The Scotsman Public House — Restaurant in Waynesville

Oh where to begin…. Ok so we have eaten here several times in the past….great atmosphere, cold drinks, decent food and pretty enjoyable wait staff. And then there’s tonight….. Went in, sat down, was only a couple of minutes until a waiter came to take our drink order. He bought the drinks & asked if we wanted an appetizer….we ordered that & he immediately asked if we knew what we wanted to eat or if we needed more time? My wife & I both agreed on a little more time & the waiter left us. Not two minutes later he returned and said “times up, what do you want to eat?” Pretty sure that he could tell by my glare that I didn’t appreciate his comment (or sense of humor if that’s what you call it) in which he says “I’m just kidding”. My wife placed her order & then I placed mine…..Philly cheesesteak hold the mushrooms (I hate mushrooms, ate them as a kid, got puking sick & haven’t touched them since) to which I was told that they wouldn’t do that, no modifications allowed! “No modifications”…really? You’re charging $15.75 for a sandwich and you flat out refuse to make it to the customer’s liking?? It wasn’t like I was asking to have a bunch of extras put on the sandwich, I was asking to leave something off. How hard is that? When I questioned the waiter about it, he says that “it all boils down to the cook being a princess about it” A princess? That’s funny & also putting it nicely because I can think of a few different words that I would use. So ok, I hate mushrooms….but what about people that actually have a food allergy to them? Are you going to refuse those people food as well? Not cool!

Needless to say, I ended up getting a burnt burger with burnt bacon instead which wasn’t impressive at all hence my low review rating.

Do better people!

EDIT & UPDATE: 7/21/24 So I didn’t want to make this personal but after leaving my initial review, the owner (Makyia) had the audacity to go to my business page (Smokey Mountain Plumbing) and leave a low rating even though I’ve never worked for her! The fact that she had to stalk me (for lack of a better word) to find my business info is also disturbing in itself.

This was clearly done as an act of retaliation due to the rating I left for the Scotsman & shows exactly what kind of unprofessional, sad, petty and vindictive person she is even though when someone did it to her, she threatened legal action as shown in the below screenshot from this very page.

Something about the pot & kettle comes to mind.

Up until this point, I still would have eaten there, as well as recommended it to friends and family… I don’t think I’ll be doing that now considering what kind of person runs the place.

Update 7/26/24 To add to their level of unprofessionalism, now Joseph/Joey (our not as funny as he thinks he is server) has left my business a negative review in rebuttal to the review I had initially left.

These people are really...

Wonderful atmosphere. Decor was awesome. Loved the choice in classic Rock, but the only complaint that it was way too loud and could not hear people sitting at my table. I have to rate the food poorly mostly as I cannot eat onions. The chef told the server that onions were in the Shepherds pie, the pork chop Diane, and pretty much everything on the menu. Onions were even in the Scotch eggs. And for a side the green beans had them which is normal, but I asked to substitute with Mac and Cheese and that too has onions. So I got the Pork Chop Diane with onion and mushroom gravy on the side. The pork chop was the single toughest meat I have ever had. That includes beef jerky. No seasoning. Just plain dry overcooked pork chop. Mashed potatoes came with it and they were awesome. Sous chef said there were onions in that too, so I'm guessing it was a CYA to say everything has onions whether they were in it or not. Wife had the Shepards pie. She found a single pea and not one carrot. The server was very helpful in checking for me about what was in each dish and normally I don't bother, but she insisted that she check, so that was great of her. Kept our glasses topped off. The only complaint is that she nor the manager ever asked how the meal was. I think she knew. They do the modern thing of ringing you up on a tablet and you get the option of a big tip, a bigger tip, or an unreasonably high tip. I tipped well because out server was helpful, but unfortunately for the desert dry pork chop and onions galore, there will not be a return trip. Sadly I had high hopes because I really like...

I've been planning to visit since they opened a few years ago, so I stopped by for the first time today. The bar staff was fine and they do have a few European beers on tap, even Gaffel Kolsch which I like and can be hard to find on tap in WNC. I ordered the large fish and chips. The chips were good however the fish was oily and tasteless. The fish was cod, but it tasted like pre-breaded frozen cod. The sides of cole slaw and mashed peas were tiny and came in plastic sauce cups. For a $25 fish and chips entree I would expect better.

Addendum: In response to the owner; as I said the bar staff was fine, it was the fish I didn't enjoy. You'd better believe I ate the entire thing for $25 though... tiny sides and all as I hadn't eaten all day and was very hungry. I never said I thought the fish would make me sick, just that it was oily and tasteless which BTW is noted in several other customer reviews as well.

It was not my intent to be offensive. It was my intent however to state that the cod was disappointing and not as good as that I've had in other pubs around the continent and beyond. How the bar staff would know how my food tasted is beyond me as I made no comment on the taste of the fish.

The bar staff questioned why I didn't comment while there. Quite simply she was busy and I had to be back on the road and didn't want to be a bother. I do believe my gratuity was appropriate for the service received, however after the surly response from the bar staff I believe my sense of fairness...