The Laroch Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Scotland

My partner and I stopped by for a meal, shortly after opening... We didn't expect much...

I am delighted to say that we were overwhelmed by the quality of the food here! It was truly amazing! Pictures are attached.

The decor was rather plain, with a few interesting historic pieces on display. The carpet looked rather dirty - an old, dark, tartan-esq pattern. The tired, old bench in a recess filled me with dread expectations of the food. My experience of cuisine in Scotland is filled with bland/plain foods, or crispy items that seemed to have been reheated or fried to renew. A particular point of note: There is no custard in Scotland - they typically serve cream or ice cream instead (I didn't even notice at this restaurant, as it was 'so' perfect).

When the food was delivered to the table, nothing else mattered! The staff were attentive, helpful, and polite, but the food was INCREDIBLE!

Definitely eat here - whilst they have the chef/s they have! An absolute gem, and a lucky chance-find! Thank you for getting the food 'so perfect'!

PRICES as of 26th September 2024 (picture details); • £21.00 Glazed Pork Belly and black pudding (served with Isle of Mull scallops, fondant potato, and apple). ★★★★★ • £19.00 Slow Braised Featherblade of Beef (served with Gratin Gauphinoise, Root Vegetables, Pancetta, and Red Wine Jus). ★★★★★ • £9.00 Sticky Toffee Pudding with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream. ★★★★★ My partner is VERY! particular about ^this dish (STP), having fell 'in love' with Ramsay's Sticky Toffee Pudding. She says this is a 'close second' to that she ate at Hell's Kitchen in Las Vegas, but this is 'certainly the best she has had in the UK' to date).

"I've been everywhere, man, I've been everywhere" - Johnny Cash.

PARKING: The venue has its own carpark, but we parked at the visitor centre, which was a 2 minute walk away (as we had coffee there, and had intended to get a brunch bite from there). We were happily/fortunately behind schedule).

Wheelchair accessible. Clean tables. Clean toilets. Visited when freshly opened.

This place could win any food award, based on our experience. ...

Came in a party of 4 after reserving a table. Was told on the phone that only a bar-side table was available so no problem there. We were seated and given menus and after an appropriate amount of time the server returned and took our orders.

Now, the food here, we all agreed, was very very good, but this is the point in the evening where the service fell through the floor.

After ordering the waiter(?) returned to inform us that they didn't have the cut of steak for one of the dishes we ordered (flank maybe, I don't recall) and asked if a fillet would be ok. We said yes - but what he didn't mention was that a fillet was 12£ more. That was a surprise we didn't discover until the end of the evening, but we could have chalked that up to a simple communication error and our own ignorance.

However, that was the last time we saw our waiter until we went up to the bar and asked for our check.

A different waiter had to be flagged down to order drinks (we had asked for a wine menu when we ordered food and said we needed a minute to peruse before ordering and that is when the waiter vanished)

The people that delivered the food were paying attention and provided us cutlery before we had to ask.

Dessert had to be ordered at the bar.

Once we finally gave up waiting and asked for our check we had to tell them what we ordered because the didn't have a ticket for us.

The kitchen seemed to be on top of things - the food was delicious and came out quickly, especially considering the amount of people there - but the wait staff, as I've seen in other reviews is lacking.

It seems like being sat on the bar side is a common factor. Also - it seems like they were without a head waiter - so maybe they were off that day?

I did notice that other tables appeared to get attention without a fight and some, like us, were ignored so it seems like you really roll the dice with...

I am really not one to complain. I understand that good food and service can be a quite subjective thing and what is good to one may not be to another. In this case though I feel my experience may be of value. We were looking for a Sunday Roast and this place advertises just that. They open at 12 and we began trying to call them at 11 to reserve a table. We called 14 times over the next 90 min which is the length of the drive from where we were to this location. Never once did they answer the phone. Once we arrived, we discovered that they were not doing the Sunday roast today. An answer of the phone and we could have redirected but instead we drive all the way here. Upon perusal of the menu de decided to go ahead and stay. The food was good but not great. I had their steak fillet which is good but not great and quite small for the price. The food arrived quickly, the trouble is our drinks and cutlery did not. It took an additional 6 minutes for the cutlery and beverages to be delivered. This in spite of the relative light crowd that was there at the time. We also ordered bread which took an additional 10 minutes to be delivered to the table. And mind you, once it arrived, it was simple cold sliced bread. Nothing special or heated. The staff was nice but I do not think this establishment deserves the high rating it currently enjoys, At least not from...