Recess — Restaurant in Scotland

We ate here for supper a few times during our stay at the Hilton Garden Inn. We had breakfast at the hotel daily as well.

The service was great every time we were here for supper. We were greeted warmly, seated quickly, and check ins happened at appropriate intervals during the meal. We did have to ask for drink menus on a couple different days but it was no problem to get them when asked. We tried a few different drinks and they were all good. I liked the drumstick ice cream inspired cocktail in particular. The menu isn't huge but there's a good variety. We particularly enjoyed nachos as a starter (fresh made nacho chips and a variety of tasty toppings), the burgers (tried 3 different ones, all good), and the pizzas. Our surprise favorite pizza was the hot pepperoni which has a bit of honey drizzle. We weren't sure about honey on pizza but it was sooooo good. Really nicely balanced sweet taste against the savory pepperoni. We asked them to go light on the chili flakes and that was a light to moderate amount of heat for a Canadian! We didn't end up doing dessert any day, so I can't comment on that.

The atmosphere is great. The restaurant is really nicely decorated, sophisticated modern vibes with lots of comfortable seating either at tables or bench seats. Almost everyone gets a river view. We never ate outside but the seating out there looked really nice. Comfy seats with umbrellas in case of rain and and looks like some blankets and heaters for chilly days. The view is beautiful.

The breakfast buffet was good. The service staff were all very efficient and good at their jobs, but there were days they were clearly understaffed. One day the manager pitched in to help - well done. Despite being understaffed they worked very hard to keep up and did a great job. We had only a few misses - such as watery scrambled eggs and one day my husband had a ton of eggshells in one of his sunny side up eggs. Other than that the consistent hits were the haggis, sausages, beans, eggs, pastries, toast (nice bread that seemed homemade), and fruit/yogurt station. They also had a daily smoothie and a waffle station that we didn't try. The granola was good too. They had 2 espresso machines. The tea selection was pretty reasonable, and the Earl Gray was very good.

This next part gets its own paragraph. I love porridge (as you will see) and was surprised there was no porridge in the breakfast buffet, so I asked and was brought THE BEST PORRIDGE EVER IN LIFE. I had it all 4 mornings I was there and this cook knows their stuff. It was the perfect consistency with some creaminess yet a bit of chewiness, salted just the right amount, and using good quality oats for sure. It was so good I added nothing to it. No need for cinnamon, fruit, yogurt, anything. Even better than my Granny's porridge and that's saying something. Definitely did Scotland proud in the porridge department. It was so good I have a picture to remember it by, haha. Yes, I'm a bit crazy.

Would recommend Recess for breakfast or supper. Definitely hope to get back there some day, especially for...

Food was excellent and was served promptly and the servers were polite and friendly. However the table service from the young waiter was poor. We were given different menus between us. When we asked, no apology or explanation, just swapped. Website gave no indication that the regular a la carte or fixed price menu were unavailable. Instead we had a small "festival" menu and was told "thats all we offer" so there were limited options. We never got given a drinks menu, and when I asked, the waiter rattled them off so quick we had to ask him to repeat. No alcohol-free beer. Had to ask for jug of water. No apology.. just "we're busy". Almost felt like "if you don't like it go somewhere else cos I don't care". Attitude was pretty dismal. Not rude, but very lacking in niceties, and as if he didn't really care. Although the food was great, I felt as if I was not really welcomed and, as such, I would not recommend and would take my business elsewhere. Only things going for it is that there was a nice comfortable and relaxing bar area outside by the river, which thr staff were great at clearing up, and it was convenient for going to the OVO or SEC. I also found it odd that the ground floor restrooms had no soap dispensers. Instead it was...

Disappointing - went here with a friend before heading to matinée panto over at SECC. Ordered at bar and got out drinks, no problem. Table of seven manoeuvred noisily into space beside us, all good. Then they started to receive food while we still sat with nothing - we'd ordered dirty fries and nachos so nothing complicated. Spoke with bar staff who highlighted to manager, promised food would be with us soon. 15mins later still nothing (by now we'd been there 45mins and needed to get moving to see start of show). Requested a refund of order which we did get, along with manager telling us issue caused by shift change in kitchen(?) - big table next to us got all their food fine so looked more likely that our order got lost somewhere. Just as we were being refunded a plate of dirty fries arrived in a small tapas style dish - I would not have considered it worth £12 so glad it was refunded. There are other options now around hydro and SECC, so would go...