The Niche Restaurant — Restaurant in Scotland

Unassuming little cottage building about halfway along the road at Irvine Harbour, offering: burgers, snacks, meals, brunch, cake & coffee.

Relaxed, modern, nautical feel inside with: gentle overhead LED nets, chunky rustic wood tables & cladding on the walls.

With a vegetarian & celiac in our party we were very happy with the wide selection of Gluten-free & vegetarian options. Greeting was warm & friendly, service was convivial & helpful. Kids were more than happy with the good selection of crowd pleasing homemade classics on offer on the kids menu & they were brought colouring & pens immediately which always helps relax proceedings.

'Bonnie burger' had two good size chicken breasts; still moist & juicy, generous dollop of spicy haggis & a side serving of amazingly well balanced cream-pepper sauce. Niche chips with house sauce (spicy mayo) were just like freshly fried potato crisps which was a nice alternative from chips but they were just overcooked, starting to go bitter & slightly dry.

GF Falafel burger was tasty, fresh & filling but could have done with a condiment (sweet chilli, tzatsiki, hot sauce) as standard to offset the inevitable dryness of chickpeas when combined with a Gluten-free bun. Loaded chilli & parmesan fries were a large portion of skinny fries dressed with mountains of chilli flakes, salt, spring onion & parmesan cheese- i'm a chilli fiend but these were on my tolerance level- so beware the burn if you order loaded chilli fries!

Relaxed, friendly service with great attention to detail made this meal even more enjoyable- one of the kids immediately didn't like the look of the 'brown' chunky chips & they were whisked away & replaced with skinny fries without any problem. Prices may appear slightly high for what's on offer but everything is high quality, well cooked & freshly prepared- so definitely worth that extra few pounds.

Great place, amazing staff, tasty, varied menu choices & one of the best Gluten free & vegetarian selections in Ayrshire; means we will be back here regularly & reccomend it to...

Surprisingly, I've already given Niche a glowing five-star review in the past (because let's face it, they're just that good)... but apparently, that wasn't enough to satisfy the masses? So here I am, back at it again with another review. Let's talk stars - they're well-deserved, considering the line of people they have to turn away !! 🤭😲 Yes, it's always bustling, and yes, you'd be wise to make a reservation (if you can manage it). I mean, even weans have smartphones these days, so there's really no excuse not to call ahead and secure a table. It's just a quick phone call, people. Now, onto the food... honestly, I haven't found a single thing to gripe about yet. OK, there might be a bit of a wait, but that's because everything is made fresh (and you can even peek into the kitchen to watch the culinary magic happen). Despite its cozy size, Niche exudes an intimate vibe, even when it's packed to the brim. The staff? Top-notch - friendly, helpful, and just an all-around delight. So, what more can I say? The food is scrumptious, the venue is top-notch, and the staff are absolute gems. I dropped past for breakfast ( had the Mighty Niche ) ... delish' as always.

Catch you there, then? 😉 . . About the pictures .... I'm always too busy eating, but I've got a couple of snaps I took while waiting...

Mixed bag really. Dont know if they've been decorating or something but the place was reeking with a kind of turpentine/white spirit smell. Almost walked back out and kind of wished I had.

The girls were friendly and bubbly enough but brought a wrong drink and nearly put through a wrong dish on the food order.

The food itself. Loaded fries were like they still needed to be loaded into a fryer. Chips were undercooked and the topping was meh.

The Chicken Supreme was bland, cauliflower puree was freezing, maybe that's how it comes? Who knows. I never complain, prefer just not to go back. Potatoes were decent at least on that dish.

Prawn linguine wasn't too bad, prawns were cooked well, no rubbery, just nice, plenty of them and the dish was vibrant and tasty enough but didn't wow if I'm honest.

However, the Burger was the redeeming factor and the 1 thing that would make me give the place another chance. I'd left it till last though so the jury is out. Disappointed really and still feel like I'm whiffing turps. Honestly. Like sitting in a paint factory...