The Bistro — Restaurant in Scotland

Such a shame as we wanted this to be a nice lunch, supporting a local business in low season rather than going to the nearby Mcdonald's, KFC or Costa. The food, what we had of it, actually tasted quite nice. It was a bad start waiting at the 'Wait here to be seated' sign for a while with no sign of anyone. We didn't see the bar until walking around a bit. Asked there if we could have lunch (we were still an hour before end of service as advertised online) and the woman behind the bar said she'd go ask the kitchen. Seated beside the door which was quite cold. Asked what drinks we would like. The bar server was unable to tell me what beers were on tap (there were only 4) and when my partner asked for a shandy she said they don't do them, I suspect she didn't know what it was. I felt sorry for her as she was so young, perhaps would feel more confident if given training by the managers. She was very polite though, I think just needs more experience. My partner ordered soup to start and we both ordered mains. Waited a while and our mains appeared along with a soup spoon! But no actual soup for starters. The server, a different one from earlier, apologised but we decided then just to have the mains. The steak pie was tasty, good quality meat and lovely chips. The roast beef 'daily roast' was, um, pork! I wouldn't normally eat pork in a roast. Just as well I could eat it though. The server would have corrected it for me I think, it was my choice to keep it once we had told them it's not beef. The pork tasted nice if a little dry. The gravy, veg and potatoes were lovely. At this point another table were leaving and a lady said her burger was so tough she could sole her shoes with it. A different again server cleared our plates, asking if it was ok. When my partner said 'what we were actually served was ok although it was not what we ordered' she just laughed. When asking for the bill the soup was still charged on it so had to ask for it to be removed. I didn't want to make a big deal of being served the wrong roast meat but perhaps a discount could have been given voluntarily to make up for it. I don't think we'll be back. Needs better service and a...

We stood for a while waiting to be seated then had to go around the corner to find a staff member, who then after checking they would still serve us, (it was only 13.30) took us to a table and took our order, she didn't know what beers they sold, I ordered soup for a starter and steak pie, my partner ordered the roast beef. A good while later, a waitress appeared with both our main courses, and my soup spoon, but no soup, decided to not wait on soup and just had the main, my partners roast beef though was actually a pork steak thing, when we said about this, the waitress did offer to swap it but we decided not ṭo wait any longer and just had what she brought. At the end, another waitress came over, asked how the food was and just laughed and walked away when we told her of the problems. Then when the Bill came it still had the soup, and roast beef on it! Had to get it changed. To be fair, the food we ate tasted nice enough, it just wasn't the meal or service we expected, another customer walked out saying she had had the hamburger, and it was that tough she could have re-soled her...

We stopped into The Bistro at the Alexandra Hotel for a light lunch. Hoping for a more refined "bistro" experience, we opted for four starters – a mix of hot and cold. While the food was acceptable for a quick pub lunch, it didn't quite live up to the "bistro" moniker. The decor felt mismatched, as if remnants from various renovations had been pieced together. The food, though presented nicely, seemed to be store bought, pre-frozen and overcooked (calamari and brie wedges), and the dressings tasted like standard store-bought sauces. For the prices, it was a bit...