La Vita Barrachnie — Restaurant in Scotland

I was in tonight with my wife & 2 year old who has a dairy and soya allergy. I tried to look up your allergen details before I came to the restaurant to check what he could have, but your menu just said to ask the server. So I did. I was given the allergen folder but the kids menu wasn’t actually in it. I pointed this out to the waitress who also had a look but seen that it wasn’t there and said that it may be because most items on the kids menu are offered on the main menu but a typically safe meal for him is usually just a tomato pasta, every single pasta contained soya & every single pasta sauce contained dairy (I have never came across this in any other restaurant in my life!) so as your online menu stated to ask the server that in my experience means that if we don’t have anything suitable on our menu we will accommodate by adapting something else so I asked the waitress if she could just ask the kitchen which meals on the kids menu didn’t contain dairy/soya & what would be suitable for him to have. I still can not believe that the response the kitchen gave was the only thing that would be suitable for him was plain pasta. I said, "Are you actually kidding? You mean like, just dry pasta with no sauce?" & she said yes. First of all, that is not a suitable suggestion that is not a meal. Second of all, according to the allergen menu, the pasta contained soya so isn’t even suitable. The restaurant serves chicken. They couldn’t have grilled him a bit or chicken? They do chips, could he not be offered chips? If a restaurant can’t accommodate allergies then they need to be upfront & have their allergen details on their website so that it’s upto the customer to decide if they still want to go there anyway or in my circumstances he is 2, so I would have just brought him something to eat while we ate but like I said before I have never been to a restaurant that couldn’t even offer a tomato pasta. Dairy is actually the most common allergy in children in the UK so the fact that yous don’t accommodate it is very poor but I think what’s actually happened here, judging from your allergen menu is that children have been completely disregarded when it comes to allergies so a note hasn’t been made for that menu so therefore when the waitress has went to ask the kitchen they didn’t know what was suitable & therefore they effectively said they can’t actually make a recommendation because they don’t know. It’s a shame because myself & my wife have always enjoyed the food at la vita but won’t be back again as we have never been to a restaurant before that wouldn’t even attempt to accommodate my sons allergies and I think that is something you really need to look into or at least like I said be upfront & have it on your website so people know before they visit that if they have a child with an allergy then there’s no allergen menu & the kitchen aren’t willing to...

I’ve been a vegetarian for 16 years, and what happened to me at La Vita was not only distressing — it was absolutely disgusting.

I ordered the “Mi Casa” dish, which is labelled as vegetarian and made with Quorn. I had a few bites before I noticed something was wrong. Mixed in with the Quorn were actual pieces of chicken. Not just one — multiple chunks of meat. As someone who hasn’t eaten meat in over a decade and a half, I felt sick, violated, and honestly heartbroken. It’s hard to describe just how upsetting it is to think you’re eating something safe, only to realise you’ve been served meat against your will. I felt ill all weekend and still do, both physically and emotionally.

The worst part? My friend, who is also a vegetarian, ordered the exact same dish — and hers didn’t have any chicken in it at all. She’s been going to La Vita for years and said this has never happened before. So for them to try and push the blame onto Quorn packaging was just outrageous. The staff repeatedly insisted that the fault lay with the product and refused to take accountability for what was clearly a kitchen error. No one stopped to acknowledge that chicken had somehow made its way into one portion — not both — which makes it very obvious that this wasn’t an issue with packaging. It was the chef’s mistake, plain and simple. But instead of listening to me, they kept brushing me off and blaming the supplier. I was practically begging them to just admit it was a mistake, and I felt completely dismissed.

The response from the staff was frankly appalling. I was offered a replacement meal, but by that point I was nauseous, upset, and just wanted to leave. I asked for my full meal to be refunded, including my halloumi fries and drinks, and that was eventually done — but only after I insisted. There was no gesture of goodwill for the rest of the table, no discount, and no attempt to make up for the distress caused. My friends were embarrassed for bringing me there, and the whole atmosphere of our meal was ruined. What was supposed to be a nice evening out turned into a nightmare.

Even now, no one has contacted me to follow up. No manager has reached out, no apology has come through. It’s as if they don’t care at all about what happened — and that’s honestly the part that upsets me most. I didn’t just eat meat for the first time in 16 years — I was made to feel like it was my fault for noticing, for speaking up, for being upset.

If this had been an allergy rather than a dietary choice, this mistake could have been life-threatening. It’s deeply concerning that a restaurant can make a mistake this serious and handle it with so little care or responsibility.

I will never return to La Vita and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, especially those with dietary needs. I’m still shaken by what happened and can’t believe how poorly the whole situation was handled from...

Was left very underwhelmed with our first visit. And they should change the drinks menu - clearly states on the menu 'pepsi/diet pepsi - half pint, pint. Asked for pepsi and was told it's pepsi Max? Why does it state pepsi then!?!?! The lies.

Staff - we arrived and just stood at the front for a few mins looking at staff behind the bar like 'hello there' all of a sudden the host pops up from behind the desk - too busy on your phone?? The waitress (Kerry) want exactly friendly and abit off.

Food and drink- waited 35 mins for the starter - I had the garlic bread with cheese, 2 slices of bread with cheese (£4 something), it was actually very soft and bland. My wife had bruschetta with cheese (£7 something!) , which was basically the same as mine with bruschetta mix, both had some salad with dressing alongside it - she said hers was nice but basic. Both got the fish and chips (obviously without beans as it should be peas with this) the fish was nice and crispy, big slice for a regular and loads of chips - that were fried for too long, chippy chips should be soft, not crispy. And they love their bruschetta mix as the throw alot on beside the fish and pour the dressing over all the salad....and most of the chips. 6.25 for a pint of peroni (or over £5 for a tennents) does seem ABIT excessive. And for a draft pepsi (max) is over £4. Cans are over £3. All seem ABIT excessive. The waitress and host both asked if everything was ok, my wife said yes but I was mid chew. The time the host asked I replied 'meh' and off she went - it's good that the place is wanting to get meh as a response for food. And they took 2 full bins right past our table - very hygienic and looks great trying to eat when 2 bags of rubbish pass you.

Venue - easy to get to as the bus stops are right outside. Does look lovely inside....until you get to the end of restaurant where we were sat and you will be blinded by the massive neon sign. So dark and romantic at the front and then that at the end is ridiculous, makes it look like a complete afterthought and doesn't go well together. Toilets are not well signed as we saw around 8 people go into the staff back area.

For 2 starters and 2 mains with 1 peroni, it was £48.85. I highly doubt I would ever...