved the vibe. Chilled out, stress free. Came for lunch, I imagine they have a different menu on for dinner but the lunch menu IS basic, but it was fine and very reasonably priced. I did email to ask to see their menus as they were not online but nobody replied which is a shame and did annoy me a little but I understand emails can fall through the cracks. There is a lovely atmosphere in the bar, they've gone for a quaint but modern feel, it's very tasteful. Service was great so we did leave a tip. I can't comment on my fiancé's food but she said she enjoyed it. As for my plate, I had the burger. It was very dry, certainly not inedible but noticeably not juicy. I feel like this may be down to the quality of the burgers themselves rather than the cooking so didn't complain, and honestly, it tasted fine. The chips DID seem like the frozen skin on oven chips I have seen in various shops but again, tasted fine. The bun could have done with being toasted and the coleslaw tasted shop-bought too. Overall, I really enjoyed this place and I will definitely be back. The burger was a bit of a let down but there was nothing actually wrong with it. It just didn't really tick any boxes. I won't have the burger again but I would love to try the evening menu to see what's what. My one criticism would be the quality of products being put on the plate. They're not terrible but definitely not standout either. Keep in mind though, that I'm only basing this on a burger from the lunch menu and I'm looking forward to coming back....