The Balavoulin — Restaurant in Scotland

Simply incredible. Great service, great location, good food and handy reservations, plus a good nightly accomodation in its own right at a reasonable price at the time of our visit in August.

When we arrived, they were very busy and seemed understaffed, yet the bartender snagged a woman who dropped everything and came to help us. She got us checked in, explained everything, and answered our questions with patience (and some humor). She even showed us our room, and gave recommendations for the area.

Although we hadn't booked reservations in advance, they explained as overnight guests they would grab the next available table for us, which they did within about 20 minutes. Then in the morning, we came down for our included (and pre-scheduled) breakfast. I had troubles deciding, so the young woman said I could mix and match anything from any of the menu options. I did and it was great! It was fast, friendly, and delicious - despite the woman making the coffee, taking the orders, and clearing the tables all on her own (also the cooking?).

Room was fairly spacious and had a decent view. Bed was large and very comfortable. En suite was fine, although the sloping sink was problematic and shower had low pressure (but great temperature and also a heated towel rack). Two non-decorative pillows a person was a nice bonus, as was the good quality hot chocolate and biscuits in the room. It was a short stairs up to the seven rooms, so not bad at all for luggage. No lift available, however, if you need it.

Building itself was nice. Food was decent to great for our group. Beer variety was a bit light, nothing too new or exciting, but the bartenders were all friendly and patient with questions despite the high volume of customers (most tables and stools were filled by 18:00, all by 19:00). Lots of liquor options, and quality mixed drinks.

Our server gave us two free, mispoured beers as well! Legitimately fantastic overall experience for our stay and...

Shocking! Arrived today at 3.40 for late lunch , saw on their website " food served all day", on arrival we were told sorry too late for lunch ,it closed at 3 ,dinner is at 5pm . Oh ok so we ordered drinks , chilled out and will order dinner at 5. The server come back over and informed us if we were having dinner he would need our table by 6.15 , not a problem says us ,dinner and out by 6 .. whilst sitting at out table there are lunch menus serving food 12-4 🤔 so we asked again , but got told no lunch ended at 3 dinner is 5pm . Fast forward to 4.50 , 80 mins after we had arrived , husband asks for the dinner menu to be told ' oh its pizza or nachos because we have other bookings and the kitchen can't cope " 😯 so when we asked the server why he didn't tell us that at 3.40pm that dinner was fully booked and it was only nachos, his reply was 'don't twist my words ,you were told' !! Firstly keep your attitude in your pocket , secondly do you actually think we would have sat from 3.40 to 5pm to get told oh there's no dinner service ?? When we had come in for late lunch ? He then walked away , left us at the table.. 1st time at this bar as it had been recommended, will be the last . Funnily on our taxi home , the driver said the same happened to him . Please get your advertising correct , the amount of people we saw coming for 'all day lunch ' being turned away , retrain your staff , attitude is not nice especially when we were totally polite to...

Friendly and tidy, a warm comfy bed, friendly owner, and good food. A great place to stay when passing through or to use as your base camp. And the shower has hot water a plenty. Struan and Anne are the owners - they've put a lot a work into creating a great place to eat and rest. He used to work for Hilton, but now he's working for himself to build up the Balavoulin. Good Covid protocols. Struan gave us a great travel tip and we ended up visiting a spot that was not on the map and ended up being a highlight of our trip. I asked him to make me a Scottish breakfast, but hold a few things, and he happily complied. He also helped us out with understanding local tipping customs. The pub is cute inside with a permanent water bowl for dogs and a nice patio area outside. Stop in or book a room. You'll be glad you did. PS it's next door to the Winking Owl, so you can have dinner at the Balavoulin, go see live music next door, and then make a short walk back to your room for a good night's sleep. Aviemore is also close to several nature walk and birding areas, the Balavoulin has helpful maps and booklets, and Aviemore has a good grocery store and a few shops. We're glad we came to Aviemore and even more glad stayed at...