The Auld Smiddy Inn — Restaurant in Scotland

To summarize my review..... the actual food was good but the service and the price gouging was very disappointing.

PRICE GOUGING: One of the people I was traveling with asked for extra mayonnaise for her sandwich. She received a small cup with a tiny amount of mayonnaise, barely enough for the portion size of the sandwich. When we got the bill we were charged 50-pence for it. TO BE CLEAR: This was not some sort of gourmet imported mayonnaise created by a world-renowned chef..... this was the same generic mayonnaise that every restaurant on planet earth would have in stock. To price-gouge 50-pence for such a ridiculous thing was repulsive and I was about to complain however, this leads to the second part of my review.....

BAD SERVICE: When we entered the restaurant the hostess was lovely and seated us as normal, however did not provide any menus. We waited almost 10 minutes for our waitress to come around and when she gave us the menus she practically threw them at us. She then took our order without asking if we wanted any drinks and began ignoring us to such a level that we had to get out of our chairs and walk over to the bar, asking the man at the bar to send the waitress back. When she came back 5 minutes later she had a scowl on her face as if taking a drink order (at a restaurant) was unusual.

Between the time we placed the order to the time the food came out we were not given our drinks. Then both food and drink came at the same time.

Then the waitress began ignoring us all over again. At no point during the meal did she return to ask how it was going and if we wanted a refill on our drinks. At no point did she ask if the food was tasty or warm enough, etc. She completely ignored us!

It got to the point where everyone in my group was 100% finished with their meal and 100% finished their drinks. The waitress continued to ignore us even while we were packing up our bags and putting our jackets on. If we had been bad people we may have just walked out and I do not honestly think she would have cared.

We had to call another waitress (from another section of the restaurant to come over) and ask for our waitress to come back and provide the final bill. Our original waitress came by several minutes later which is when we discovered the 50-pence mayonnaise nonsense.

At that point we were so frustrated with the bad service that we were honestly over the whole experience and just paid the 50-pence without calling for the manager.

What is most sad is that the menu and the quality of the food was very good. We had no problems with the flavors, taste, temperature or anything to do with the actual food.

I realize that bad service may have been that one waitress on that one day, and I do not know what was happening in her life prior to her visit. I might have been willing to overlook the bad service and not leave this review however..... price gouging 50-pence for a tiny smattering of mayonnaise was utterly ridiculous and is the primary reason I wrote...

We went to this place on our recent visit. We had seen reviews on the internet showing food. The meal we went in for the Seafood Platter was no longer available, was 3 years out of date. Very expensive food and drink. No atmosphere. Would not return.

Thank you for your response. It was your serving staff that told us the menu was 3 years out of date. Our budget is not in question if the food drink and service were worth the price we would have paid gladly as we have at many other establishments. You were not there at the time of our visit so you cannot possibly comment on our experience. You may have many satisfied customers but we were not. My husband drinks premium lager of which there was none. He was offered a local lager which he took a pint of. He left half of it and bought a pint of cider instead. Like I said the Seafood Platter was what we specifically came for how are we to know there are 2 web sites. When we asked about ti's meal and showed a picture if it the serving staff told us that menu is 3 years out of date. Not a word about there being 2 Web sites. So maybe your staff need to be retrained. I understand you don't like negative comments but you are providing a service which we are paying for so we are entitled to...

Stopped here for a Sunday roast as it had good reviews and I was excited to try the cauliflower cheese. There is no parking on site but down the road opposite you can find a pay-and-display car park. The village is really busy so you can struggle for parking. We enquired before arriving about booking and they said just walk in but then said once the roasts were sold out that was it. At that point we quickly rushed to get ready so we didn't miss out, not had this before when booking a Sunday roast. The place was lovely and decor great, lots of staff from all over the world working here. So great to hear different accents and get to know them.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed in the roast... there was no cauliflower cheese and it's even advertised on the website so I was extremely disappointed. The sirloin (only option) was a bit fatty for my liking but otherwise, it did melt in the mouth and fall to pieces. Would have wanted more gravy than what was given. The price was ok but wouldn't return for a roast again.

When we finished we sat outside in the garden and had a drink which was lovely. Clean...