Loch Shiel Hotel

Three weeks in advance we booked a deluxe room with double bed and loch views for our 52nd wedding anniversary. When we arrived the assistant manager spent an hour running around looking for keys, asking the staff if they were sleeping in any of the rooms and finally informed us that the only room they had available was a tiny attic room with two single beds above the smoking area for the hotel. The window had been left open so the room stank of cigarette smoke, the beds were hard and creaky and, although my husband and I are both quite small people, we had to turn sideways and ease around the door to get into the tiny shower room. The "amenities" consisted of two earl grey tea bags in a filthy box, two tiny thimbles of non-dairy milk and two broken biscuits. There was a double socket in the room with a four way, unswtitched extension which the television was plugged into but it was quite warm so we unplugged it. We didn't dare to use it. The food at this hotel was disgusting. We ordered the seafood platter. The waiter informed us that we couldn't order a starter because the platter was so large. We were bitterly disappointed to be served sadly defrosting prawns in a watery Marie Rose sauce, the cream and wine sauce for the mussels had curdled but about half of the mussels hadn't opened anyway. The whitebait were not the tiny, crispy morsels one might expect, instead the were a good three inches of bitter bones and fins. The langoustines were still frozen. The "artisanal bread basket" turned out to be two slices of under baked, bake-it-at-home baguette. We asked for a dessert menu but the waiter ignored us, looked at what what left on the table and said "I'll just leave you to that for a while". We actually went to bed hungry. We had booked and paid a huge amount of money (for us, it was supposed to be a special occasion) for two nights, we went home after the first one. We didn't stay for the breakfast.

We had an extremely disappointing experience at the restaurant of this hotel. Upon arriving, we were met with a shockingly rude and unwelcoming attitude from the lady behind the bar. Despite the hotel advertising takeaway options online, she dismissively told us to go elsewhere if we wanted takeaway food. Her tone was condescending and unnecessarily hostile, even though the restaurant was completely empty. Thankfully, there was a lovely younger English waitress who went out of her way to accommodate our dietary needs, offering to prepare a chicken salad that met our allergy requirements for takeaway. However, just as we thought the situation was being resolved, the rude lady came along stating that they could not accommodate us and insisted we go across the road. It felt as though she was deliberately making the process difficult and seemed more interested in turning us away than providing good service. The way she spoke to us was completely unprofessional & condescending. The experience left a sour taste, not because of the food, but because of the complete lack of professionalism and respect. We expected much more from a hotel restaurant, and sadly, this encounter really let the place down. I would not recommend anybody to eat here and it completely spoilt our last night on our family holiday.

We visited for dinner on the last night of a family holiday. The food was excellent quality and very generous portions; between us we tried several different starters, mains and desserts. There was a delay to our meal because of an electrical failure in the kitchen but the staff kept us well informed and did everything possible to make our wait acceptable. They were friendly without being intrusive and the atmosphere was lovely. We would definitely return if we are in the area again.