The Boatshed — Restaurant in Scotland

Very disappointing visit and overall a waste of time. The staff are not well trained, poor front of house service. This establishment is notably understaffed. We were moved tables 3 times, this seemed to be a general theme for others as well thus causing confusion on orders being served as customers were noted to be at one table and moved, so waiters spent considerable time trying to place orders with the correct table. Not a great use of time as there was a queue of people outside the cafe.

There was no pricing for the ‘make your own vegan toastie’ which seemed to be the only vegan option. I ordered a drink and it took them 20 minutes to tell me they didn’t have it.

After an hour from arriving at the cafe our food finally came, no cutlery, napkins or condiments were offered. I was very underwhelmed by the grilled sandwich not toastie as advertised. Then to find many hairs in the crisps and grilled sandwich which was the final straw. Again waiting 20 minutes after several staff members had passed the table and not asked how the food was I went to the counter to request the bill and to inform the waitress my food was full of hairs (they appeared to be animal hairs as they were different colours) I showed her this, the waitress made a weak apology.

I had informed the waitress I would not be paying for my meal and I was extremely disappointed. It took her over 10 minutes to try and subtract the order from the bill, furthermore when she took the plate into the kitchen and showed it to the other serving staff they appeared to make fun of the situation.

The location is amazing and the cafe is well presented. It is a shame for not much effort this place could be made a quite unique establishment. I can see how people would be enticed in by instagram etc honestly I wouldn’t waste your time or money until the Boat Shed get the act in to gear, poor service should not...

After driving 1.5 hours to this venue (our choice) we arrived here to a very busy entrance. There was zero communication from the staff i.e., "it will be X amount of time for a table" so you were left standing about wondering if you were even in the correct place - absoloutely zero coordination. After a 30 minute wait (I can understand the wait as it was relatively busy) we were seated. After waiting to get attention from the staff I had asked for a menu which I was met with an exhausted "Didn't you see it when you walked in?" He then walked away to get them - again if there was any sort of communication to say have a look at them while you were waiting etc we would have done this, and this would have sped the process up for everyone. Once we had the menu we were then told they were no longer serving food a part from hot drinks and cakes. I hold my hands up, I looked quite defeated by this point and the man said "Well I have been shouting this since 2 o'clock". As if we had arrived and waited for over an hour beforehand? Even in the time frame we had waited this had never been communicated, so absolutely zero need for the cheek. We decided to order some cakes and a hot drink, and were constantly ignored by the staff. I had brought my dog there too and the server actively passed us by to give another dog a treat. We then decided to to get up and leave. I am genuinely affronted at the lack of customer service from the gentleman that was supposed to look after us. Consistently cheeky and ignorant. A genuine waste of a day. I can however, recommend The River Shack which is about 15 minutes...

Smelling of sewage, mediocre food, unnecessary fuss with the tables and the queuing, and limited parking space.

We went on a Saturday as this place is hyped for its view. When we arrived it was quite impossible to park, but that’s ok as it’s something that is mentioned in reviews. The staff was alright, in my eyes they were trying to do the best they could with the amount of customers waiting.

Now the things that really out me off are first of all the disgusting smell of sewage everywhere in the cafe which is also mentioned in many other reviews from even 2 years ago, meaning that it’s an ongoing and overlooked issue. The other is the table management system. You arrive, give your name and wait for a table. Then you’re seated inside first, which is still a queue to go outside. You order food and served. Then, when a table becomes available, they take you outside while you carry your food and drinks to sit for a little bit and then they take away plates and everything and you have to leave. So essentially, they do double work on cleaning tables and seating people twice, and create a huge fuss for a little peak of view. It feels like a drive thru. Lastly, the food was just a tasteless bread or crisps with mushy filling. Nothing special and in fact my partner experienced some digestive discomfort afterwards, which may or may not be related to the food there as it’s hard to say, yet was a bit concerning.

In all fairness it’s a very busy place and the staff tried their best to be polite and friendly, but that turns out to be chaotic...