We were very fortunate to come across this place as we left dinner to the very last minute and had…read moreforgotten to pre-book somewhere to eat. Not a single bad word can be said about this place. The food was absolutely incredible, staff was terrific and the whole theme was very unexpected to see in Dunoon. We had ordered a Calzone (with a side of chips) and the Cajun Chicken with chips, both of which came with a wee portion of coleslaw. The chicken melted in your mouth and was seasoned beautifully. The calzone was baked instead of fried and was the BEST calzone I have ever had. The chips were perfect and even the coleslaw was delicious (and I don't even like coleslaw!). We spoke to who we believe is the owner and he was very friendly and approachable and our server was a woman who could not have been better. Her service was as perfect as our meals. We highly recommend The 51st State Bar & Grill and will definitely be back next time we are in Dunoon.

The setting is absolutely fabulous, the food delicious and the service very friendly. An absolute…read moremust on a nice day

This little spot off the beaten path near the ferry is an absolute must! While heading over to the…read moreferry, we were looking for a place to have lunch and nothing seemed to be open. Came across this and was a little skeptical on the location alone, but it showed open so we went for it and boy was it worth it! Driving out to a castle ruin, the cabin is just off the water looking to the west with free-air tables and farm next to. All the seafood is freshly caught and prepared to order, and absolutely amazing. When in Scotland, mussels are an absolute must! We had the full seafood platter plus the mussels and we all wanted to eat more and more. If we didn't have to catch the ferry to Islay, we could have easily stayed for a second helping and enjoyed the view and laid back atmosphere. The staff is friendly and wonderful and it's just a picturesque place to eat.

A squat lobster is - apparently, I've haven't tried one yet - really a type of crab found around…read morethe West coast of Scotland. This particular Squat Lobster is a "chippie" housed in an old shelter for Victorian cab drivers. It is situated on the Green close to the ferry terminal in Rothesey, so is convenient for grabbing a quick bite while waiting for your ferry. It is renowned for it's 'fish supper' and I can confirm it delivers a fabulously cooked piece of haddock with a truly light and crispy batter coating. And very welcome it was too after a day riding around the Isle of Bute.

just finished a most excellent fresh haddock fish supper. Service was fast and friendly. Shrimp and…read moreSquat Lobster should be available Friday and Saturday ( depends on local availability) so I will definitely be returning to sample what I am sure will be excellent take out. Great Chippie.

We were visiting from Florida and ate here three times in two weeks. The food was hot and fresh…read moreand the deep fried pizza was a hit with the kids!

Beautiful fish suppers! What you expect a fish supper should be. Grateful to have them in town.read more

If you are passing through the picturesque village of Luss in Lock Lomond, I recommend stopping by…read moreLuss Seafood Bar. Our lovely lunch was filled with delights: +champers & oysters to start, not bad for a Monday +dreamy menu - I wanted everything +raw bar +smokehouse next door +Luss General Store inside with unique things to bring home +Luss Wee Shop in the car park They had me at "wee shop"! I'm hooked.

An excellent find in Helensburgh, and one of the best tapas restaurants to be found in Scotland…read moreIMHO. There was only one server on duty, but he coped admirably with the increasing numbers who arrived during a Monday lunchtime. The portions are large enough to satisfy the appetite, the menu is quite extensive, and the prices are reasonable. Lunchtime price was £16.45 for three tapas. I had Paella Verduras, Champinones con Huevo, and Calamares a la Anadluza. Herself had Tortilla Espanola, Boquerones en Vinagre, and Vieiras (Scallops - which had a £4 supplement). All delicious, and with such a good range of dishes to choose from, I'm sure we'll be making the trip 'doon the watter' again soon.

Greated by surly Joe , shown to a table with nowhere to hang our coats , kitchen door was open…read moreassume to help cool the chef ,not so good for the freezing customers in the draft Joe and to top it all off one hour for six tapas dishes ,,come on six small plates can't be that difficult ,, in a nutshell overpriced and over rated but if you do decide to go take a jumper

I found the food that I ordered to be very good and reasonably priced. I had chicken & rice soup to…read morestart and a chicken supreme stuffed with haggis in a pepper sauce as my main course. My wife's starter of goat's cheese arrived undercooked and had to be sent back. The quality of service left a lot to be desired. I don't know if they were understaffed but various customers had waited a very long time to be served, drink orders took a long time and tables were left uncleared.

