The Smoking Goat bar and grill — Restaurant in Scotland

The Smoking Goat is a cool venue. Basement. Exposed brick. Nice ambience. Their food is delicious and fresh. One of the few places I've seen in the UK where you can get a fried pickle. (Although I'm not sure why they serve it with stinky Bleu Cheese dressing instead of the traditionally delicious Ranch dressing.) It was one of my favourite places for lunch and to take family and friends from out of town. It's funky. Different. Top quality.

Like I said.. it WAS my favorite place. I follow them on social media and this spring they had 2 for 1 burgers every Tuesday. They also have Trivia on Tues as well. I had family visiting from the states back in May, so I took them to th Goat for lunch. We were seated in a cozy little dark booth.

Our waitress was a blonde lady I hadn't seen before. She looks a bit like Rosanna Arquette used to. She took our drink order. We ordered 2 Margaritas and 2 cokes. We also asked for a jug of water. The margaritas came with no salt on the rim. I've never seen that before. Still, no water.

She took our order. We had the bbq chicken fries, one of their massive hot dogs, and I told her the guys wanted to order their "2-for-1 burgers". She asked which ones and they told her.

My teenage son asked if he could get cajun fries w his burger. The goat has cajun ckn fries for a £3 upgrade. She asked if that was what he wanted. No. I just want the cajun seasoning. I asked if that was possible - to just get the seasoning but no chicken. She said it was. My other 2 guests also asked for cajun seasoning. My guest reminded her she would like a glass of water with her Margarita.

The food came and it was delicous. Generous portions. Cajun seasoning on the fries. But still no water. We asked a third time for water. She brought one glass. We gave up on the idea of a jug of water.

At the end of our meal, she brought the check. £81. I was a bit shocked when I noticed the burgers were not 2-for-1 and she charged us a £3 upgrade x 3 just to sprinkle cajun seasoning on the fries. I didn't want to say much in front of my guests because I didn't want to make them feel lke they had asked for too much or it was costing me too much to take them to lunch. But I did ask about the burgers.

"Oh." she replied. "That promotion ended last week. We're not doing it now."

I'm not sure why she didn't correct me when we ordered the "2-for-1 burgers" and she asked which burgers. The burgers are £15-16 apiece. If I had known the promotion had ended, I would have suggested we order from the lunch menu. The wraps on the lunch menu are about £7.

Instead, I didn't argue. I just paid the bill and didn't go back for 2 months. I realised that I hadn't given them an opportunity to rectify the situation as I hadn't made the manager aware of it. When I did go back in, I ordered lunch and paid my bill.

Afterwards, I spoke to the manager about the £9 charge for cajun seasoning and the waitress's failure to tell me a promotion I was ordering had ended. In total, that was an additional £9 (cajun) plus £16 (burger) - a total of £25 on my bill that I hadn't anticipated.

He did listen. He said he was sorry. He said he was a new manager and it wouldn't happen again. I appreciate that he listened, but £9 for less than £0.50 worth of cajun seasoning? It would have been nice if he could have offered a free appetizer or dessert on my next visit. That's just good customer service. It ensures the customer returns and orders more food with the bonus of a free side item. If they don't return, then it cost the restaurant nothing to be nice.

I think my mistake was treating the Goat like a restaurant instead of a bar. Restaurants care about the quality of their customer service and about bringing their customers back whereas bars are more focused on the drinks they sell at quiz night. The goat is definitely a popular local at night with the younger crowd. Maybe this old gal is just out of their...

The Smoking Goat used to be a firm favourite when we lived in Ayr a few short years ago, so I was very much looking forward to a much anticipated return. However, times have changed radically there as we discovered to my dismay last night. I met my friend, we sat comfortably in the cosy little 'cave nook', all good so far albeit we were on a time limit because it had apparently been booked for later. Nonplussed, we finished our little bottles of prosecco and were looking forward to enjoying some fine wine with our dinner. When we asked whether they still stock a particular white wine which was an old favourite, the staff serving said no they don't and when then asked whether they still stock wines from the next door fine (quality) wine merchant he replied firmly No they don't. Taken a little aback, we asked what wines they were able to serve and he replied that they had a 'Marlborough area white, a white rose, a merlot and a Malbec offering no information of the body, taste or aroma etc. Nonetheless, we plumped for a small glass each of the sauvignon blanc and honestly both of us reflexively and immediately almost spat it out. It wasn't off exactly, it just gave off an overpoweringly sickly sweet smell and the taste was indescribably nasty. I decided to try a small glass of the Malbec, but it too was just as unpalatable as the white, so we definitely weren't imagining the low bar of the wine they serve. The chicken wings were okay as they go, but the wine really let it down badly and spoiled our experience. The service was indifferent at best, however they were very enthusiastic when it came to letting us know our time was up. We only stayed because it was a nice wee nook to chat in. In conclusion, our recommendation to the management at the Smoking goat would be simply this: bring back the quality wines ASAP. While we understand times are tight for all businesses, cost cutting by serving up 'budget wines' with no other higher quality alternatives is just not seemly for a setting as special as the Smoking goat. Given our experience last night, sadly we'll not be returning any time soon which is...

I used to enjoy coming here regularly but I’m pretty much done. There are issues that show the owner’s priorities and it’s had a negative effect of the business. The owner’s decision to half the portion sizes of food, while keeping the same price shows me that they only care about the money, and not the business itself, as does the decision not to remove items from the menu that haven’t been available for months.

Pros: The place itself is really fantastic, I love the exposed walls and beams, the basement location means no direct sunlight so it’s nice and cool in summer. The both in the alcove feels nice and private, everyone’s favourite table! The staff are so friendly and helpful, there are so many creative cocktails, and the bar staff are happy to make a delicious mocktail. The quality of the food is excellent, I love the chicken and chorizo waffle with maple syrup, and there are amazing gluten-free options. There is always soap in the bathrooms. Cons: The prices have stayed the same but the portion sizes have halved, and in some cases the portion is now less than half of what it was, but the price has stayed the same. The menu continues to claim that there’s a soup and cheesecake of the day - there hasn’t been for months but for some reason the owners won’t print new menus - and given the now ridiculously high priced menu, they can definitely afford to reprint. There are no period products in the female bathroom and not all of the stalls in the female...