Monteiths Clarkston — Restaurant in Scotland

See edit below to your reply: Monteith’s markets itself as dog-friendly, but not family-friendly. We were told our well-behaved 3-year-old daughter couldn’t stay unless we ordered a “full meal” for the adults – even after offering to order food for her. Apparently, chicken tenders don’t count. The result? Mum had to leave, but the dogs could stay. Feels like bad faith – welcoming to pets, but not to parents. To your reply, first thank you for the reply. To clarify, Scottish licensing law does not dictate that children must be dining to be present in bar areas, that’s a condition set by each premises in their operating plan, approved by the local Licensing Board. So while your staff may have been following Monteith’s specific licence terms, it’s misleading to present this as a blanket legal requirement. This was a choice made by Monteith’s, not the law. I’ve rated service 1 star because good service weighs context, not just policy. We offered to order food for our 3-year-old, but were told she couldn’t stay unless the adults ordered a “full meal” with no explanation of what qualified. Staff claimed this was required by Scottish law, which is incorrect; it’s Monteith’s own licensing choice. No effort was made to accommodate us, no mention was made of the bistro area you later referred to in your reply, and yet dogs were welcome. By your own response, you’ve confirmed this was your policy choice and that fully justifies my review and from these facts justifies dog friendly but not parent friendly. If your staff made a mistake, that's fine, we've been here and sampled the food it's excellent, but in this instance our afternoon was spoiled by such ridged and poor...

I popped in today for a drink and a snack with my 21 year old daughter who has a severe learning disability but does love a diet coke. They asked me her age which I told them that she was 21 despite the fact she was not drinking alcohol. They then insisted on proof and said that their licensing law would not allow her to be served without age verification unless we ordered a meal. I ordered some chips but oh no, It needs to be a substantial meal apparently according to their licensing regulations. I have subsequently checked the licensing laws for Scotland and Glasgow more specifically and cannot find anything that states that is the case. Mostly, children are allowed in pubs until 20:00 or 21:00. I actually felt that the barman simply did not want a severely autistic young adult in his pub and did everything to make sure he wouldn’t serve me. We then went over the road to the Overlee where we got a much friendlier reception despite my daughter being vocally agitated from her previous experience. I am currently investigating whether this kind of discrimination falls foul of the equalities act 2010. If so then the Reilly family's pub company, will be hearing from me. If you are disabled in any way you will not be welcome here. Unlike the Overlee there is no lift to the upstairs and steps are present once you leave...

Quite impressed with the food here when went for a family gathering in between Christmas and new year (2022). There was 9 of us so they had to put us on the biggest table that they had which was unfortunately placed under the huge tv screen in part of the bar. This meant that half of our table were sat facing this giant TV. I think in an effort not to annoy other regulars there was no offer to turn the TV off. Service could have perhaps been slightly slicker but I think they have usual problems in recruiting staff. One of our party asked for a starter as a main course, which seemed to be a major issue but fortunately was sorted out. Despite all of the above, the food was of a very good standard, with plenty choice and decent value for money in this day and age. If you are in the area, give it a try, just avoid being sat in front of...