Ocho Inveraray — Restaurant in Scotland

Edit 2: "You had began to sit yourself, and had not waited at the host station". I appreciate that the restaurant owner feels strongly about defending their position, but this simply is not accurate. We waited at the entrance and did not sit until we were greeted by our waitress, as I expect any person would do. We were seated before any discussion of food options or menus had taken place.

My opinion as a patron and regular reviewer remains that this would be an excellent dining choice for those customers who are able to book in advance.

Edit: Based on the company's response, I've increased my rating for service. Our server was indeed very pleasant! However, we were fully seated at the table of our choice near the comfortable fireplace and looking at the listed specials and smelling the delicious food other patrons had before we were informed that we could only order from the soup and sandwich menu, not before. As I said, this was a disappointment. I'm sure the restaurant's response about the number of sandwiches is correct. My wife initially inquired about the macaroni and cheese, which was on the reduced menu we were offered, but then found out that wasn't an option. That's probably where I made my mistake on the number of menu items. I'll conclude by suggesting that Ocho would be a lovely dining experience for those offered a full menu. If that menu is only offered to guests who booked in advance, that is useful information for anyone reading this review.

When we arrived, we were informed another table just ordered full meals so all we were allowed to order was one of three sandwiches or soup. That's quite a disappointment, as I'm sure you'll agree, especially on the first day of our anniversary vacation in Scotland. The waitress told us their food is great and added, "sorry, that is a shame." On the positive side, the sandwiches were...

Six of us had lunch at Ocho today - 3 carnivores, one vegan and two vegetarians - and we all enjoyed the food we chose to eat. The three non-meat eaters were delighted to have so many attractive choices on the menu. The ambience inside was welcoming and warm, with the agreeable hum of conversation from around the busy tables adding to that, with the background of a lovely perspective out to Loch Fyne and Cowal. Service was prompt, friendly, engaged and responsive with a young couple on front of house already giving the place a 'go-to' character. Sadly, they are working their way around the world and will be gone in two months - and that will be a very real loss. This was a very successful occasion and will be repeated. Some food for thought is that the artistically tasteful menus - grey type on brown paper and [wonderfully practically on a little clipboard] - are quite hard to read - which will impact on the likely customer demographic. And the lovely long wooden table for larger groups like ours has upholstered chairs whose seats sink you too far below the table height ...

I must have visited Inveraray over 100 times in my life and never noticed this little place, maybe it’s new, maybe it was the nice arrangement outside which drew my attention but I thought “why not” after a spontaneous drive.

I was not disappointed, managed to get a seat by the window. Greeted by a polite lady and further served by a very nice girl.

Coffee was good (flat white), and I went for the sweet potato soup, the only reason I’ve given 4 stars as £8.90 for a bowl of soup (probably the best soup I’ve had in my life I may add) and a slice of toasted sourdough is pretty obscene even during these high inflation times. I’m assuming these places choose to charge high markups for tourists (although the rest of the menu was pretty reasonable, maybe there’s a reason for the soup?

Overall an absolutely charming spot, I wouldn’t hesitate to return and have already recommended to a couple of friends to visit as we tend to visit Inveraray a few times per year.

Overall, lovely spot, had a very homely feel, very nice staff, and...