A lovely sunny day and a swim at the gorgeous lido in Gourock led us to thoughts of fish and chips…read more The lady at the lido recommended this place and it was indeed a good call (though they do lots of things other than fish and chips of course). The restaurant is clearly an old place - the vintage decor has been brilliantly preserved and on the Sunday when we visited, the place was buzzing with happy eaters, families, groups of friends - we were lucky to get a table in the sunny area at the back with great views out over the water (don't look down though - the car park below isn't as picturesque). The fish and chips was excellent - portion not too big, perfect. Felt like we had stumbled on a real gem. Lovely bistro menu, great atmosphere. In short - great place.

We decided on a wee spur of the moment trip doon the waater or at least via the M8 to Gourock. One…read moreof my favourite spots due to it's range of independent shops. Mainly boutique style but it beats the old run of the mill stuff. Nice vintage shop and others where I like to do a wee bit of pressie shopping. Any way, while there, we decided to grab a bite in the Cafe Continental - been here before with my wee sis and it is easily wheelchair accessible to the front bar and middle of the cafe part. The raised deck (up a few steps) isn't accessible where the best views of the firth are but still some lovely views from the lower level. The place was very busy and we were asked if we had booked - oops! Thankfully the staff checked the bookings and managed to squeeze the 4 of us in for late lunch - early dinner on proviso we left at 18.30 which was ample time. The table we were seated at was very sticky but the waitress popped over quickly once I had pointed it out. The quality of the grub was good and the dishes could be ordered in half sizes for the kids. I opted for the tapas menu - a Scottish twist on it rather Spanish style with mini haggis etc available - 3 different dishes for £9.95. The chicken wings were delicious and moist rather than crispy so slightly different from the usual fare in a nice way and the sauce was the likely suspect for previous sticky table moment. The front bar was filling up nicely with a good atmosphere and if I hadn't been driving, may have been tempted to stay for a beer or four! In summary - great service, good food and at a reasonable price with flexibility for the kids. Thumbs up.

I'd had Inver on my to-visit list for a while, and recently I decided to just go ahead and book a…read moretable for lunch for no particular reason rather than saving our visit for a special occasion. I made the booking by email (they were quick to reply) and then we headed on our way from the south side of Glasgow on Saturday. I always underestimate just how far away this part of the world is - so don't listen to your maps, as it will probably take a bit longer with traffic going past Loch Lomond. It took us 20 minutes longer than expected but thankfully they still had our table waiting for us when we arrived. Inver is really beautiful - right on Loch Fyne and looks over at the ruins of old Castle Lachlan. Inside its Scandinavian, minimalist styling and super relaxing. I had a G&T to start and then we stuck to soft drinks but it would be lovely to stay nearby and have a few wines. I ordered the mussels to start followed by the local langoustines. In hindsight, this was maybe too much food but I was just excited for the delicious seafood options! If you're not a seafood fan there's plenty of locally sourced meats on the menu. The mussels were a massive bowl - for the price (£10) I actually expected a smaller portion and really struggle to eat them all. The broth they were served it was heavenly - burnt cream, cider and dill - I will be dreaming about this perfectly balanced broth for weeks to come. And it was served with slices of their home made sourdough bread which seems really dense and heavy but is actually perfectly delicious. Oh, and the butter was amazing too. Onto our mains. The langoustines come as 3 or 6 in the portion - I'd gone with 6 because I'm greedy and thankfully managed the lot. They came with a slice of lemon, mayo as well as more delicious bread - to be honest, I ate them just with the lemon as they were so delicious and perfect they really didn't need anything else. We had a side of green beans (with anchovy and mint) as well as hand cut chips - again, totally flawless and actually the highlight was the beans as they were just so fresh and the anchovy puree was totally perfect. Yes, we'd eaten a lot but I couldn't pass up dessert - I ordered the cherries and goat's milk sorbet. Woah. Not only was it totally beautiful to look at but the flavour was just amazing - it was almost on the savoury side with a hint of sweetness from the cherries. Again, another dish I'll be thinking about for weeks to come! I love that there's a little shop area (hidden amongst the bookshelves) where you can buy some of their produce to take home - we got red cabbage kraut as well as a loaf of bread but they also have jams, butter and scones. There's also a bar area so if you feel like relaxing in a comfy chair after all that food, you can. We paid our bill (£100 for 2 x 3 course meals + sides + soft drinks, tea and one G&T) and then walked around to the ruins of Old Castle Lachlan which was the perfect way to finish the meal. It's about a 20 minute round trip so make sure you wear suitable shoes! I would love to go back to Inver and stay nearby (possibly at Castle Lachlan which is available to rent!) as it was just a wonderfully exceptional meal. It's great to see a restaurant doing something a bit unusual with Scottish produce. Note: There's free wifi but only for 10 minutes so use it wisely. Otherwise it's £3 for the day.

