Spey Valley Carvery - Highland

Tasty meal, very prompt service from helpful staff. Love the chilli nachos! Great choice on the menu

Stake house not open so they are serving food in tbe lounge with different menu don't waste your money food is not worth it only up side was we came on a Monday and tbey are part of the government scheme of 50% of eat out to help out so bill for 5 was half price

This review is of our family experience at the cafe. We took our seats and ordered lattes from a young waitress. What we received was mediocre machine coffee. We were off to a good start. We then ordered gnocchi and bolognese for mains. When the bolognese arrived, the waitress apologised and said she didn't know what it was .. but I recognised it immediately defrosted and microwaved bolognese, mixed in with some penne and served without parmesan. The gnocchi was rubber like and without the promised mozzarella. We asked for the cheese at once and several minutes later we were ordered to get up from our chairs and collect it. I was wondering at this point what went into the £9 bolognaise price tag.

We arrived upon recommendation from a local restaurant as they were fully booked. As we walked through the restaurant doors, the room was decorated as if expecting a children’s birthday party. We were greeted by an enthusiastic staff member dressed as a pirate, who escorted us to a table. We were offered drinks and told it was a buffet service. Without doubt the poorest buffet selection we have ever experienced! Nothing was labelled to explain what we were eating. Staff were clueless not only on what food was sat festering on a hot plate but also struggled with the simplest of questions like, “Where is your restroom?” Although there were plenty of staff members in the room, no one seemed able to perform any duties without supervision from a man in a suit, whom I presume to be the manager? Food was quite simply disgusting! Everything was lukewarm and the rice was still rock solid and uncooked. All throughout dinner we were interrupted with pirate jokes and constant attempted entertainment, in spite of the obvious distress of the two young children at our table. However, the pirate did apologise and bring our oldest child a chocolate coin. If only he had learned from this and given the table some space, by the end of the meal I felt like offering him a seat to join us as he was hovering so often. Upon payment we waited at the desk to pay our bill, being igonored by staff for a very long time. When the aforementioned man in a suit was called to attend to us, he was shocked to hear that we were not guests of the hotel and we were made to feel like an inconvenience for merely visiting the restaurant as passers by! All in all a very disappointing and bizzare experience which was definitely not worth the £15 a head! We would not recommend to others and will definitely not be returning!

Perhaps we visited on a bad day, 30 Dec, a Sunday. We didn’t mind that there was no carvery, but we did mind that the food was poor. £4.50 for tasteless tinned soup. The rest of the fare was burgers, hot dogs, sausages, etc. Nothing was hot. It was a shame because the surroundings are great.