The Wineport Restaurant — Restaurant in Scotland

This place looks really nice so we sat in for a lunch. Menu has a good variety of choices but if you do not like food with a bit of a twist, not for you. Anyways, we ordered, first thing we got disappointed was that they dis not have anything local to drink. I ordered a cordial, was tasteless but I realised when got to the bottom that nobody bothered to stir it up or tell me to do it.

Then I wanted to know what 'Yesterday's soup' is on the menu. It is traditionally a Greek soup but I had the feeling they would not serve Greek there. I asked the waitress who seemed to be in a very fed up mood about the soup. Her answer was 'It's a soup' and she was looking at me like I was out of my mind. I did reply that was quite a wide range and I started to list all kinda of soups one could cook. She then said that she could ask the chef if I wanted to. Well, I did.

May I remind you owners that if you name your food then let it be what you named after? Plus, serving staff should know what the soup of the day is prior to start serving. I've been a waitress myself for many years, this is basic. And if somebody has a bad day, you still have the duty not to put it on customers.

Luckily, another lady case to bring the food out and she was brill, chatty, twisty and friendly.

One small additional thing: on a Scottish island I'd think you support local businesses, but even the soaps in the toilet were just generic shop product, would have been nice to see Arran products. This is...

Following the recommendation from the Arran Brewery shop, we called into Wine Port for a beer. The exterior, croft-like appearance gave no clue about the interior, which turned out to be considerably more bright and modern than I have come to expect in the case of the majority of Scottish bars. Don't misunderstand - I like Scottish pubs (other than the chronic lack of decent real ales), but their decor and ambience might best be described as sparse and minimalist. Wine Port looked to have been relatively recently redecorated (to a good standard, it must be added), with tiled and carpeted floors, lots of light-coloured wood, and some interesting artworks on the walls.

To our initial disappointment there was only one Arran beer on hand pump (and that, not the 'Guid Ale' we were expecting). The disappointment did not last long, however, when we tried the 'Brewery Dug IPA' - hoppy, bitter and flavoursome, very much to our collective tastes. And as it turned out, the 'Guid ale' was available, the pump clip having simply been omitted.

We found that pubs (particularly in more tourist-oriented places) in Southern Scotland to be expensive, which is why I have withheld a star. The food on offer looked appetising, though we did not try it, but I would not hesitate to recommend Wine Port on the strength of the quality of the beer, the ambience, and the service, all of which...

Can’t really recommend this place. It is in a great location at the base of the castle, but other than that, there is no redeeming qualities about this place. It would be very simple to keep the bar clean so people could actually sit there. There are seats so I assume it was designed for people to be able to sit there but it’s always covered in dishes either dirty dishes or clean ones that are being prepared for drinks, etc. But certainly not available to sit at during my visit. When I entered the dining room, I saw the bar and there was one table with four seats available. Because I was by myself, I did not know what to do and did not want to sit at the table for four. I stood at the bar and was told by one of the staff that I could sit at the four top table. I said thank you and attempted to order a beer. She told me that it was table service and I could sit down and she would come over. That was nice, but then when she approached the table, she acted like she had never seen me before, which I found kind of strange because there are only about six tables in the whole place and clearly we had just spoken. Anyway, it was just an awkward experience. The food was just OK, the service was really lacking. And the atmosphere felt like nobody was in charge and with all the dirty dishes around just seemed...