The Gallery Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Scotland

The Gallery is a great place to hang out, have a nice drink and get some food; in that precise order.

First off the space is downright gorgeous. The decor is wonderful, the building as the grand old church by the harbour is incredible. The staff were very nice too. However, it was slow at times particularly between starters and mains.

The drinks were lovely. I had a non-alcoholic Limone Spritz which was very nice and refreshing, though pricey at 6 quid for glorified lemon cordial. They do call their nonalcoholic mocktails “placebos” which, like, come on now. I studied art history and I think that’s pretentious. My mate only had a sparkling water which was both water and did contain bubbles so nothing to complain about there.

The food was decent yet overpriced. The stand-out was the fried gnocchi side which we had to share as a starter. They’re like chewy tater-tots and are very nice and snackable plus the basil oil they’re drizzled it with is great.

However the caramelised onion and cheese flatbreads we had with it featured raw onions instead of cooked. They did rectify it with a free extra one with the proper onions but regardless the flatbreads were just okay - basically their pizza dough with less flavourful toppings. It wasn’t rolled flatter or made interesting or distinct but was just basically an uninspiring pizza. And I know that’s what a flatbread is but they should still do a bit more to make it stand apart from its Neapolitan cousin.

For mains we had the smoked mull trout linguine and the mushroom risotto. The linguine was okay but very strange. I’ve never come across a pasta dish that had whole pieces of fennel and sliced up cornichons. It was like eating a salad with pasta instead of lettuce. It was all cooked well and the flavours did work well together, with of course the local fish being especially good. However, the menu did say it included mint and I don’t know if they forgot it or it was just completely masked by the other flavours in the dish but I didn’t get any minty taste.

My friend had less fun with her risotto. It was incredibly peppery, so much so that it would be more accurate to call it a mushroom and pepper risotto. I love black pepper but my friend can’t stand it so she only had a few forkfuls. It was also very dark and umami-forward which might be a bit much for some. Again cooked well like the linguine but with some serious flaws that dampen the experience.

Overall I had a nice time but not a great one. The space is tremendous, drinks are nice, staff are lovely and the food is so-so. The kicker though; it was pretty expensive - two sides, two mains, a mocktail (I’m not calling it a placebo) and a sparkling water for £70 is steep even factoring in the island tax. If you’re seriously craving Italian it’ll hit the spot but you’ll probably have a nicer time at the bar drinking cocktails while sharing pizza and small plates rather than a fully-fledged...

Why would you keep customers waiting in a queue for a table when there is hardly anyone there ? Well that’s what happened to us, then we waited ages for a menu,,, once our order was placed it arrived quickly which would indicate that there is an issue with not enough waiting staff on the floor. Other customers (there were 10) did not get their orders taken in order of arrival so some had to wait ages for their turn.

This restaurant used to be very good unfortunately now the food is not very high standard, there is often not much available ie chocolate cake or chocolate cake & The soup is very watery. The fish was ok but a bit dry & small. Chips etc were great and loads of them.

The restaurant lacks atmosphere and is very cold as the doors are always left open ! It’s a huge space to deal with but used to be interesting with the retail items on display throughout the eating area.

Hopefully things will all improve as Tobermory needs more places for coffee and cake. Just get people seated quickly, served quickly and you will sell more...

Open Sunday evening which was a bonus!

A nice place with heaters working in the middle of June. Staff variable in quality but pleasant and eager to please.

Very nice oysters to start. Pizza was well done. Partner had the langoustine risotto. Liked it a lot but was not initially brought a finger bowl I or extra napkins. That fixed the langoustines were fresh and the risotto delicious.

They also were sold out of their carafe of house white and didn’t have another suggestion. Some allowance needs to be made for being in an island but telling the staff which products aren’t available is pretty much a basic requirement.

Other reviewers have mentioned the service charge. Personally I don’t have a problem with this but I would really like to know whether the management keep it or it is shared...