Kinlochewe Hotel featuring The Stag Highland Restaurant

Family run hotel that is about 20years past its heyday. We stayed in the twin room. One bed was passable, the other very uncomfortable and uneven. Private bathroom is around the corridor and is fairly spacious. Shower was fine. Dinner at the restaurant has a home made feel, but in a penny pinching way. Wouldn’t stay again. Wouldn’t recommend.

Shockingly expensive for a shabby hotel with appalling food, little charm, and unfriendly staff. It is difficult to run a hotel in the Highlands of Scotland. Business is extremely seasonally dependent. Staff are scarce. Buildings are often old and difficult to maintain. I understand the challenges, but none of these can excuse the experience I had last week. I paid £135 for a small double room without a bathroom, a rare anachronism even in rural Scotland. The room was relatively clean but dusty and tired. The television did not appear to be connected to an aerial. The WiFi didn’t work either. I checked in at the earliest time possible and the toilet did not appear to have been cleaned from the evening before and was peppered with mould. Although I already felt I was paying above the odds for a shabby room with limited amenities, I was not prepared to be so mercilessly robbed when I dined at the hotel’s Stag Restaurant. The menu was extremely limited with no sign of the local fish, meat, and other produce advertised in the guest information book. Almost £10 for poor quality bread with a bowl of humus and a few sticks of celery. £22 for one of the saddest burgers I have seen. I did find that somewhat amusing and have shared a picture for that reason. Bottom of the barrel stuff at jacked up prices to take advantage of tourists with no other options. In all fairness, the selection of beer and whisky was decent and sensibly priced which came as something of a surprise. Finally, much of this could be excused if my hosts were more hospitable. I understand the hotel is family run and that it was a mother, father, and son who served me. While I normally wouldn’t want to complain about staff in these circumstances, I found them all to be surly and actually rude. I don’t need the full Highland welcome, but I found them to be truly cold towards guests and acted as if their jobs were beneath them. And maybe they are right to act that way, they clearly should be nowhere near the hospitality industry. This was what offended me the most: when your hotel and restaurant are as poor as this, why on earth wouldn’t you at least take the simple step to be friendly and welcoming to your guests? Shocking.

Called in without a reservation and after some discussion between the staff whether they were taking "walk-ins" we were offered a table in an almost empty restaurant. My wife and I both chose the Chicken in whisky and peppercorn sauce accompanied by sauted potatoes which was delicious however it was served with a very small portion of tenderstem broccoli and carrot rings which were raw and cold. When my wife pointed this out to the waitress she said that her son likes them that way. No offer was made to replace the carrots with cooked ones.