Torrish at Ness Walk — Restaurant in Scotland

EDIT: Although the following review still remains true, the managers of the restaurant and the hotel have sent me a very well written private email apologizing for their mistakes. They did not look for excuses, only apologized, which showed a high level of professionalism. They also offered to have us all come back again for a free meal to compensate. This showed me that this restaurant is dedicated to maintaining their high standards, and that this bad evening may be an exception. I will update this review again if I manage to go back for another meal.

Would give the service we received less than one star. For the reputation and price of this restaurant, this was abysmal and beyond disappointing.

The negative: Main course was dropped off at our table, then was gone before we could even order drinks. Then we no one came to check if anything was OK. Everyone's glasses were completely empty and no staff could be found to order more drinks. Empty plates were at the table for over 20 minutes until someone actually went to get a waiter. Then the table and the glasses were empty until we actually had to get up and ask a staff member for dessert menus.

When given the port menu for digestives, the waitress dropped the menu and disappeared in the 5 seconds it took to make a choice.

Coffee was served long before the desert arrived, leaving none to drink while eating the desert.

The quality of the food was slightly better than the service. The steaks orders were reversed. When pointed out, the maitre d'hotel offered a very lackluster apology then ran off. The fish was decent. The appetizers were delicious.

The positive: The atmosphere is amazing. There's a beautiful view of three river ness, and the inside of the restaurant is quiet and charming. The staff, despite the lack in service quality and speed, is quite friendly and charming. I have no doubt they are trying their best.

Side note, this entire review was written from within the restaurant, in the 30 (and counting) minutes between ordering desert and receiving it, as we are still...

We had a great weekend, however there were a couple of things that need to improve if the hotel wants to sell it’s self as a 5 star establishment… the breakfast service needs improvement, on both days we had to ask for cups, butter and sauce to accompany our meal … the cold buffet breakfast was set out on the bar top which definitely is not what I would expect from a 5 star experience, the juice we’re in glass bottles over ice which were sticky and slippery, there was a lack of choice available on both days we were there and we had to ask staff to top up juice, preserves etc. on our second day there was a group of lady’s attending a function who obviously had access to the cold buffet breakfast, there were at least 12 of them that caused a queue and quickly a lot of the available buffet, juice, cheese, salmon were finished when I was beginning my breakfast, I told one of the waiters things were finished as none of the waiting staff were managing the Buffett when I was there … the member of staff did not communicate back to me things had been topped up which I found unacceptable, I returned to the buffet after around 20 minutes and things had been topped up but there was still no preserves, cheese or salmon … we had the tasting menu at night which was excellent apart from the first and very last course, the starter of beetroot and goats cheese was minuscule and only tasted of goats cheese and nothing else, the whisky chocolates to finish the meal were made with a very peaty whisky which needs tempered down, as a whisky drinker they were even to strong for me as they tasted like they were made with Lagavulin We had the cheese board and wine on the second afternoon which was excellent. When checking out and settling my bill there was an extra £52 on the bill which did not belong to me, this was disappointing but dealt with by the reception, again I would not expect this to happen in a 5 star establishment… the room was excellent but the lack of a mirror in the toilet was annoying … the shower room needs space...

Dine in...We had a 7:30 reservation for dinner. We sat down and waited a long time for our order to be taken. I am gluten free and am very picky about what I eat. I asked the waiter if I could take parts of the dinners, (such as just the vegetables) and just have them. He said no. So I ended up ordering a side salad, 2 orders of side potatoes (I thought they were baked but they were boiled) and a side order of broccoli. After waiting for well over an hour, our dinners finally arrived. Mine was 3 separate cereal bowls..one with boiled potatoes, one with broccoli and one with salad. NO DINNER PLATE. And one tiny sliver of butter. It was not exactly a 5 star presentation of food on a plate! I asked for a dinner plate and the waiter did bring me one after a while. This was the best presentation the chef could make? The boiled potatoes and broccoli were not 5 star by an stretch of the imagination! Also, we had started the evening in the bar and had each had a drink or glass of wine. Once at the table, we all ordered another glass of wine. The service was incredibly slow and we ended up drinking another glass of wine. Little did we know that they were $30 a glass! No one ever offered us a bottle, nor did we know that mixed drinks are half the price! It turned out that our bar bill was 100 pounds per person! This turned out to be a most expensive dinner of our trip! The other diners had okay meals, but the service was so slow that they would have eaten almost anything! In short, this dinner was a terrible experience...and very, very expensive. I would not recommend...