A few months ago Marino O'Loughlin reviewed a small restaurant on the banks of Loch Fyne in…read moreStrachur called Inver, heaping enormous praise on it, however with it being nearly 5 hours away it seemed unlikely this would be a place I would be visiting anytime soon. This is where the divine intervention came in; I remembered that at the end of the month I was at a wedding just outside Glasgow. I had a spare day to kill the following day so calculated the time and distance from our hotel to the restaurant, 2 hours, it could be done! Admittedly with accommodation not available in Strachur for the night it meant a post-meal 5-hour drive back to the North-West, fingers crossed it would be worth the drive. Turns out the view alone was worth it. When dining at the Three Chimneys on the Isle of Skye the previous year I thought that I'd reached the pinnacle of dining with a view. Inver possibly trumps it. I mean look at it... The lunch menu consisted of simple but creative dishes of mainly fresh, local seafood, salads, and homemade bread and butter. Now if I was being particularly gluttonous (and if funds hadn't dictated against it) I could have ordered everything on that menu, however, I opted for the Partran Bree - crab and rice soup to start and the 'Kale Caesar' - roast chicken, soft egg, anchovy and Pecorino for main. It tasted as good as it looked. The soup was rich, velvety and delicate whilst simultaneously packing a hefty punch of brown crab flavour. Inver's take on the caesar salad was also a triumph. Crisp leaves, a perfectly boiled egg, and most importantly exquisitely cooked chicken with a beautifully crisp skin. Faultless. Having shared some of my dishes with my dining companion, it would only be fair that I sampled some of their choices; 'Tongue on Toast' - ox tongue, caper sauce and radish to start and kedgeree - smoked haddock, soft egg, rice and leeks for main. Both of which were absolutely fantastic, especially the 'Tongue on Toast' as the intense flavour of the tongue married superbly with the earthy sourdough. As well as the above I also ordered some hand cut chips with Viking Salt which unfortunately were too salty even for someone who has a particularly high salt-threshold such as myself, and Kate's leaf salad, radishes and buttermilk dressing, which unfortunately, despite being a beautiful looking salad went relatively untouched (a case of eyes being bigger than bellies). After dining at Inver it is clear to see where Pam and Rob are taking their influences from having learnt their trade all over Europe at Michelin-starred establishments such as Noma (Denmark), Faviken (Sweden) and De Superette (Belgium), however, they also manage to put their own, local spin on proceedings. According to the Inver website, "Pam and Rob took over the building in spring 2015 and with their friends and family have built the sort of place they like to spend time. We hope that you will too." I can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that I did.

Lovely meal at the Albany. Food superb and a beautiful building and atmosphere relaxing. Will be…read moreback.

From the owner: What We've Got At The Albany…read more Our Bar|Café|Brasserie is the ideal location for Breakfast, Lunch and dinner. Our Theatre has an up close and personal setting for shows, tribute acts and live music. Our Academy classes provide students with a thorough grounding to advance in all disciplines of the Performing Arts. Our Function Suite is beautiful designed to host your perfect celebration with family and friends.