The Tailrace Inn — Restaurant in Scotland

Just avoid, it's bloody awful!||I arrived ravenous at prime time on a Friday night after the WHW expecting the famous Tailspin hospitality and was greeted with a half empty pub, completely devoid of atmosphere, with dance music eminaating annoyingly from a TV permanently tuned to 'clubland' in the background. ||It didn't get any better when I got to the bar, as after helping myself to a menu, i was confronted with a bar top covered in dirty glasses, effectively creating a small ediface between the barman and I, and preventing me from taking a seat, or placing the menu down to have a look. After ordering from the limited, if reasonably priced menu, the barman promptly took my payment (a clear warning sign in hindsight) before getting on with doing something else, until realising I was in fact hanging around staring at him as I was still waiting for the drink I'd ordered inutially, which had clearly slipped his mind seeing as he'd prioritised charging me over actually serving me.||I ordered the soup of the day, supposedly it was sweet potato but I've no idea what it was that I actually got, the closest approximation would probably be a cheap supermarkets own attempt at bovril, it was watery and has clearly come out of a packet and been mixed with water by the 'chef', or should I say microwave operator. It was served with a partially cooked bread roll but without any butter. Thankfully on request the waiter was kind enough to get me one, but he appeared to have been storing it in the ice climbing centre. ||This dissapointment was however trumped by what was possibly the most sorry looking serving of chilli con carne I've ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on (see pic - taken just after I'd partially mixed the straight out the fridge, straight out the packet processed cheese extrusions) with a portion of rice so stingy it might have been comical, was I not in need of a carb overdose. I could see that there was some hints of things which might once have been chillies and tomatoes lurking in the watery broth, but to reduce these ingredients to such a bland swill really does take some doing. This was served after my starter, and cutlery had been cleared, leaving me without any utensils to actually eat it, until I captured the attention of the barman as he passed by en route to do something else, and reluctantly got me some.||I never did have a call back through my meal, presumably as the staff know what they are serving. The waiter, who seemed a nice lad (if utterly lacking the requisite training and supervision), waited until I'd finished my meal to pick up the cleaning products and cloth which had adorned the adjacent table since before my arrival, then proceeded to clean around me whilst my dirty plates sat there (not that this particularly bothered me as a solo diner in a half empty pub, but this stuff is waiting tables 101 and it's just so blatantly obvious that the poor staff haven't got a clue and the manager is either absent, or utterly incompetent), before eventually clearing them, at which point he reluctantly asked "was it OK"? "Honestly, it was pretty awful" I replied, to which he mumbled "sorry" and walked off, presumably as I'm not the first customer to have relayed such feedback. ||I was utterly ravenous after a full day on the trail so i ate every single bit of it, because of this, and only because of this, I didn't request a refund, as normally with service this poor I would have done. However I will never, ever return, and I'd strongly advise you to avoid it and save yourself the frustration. Unfortunately The Tailspin is just a souless chain pub now, and a terribly run...

My sister and I had a trip booked to Kinlochleven for 2 nights commencing on the 4th November 2024. We were looking forward to this trip as our Granny was brought up there. My sister had previously had food at the Tailrace Inn a few years back when walking the West Highland Way which had good food and a lovely atmosphere. As we entered the hallway to the bar there was a very strong smell of stale body odour. When we entered the bar area, the smell was overpowering. We approached the bar to check in and the barman, who didn't look particularly interested, gave us our key and proceeded to ask if we wanted to pay for breakfast for the 2 days in advance, which we did. We were going to have some lunch there, but there was no way I could eat in the bar with the overpowering smell. We went up to the room, which was a huge disappointment. The beds had rough material quilt covers that looked like they hadn't been changed since the last guests. The towels looked like they had seen better days, full of catches and washed out. The single bed only had one sheet and the other bed had none. The mattress protector on the second bed was heavily stained with God knows what, the shower had mould around the tray and the room window did not shut as the lever was broken and curtains hanging off the rail. There was a nail in the window with string attached, which we presumed was for tying the window closed. We decided not to unpack and headed to the MacDonald Hotel for food. Whilst there we decided to see if they had any rooms available as we could not stay at the Tailrace. Fortunately, we managed to secure a room there and headed back to the Tailrace to ask for our money back for the 2 days breakfast that we had paid for. The staff member did not appear to know how to do this and said we would have to speak to the manager. As she was not there, we asked if he could call her. He stared at his phone for a while then said she would be in the next day and we could speak to her then. At this point we collected our bags and left. After a good night's rest in a clean and comfortable room at the MacDonald Hotel, we enjoyed a nice breakfast cooked by a lovely lady. We told her about our experience at the Tailrace and she informed us that Melville Hotel Group, the owners of the MacDonald hotel, lease the Tailrace Inn. A huge difference in standards! After breakfast, we went to speak with the manager at the Tailrace. She did not appear to be surprised or overly concerned with our complaint. She said that she couldn't refund the breakfasts that we had paid for as she had to contact her head office first. We also told her that we would like to be refunded for the room. She took my email address and said she would email head office and that they would be in touch. That was a week ago and no contact has been received. We will be pursuing...

My sister and I had a trip booked to Kinlochleven for 2 nights commencing on the 4th November 2024. We were looking forward to this trip as our Granny was brought up there. My sister had previously had food at the Tailrace Inn a few years back when walking the West Highland Way which had good food and a lovely atmosphere. As we entered the hallway to the bar there was a very strong smell of stale body odour. When we entered the bar area, the smell was overpowering. We approached the bar to check in and the barman, who didn't look particularly interested, gave us our key and proceeded to ask if we wanted to pay for breakfast for the 2 days in advance, which we did. We were going to have some lunch there, but there was no way I could eat in the bar with the overpowering smell. We went up to the room, which was a huge disappointment. The beds had rough material quilt covers that looked like they hadn't been changed since the last guests. The towels looked like they had seen better days, full of catches and washed out. The single bed only had one sheet and the other bed had none. The mattress protector on the second bed was heavily stained with God knows what, the shower had mould around the tray and the room window did not shut as the lever was broken and curtains hanging off the rail. There was a nail in the window with string attached, which we presumed was for tying the window closed. We decided not to unpack and headed to the MacDonald Hotel for food. Whilst there we decided to see if they had any rooms available as we could not stay at the Tailrace. Fortunately, we managed to secure a room there and headed back to the Tailrace to ask for our money back for the 2 days breakfast that we had paid for. The staff member did not appear to know how to do this and said we would have to speak to the manager. As she was not there, we asked if he could call her. He stared at his phone for a while then said she would be in the next day and we could speak to her then. At this point we collected our bags and left. After a good night's rest in a clean and comfortable room at the MacDonald Hotel, we enjoyed a nice breakfast cooked by a lovely lady. We told her about our experience at the Tailrace and she informed us that Melville Hotel Group, the owners of the MacDonald hotel, lease the Tailrace Inn. A huge difference in standards! After breakfast, we went to speak with the manager at the Tailrace. She did not appear to be surprised or overly concerned with our complaint. She said that she couldn't refund the breakfasts that we had paid for as she had to contact her head office first. We also told her that we would like to be refunded for the room. She took my email address and said she would email head office and that they would be in touch. That was a week ago and no contact has been received. We will be pursuing...