Reviews of Bothy Bar, Fort Augustus
Review by carole wallace on 1st August, 2009
Add your review Date visited: 18/7/09
We also saw the Bothy advertised on the internet and thought we would give it a try. Infact we tried twice to get a table and just like other visitors before us were treated with to a rude and very abrupt attitude. After that we did not bother again, we went to the Lock inn which was great, lovely food, lovely staff and we were made to feel very welcome. We were a party of six and spent in excess of £150.00 each night, so it was the Bothy's loss, but the Lock inn was our gain.
Review by John Weamouth on 10th August, 2008
Add your review Date visited: 03/08/08
How do I begin, Fantastic location, delightfully looking from the outside, and a menu board that invites you in with the promise of good food and a warm welcome.
Well myself and my family were made to feel like we were doing the owner a favour by entering there establishment at best, and more over when we asked for a table we were a nusance.
On to the food, well if you like your steak Grey and not what it was proported to be then be my guest try it for yourself, I didn't and sent the meal back, I was offered an alternative, but declined, I do have a good idea what happens in kitchens!
When it came to paying the bill they had included the meal I sent back, when I refused to pay for something I hadn't eaten I was met with a barrage of abuse.
If you want to eat in Fort Augustus, do yourself a favour pop up the lock side to the Lock Inn, a proper warm Scottish welcome good ales and reasonably priced good food, or for a special treat try the Boat House.
You have been warned!!!
Review by carl legrand on 4th August, 2008
Add your review Date visited: July 2008
I live in Fort Augustus and so have witnessed the decline of the Bothy over several years. It's a lovely building and looks welcoming from outside but it is completely let down by its hopeless, rude, and unhelpful staff. It was taken over a few years ago and for a while it looked as if things would improve, but sadly the staff were not changed and since it's them who create the human contact, the hospitality suffers. They are the epitome of British service at its worst, one man in particular. Customers seem to be an inconvenience, being busy is a trial, not something to be grateful for, and the general feeling the staff create is that they're doing you a favour by serving you. This is a great shame since the Bothy has a great location, looks good, it has some good beer, and the food is adequate (though only pub grub). If you're looking for a good pub you're much better advised to try the Lock Inn up the road - a bit rough round the edges but a proper pub where you'll get a friendly welcome. To the Bothy owners - get a grip! You're letting the town and yourselves down.
Review by Bob Smith on 16th October, 2007
Add your review Date visited: Aug 4 to Aug 11, 2007
We had found the Bothy Inn on the internet and were looking forward to eating and drinking there during our week in Fort Augustus, their website promised a warm and enjoyable time. Sadly, that was not to be.
Our arrival in Fort Augustus was after a very long day of driving from Dublin Ireland, crossing over at Belfast to Stranraer and then a 6 ½ hour drive to Fort Augustus.
This review is not so much about the actual food this inn serves, because as you will read we never got to eat there. It’s about the meals that never happened. We saw their prices, we looked at other people eating, and we also noticed that each time we were turned away, there were empty tables that we could have been sitting at! And before you say, oh it was an off night, we spent a week in Fort Augustus.
We did not realise that pubs stopped serving food at 9 PM and as we entered the Bothy Inn at 9:15 pm, we were advised that the kitchen was closed, we begged for some bread or maybe some soup, but no, nothing was to be done, if we wanted a drink they could serve us, and to make it worse, when we asked were we could get a meal, the barman said to us: Inverness! .. Very nice to hear after a long day !
We were so tired, with no food in our apartment that we actually stayed in the bar and ate 9 bags of peanuts and 9 bags of chips with our drinks then we went back to our lodgings hoping someone in the morning would have breakfast menus.
The next day we decided to give them another chance for our evening meal and went back to the Bothy Inn, supposing that as we were early at 6 pm, we could get a table, but no, this waiter in charge of placing customers told us they were full and we should try again around 8:45 pm ! ( We could see empty tables at the back of the pub, but the waiter who was doing his best to antagonize the tourists said to us we should come back later and maybe he would have room! We were not about to take that chance so we walked up the road alongside the locks and entered the Lock Inn. Warm and friendly it was like day and night compared to the Bothy Inn! But our warm review of the Lock Inn in also on this site and you should read about it, it’s a better value, that is unless you enjoy being abused, then please do go to the Bothy Inn.
We even tried on a third evening to get a table at the Bothy Inn just to be sure but were unceremoniously told there was no room, maybe it was my cousin’s Irish accent which offended the waiter, but we never got a table. So, this is a review about a location that should be avoided because the money you spend on holidays was hard earned and it deserves to be spent in nice locations, not at the Bothy Inn where the barman and his assistant could not inform us on the differences between various single malt whiskey’s and they seem to go out of their way to make the tourists who come in for a meal feel like second class people. Sadly they have the prime location that most tourists will see, and when you think that just a few feet up the street is an amazing pub ( The lock Inn) that showed us what real Scottish hospitality was.
During the week that the four of us spent in Fort Augustus, we spent our money wisely elswhere, even the ASDA store is friendlier and they could talk to us about the different whiskey’s they sell!
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